Resource Possession in the Mind's Eye: Ideological Convergence and Divergence in the Perceptions of Poor People.
| Title: | Resource Possession in the Mind's Eye: Ideological Convergence and Divergence in the Perceptions of Poor People. |
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| Authors: | Merrell WN; Aarhus University, Denmark.; University of Oslo, Norway.; Fan L; Aarhus University, Denmark.; University of Oslo, Norway.; Sheehy-Skeffington J; NYU Abu Dhabi, UAE.; London School of Economics, UK.; Thomsen L; Aarhus University, Denmark.; University of Oslo, Norway. |
| Source: | Personality & social psychology bulletin [Pers Soc Psychol Bull] 2025 Oct 29, pp. 1461672251371787. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Oct 29. |
| Publication Model: | Ahead of Print |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Sage Publications for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7809042 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1552-7433 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01461672 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Pers Soc Psychol Bull Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc; Original Publication: Columbus, Ohio [etc.] Behavioral Sciences Laboratory [etc.] |
| Abstract: | Social hierarchies ultimately concern resource possession, yet psychological processes for regulating resource-related tensions remain underexplored. We examine how support for intergroup equality (egalitarianism) relates to explicit attitudes toward, and mental images of, the resource poor. In Study 1 (N = 625), egalitarians report more favorable attitudes toward the resource poor than anti-egalitarians. However, using the reverse correlation paradigm, both groups generate similarly negative mental images of this group, as shown by pixel luminance comparisons (Study 1) and evaluated by independent raters of person-perceptual (Study 2, N = 394) and coalitional traits (Study 3, N = 348). While ideology did not shape image generation, it did influence image evaluation: egalitarian raters showed less polarization between resource-poor and resource-rich faces than anti-egalitarian raters. These findings suggest that despite ideological differences in explicit attitudes (divergence), egalitarians, and anti-egalitarians share similarly negative mental representations (convergence) of the resource poor, highlighting a nuanced interplay between social perception and hierarchy regulation. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: hierarchy regulation; mental representations; resource possession; reverse correlation; social dominance |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20251029 Latest Revision: 20251029 |
| Update Code: | 20260130 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/01461672251371787 |
| PMID: | 41159510 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
Journal Article