Gian Antonio Di Bernardo
Biographic Data
| ID | 760860 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gian Antonio Di Bernardo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gian Antonio |
| FAMILY NAME | Di Bernardo |
| SIGNATURE | DI BERNARDO G A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Modena and Reggio Emilia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3922-5712 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Role of Sexual Goals Fit in Interactions: Testing the Social Interaction Model of Objectification
In the current article, we tested the social interaction model of objectification to explore the effects of the activation and compatibility of sexual goals on women's perceptions of sexual objectification and behavioral intentions. Studies 1 ( N = 272) and 2 ( N = 141), conducted in Italy, demonstrated the importance of women's sexual goals in shaping favorable perceptions and subsequent behavioral intentions in sexually objectifying interaction…
No Hard Feelings: The Role of Self-Objectification and Self-Dehumanization in Understanding Emotions and Mental States in Cisgender Heterosexual Women
In the current research, we investigated whether self-objectification (i.e., giving priority to physical appearance over other personal attributes) and self-dehumanization (i.e., the denial of one's humanity) are associated with an impaired ability to understand others’ emotions, as reflected in empathy (both affective and cognitive) and mental state understanding, as measured by theory of mind i.e., the ability to comprehend others’ mental and e…
Your team can make you a better person: Team cohesion is associated with off‐field prosocial behaviour via fairplay team norms and empathy in rugby union
Ample research has investigated the relationship between team cohesion and on‐field behaviour, while the association between the first and off‐field prosocial behaviour has been almost overlooked. To fill this gap, we conducted a study in a sample of Italian Rugby Union athletes to examine whether: (a) team cohesion is associated with off‐field prosocial behaviour; and (b) the underlying mechanisms of this association. We focused on the two dimen…
Who Is in Charge? Partner-Sexual Objectification, Personal Power, and Relationship Satisfaction in Heterosexual Women
Exploring the impact of sexual objectification within romantic relationships is an emerging field of study. Previous work has typically associated sexual objectification by a romantic partner with adverse outcomes for both the individual and the relationship. Our research sought to build upon and advance this emerging body of literature by investigating the link between partner-sexual objectification and women's personal power. Personal power, de…
Dispositional empathy and personality as predictors of contact quality: The mediating roles of contact self-efficacy and effort towards contact
While the prejudice-reduction effect of intergroup contact has been extensively demonstrated, research identifying antecedents of positive contact and underlying mechanisms is limited. Two studies, in Italy (N = 239 Italian adolescents) and the UK (N = 299 White British adults), examined dispositional empathy and personality traits as predictors of contact quality, with effort towards contact and contact self-efficacy as underlying mechanisms. St…
Proxemic Behaviors During Gay/Straight Interactions: An Automated Analysis Through Kinect Depth-Sensing Camera
150), we investigated proxemic behaviors featuring gay/straight dyadic interactions. In doing so, for the first time, we relied on an IR depth camera and considered the interpersonal volume between the interactants, a novel feature that exhaustively captures interactants' proxemic behaviors. Study 1 revealed that the straight participants' implicit sexual bias - but not the explicit prejudice - significantly predicted their volume while interacti…
Body Shame in 7–12-Year-Old Girls and Boys: The Role of Parental Attention to Children’s Appearance
Guided by the Tripartite Influence Model and Objectification Theory, we examined whether parents' attention to their children's appearance was related to higher body shame in girls and boys. In Study 1 ( N = 195) and 2 ( N = 163), we investigated 7-12-year-old children's metaperceptions about parents' attention to their appearance and its association with children's body shame. In Study 3, we examined the link between parents' self-reported atten…
Solidarity across group lines: Secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact, perceived moral distance, and collective action
We tested, in three studies, whether the generalization of contact effects from primary to secondary outgroups—the secondary transfer effect (STE)—occurs for collective action. The results supported a serial mediation model: contact with immigrants by advantaged group members (Italians: Study 1, N = 146, 121 females, M age = 28.31 years; Study 3, N = 406, 239 females, M age = 36.35; British people, Study 2, N = 160, 113 females, M age = 32.31) wa…
Parental Support during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Friend or Foe? A Moderation Analysis of the Association between Maternal Anxiety and Children’s Stress in Italian Dyads
