Publications

Prejudice toward Muslims has been longstanding and has been on the rise in the U.S. To address Islamophobia, it is important to understand the associated underlying motivations. Intergroup Threat Theory (ITT) suggests that prejudice is motivated by the perceived symbolic and/or realistic threat a group represents. To date, the relationship between threat and Islamophobia has primarily been examined correlationally rather than experimentally. The current study aims to provide an initial experimental test of ITT to understand Islamophobia among U.S. Christians. Christian participants (N = 267) in the U.S. were randomly exposed to one of three news articles that elicited either realistic threat, symbolic threat, or no threat (control). Participants answered questions assessing Islamophobia and religious fundamentalism (RF). Results indicate that high levels of RF predict Islamophobia most strongly when realistic threat is salient. These results shed light onto the predisposing factors associated with Islamophobic attitudes and highlight the role of RF and perceived threat. 

As social policies have changed to grant more rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, some Christians in the United States have suggested that LGBT rights impede Christians’ religious freedom. Across five studies, we examined the causes and consequences of zero-sum beliefs (ZSBs) about Christians and LGBT individuals. We demonstrate that Christians’ beliefs about conflict with sexual minorities are shaped by their understandings of Christian values, social change, interpretation of the Bible, and in response to religious institutions. In Study 1, heterosexual cisgender Christians endorsed ZSBs more than other groups. Christians reported perceiving that anti-LGBT bias has decreased over time while anti-Christian bias has correspondingly increased. In Study 2, Christians’ zero-sum beliefs increased after they reflected on religious values, suggesting that intergroup conflict is seen as being a function of Christian beliefs. Study 3 confirmed the role of symbolic threat in driving ZSBs; perceived conflict was accentuated when Christians read about a changing cultural climate in which Christians’ influence is waning. An intervention using Biblical scripture to encourage acceptance successfully lowered zero-sum beliefs for mainline but not fundamentalist Christians (Study 4). A final field study examined how ZSBs predict sexual prejudice in response to changing group norms. After a special conference in which the United Methodist Church voted to restrict LGBT people from marriage and serving as clergy, zero-sum beliefs became a stronger predictor of sexual prejudice (Study 5). We discuss the implications of Christian/LGBT ZSBs for religious freedom legislation, attitudes toward sexual minorities, and intergroup conflict more generally.

Discrimination towards fat individuals is pervasive in the United States, and perceptions of weight discrimination are associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes (e.g., low well-being). The rejection-identification model theorizes that perceptions of group-based discrimination may lead people to identify with their stigmatized group, subsequently helping them maintain well-being. We applied the rejection-identification model to weight discrimination to understand whether positively identifying as fat may mediate the impact of perceived weight-group discrimination on well-being. Across two samples (N = 739), fat-group identification, ingroup affiliation, and body affirmation were tested as mediators of the association between perceived weight discrimination and well-being. We also examined support for weight-related social change. Results showed that fat identification was a significant mediator, associated positively with discrimination but negatively with well-being; fat identification also was positively associated with greater support for weight-related social change. Body affirmation was a significant mediator of well-being and support for weight-related social change. Identifying as fat does not seem to provide the same benefits to well-being observed for other social identities (e.g., ethnicity); perceiving one’s own body positively, however, may be a potential pathway through which weight discrimination’s consequences can be reduced. Implications for well-being, identity, and the rejection-identification model are discussed.

This study evaluates whether the salience of discrimination and perceived stigmatization influence gay men’s financial risk tolerance (FRT). This evaluation is conducted using the FRT measure of Grable and Lytton (1999), a “two-study ruse” approach and a hierarchical linear regression model. The findings show that individuals with anticipated stigmatization, after being exposed to information about bias against their community, exhibited greater FRT. These results support the hypothesis that risk-taking behavior by members of stigmatized populations increases when they experience discrimination.

A large body of research suggests that, among White individuals, perceived weight discrimination has deleterious consequences for eating and exercise outcomes; however, the research literature on perceived weight discrimination among other racial/ethnic groups is limited. The primary goal of the present study was to examine the associations of perceived weight discrimination with eating and exercise thoughts and behaviors among White versus Latino/a participants. A sample of White (N = 50) and Latino/a (N = 281) undergraduate college students with higher body weight (BMI: M = 30.65, SD = 5.42) completed self-report measures assessing perceived weight-based discrimination, frequency of intake of unhealthy and healthy foods, and frequency of both thoughts about exercise and exercise behaviors; we examined relationships among these variables within White versus Latino/a participants. Results showed that perceived weight discrimination was associated with more frequent intake of unhealthy foods, more frequent exercise thoughts, and less frequent exercise behaviors among White participants, and that there were no significant associations between perceived weight discrimination and the eating and exercise measures of interest among Latino/a participants. These findings highlight a number of potential avenues for future research to identify the mechanisms underlying these differential associations of perceived weight discrimination to eating and exercise behaviors across racial/ethnic groups.

