RESUMO
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: If people who hold anti-fat attitudes believe these attitudes to be true, then anti-prejudice appeals are likely to be unsuccessful, if only because the targets will not see their attitudes as in need of change. The current study examined processes that may lead people to see their anti-fat attitudes as 'truth' or as 'prejudice'. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Participants (N = 482) read anti-fat statements and were then presented with an interpretation of these statements as 'truth' or 'prejudice'. The source of this interpretation was either an (i) in-group or out-group member and (ii) expert or non-expert. Participants' judgements of the statements were expected to vary such that in-group others and experts would exert more influence than would out-group others and non-experts. RESULTS: Participants aligned their own interpretations of an anti-fat statement with those of an expert, but not with those of a non-expert, F(1,466) = 8.97, p < 0.05, ηp 2 = 0.02. The group membership variable had no effect on judgements of 'truth' or 'prejudice' of the anti-fat statement. CONCLUSION: The expressions that people believe constitute anti-fat prejudice versus truth about people described as overweight are influenced by exposure to expert opinion (in this case, by medical doctors). Implications for the success of weight-based anti-prejudice appeals and for healthcare provision are discussed.
RESUMO
The study investigated children's and adolescents' perceptions of epistemic authorities in various knowledge domains. Children and adolescents from 4th, 8th, and 12th grades were asked to evaluate their father, mother, teacher, and friends as epistemic authorities in nine areas of knowledge content. In general, the results indicated that the perception of parents as epistemic authorities decreases with age. Nevertheless, children and adolescents continue to consider one or both parents to be the most important epistemic authorities. The perception of friends as epistemic authority increased relative to other sources in the social domains of knowledge. The perception of teachers as epistemic authority decreases with age, but in the formal knowledge domain it remains relatively stable.
RESUMO
The helping behavior of 250 sixth-grade children was assessed by four different measures and related to several demographic variables. The results indicated that (a) more girls were helpful than boys; (b) more children of European-American and Israeli origin were helpful than those of Asian - (North) African origin; (c) more children having fathers with a high level of education were helpful than those having fathers with a low level of education; and (d) more secondborn children were helpful than firstborn. These results are explained and their importance indicated.
