Kent Harber | Rutgers University - Newark (original) (raw)

Papers by Kent Harber

Sixty years of empirical research has taught us much about stereotypes. Stereotypes can arise fro... more Sixty years of empirical research has taught us much about stereotypes. Stereotypes can arise from, and sustain, intergroup hostility. They are sometimes linked to prejudices based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, and just about any other social category. They can serve to maintain and justify hegemonic and exploitative hierarchies of power and status. They can corrupt interpersonal relations, warp public policy, and play a role in the worst social abuses, such as mass murder and genocide. For all these reasons, social scientists-and especially social psychologistshave understandably approached stereotypes as a kind of social toxin. Perhaps equally understandable, but scientifically untenable, is the corresponding belief that because stereotypes contribute to these many malignant outcomes, that they must also be-in the main-inaccurate. The tacit equation is, if stereotypes are associated with social wrongs, they must be factually wrong. However, the accuracy of stereotypes is an empirical question, not an ideological one. For those of us who care deeply about stereotypes, prejudice, and social harmony, getting to the truth of these collective cognitions should guide inquiry about them. Unfortunately, this has not always been our experience. Because of his inquiries into stereotype accuracy, the first author has been accused by prominent social psychologists of purveying "nonsense," of living "in a world where stereotypes are all accurate and no one ever relies on them anyway," of calling for research with titles like "Are Jews really cheap?" and "Are Blacks really lazy?," of disagreeing with civil rights laws, and of providing intellectual cover for bigots. 1 These reactions are understandable, if one remembers that social psychology has a long intellectual history of emphasizing the role of error and bias in social perception, and nowhere has this emphasis been stronger than in the area of stereotypes. To enter this zeitgeist and to argue for the need to take seriously the possibility that sometimes, some aspects of some stereotypes may have some degree of accuracy, therefore, is to risk making claims that are unbearable to some social scientists. However, science is about validity, not "bearability." It is about logic and evidence. In this chapter we review conceptual issues and empirical evidence regarding the accuracy of stereotypes. By doing so we hope to correct some long-held beliefs about stereotypes, and to thereby remove some of the obstacles to the systematic investigation of stereotype accuracy and inaccuracy. The chapter has three main objectives: providing a logically coherent, defensible, and practical definition of "stereotype"; reviewing empirical research on stereotype accuracy; and considering the role of stereotypes in increasing or reducing accuracy in person perception.

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Aug 1, 2005

The concept of social support as being directive or nondirective may help explain why helping can... more The concept of social support as being directive or nondirective may help explain why helping can either boost or impede morale. The Inventory of Nondirective and Directive Instrumental Support (INDIS) was developed to investigate this question. The directive factor concerns others' attempts to dominate coping and the nondirective factor concerns others' attempts to facilitate but not dominate coping. Studies 1 and 2 identified and confirmed these factors. Study 3 showed predicted associations between INDIS subscales and measures of morale. Nondirective support (from a family member) was positively related to hope and optimism, and directive support (from either a family member or a friend) was positively related to depression and loneliness, even after controlling for other social support measures. Maintaining hope and morale is one of the most important and difficult challenges faced by people coping with serious problems. Events such as loss of loved ones, professional or interpersonal failure, and cata-691

Emotion, Oct 1, 2011

Threatening things are often perceptually exaggerated, such that they appear higher, closer, of g... more Threatening things are often perceptually exaggerated, such that they appear higher, closer, of greater duration, or more intense than they actually are. According to the Resources and Perception Model (RPM) psychosocial resources can prevent this exaggeration, leading to more accurate perception. Two studies tested RPM. Study 1 showed that the perceived closeness of a threatening object (a live tarantula) but not an innocuous object (a cat toy) was moderated by induced self-worth. Further, the more self-worth that participants experienced, the less close the tarantula appeared to them. Study 2 showed that greater levels of self-esteem reduced perceived height, but only among participants prevented from holding a protective handrail while looking down. Together, these studies confirm that resources moderate the physical perception of both distance and height, that resources moderate perception of threats but not nonthreats, that different resources have similar moderating effects, and that psychosocial resources can supplant physical resources.

