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Majority Support for Minority Out‐Groups: The Roles of Compassion and Guilt
Author(s) -
Karaçanta Aydin,
Fitness Julie
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00125.x
Subject(s) - psychology , lesbian , compassion , social psychology , perspective (graphical) , helping behavior , human sexuality , psychoanalysis , gender studies , artificial intelligence , sociology , political science , computer science , law
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of compassion and guilt on support for and avoidance of an out‐group program. Participants were 98 heterosexuals who were given 3 different sets of perspective‐taking instructions: other‐focused, self‐focused, and detachment. Next, they watched a video of a bogus interview with a gay university student who described being physically assaulted because of his sexuality. It was hypothesized that other‐focused instructions would elicit stronger support for a gay and lesbian anti‐violence program than the other 2 conditions. This hypothesis was supported for willingness to volunteer for the program, but not for funds allocated to the program. Self‐focused instructions were associated with program avoidance. Implications of the results are discussed.