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Contemporary study: Cohrs et al (2012) (Procedure (Study One (The…
Contemporary study
: Cohrs et al (2012)
Aim
To see if there was a relationship between ideological attitudes (RWA and SDO), personality dimensions (the Big Five) and prejudice.
To see how valid and reliable self-report data is
Procedure
Study One
The participant completed a questionnaire about themselves, whilst the acquaintance completed a questionnaire about them
The questionnaire, RWA and SDO scales measured personality and attitudes, which was anonymous
The questionnaire also focused on measuring prejudice in the form of negative attitudes to homosexuality, disability and foreigners
The returned questionnaires left 193 (125 female, 64 male) participants and their associated peers (97 male, 95 females), excluding those who were not German, homosexual or living with a disability
Study Two
One twin was given a self-report questionnaire, which was also given to the other twin as well as a peer acquaintance to complete about the participant
The sample was made up of 424 participants but only 371 had both peer reports available (the other 53 only had one peer report)
The questionnaire, RWA and SDO scales measured personality and attitudes
The questionnaire also focused on measuring prejudice in the form of negative attitudes to homosexuality, disability and foreigners with a particular emphasis on Turks (largest non-native group in Germany), mental disability and wheelchair users
Results
Openness to experience correlated negatively with RWA and prejudice
Conscientiousness correlated positively with RWA
Agreeableness correlated negatively with SDO and RWA
Peer reports generally correlated with self-report but not perfectly
Conclusion
Both self and peer reported data suggest that openness and conscientiousness attitudes predicted RWA, and RWA predicted prejudice
Agreeableness and openness were predictors of prejudice
Peer reports can reduce the effects of social desirability when studying prejudice
Evaluation
Strengths
Research used a large and diverse sample of participants
Purpose of the study was to test whether self-reported personality attitudes and prejudice were susceptible to social desirability effects, which was controlled using one or two peers that knew the participant well
All participants received the same questionnaire, the method was therefore standardised and can be tested for reliability
Questions in the questionnaires were closed, Likert-style questions, meaning the participants answers are not open to interpretation during qualitative analysis, but it meant they were restricted to preset responses
Weaknesses
As the data was only gathered from German natives it cannot be generalised to non-native Germans or other cultures around the world
Research can be criticised for ignoring social and cultural explanations of prejudice and focusing on personality
Sample
Study One
Opportunity sampling
Participants from German population by asking neighbours/ acquaintances to take part
Study Two
Opportunity sampling
Half of the sample was gathered using the Jena Twin Registry of multiple births. The other half was from volunteers who called them or by approaching them at ‘twin club’
Method
Self report data in the form of questionnaires, and personality scales