There is evidence that parental psychological disorders in stressful situations increase the risk of disturbance in child development. This has been investigated in disasters but not in pandemics, which are sensibly different from other types of traumatic events. We investigated the relationship between mothers' anxiety and their children's (self-reported) stress and the boundary conditions of this association during the first full COVID-19 lockd…
Let's stay close: An examination of the effects of imagined contact on behavior toward children with disability
In line with current developments in indirect intergroup contact literature, we conducted a field study using the imagined contact paradigm among high‐status (Italian children) and low‐status (children with foreign origins) group members ( N = 122; 53 females, mean age = 7.52 years). The experiment aimed to improve attitudes and behavior toward a different low‐status group, children with disability. To assess behavior, we focused on an objective …
Using sport media exposure to promote gender equality: Counter-stereotypical gender perceptions and the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup
By relying on literature on counter-stereotypes and media contact, we investigated whether media exposure is associated with counter-stereotypical gender perceptions. Focusing on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, we recruited samples ( N = 2,228) from eight competing countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, England, US) across three continents. We hypothesized that exposure to media coverage of the competition’s counter-stereotyp…
Sequential models of intergroup contact and social categorization: An experimental field test of integrated models
Research has proposed different models of how contact situations should be structured to maximize contact effects, focusing in particular on the role of categorization during contact. We conducted two experimental field interventions ( Ns = 247 and 247) to test models that integrate different levels of categorization. Each of the tested models was contrasted against a no-intervention control condition. In both studies, we assessed effects shortly…
Once upon a time: Using fairy tales as a form of vicarious contact to prevent stigma‐based bullying among schoolchildren
We conducted a vicarious contact intervention with the aim of promoting bystanders' intentions to react to stigma‐based bullying among schoolchildren. Participants were Italian primary schoolchildren ( N = 117 first to third graders); the outgroup was represented by foreign children. Vicarious contact was operationalized with story reading, creating fairy tales on stigma‐based bullying where minority characters were bullied by majority characters…
Stop looking at me! associations between men's partner‐objectification and women's self‐objectification, body shame and life satisfaction in romantic relationships
A growing amount of empirical evidence shows that sexual objectification can be elicited within the context of romantic relationships, leading to adverse consequences for women's well‐being. However, most of this research assessed women's self‐reported perceptions of being objectified by their romantic partner, while scant and not converging research has considered men's objectifying perceptions toward their romantic partners. Furthermore, little…
Strategies for the promotion of humanity attribution to outgroups
Outgroup dehumanisation, the denial of full humanity to outgroups relative to ingroups, is pervasive in many contemporary societies. The aim of the present work is to review effective strategies aimed at fostering outgroup humanity attribution. After presenting the main models of humanity attribution, we differentiate two types of strategies. Outgroup-specific strategies are focused on a target outgroup, therefore their effectiveness is more depe…
Resilience in children in the aftermath of disasters: A systematic review and a new perspective on individual, interpersonal, group, and intergroup level factors
Disasters can impact upon individuals, families, and communities in multiple ways. Research has mainly focused on risk and protective factors relating to the child (individual level) and the family (interpersonal level), not taking into account the processes at the level of social groups. The present review aims to (a) review psychological research on disasters determined by natural events in childhood, (b) distinguish individual, interpersonal, …
Fading Affect Bias in Intergroup Relations: The Role of Intergroup Contact in Fading Outgroup Affect
Negative affect associated with autobiographical events fades faster over time than positive affect. This Fading Affect Bias (FAB) has been established in the individual and interpersonal domains. Two studies tested the FAB in intergroup relations with Muslims ( N= 76 White British non-Muslim) and opposite gender ( N = 242 women and men) as target outgroups. The results indicated that the FAB exists in an intergroup context, for both ingroup and …
Fighting stigma‐based bullying in primary school children: An experimental intervention using vicarious intergroup contact and social norms