Interaction Studies, Apr 18, 2005

This paper contests social psychology’s emphasis on the biased, erroneous, and constructed nature... more This paper contests social psychology’s emphasis on the biased, erroneous, and constructed nature of social cognition by: (1) showing how the extent of bias and error in classic research is overstated; (2) summarizing research regarding the accuracy of social beliefs; and (3) describing how social stereotypes sometimes improve person perception accuracy. A Goodness of Judgment Index is also presented to extract evidence regarding accuracy from research focusing on bias. We conclude that accuracy is necessary for understanding social cognition.

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2007

The visual perception of geographical slant is influenced by physiological resources, such as phy... more The visual perception of geographical slant is influenced by physiological resources, such as physical fitness, age, and being physically refreshed. In two studies we tested whether a psychosocial resource, social support, can also affect the visual perception of slants. Participants accompanied by a friend estimated a hill to be less steep when compared to participants who were alone (Study 1). Similarly, participants who thought of a supportive friend during an imagery task saw a hill as less steep than participants who either thought of a neutral person or a disliked person (Study 2). In both studies, the effects of social relationships on visual perception appear to be mediated by relationship quality (i.e., relationship duration, interpersonal closeness, warmth). Artifacts such as mood, social desirability, and social facilitation did not account for these effects. This research demonstrates that an interpersonal phenomenon, social support, can influence visual perception.

Educational Gerontology, 1986

... Joan W. Anderson Alan A. Hartley Rhonda Bye Kent D. Harber Ophelia L. White Scripps College .... more ... Joan W. Anderson Alan A. Hartley Rhonda Bye Kent D. Harber Ophelia L. White Scripps College ... figures in the first row are shaped like flowers,&amp;quot; and recognized the flowers&amp;#x27; unique features, &amp;quot;Each flower has four petals and the flower in the first drawing has a circle around it; the ...

Journal of Language and Social Psychology, Sep 12, 2013

Emotional Broadcaster Theory (EBT) proposes that the need to disclose turns people into news broa... more Emotional Broadcaster Theory (EBT) proposes that the need to disclose turns people into news broadcasters whose stories inform others of major events. The present research tested whether the discrepancy theory of emotion explains emotional broadcasting. Study 1 showed that hearers anticipated being more strongly affected by and more likely to retell unusual stories (per discrepancy theory) than stories conveyed by a distressed teller (per emotional contagion theory). Study 2 tested whether the same unusual event (violence) would be disclosed more by people for whom violence is unexpected. As predicted, people with minimal exposure to violence regarded violence as more disturbing and as more likely to be disclosed than did those with extensive exposure to violence. Study 3 replicated Study 2, and showed that violence exposure moderated anticipated emotional arousal and disclosure only for violent events but not for unusual nonviolent events. Neither violence seeking nor social desirability confounded these results.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Nov 1, 2004

This study tests whether Whites provide especially positive feedback to minorities who respond to... more This study tests whether Whites provide especially positive feedback to minorities who respond to feedback in an unfriendly manner. White female undergraduates (N = 66) gave verbal feedback to either a Black or a White confederate who posed as the author of a poorly written essay. Confederates responded to participants' feedback in either a friendly or unfriendly manner. As predicted, participants who gave feedback to an unfriendly Black confederate supplied a selectively higher ratio of positive to negative comments and a selectively higher proportion of positive comments. Participants paired with an unfriendly Black confederate also provided the most positive post-interaction ratings, despite minimal impression-management pressures. Collectively, these findings indicate that Whites' self-image motives underlie the positive feedback bias. '1 would like to thank Albert Hastorf for his many contributlons to this research. 1 also thank Dov Cohen, Donna Henderson-King, Carla Herrera, Barbel Knauper, and Piotr Winkielman for their insightful comments on an earlier draft. I am also grateful to my team of research assistants on the study, including Akosua Cook,

