Description
Anti-Semitism is a recurrent phenomenon in modern history, but has garnered relatively little focus among research psychologists compared to prejudice toward other groups. The present work frames anti-Semitism as a strategy for managing the implications of Jews’ extraordinary achievements compared to other groups. Anti-Semitic beliefs are sorted into two types: stereotypes that undercut the merit of Jews’ achievements by attributing them to unfair advantages such as power behind the scenes; and stereotypes that offset Jews’ achievements by attaching unfavorable traits or defects to Jews, which are unrelated to the achievement domains, e.g. irritating personalities or genetically-specific health problems. The salience of Jews’ disproportionate achievements was hypothesized as driving greater endorsement of anti-Semitic stereotypes, and envy was hypothesized as mediating this effect. Individual differences in narcissistic self-esteem and moral intuitions around in-group loyalty and equity-based fairness were hypothesized as moderating the effect of Jewish achievement on anti-Semitic beliefs. The results showed greater endorsement of undercutting – but not offsetting – stereotypes after reading about Jewish achievements, compared to Jewish culture or general American achievement conditions. Envy did not significantly mediate this effect. The moral foundation of in-group loyalty predicted greater endorsement of anti-Semitic stereotypes in the Jewish Achievement condition, and lesser endorsement in the Jewish Culture condition. Fairness intuitions did not significantly predict stereotype endorsement. Limitations of the sample and next steps are discussed.
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Details
Title
- The role of envy in anti-semitism
Contributors
- Duarte, Jose Leopoldo (Author)
- Cohen, Adam B. (Thesis advisor)
- Neuberg, Steven (Committee member)
- Karoly, Paul (Committee member)
- Nagoshi, Craig (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2015
Subjects
Resource Type
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Note
- thesisPartial requirement for: Ph. D., Arizona State University, 2015
- bibliographyIncludes bibliographical references (pages 54-56)
- Field of study: Psychology
Citation and reuse
Statement of Responsibility
by Jose Leopoldo Duarte