In this theory‐driven experimental field intervention, we used vicarious intergroup contact, a popular prejudice‐reduction strategy, to fight stigma‐based bullying. We focused on the role of peer norms, manipulated by asking participants to work individually or collectively in reinforcing activities following vicarious contact (operationalized as story reading). Participants were 346 Italian 4 th ‐5 th grade primary school children (48% females).…
The role of optimal conditions and intergroup contact in promoting positive intergroup relations in and out of the workplace: A study with ethnic majority and minority workers
A field study was conducted with majority and minority group members to test whether the effects of optimal contact conditions and of intergroup contact generalize across situations, and extend to the support of intergroup equality in terms of agreement with social policies benefitting the minority group. Participants were 163 Italian and 129 immigrant workers in three corporate organizations. Results from structural equation modelling analyses r…
Following the best of us to help them: Group member prototypicality and collective action
While considering the role of group-level factors as predictors of collective action, research has overlooked the role of group prototypes in determining willingness to engage in collective action. To begin to investigate this area, we conducted two correlational studies ( Ns = 141 and 98) in high schools examining the association between prototypical ingroup members’ desire to engage in collective action and participants’ collective action on be…
The role of relational dependence, forgiveness and hope on the intention to return with an abusive partner
The aim of this study was to examine psychological and relational variables such as dependence, forgiveness (both in their positive and negative dimensions), and hope that may explain why women reconciliate with abusive partners. We administered a questionnaire to women victims of violence. Relational dependence was indirectly associated with greater intentions to return to the violent partner via benevolent forgiveness and hope of a change in th…
Support for rejection and reception policies toward asylum seekers in Italy: The role of conservative ideologies and legitimizing myths
Based on Social Dominance Theory (SDT), this study investigates the relationships between ideologically conservative attitudes (social dominance orientation, SDO; right-wing authoritarianism, RWA), legitimizing myths (false belief in asylum seekers as bogus; perception of in-group threats), and citizens' support for restricted reception and rejection of asylum policies. A sample of 539 people living in Italy filled in an anonymous questionnaire a…
Do they want contact with us? The role of intergroup contact meta‐perceptions on positive contact and attitudes
This research examined the role of contact meta‐perceptions on positive intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes. Specifically, perceptions of the ingroup's and outgroup's desire for intergroup contact were simultaneously tested as predictors of intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes. Three correlational studies were conducted in three distinct contexts, international students' view of British students, general public views of people with sch…
Workers' self‐objectification and tendencies to conform to others
Recent research showed that workers' self‐objectification—their self‐perception as objects rather than human beings—leads to detrimental intrapersonal consequences. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon may also affect interpersonal relations, by increasing workers' tendencies to conform. In a correlational study, Italian workers who perceived their work as more objectifying self‐objectified more—self‐attributed less human …
Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes
AIMS: Driven by the literature on pluralistic ignorance, our research investigates fear of appearing racist, being rejected, discriminated, and disinterest in intergroup contact as antecedents of contact and outgroup attitudes, focusing on attributional differences between the majority and minority group perspectives. METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed in schools in Northern Italy. Participants were 400 Italian and 141 immigrant high-school…
Improving Intergroup Relations with Extended Contact among Young Children: Mediation by Intergroup Empathy and Moderation by Direct Intergroup Contact
A correlational study investigated extended contact as a strategy to improve outgroup attitudes and stereotyping and to prepare children for future contact. Additional aims were to investigate when and why the effects of extended contact occur. In particular, intergroup empathy was tested as a mediator and direct contact (i.e. cross‐group friendship) as a moderator of extended contact. Participants were Italian and immigrant elementary school chi…
Do they want contact with us? The role of intergroup contact meta‐perceptions on positive contact and attitudes
This research examined the role of contact meta‐perceptions on positive intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes. Specifically, perceptions of the ingroup's and outgroup's desire for intergroup contact were simultaneously tested as predictors of intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes. Three correlational studies were conducted in three distinct contexts, international students' view of British students, general public views of people with sch…
