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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Homelessness, Dehumanization, And The Role Of Empathy, Christina Esker
Homelessness, Dehumanization, And The Role Of Empathy, Christina Esker
Kean Quest
Dehumanization reflects a psychological process that denies individuals and groups the positive traits and attributes that make them human. Those experiencing homelessness are frequently dehumanized and perceived as social outcasts in American society. This study demonstrates the tendency of others to dehumanize individuals that are homeless and how increased empathy changes how this social outgroup is perceived. Results revealed that when exposed to information that humanizes a man experiencing homelessness, participants’ levels of empathy increased, and levels of disgust decreased. However, general attitudes and beliefs of homelessness were unchanged. The implications of increasing empathy levels for this social outgroup are …
Too Cynical To Reconnect: Cynicism Moderates The Effect Of Social Exclusion On Prosociality Through Empathy, Bryan K. C. Choy, Kimin Eom, Norman P. Li
Too Cynical To Reconnect: Cynicism Moderates The Effect Of Social Exclusion On Prosociality Through Empathy, Bryan K. C. Choy, Kimin Eom, Norman P. Li
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Extant findings are mixed on whether social exclusion impacts prosociality. We propose one factor that may underlie the mixed results: Cynicism. Specifically, cynicism may moderate the exclusion-prosociality link by influencing interpersonal empathy. Compared to less cynical individuals, we expected highly cynical individuals who were excluded to experience less empathy and, consequently, less prosocial behavior. Using an online ball-tossing game, participants were randomly assigned to an exclusion or inclusion condition. Consistent with our predictions, the effect of social exclusion on prosociality through empathy was contingent on cynicism, such that only less-cynical individuals responded to exclusion with greater empathy, which, in turn, …
Body Swapping With A Black Person Boosts Empathy: Using Virtual Reality To Embody Another, Rémi Thériault, Jay A. Olson, Sonia A. Krol, Amir Raz
Body Swapping With A Black Person Boosts Empathy: Using Virtual Reality To Embody Another, Rémi Thériault, Jay A. Olson, Sonia A. Krol, Amir Raz
Psychology Faculty Articles and Research
Perspective-taking, whether through imagination or virtual-reality interventions, seems to improve intergroup relations; however, which intervention leads to better outcomes remains unclear. This preregistered study collected measures of empathy and race bias from 90 participants, split into one of three perspective-taking groups: embodied perspective-taking, mental perspective-taking, and a control group. We drew on virtual-reality technology alongside a Black confederate across all conditions. Only in the first group, participants got to exchange real-time viewpoints with the confederate and literally “see through the eyes of another.” In the two other conditions, participants either imagined a day in the life of the Black confederate …
People Who Mistake Dogma For Reason: Development And Validation Of The Pseudo-Rationalism Scale, Han Wool Jung
People Who Mistake Dogma For Reason: Development And Validation Of The Pseudo-Rationalism Scale, Han Wool Jung
Theses and Dissertations
Pseudo-rationalism is defined as a distorted ideology that believes reason or rationality is superior to other components of minds (especially, emotion), which may lead to the overestimation of one’s own rational ability and underestimation of others’ rationality. Such a trait would be similar to rigidity or closed-mindedness measurable with other existing scales, but also is expected to have some distinctive characteristics compared to them because it is based on a certain myth in terms of reason. Also, if the psychological trait of pseudo-rationalism exists, it is anticipated as a byproduct of a certain egocentric world-view represented by naïve realism. This …
The Intersection Of Empathy, Social Identity, And Threat, Samantha E. Gardner
The Intersection Of Empathy, Social Identity, And Threat, Samantha E. Gardner
Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects
Empathy is a tool we can use to feel and understand other’s emotions and circumstances. The social identity perspective posits that we are motivated to protect and promote the groups we belong to, and that we feel emotions on behalf of the group. Further, intergroup threat theory (found within the social identity framework) postulates that perceived threat to one’s group leads to intergroup tension, breeding prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory behavior. To investigate the relationship that identity and threat have on participant’s empathy for outgroups, I measured: how much participants identified with the White American identity; their White privilege awareness; their …