Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations

doi:10.1073/pnas.1611874114

. 2017 Jan 24;114(4):669-674.

doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611874114. Epub 2017 Jan 9.

Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations

Federica Durante¹, Susan T Fiske², Michele J Gelfand³, Franca Crippa⁴, Chiara Suttora⁴, Amelia Stillwell⁵, Frank Asbrock⁶, Zeynep Aycan⁷, Hege H Bye⁸, Rickard Carlsson⁹, Fredrik Björklund¹⁰, Munqith Dagher¹¹, Armando Geller¹², Christian Albrekt Larsen¹³, Abdel-Hamid Abdel Latif¹⁴, Tuuli Anna Mähönen¹⁵, Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti¹⁵, Ali Teymoori¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy; sfiske@princeton.edu federica.durante@unimib.it.
² Department of Psychology and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; sfiske@princeton.edu federica.durante@unimib.it.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy.
⁵ Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany.
⁷ Department of Psychology & Faculty of Management, Koc University, 34450 Istanbul, Turkey.
⁸ Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Linnaeus University, 391 82 Kalmar, Sweden.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
¹¹ Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IACSS), Amman 11941, Jordan.
¹² Scensei, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
¹³ Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies, Department of Political Science, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark.
¹⁴ The Egyptian Research and Training Center, 11341 Cairo, Egypt.
¹⁵ Open University, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helskini, Finland.
¹⁶ School of Psychology, Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre (Inserm U1219), University of Bordeaux, 33000 Bourdeaux, France.

PMID: 28069955
PMCID: PMC5278477
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1611874114

Free PMC article

Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations

Federica Durante et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017.

Free PMC article

. 2017 Jan 24;114(4):669-674.

doi: 10.1073/pnas.1611874114. Epub 2017 Jan 9.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy; sfiske@princeton.edu federica.durante@unimib.it.
² Department of Psychology and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; sfiske@princeton.edu federica.durante@unimib.it.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy.
⁵ Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany.
⁷ Department of Psychology & Faculty of Management, Koc University, 34450 Istanbul, Turkey.
⁸ Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Linnaeus University, 391 82 Kalmar, Sweden.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
¹¹ Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IACSS), Amman 11941, Jordan.
¹² Scensei, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
¹³ Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies, Department of Political Science, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark.
¹⁴ The Egyptian Research and Training Center, 11341 Cairo, Egypt.
¹⁵ Open University, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helskini, Finland.
¹⁶ School of Psychology, Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre (Inserm U1219), University of Bordeaux, 33000 Bourdeaux, France.

PMID: 28069955
PMCID: PMC5278477
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1611874114

Abstract

A cross-national study, 49 samples in 38 nations (n = 4,344), investigates whether national peace and conflict reflect ambivalent warmth and competence stereotypes: High-conflict societies (Pakistan) may need clearcut, unambivalent group images distinguishing friends from foes. Highly peaceful countries (Denmark) also may need less ambivalence because most groups occupy the shared national identity, with only a few outcasts. Finally, nations with intermediate conflict (United States) may need ambivalence to justify more complex intergroup-system stability. Using the Global Peace Index to measure conflict, a curvilinear (quadratic) relationship between ambivalence and conflict highlights how both extremely peaceful and extremely conflictual countries display lower stereotype ambivalence, whereas countries intermediate on peace-conflict present higher ambivalence. These data also replicated a linear inequality-ambivalence relationship.

Keywords: ambivalence; conflict; inequality; peace; stereotypes.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

**Fig. 1.**
US cluster analysis. Stars indicate cluster centroids. C, competence; H, high; L, low; W, warmth. A regression line is plotted. The United States has an intermediate (peace-conflict) GPI score of 2.056 and shows stereotype ambivalence (W-C r = 0.11).

**Fig. 2.**
Pakistan cluster analysis. Stars indicate cluster centroids. M, medium. A regression line is plotted. Pakistan has a high-conflict GPI score of 3.106 and shows low stereotype ambivalence (W-C r = 0.92).

**Fig. 3.**
Denmark cluster analysis. Stars indicate cluster centroids. A regression line is plotted. Denmark has a low-conflict GPI score of 1.193 and shows low stereotype ambivalence (W-C r = 0.58).

**Fig. 4.**
GPI coefficients and raw W-C correlations. A curvilinear (quadratic) pattern is significant (Table 1). UCB, Universidad Catolica Boliviana; UMSA, Universidad Mayor de San Andres; UPB, Universidad Privada Boliviana; UPB-CB, Universidad Privada Boliviana-Cochabamba.

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References

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[1] Oishi S. Socioecological psychology. Annu Rev Psychol. 2014;65:581–609. - PubMed

[2] Oishi S. Socioecological psychology. Annu Rev Psychol. 2014;65:581–609. - PubMed

[3] Oishi S, Graham J. Social ecology: Lost and found in psychological science. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2010;5(4):356–377. - PubMed

[4] Oishi S, Graham J. Social ecology: Lost and found in psychological science. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2010;5(4):356–377. - PubMed

[5] Gelfand MJ, et al. Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science. 2011;332(6033):1100–1104. - PubMed

[6] Gelfand MJ, et al. Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science. 2011;332(6033):1100–1104. - PubMed

[7] de Vries R, Gosling S, Potter J. Income inequality and personality: Are less equal U.S. states less agreeable? Soc Sci Med. 2011;72(12):1978–1985. - PubMed

[8] de Vries R, Gosling S, Potter J. Income inequality and personality: Are less equal U.S. states less agreeable? Soc Sci Med. 2011;72(12):1978–1985. - PubMed

[9] Uslaner EM, Brown M. Inequality, trust, and civic engagement. Am Polit Res. 2005;33:868–894.

[10] Uslaner EM, Brown M. Inequality, trust, and civic engagement. Am Polit Res. 2005;33:868–894.

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Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations

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Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations

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