Michael Bernstein, Psychological & Social Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, USA, will give an online presentation via Zoom in this week’s Social, Economic, and Decision Psychology research seminar (Thursday 5 May, 17:00-18:00).

Negative reactions to single-group protesters—the role of perceived exclusion

Single-group protesters are groups which advocate for social justice on behalf of a minoritized or stigmatized group (e.g., feminists, Black Lives Matter). These groups are often met with resistance by outsiders, and we hypothesized that some of why this may happen may be due to a perception that these groups are exclusionary. Across multiple studies, we show the effect (that perceptions of exclusion among outsiders drive negative attitudes and behaviors towards such groups), demonstrate the effect remains after controlling for other predictors (e.g., prejudice), and show moderators of the effect supporting the underlying mechanism. We discuss the implications for continuing to understand intergroup relations.

Supporting literature: Bernstein, M. J., Neubauer, A. B., Benfield, J. A., Potter, L., & Smyth, J. M. (2021). Within-person effects of inclusion and exclusion on well-being in daily life. Personal Relationships, 28, 940–960.