Does status affect intergroup perceptions of humanity
Across three studies, we examined whether ingroup status may affect intergroup perceptions of humanity. In Studies 1 and 2, we considered real groups: Northern versus Southern Italians; in Study 3, we manipulated the socioeconomic status of two minimal groups. In all studies, members of higher status groups perceived the ingroup as more human than the outgroup, while members of lower status groups did not assign a privileged human status to the i…
Self-Efficacy in Social Work: Development and Initial Validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Social Workers
Self-efficacy beliefs do not reflect a generic sense of competence, but are instead context-specific. Therefore, self-efficacy should be assessed by using an ad hoc scale measuring individual behaviors that allows social workers to exercise influence over events that affect their work life. The present study describes the development and initial validation of the self-efficacy scale for social workers (SESSW). Items were generated through the Cri…
Fostering social change among advantaged and disadvantaged group members: Integrating intergroup contact and social identity perspectives on collective action
Recent research on intergroup contact has shown how interactions with outgroup members may both decrease and increase motivations to achieve social equality. Similarly, social identity theory has identified the conditions that lead individuals to challenge unequal social systems. Integrating these two major theories, the current study examined the processes underlying the relationship between intergroup contact and participants’ willingness to en…
Using intercultural videos of direct contact to implement vicarious contact: A school-based intervention that improves intergroup attitudes
We aimed to create an engaging and dynamic intervention for schools that uses videos of direct school peer contact to implement a vicarious contact intervention. Participants were ethnic majority (Italian) and minority (immigrant) high school students ( N = 485; age ranging from 14 to 22 years old, M age = 17.24 years), who were asked to watch and evaluate videos created by peers from their school for a competition for the best video on intercult…
Imagining contact reduces prejudice in preschool children
We examined the effectiveness of an imagery‐based strategy designed to reduce prejudice in preschoolers in Italy. Three studies involving different target groups (disabled children, Black children) were conducted within Italian preschools. Children (4–6 years) were asked to imagine and draw meeting an outgroup member (Studies 1 and 2) or to imagine writing a letter to an outgroup member (Study 3). Results revealed that preschoolers in the experim…
Don’t hurt my outgroup friend: A multifaceted form of imagined contact promotes intentions to counteract bullying
A growing body of research has shown that imagined intergroup contact can improve outgroup attitudes. The aim of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a multifaceted form of imagined contact in counteracting bullying in school children, and additionally to test the underlying processes of this effect. Two hundred and fifteen Italian elementary school children took part in a 3-week intervention, where they were asked to imagine a s…
Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes
AIMS: Driven by the literature on pluralistic ignorance, our research investigates fear of appearing racist, being rejected, discriminated, and disinterest in intergroup contact as antecedents of contact and outgroup attitudes, focusing on attributional differences between the majority and minority group perspectives. METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed in schools in Northern Italy. Participants were 400 Italian and 141 immigrant high-school…
Outgroup morality perceptions mediate secondary transfer effects from direct and extended contact: Evidence from majority and minority group members
The secondary transfer effect (STE), defined as contact with a primary outgroup improving attitudes towards a secondary outgroup uninvolved in contact, has mainly been studied with reference to direct contact and considering attitude generalization as the main mediating mechanism. Using a majority (422 Italians) and minority (130 immigrants) adolescent sample from high schools in Italy, we examined outgroup morality perceptions as a new mediating…
Following the best of us to help them: Group member prototypicality and collective action
While considering the role of group-level factors as predictors of collective action, research has overlooked the role of group prototypes in determining willingness to engage in collective action. To begin to investigate this area, we conducted two correlational studies ( Ns = 141 and 98) in high schools examining the association between prototypical ingroup members’ desire to engage in collective action and participants’ collective action on be…
The role of relational dependence, forgiveness and hope on the intention to return with an abusive partner
