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Date Permissions Signed

5-24-2022

Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Experimental Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Czopp, Alex

Second Advisor

Lemm, Kristi M., 1971-

Third Advisor

Warren, Michael B.

Abstract

Although perspective-taking has been used to reduce negative attitudes toward social outgroups (see Todd & Galinsky, 2014), there are contexts where perspective-taking may backfire. When perceivers expect to interact with the outgroup target they imagine the perspective of, they have been shown to have an increase in meta-perceptual concerns, meta-stereotypes, which can draw perceivers away from imagining the perspective of the target and toward concerns for how they are being perceived. The current study (N = 193) examined whether different kinds of perspective-taking (imagine-self, imagine-other) influenced attitudes towards marginalized groups and whether such effects were moderated by perceivers’ individual levels of self-compassion, a positive and balanced disposition towards oneself. Results revealed that although self-compassion did not moderate the effect of perspective-taking on attitudes towards marginalized groups, self-compassion moderated the effect of perspective-taking on reaction time to meta-stereotype words (among other stimuli) during a lexical decision-making task. Specifically, individuals high in self-compassion responded faster to words (e.g., prejudiced, thoughtful) and non-words when perspective-taking relative to those who received no instructions. Such results have implications for the utility of perspective-taking in anticipated intergroup interactions and provide clues as to what individual difference indicators may influence its cognitive and emotional implications.

Type

Text

Keywords

perspective-taking, intergroup interactions, meta-stereotypes, self-compassion

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1325204917

Subject – LCSH

Stereotypes (Social psychology); Social groups--Psychological aspects; Intergroup relations; Group identity; Compassion

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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