DR. LEE JUSSIM - 445-2070

WORK IN PROGRESS

(last updated, 4//07)

FOR A SUMMARY OF WORK COMPLETED IN THE LAST FEW YEARS,
GO TO MY BIO PAGE (The second half describes this work).

A short preliminary report on how to dramatically reduce grandmother death resulting from exams

A short statement about intellectual imperialism within social psychology.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS SCALE
I am currently working on developing a Political Correctness scale -- to assess people's willingness
to lie in order to appear unprejudiced. It has been designed to catch people
in the act of lying to appear unprejudiced on anonymous questionnaires.  High scores should reflect
lying to appear unprejudiced; low scores should reflect honest responding.  

Examples of PC  questions:
I have never noticed a person’s race when I first met them. (Denial of awareness of obvious group differences).
I am always friendly when I encounter a homeless person.  (Exaggerated liking of a member of a stigmatized group).

The best statement of our work in progress can be found by
clicking here.
 
 

STEREOTYPES AND PREJUDICE

Two series of studies examine the role of stereotypes (people's belefs about groups)
in person perception (their judgments of individuals from those groups). 
One set of studies (led my Tom Cain, a super graduate student)
examines the role of stereotypes in *implicit* (and explicit)
person perception.  (Implicit beliefs are beliefs that people hold outside
of conscious awareness).  We are using Greenwald's IAT to examine whether
racial stereotypes bias implicit evaluations of individual African-American
and White college applicants, even when people have clear individuating
information (in this case, their high school accomplishments) about those
individuals.  The upshot of this research is that, when people have clear
individuating information, they do not stereotype individual targets,
not explicitly, and not implicitly.

A second set examines the role of political stereotypes in judgments
of individual political targets.  This project, led by another fantastic
graduate student, Jarret Crawford, addresses the conditions under
label (Democrat, Republican) versus individuating information
(specific policy stands taken by a politician) influences people's
guesstimates regarding the positions taken by that politician on issues
about which people do not have direct individuating information.
These studies are driven by a new decision-tree model of how people
use and combine political stereotypes with political individuating
information.  The upshot of the model and the results are that:
1. When people have clear, relevant individuating information,
they use it, and ignore stereotypes.
2. People primarily stereotype as a last resort -- when they
have no useful or clear individuating information to go on.


We (led by the third of my triumvirate of great graduate students,
Florette Cohen) also have an ongoing series of studies examining
sources and manifestations of the modern resurgence in
anti-Semitism.  These studies seem to suggest that:
1. Reminders of death increase anti-Semitism
2. Because blunt expressions of bigotry are stigmatized,
people will rarely declare "Jews are vermin" or make similarly
vile statements.  Instead, anti-Semitism needs a socially
acceptable mask.  Our studies suggest that that mask
is often hostility to Israel.  That is, anti-Semitism often
manifests as increased opposition to and condemnation of,
Israel.
3. However, one can oppose or condemn Israel without
being an anti-Semite.
4. However (again), opposition to Israel may itself feed
back and increase  anti-Semitism.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
Research is ongoing examining the power and extent of self-fulfilling prophecies
in two elementary schools in a largely ethnic minority and relatively poor
public school district in New York.  It is also examining whether an intervention
designed to raise student achievement works, in part, because it raises
teacher expectations (which are then self-fulfilling).

Tom Cain and I (in collaboration with a Social Perception Lab
Alumna and Now Tenured Associate Professor, Stephanie Madon)
are also examining whether self-fulfilling prophecies accumulate
across perceivers.  So, if two perceivers hold the same inaccurate
expectation for a target, is the self-fulfilling prophecy effect size
larger than when only one holds an inaccurate expectation?
Stay tuned, we may soon have an answer....


OTHER GOINGS ON

Interpersonal expectancies.  I am also working on a book reviewing,

critically evaluating, and summarizing 50 years of research on interpersonal
expectancies.

Out of this book, two review papers have emerged: One on teacher expectations
and one on social perceptual accuracy. 

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