Social dominance orientation and right wing authoritarianism as predictors of prejudice and discrimination against Muslims
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Marnie Lynn Sutton
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
McCallum, Debra
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
The University of Alabama
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2014
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
84
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Committee members: Barth, Joan; Gilpin, Ansley; Guadagno, Rosanna; Leeper, James
NOTES PERTAINING TO PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Text of Note
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-23568-5
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Discipline of degree
Psychology
Body granting the degree
The University of Alabama
Text preceding or following the note
2014
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social dominance orientation (SDO) and right wing authoritarianism (RWA) on discrimination in the face of a threat to either resources or in-group identity. SDO can be viewed as the attitudinal manifestation of realistic conflict theory (RTC) while RWA can be viewed as that of social identity theory (SIT). An online survey was administered to 631 college students assessing prejudice, SDO, and RWA. Emails were sent from a fictitious campus organization to 503 participants who agreed to be contacted for a subsequent study. The emails manipulated either a threat to resources by offering a scholarship or a threat to in-group identity by offering an invitation to join a culturally based campus club and were incorrectly addressed to a male target with either a Muslim or European-American name. It was made clear that if the email had been sent in error, it was necessary to return it to the source or the recipient would lose his chance to receive these opportunities. Return rates were recorded as a behavioral measure of discrimination. Overall, it was expected that more emails addressed to the European American target would be returned than emails addressed to the Muslim target (H1). Based on RCT, it was also expected that in the face of a threat to resources (scholarship offer) participants high in SDO would be less likely to return emails addressed to the Muslim target than participants high in RWA (H2). Finally, based on SIT, it was expected that in the face of a threat to in-group identity (membership invitation), participants high in RWA would be less likely to return emails addressed to the Muslim target than participants high in SDO (H3). In both instances interactions were anticipated between the target and the attitudinal measure (SDO or RWA). Although the results were not statistically significant for the hypotheses, marginally significant results were observed and some interesting trends were noted. Additionally, prejudice against Muslims was found to have significant effects on email return rates.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Social psychology; Islamic Studies; Public policy
UNCONTROLLED SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Term
Social sciences;Psychology;Discrimination;Muslims;Prejudice;Right wing authoritarianism;Social dominance orientation;Threat to resources and identity