The aim of this study was to examine psychological and relational variables such as dependence, forgiveness (both in their positive and negative dimensions), and hope that may explain why women reconciliate with abusive partners. We administered a questionnaire to women victims of violence. Relational dependence was indirectly associated with greater intentions to return to the violent partner via benevolent forgiveness and hope of a change in th…
Using sport media exposure to promote gender equality: Counter-stereotypical gender perceptions and the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup
By relying on literature on counter-stereotypes and media contact, we investigated whether media exposure is associated with counter-stereotypical gender perceptions. Focusing on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, we recruited samples ( N = 2,228) from eight competing countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, England, US) across three continents. We hypothesized that exposure to media coverage of the competition’s counter-stereotyp…
Sequential models of intergroup contact and social categorization: An experimental field test of integrated models
Research has proposed different models of how contact situations should be structured to maximize contact effects, focusing in particular on the role of categorization during contact. We conducted two experimental field interventions ( Ns = 247 and 247) to test models that integrate different levels of categorization. Each of the tested models was contrasted against a no-intervention control condition. In both studies, we assessed effects shortly…
Stop looking at me! associations between men's partner‐objectification and women's self‐objectification, body shame and life satisfaction in romantic relationships
A growing amount of empirical evidence shows that sexual objectification can be elicited within the context of romantic relationships, leading to adverse consequences for women's well‐being. However, most of this research assessed women's self‐reported perceptions of being objectified by their romantic partner, while scant and not converging research has considered men's objectifying perceptions toward their romantic partners. Furthermore, little…
Fighting stigma‐based bullying in primary school children: An experimental intervention using vicarious intergroup contact and social norms
In this theory‐driven experimental field intervention, we used vicarious intergroup contact, a popular prejudice‐reduction strategy, to fight stigma‐based bullying. We focused on the role of peer norms, manipulated by asking participants to work individually or collectively in reinforcing activities following vicarious contact (operationalized as story reading). Participants were 346 Italian 4 th ‐5 th grade primary school children (48% females).…
The role of optimal conditions and intergroup contact in promoting positive intergroup relations in and out of the workplace: A study with ethnic majority and minority workers
A field study was conducted with majority and minority group members to test whether the effects of optimal contact conditions and of intergroup contact generalize across situations, and extend to the support of intergroup equality in terms of agreement with social policies benefitting the minority group. Participants were 163 Italian and 129 immigrant workers in three corporate organizations. Results from structural equation modelling analyses r…
Solidarity across group lines: Secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact, perceived moral distance, and collective action
We tested, in three studies, whether the generalization of contact effects from primary to secondary outgroups—the secondary transfer effect (STE)—occurs for collective action. The results supported a serial mediation model: contact with immigrants by advantaged group members (Italians: Study 1, N = 146, 121 females, M age = 28.31 years; Study 3, N = 406, 239 females, M age = 36.35; British people, Study 2, N = 160, 113 females, M age = 32.31) wa…
Workers' self‐objectification and tendencies to conform to others
Recent research showed that workers' self‐objectification—their self‐perception as objects rather than human beings—leads to detrimental intrapersonal consequences. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon may also affect interpersonal relations, by increasing workers' tendencies to conform. In a correlational study, Italian workers who perceived their work as more objectifying self‐objectified more—self‐attributed less human …
Body Shame in 7–12-Year-Old Girls and Boys: The Role of Parental Attention to Children’s Appearance
Guided by the Tripartite Influence Model and Objectification Theory, we examined whether parents' attention to their children's appearance was related to higher body shame in girls and boys. In Study 1 ( N = 195) and 2 ( N = 163), we investigated 7-12-year-old children's metaperceptions about parents' attention to their appearance and its association with children's body shame. In Study 3, we examined the link between parents' self-reported atten…
Let's stay close: An examination of the effects of imagined contact on behavior toward children with disability
In line with current developments in indirect intergroup contact literature, we conducted a field study using the imagined contact paradigm among high‐status (Italian children) and low‐status (children with foreign origins) group members ( N = 122; 53 females, mean age = 7.52 years). The experiment aimed to improve attitudes and behavior toward a different low‐status group, children with disability. To assess behavior, we focused on an objective …