British Journal of Social Psychology, Mar 1, 2010

This research examined whether Whites favourably bias their feedback to minorities in order to se... more This research examined whether Whites favourably bias their feedback to minorities in order to see themselves as egalitarian. White teacher trainees first had their egalitarian self-images affirmed, left unchanged, or threatened. Theyt hen provided feedback on ap oorly written essays upposedly authored by either aB lack or aW hite student. As predicted, trainees in the Black writer/self-image threat condition selectively rated essaycontent more favourably,recommended less time for skill development, provided more favourable copy-editing comments, and generated more equivocating 'buffers'. In contrast, trainees in the Black writer/self-image boost condition supplied feedback indistinguishable from feedback provided by trainees in the White writer conditions, which was unaffected by the self-image conditions. The implications for minority education and intergroup communication are discussed.

Personality and Social Psychology Review, May 1, 2005

This article shows that 35 years of empirical research on teacher expectations justifies thefollo... more This article shows that 35 years of empirical research on teacher expectations justifies thefollowing conclusions: (a) Self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom do occur, but these effects are typically small, they do not accumulate greatly across perceivers or over time, and they may be more likely to dissipate than accumulate; (b) powerful self-fulfilling prophecies may selectively occur among students from stigmatized social groups; (c) whether self-fulfilling prophecies affect intelligence, and whether they in general do more harm than good, remains unclear, and (d) teacher expectations may predict student outcomes more because these expectations are accurate than because they are self-fulfilling. Implicationsforfuture research, the role ofself-fulfilling prophecies in social problems, and perspectives emphasizing the power oferroneous beliefs to create social reality are discussed. We sincerely thank David Funder for comments on earlier drafts of this article. This article is based, in part, on sections from a book by Lee Jussim, currently in progress and tentatively titled Social beliefs and social realities. Requests for reprints should be sent to Lee Jussim,

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Feb 1, 2005

This research tests whether people with high self-esteem are more informed by their emotions than... more This research tests whether people with high self-esteem are more informed by their emotions than are people with low self-esteem. In Study 1, participants listened to a series of disturbing baby cries, rated how much distress these cries conveyed, and reported their own emotional reactions to the cries. As predicted, the relation between participants' emotional reactions and their cry ratings was strongest at higher levels of self-esteem. In Study 2, self-esteem again determined how strongly participants' own emotional reactions influenced their baby cry ratings, even though esteem was measured weeks before the experiment and even after controlling for social desirability. Study 3 manipulated self-regard and showed that the correlation between participants' emotional reactions and their cry ratings was strong for high-regard participants, moderate for control participants, and weak for low-regard participants. These results suggest that self-esteem serves to validate the informational value of feelings.

Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Sep 1, 2003

Psychological research is often conducted with college students whose participation is required t... more Psychological research is often conducted with college students whose participation is required to fulfill an obligation to their introductory psychology course (see Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1975; Rosnow & Rosenthal, 1976). Students are typically free to decide when, during the course of the term, they will complete their experiment quotas. Consequently, some students sign-up promptly and complete their quotas relatively early in the term, whereas others delay their participation and finish later. Is this volitional aspect of experiment participation systematically influenced by any individual differences, such that different types of participants sign-up for experiments at different times? If so, research conducted early in the school term might sample psychologically different participant populations than research carried out at term's end. This unrecognized difference in participant population could distort experimental results if it is causally related to the psychological processes being studied. Moreover, attempts to replicate previously established findings would suffer from such a participant self-selection bias if the original and replication studies were conducted at different times during the term. These important methodological concerns have received a fair amount of empirical investigation. However, research on individual differences in the timing of research sign-ups has led to mixed results. Cooper, Baumgardner, and Strathman (1991) conducted a comprehensive review of 15 personality and demographic variables (such as social desirability, selfconsciousness, and extraversion), and related these variables to when students signed-up for psychology experiments. Cooper et al. reported "in general, few significant relations were found and those that did emerge were small (r < .14) in magnitude" (p. 109). These researchers suggest that "experimenters probably need not be concerned that timing effects threaten the external validity of psychological research outcomes (p. 109)." However, other researchers have identified individual difference variables that do relate to sign-ups, and in ways that might impact research outcomes. Gender has been repeatedly associated with the timing of experiment sign-ups

Experimental Aging Research, Jun 1, 1983

Younger and older adults solved reasoning problems in either abstract or meaningful form. Contrar... more Younger and older adults solved reasoning problems in either abstract or meaningful form. Contrary to expectation, older adults did not differ on the two versions, but younger adults were aided by meaningfulness. Results of a second task showed no age differences in the time to produce associations to problem elements or in the number of associations. There were differences in the quality of associations, and association quality was significantly related to performance on the reasoning problems for older adults.

