The effect of distrust on target person judgment: example of positive, culturally specific stereotype

Jakušić Babeli, Karla. (2016). The effect of distrust on target person judgment: example of positive, culturally specific stereotype. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology. [mentor Huić, Aleksandra].

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Abstract

To our knowledge, this is the first Croatian research focused on stereotype reducing effect of distrust. Since the whole field of research regarding beneficial effect of distrust on stereotyping is rather new, our main goal in this study was to further validate this effect. For that purpose we used positive, culturally specific stereotype for our region – the one about Bosnians. To test the expected hypothesis, we recruited 75 students from University of Zagreb. We induced diffuse distrust to half of them, using Scrambled sentences procedure for supraliminal priming, whereas other half was in neutral condition. All of the participants answered sociodemographic questions, read the story about a target person of Bosnian nationality and then gave their assessments about the aforementioned person. Based on the participants' judgments, 4 indicators were formed to serve as dependent variables. For none of them, the expected effect (distrust primed participants stereotyping less) emerged. The interaction effect of mood and group type, as well as the mood main effect were observed only for one dependent variable: Judgements congruent with the stereotype. In the control group, participants in better mood stereotyped the target person more than those in a more negative mood, whereas this difference got annuled in the distrust condition. In the paper we discuss these findings and address possible reasons for non – appearance of expected effects. We also offer guidelines for future research in the domain.

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