Once upon a time: Using fairy tales as a form of vicarious contact to prevent stigma‐based bullying among schoolchildren
We conducted a vicarious contact intervention with the aim of promoting bystanders' intentions to react to stigma‐based bullying among schoolchildren. Participants were Italian primary schoolchildren ( N = 117 first to third graders); the outgroup was represented by foreign children. Vicarious contact was operationalized with story reading, creating fairy tales on stigma‐based bullying where minority characters were bullied by majority characters…
Spontaneous imagined contact and intergroup relations: Quality matters
While research on experimental interventions that aim to improve outgroup attitudes via contact imagery grows, it is important to examine if contact imagery that occurs in spontaneous, non‐experimentally controlled conditions drives attitudes, and in what direction. To answer this, we constructed and validated a spontaneous imagined intergroup contact scale ( SIICS ) that differentiates between frequency, quality and elaboration of the spontaneou…
Does status affect intergroup perceptions of humanity
Across three studies, we examined whether ingroup status may affect intergroup perceptions of humanity. In Studies 1 and 2, we considered real groups: Northern versus Southern Italians; in Study 3, we manipulated the socioeconomic status of two minimal groups. In all studies, members of higher status groups perceived the ingroup as more human than the outgroup, while members of lower status groups did not assign a privileged human status to the i…
Self-Efficacy in Social Work: Development and Initial Validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Social Workers
Self-efficacy beliefs do not reflect a generic sense of competence, but are instead context-specific. Therefore, self-efficacy should be assessed by using an ad hoc scale measuring individual behaviors that allows social workers to exercise influence over events that affect their work life. The present study describes the development and initial validation of the self-efficacy scale for social workers (SESSW). Items were generated through the Cri…
Improving Intergroup Relations with Extended Contact among Young Children: Mediation by Intergroup Empathy and Moderation by Direct Intergroup Contact
A correlational study investigated extended contact as a strategy to improve outgroup attitudes and stereotyping and to prepare children for future contact. Additional aims were to investigate when and why the effects of extended contact occur. In particular, intergroup empathy was tested as a mediator and direct contact (i.e. cross‐group friendship) as a moderator of extended contact. Participants were Italian and immigrant elementary school chi…
Discussing differences between groups: The content of intergroup encounters and motivation for social change among members of advantaged groups
Recent research highlighted that intergroup contact can inadvertently undermine social change. However, relatively little work had linked experiences of contact to motivation for social change among advantaged groups. We develop the hypothesis that the association between amount of intergroup contact and motivation for social change depends on the content of the encounter. Specifically, intergroup contact that prioritizes differences between grou…
Using intercultural videos of direct contact to implement vicarious contact: A school-based intervention that improves intergroup attitudes
We aimed to create an engaging and dynamic intervention for schools that uses videos of direct school peer contact to implement a vicarious contact intervention. Participants were ethnic majority (Italian) and minority (immigrant) high school students ( N = 485; age ranging from 14 to 22 years old, M age = 17.24 years), who were asked to watch and evaluate videos created by peers from their school for a competition for the best video on intercult…
Imagining contact reduces prejudice in preschool children
We examined the effectiveness of an imagery‐based strategy designed to reduce prejudice in preschoolers in Italy. Three studies involving different target groups (disabled children, Black children) were conducted within Italian preschools. Children (4–6 years) were asked to imagine and draw meeting an outgroup member (Studies 1 and 2) or to imagine writing a letter to an outgroup member (Study 3). Results revealed that preschoolers in the experim…
Fostering social change among advantaged and disadvantaged group members: Integrating intergroup contact and social identity perspectives on collective action
Recent research on intergroup contact has shown how interactions with outgroup members may both decrease and increase motivations to achieve social equality. Similarly, social identity theory has identified the conditions that lead individuals to challenge unequal social systems. Integrating these two major theories, the current study examined the processes underlying the relationship between intergroup contact and participants’ willingness to en…