Weight stigma and weight discrimination are prevalent in the United States and binge eating has been found to be associated with these experiences in numerous studies. One issue with the current literature on weight stigma and binge eating, however, is that study samples are primarily female, resulting in a lack of understanding of this relationship among males. To address this gap, we examined potential sex differences in the association between weight stigma and binge eating, as well as mediators of this relationship. Specifically, we examined experiences of weight discrimination and weight stigma consciousness as predictors of binge eating, and we assessed whether these relationships were mediated by depression, perceived stress, and/or perceived control. Results showed that, among females and males, experiences of weight discrimination significantly predicted binge eating and depression mediated this relationship; perceived stress also mediated this association, but only among males, and perceived control did not mediate for either sex. Results also showed that, among males, the relationship between weight stigma consciousness and binge eating was mediated by depression and perceived control, but not perceived stress. Weight stigma consciousness was unrelated to binge eating among females. Together, these findings suggest that weight stigma constructs differentially impact females and males, thereby illuminating the possible need for consideration of sex as an important component of efforts to reduce weight stigma.

Objective

Although palliative care is critical to managing symptoms, pain, and transitions to end-of-life care among those facing serious or chronic illness, it is often underused, which may be due to stigma associated with palliative care representing giving up fighting one's illness. The goal of the present studies was to test the theoretical framework of stigma within the context of palliative care to inform future work on intervention development that addresses potential barriers to palliative care utilization.

Method

In study 1, participants (n = 152) had an oncologist describe two treatment options to a terminally ill cancer patient: (1) palliative care and (2) chemotherapy. Participants were then randomly assigned to read that the patient chose palliative care or chemotherapy. In study 2, these stereotypes about those receiving palliative care were examined as a potential mediator between perceived palliative care stigma and prospective palliative care use. Participants (n = 199) completed self-report measures of palliative care stigma, negative stereotypes about palliative care users, and prospective use of palliative care. Mediation analysis tested the mediational effects of stereotypes on the relationship between palliative care stigma and prospective usage of palliative care.

Result

In study 1, those in the palliative care condition endorsed significantly higher levels of negative stereotypes about the patient, viewed the decision more negatively, and saw the patient as less afraid of death. In study 2, palliative care stigma was associated with less prospective usage of palliative care for self and for one's family member. This relationship was mediated by negative stereotypes about individuals receiving palliative care.

Significance of results

Results suggest that palliative care stigma exists (study 1) and that this stigma may be a barrier to the utilization of palliative care (study 2). Future research should examine stigma reduction as a potential intervention target to improve palliative care utilization.

Previous research has found that among low-status individuals, both group identification (GID) and status-legitimizing beliefs (SLBs) motivate varying responses to ingroup discrimination claimants. SLBs are traditionally thought to motivate decreased support for low-status claimants, while GID is thought to motivate increased liking and support of ingroup members. The current research examines these conflicting influences on ingroup claimants among women (Studies 1a and 1b) and Latino/as (Studies 2 and 3). We find that when SLBs are strongly endorsed (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2) or primed (Study 3), GID does not predict liking or support for a claimant. Only when SLB endorsement is low and identity safety cues are absent does GID predict liking and support for a claimant. Our results suggest that when motivations conflict, SLBs seem to more strongly predict reactions to ingroup claimants.

This research examines how increasing perceptions of anti-male bias lead men who endorse the gender status hierarchy to perpetuate social inequality. For men primed with anti-male bias, greater status-legitimizing belief (SLB) endorsement was associated with more negative evaluations of a female target and less desire to help her. SLB endorsement was unrelated to evaluations and helping when men were primed with bias against an outgroup (Study 1). Furthermore, when men perceived anti-male bias, priming SLB caused more negative evaluations and fewer helping intentions toward female targets (Study 2). An analysis of the free-response feedback that participants provided targets revealed ingroup favoritism; men primed with SLBs provided male targets more constructive feedback than they did to female targets (Study 2). Thus, some men may be particularly likely to display discrimination against women when they perceive bias against their own group. We discuss how this behavior may perpetuate social disparities.