European Journal of Social Psychology, 2008

Two studies tested whether psychosocial resources affect perception of another's distress. Pa... more Two studies tested whether psychosocial resources affect perception of another's distress. Participants' had their resources depleted, left unchanged, or boosted by elaborately recalling either someone who had betrayed them, a neutral person, or a close and trusted other, respectively. Participants then listened to disturbing baby cries, and rated how much distress the cries conveyed. As predicted, participants who recalled a betrayal subsequently heard the cries as conveying more distress than did other participants (Study 1). However, recalling a betrayal did not amplify cry ratings if, prior to cry rating, betrayal‐related thoughts and feelings were disclosed (Study 2). The moderating effect of disclosure on cry ratings indicates that boosting resources (disclosure) can counteract the effects of resource depletion (betrayal). Results in both studies remained significant even after controlling for mood. This research is the first to show that social contexts, and emotional disclosure, each affects perception of others' distress. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Jun 1, 2008

This research introduces the Social Support Opinion Survey (SSOS), the first measure of social su... more This research introduces the Social Support Opinion Survey (SSOS), the first measure of social support from the provider's perspective. Studies 1-3 developed the SSOS and confirmed that support opinions can be reliably characterized as directive (attempting to govern how others cope) and nondirective (facilitating without governing how others cope). Studies 4-6 showed that social support opinions relate to more basic cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal styles. Directive opinions were related to cognitive rigidity (need for structure, need for certainty, and just-world beliefs) and to an exchange orientation. Nondirective opinions, in contrast, were related to emotional differentiation, use of emotions as information, empathy, and a communal orientation. Thus, people may reveal who they are by how they help. Three decades of research have established the substantial benefits of social support. However, social support is not always helpful. Some expressions of support make copers feel inept, dependent, or disrespected, and can strain rather than deepen relationships (Coyne, Wortman, & Lehman, 1988). In fact, "negative social support" can be more damaging than positive support is beneficial (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer, & Vohs, 2001; Pagel, Erdly, & Becker, 1987). Why is social support sometimes ineffective or even harmful? The external conditions of helping, such as supporters' relationships to copers (Coyne, Ellard, & Smith, 1990; Coyne & Smith, 1991), the emotional and physical strain of supplying support (Coyne et al., 1988), and even time pressures (Berg, 1987) all play a part. However, there is a surprisingly underexplored 1 The authors thank Gretchen Van De Walle for her editorial comments; Anthony Iacovelli, Reid Spencer, and Deptina Valree for their help with survey administration; and Frank Gengaro for his help in participant recruitment.

Current Opinion in Psychology

European Journal of Social Psychology, Jan 12, 2017

Is perception of human motion affected by psychosocial resources? According to the Resources and ... more Is perception of human motion affected by psychosocial resources? According to the Resources and Perception Model, perception is jointly affected by subjective threat and psychosocial resources that buffer threat. Two experiments tested whether social threat (i.e., ostracism) and psychosocial resources affect perception of human motion. Observers attempted to identify human movement in ambiguous point-light displays after being ostracized or not ostracized. Additionally, trait resources (self-esteem plus social support) were measured (Studies 1 and 2), and self-affirmation was manipulated (Study 2). Study 1 showed that ostracism reduced sensitivity for detecting human motion but not among people with ample trait resources. Study 2 replicated this ostracism-by-trait resources interaction. It also showed that self-affirmation improved human motion perception for all included participants but only benefited ostracized participants with ample trait resources. These studies show that a basic visual skill-detecting human motion-is jointly affected by social threats and psychosocial resources.