Don’t hurt my outgroup friend: A multifaceted form of imagined contact promotes intentions to counteract bullying
A growing body of research has shown that imagined intergroup contact can improve outgroup attitudes. The aim of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a multifaceted form of imagined contact in counteracting bullying in school children, and additionally to test the underlying processes of this effect. Two hundred and fifteen Italian elementary school children took part in a 3-week intervention, where they were asked to imagine a s…
Outgroup morality perceptions mediate secondary transfer effects from direct and extended contact: Evidence from majority and minority group members
The secondary transfer effect (STE), defined as contact with a primary outgroup improving attitudes towards a secondary outgroup uninvolved in contact, has mainly been studied with reference to direct contact and considering attitude generalization as the main mediating mechanism. Using a majority (422 Italians) and minority (130 immigrants) adolescent sample from high schools in Italy, we examined outgroup morality perceptions as a new mediating…
Support for rejection and reception policies toward asylum seekers in Italy: The role of conservative ideologies and legitimizing myths
Based on Social Dominance Theory (SDT), this study investigates the relationships between ideologically conservative attitudes (social dominance orientation, SDO; right-wing authoritarianism, RWA), legitimizing myths (false belief in asylum seekers as bogus; perception of in-group threats), and citizens' support for restricted reception and rejection of asylum policies. A sample of 539 people living in Italy filled in an anonymous questionnaire a…
Do they want contact with us? The role of intergroup contact meta‐perceptions on positive contact and attitudes
This research examined the role of contact meta‐perceptions on positive intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes. Specifically, perceptions of the ingroup's and outgroup's desire for intergroup contact were simultaneously tested as predictors of intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes. Three correlational studies were conducted in three distinct contexts, international students' view of British students, general public views of people with sch…
Workers' self‐objectification and tendencies to conform to others
Recent research showed that workers' self‐objectification—their self‐perception as objects rather than human beings—leads to detrimental intrapersonal consequences. In the present research, we explored whether this phenomenon may also affect interpersonal relations, by increasing workers' tendencies to conform. In a correlational study, Italian workers who perceived their work as more objectifying self‐objectified more—self‐attributed less human …
Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes
AIMS: Driven by the literature on pluralistic ignorance, our research investigates fear of appearing racist, being rejected, discriminated, and disinterest in intergroup contact as antecedents of contact and outgroup attitudes, focusing on attributional differences between the majority and minority group perspectives. METHODS: Questionnaires were distributed in schools in Northern Italy. Participants were 400 Italian and 141 immigrant high-school…
Spontaneous imagined contact and intergroup relations: Quality matters
While research on experimental interventions that aim to improve outgroup attitudes via contact imagery grows, it is important to examine if contact imagery that occurs in spontaneous, non‐experimentally controlled conditions drives attitudes, and in what direction. To answer this, we constructed and validated a spontaneous imagined intergroup contact scale ( SIICS ) that differentiates between frequency, quality and elaboration of the spontaneou…
Resilience in children in the aftermath of disasters: A systematic review and a new perspective on individual, interpersonal, group, and intergroup level factors
Disasters can impact upon individuals, families, and communities in multiple ways. Research has mainly focused on risk and protective factors relating to the child (individual level) and the family (interpersonal level), not taking into account the processes at the level of social groups. The present review aims to (a) review psychological research on disasters determined by natural events in childhood, (b) distinguish individual, interpersonal, …
Fading Affect Bias in Intergroup Relations: The Role of Intergroup Contact in Fading Outgroup Affect
Negative affect associated with autobiographical events fades faster over time than positive affect. This Fading Affect Bias (FAB) has been established in the individual and interpersonal domains. Two studies tested the FAB in intergroup relations with Muslims ( N= 76 White British non-Muslim) and opposite gender ( N = 242 women and men) as target outgroups. The results indicated that the FAB exists in an intergroup context, for both ingroup and …
Fighting stigma‐based bullying in primary school children: An experimental intervention using vicarious intergroup contact and social norms
