Suchergebnisse

Abstract. Gateway Groups are characterized by a unique social categorization which enables them to be identified with two or more groups within the context of intergroup relations. Due to their strategic situation, Gateway Groups have been found to have the potential to improve the relations between their distinct social counterparts. In this paper we attempted to replicate the Gateway Group line of research in the Western Balkan context with two different kinds of Gateway Groups: Children of mixed Serb(s) and Bosniak families, and Bosniak citizens of Serbia. As in previous Gateway Group studies, we found that in both cases the exposure to a dually identified Gateway Group lead to a more complex perception of the Gateway Group itself, a higher belief in the potential of the Gateway Group to bridge the relations between the ingroup and the outgroup, and a greater sense of closeness between the ingroup and the outgroup.

People who are more avoidant of pathogens are more politically conservative, as are nations with greater parasite stress. In the current research, we test two prominent hypotheses that have been proposed as explanations for these relationships. The first, which is an intragroup account, holds that these relationships between pathogens and politics are based on motivations to adhere to local norms, which are sometimes shaped by cultural evolution to have pathogenneutralizing properties. The second, which is an intergroup account, holds that these same relationships are based on motivations to avoid contact with outgroups, who might pose greater infectious disease threats than ingroup members. Results from a study surveying 11,501 participants across 30 nations are more consistent with the intragroup account than with the intergroup account. National parasite stress relates to traditionalism (an aspect of conservatism especially related to adherence to group norms) but not to social dominance orientation (SDO; an aspect of conservatism especially related to endorsements of intergroup barriers and negativity toward ethnic and racial outgroups). Further, individual differences in pathogen-avoidance motives (i.e., disgust sensitivity) relate more strongly to traditionalism than to SDO within the 30 nations.