This research analyses the mediational role of threat perception in the relationship between prejudice and discrimination (opposition to immigration and opposition to naturalization of immigrants). In the first study, using representative samples in 21 European countries (N ¼ 36 566) from European Social Survey (2002), we showed that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration was more strongly mediated by realistic than by symbolic threat perceptions. In Study 2, using representative samples in two countries with different traditions of immigration (Switzerland, N ¼ 940; Portugal, N ¼ 1514), we showed that realistic threat more strongly mediated the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration, while only symbolic threat perception mediated the link between prejudice and opposition to naturalization. The theoretical implications of considering threat perceptions as factors that legitimize discrimination are discussed. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Research on the relationship between prejudice and discrimination (e.g. Lord, Lepper, & Mackie, 1984;McConahay, 1983;Smith & Dixon, 1968;Weitz, 1972) has been carried out within the more general framework of the early studies on the connection between attitude and behaviour (e.g. Kutner, Wilkins, & Yarrow, 1952;LaPiere, 1934;Wicker, 1969). While the literature on the relationship between attitude and behaviour specifies when attitudes predict behaviour (e.g. Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975;Zanna, Olson, & Fazio, 1980) and presents some hypotheses on how this process occurs (e.g. Fazio, 1990;Snyder, 1982; for a review, see Eagly & Chaiken, 1998), the literature on the prejudice-discrimination link still reveals some shortcomings in these matters (see Fiske, 1998Fiske, , 2000, for a review). In fact, the few studies concerning the when question have shown that the prejudice-discrimination correlation has a moderate magnitude (Dovidio, Brigham, Johnson, & Gaertner, 1996), and that this correlation depends on several moderators (Schutz & Six, 1996). To our knowledge, only the model proposed by Pereira, Vala, and Leyens (2009) has addressed the how question, predicting that the psychological processes through which preconceived attitudes lead to discriminatory behaviour involve justifying factors, such as threat perception. In fact, Pereira et al. experimentally showed that symbolic threat perception mediates the relationship between infra-humanization of Turkish people and the opposition to the adhesion of Turkey to the European Union (EU). The current paper extends Pereira et al.'s findings by testing whether distinct types of threats differentially mediate the relationship between prejudice and discrimination. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to immigration in Europe is more strongly mediated by realistic threat (Studies 1 and 2) and that the relationship between prejudice and opposition to naturalization is more strongly mediated by symbolic threat (Study 2).Europe...

ResumoEste artigo analisa, na perspectiva das representações sociais, as formas como estudantes universitários expressam o preconceito contra homossexuais e a relação desse preconceito com as explicações da homossexualidade. Para tanto, aplicaram-se questionários a 220 alunos de uma universidade pública da cidade de João Pessoa. Os resultados permitiram classificar os estudantes em uma tipologia composta por três grupos de indivíduos: preconceituosos flagrantes, preconceituosos sutis e não preconceituosos. A análise da ancoragem social do tipo de preconceito apresentado pelos estudantes mostrou que os preconceituosos flagrantes se opuseram às explicações psicossociais (próprias das mulheres e dos estudantes de psicologia) e aderiram mais fortemente às explicações ético-morais e religiosas (próprias dos estudantes de engenharia). Os não preconceituosos estudam psicologia e aderem às explicações psicossociológicas. Já os preconceituosos sutis explicaram a homossexualidade a partir de causas biológicas e psicológicas, próprias dos estudantes de medicina e das mulheres. Palavras-chave: Representações sociais; preconceito; homossexualidade. A Study of Prejudice Forms against Homosexuals Anchored on Social RepresentationsAbstract This paper analyses, in terms of social representations, the way university students express their prejudice against homosexuals and how this prejudice relates to explanations concerning homosexuality. Questionnaires were used with 220 students of a public university in João Pessoa city. The results led to a classification of the students into three different groups: flagrantly-prejudiced, subtly-prejudiced and non-prejudiced. The analysis of the social anchorage of the students type of prejudice revealed that the flagrantly-prejudiced group opposed the psycho-social explanations (typical of women and psychology students), more strongly adhering to ethical-moral and religious explanations (characteristic of engineer students). The non-prejudiced were students of Psychology and adhered to psycho-sociological explanations, whereas the subtly-prejudiced explained homosexuality in terms of biological and psychological causes (explanations typical of medical students and women). Keywords: Social representations; prejudice; homosexuality. Nas últimas décadas, os países ocidentais desenvolveram normas que coíbem a discriminação explícita contra grupos minoritários (McConahay, Hardee & Batts, 1981;Wittenbrink, Judd & Park, 1997). Por exemplo, na maioria dos países o racismo é formalmente proibido e qualquer manifestação racista é desencorajada (Santos, 1999). Mesmo assim, observa-se um aumento na discriminação expresso na violência racial (Mummendey & Wenzel, 1999;Oliveira, Lima & Santos, 1999) e nos indicadores sócio-econômicos das minorias raciais (Browser,1995). Esta situação contraditória mostra o preconceito assumindo formas de expressão que não contrariam abertamente as normas antiracistas atuais (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986;Katz & Hass, 1988;Kinder & Sears, 1981;McConahay, 1983;Pettigrew & Meerte...

a b s t r a c tThis set of studies tests the link between infra-humanization, symbolic threat, and discrimination within normative contexts. In two experiments, manipulating the degree of humanity of a disliked outgroup has an effect upon the discrimination towards it. The infra-humanized outgroup is more discriminated than the humanized one. Also, the perception of symbolic threat plays the role of a justifying factor for discrimination, and mediates the relationship between degrees of humanity and discrimination. Study 2 further shows that this mediation occurs only when an egalitarian norm is activated, and not when meritocracy is made salient. The discussion focuses on factors likely to prevent infra-humanization of outgroups. It also considers how norms may change the role of threat.