In this theory‐driven experimental field intervention, we used vicarious intergroup contact, a popular prejudice‐reduction strategy, to fight stigma‐based bullying. We focused on the role of peer norms, manipulated by asking participants to work individually or collectively in reinforcing activities following vicarious contact (operationalized as story reading). Participants were 346 Italian 4 th ‐5 th grade primary school children (48% females).…
The role of optimal conditions and intergroup contact in promoting positive intergroup relations in and out of the workplace: A study with ethnic majority and minority workers
A field study was conducted with majority and minority group members to test whether the effects of optimal contact conditions and of intergroup contact generalize across situations, and extend to the support of intergroup equality in terms of agreement with social policies benefitting the minority group. Participants were 163 Italian and 129 immigrant workers in three corporate organizations. Results from structural equation modelling analyses r…
Following the best of us to help them: Group member prototypicality and collective action
While considering the role of group-level factors as predictors of collective action, research has overlooked the role of group prototypes in determining willingness to engage in collective action. To begin to investigate this area, we conducted two correlational studies ( Ns = 141 and 98) in high schools examining the association between prototypical ingroup members’ desire to engage in collective action and participants’ collective action on be…
The role of relational dependence, forgiveness and hope on the intention to return with an abusive partner
The aim of this study was to examine psychological and relational variables such as dependence, forgiveness (both in their positive and negative dimensions), and hope that may explain why women reconciliate with abusive partners. We administered a questionnaire to women victims of violence. Relational dependence was indirectly associated with greater intentions to return to the violent partner via benevolent forgiveness and hope of a change in th…
Parental Support during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Friend or Foe? A Moderation Analysis of the Association between Maternal Anxiety and Children’s Stress in Italian Dyads
There is evidence that parental psychological disorders in stressful situations increase the risk of disturbance in child development. This has been investigated in disasters but not in pandemics, which are sensibly different from other types of traumatic events. We investigated the relationship between mothers' anxiety and their children's (self-reported) stress and the boundary conditions of this association during the first full COVID-19 lockd…
Let's stay close: An examination of the effects of imagined contact on behavior toward children with disability
In line with current developments in indirect intergroup contact literature, we conducted a field study using the imagined contact paradigm among high‐status (Italian children) and low‐status (children with foreign origins) group members ( N = 122; 53 females, mean age = 7.52 years). The experiment aimed to improve attitudes and behavior toward a different low‐status group, children with disability. To assess behavior, we focused on an objective …
Using sport media exposure to promote gender equality: Counter-stereotypical gender perceptions and the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup
By relying on literature on counter-stereotypes and media contact, we investigated whether media exposure is associated with counter-stereotypical gender perceptions. Focusing on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, we recruited samples ( N = 2,228) from eight competing countries (China, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain, England, US) across three continents. We hypothesized that exposure to media coverage of the competition’s counter-stereotyp…
Sequential models of intergroup contact and social categorization: An experimental field test of integrated models
Research has proposed different models of how contact situations should be structured to maximize contact effects, focusing in particular on the role of categorization during contact. We conducted two experimental field interventions ( Ns = 247 and 247) to test models that integrate different levels of categorization. Each of the tested models was contrasted against a no-intervention control condition. In both studies, we assessed effects shortly…
Once upon a time: Using fairy tales as a form of vicarious contact to prevent stigma‐based bullying among schoolchildren
We conducted a vicarious contact intervention with the aim of promoting bystanders' intentions to react to stigma‐based bullying among schoolchildren. Participants were Italian primary schoolchildren ( N = 117 first to third graders); the outgroup was represented by foreign children. Vicarious contact was operationalized with story reading, creating fairy tales on stigma‐based bullying where minority characters were bullied by majority characters…
Psychology (33 works) · Social Psychology (31 works) · Social Psychology (26 works) · Developmental psychology (25 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (22 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (19 works) · Outgroup (17 works) · Ingroups and outgroups (12 works) · Contact theory (8 works) · Perception (8 works)