The purpose of this research was to analyze whether the social class of the aggressor and the degree of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance influence the blaming of the victim in a case of rape suffered by a woman. Participating in the study was a sample of 216 university students (82 men and 136 women). The participants read a rape scenario in which the aggressor’s social class was manipulated (high social class vs. low social class) and responded to a questionnaire about the blame of the victim, a questionnaire about right-wing authoritarianism, and a questionnaire about social dominance. The results show that the victim was blamed more when the aggressor was from a low social class and when the participants had high scores in right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance. They also reflect an interaction between the social class of the aggressor and social dominance: Participants who scored high in social dominance blamed the victim more when the aggressor was from a low social class.

Resumen La violencia en adolescentes es un tema de especial importancia en la actualidad, además es un tema poco tratado y estudiado, por estos motivos se decidió indagar en algunas de las variables que influyen en el modo de resolver los conflictos de pareja por parte de los adolescentes. El estudio tiene como principal objetivo establecer una relación entre las variables sexismo y dependencia emocional y resolución de conflictos en adolescentes. La muestra está integrada por 608 adolescentes de cinco institutos de la ciudad de Málaga. Los datos del estudio fueron analizados aplicando pruebas paramétricas, índices de correlación y análisis de regresión. Los resultados muestran niveles más favorables en las chicas en el uso de la violencia en las relaciones de pareja, sin embargo se muestran niveles superiores en los chicos en la variable sexismo. También aparecen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre la dependencia, los conflictos propios y los de pareja. Además se muestra también una asociación positiva entre sexismo y dependencia. Por otra parte, las variables sexismo, dependencia y estrategias de resolución de conflictos en la pareja fueron predictores significativos de las estrategias de resolución de conflictos propias. Finalmente se observa una fuerte asociación entre los conflictos propios y los conflictos de pareja.

Recent years have witnessed a rise in support for political parties with an anti-immigration sentiment and nationalistic rhetoric as their distinguishing traits. Within this context, our study, through a survey, analyses the relation of prejudice toward immigrants with ideological postulates of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance and outgroup threat. With a sample of 247 individuals (54.7% men and 45.3% women), our results reveal that positions favouring right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance and perception of realistic and symbolic threat have an influence on negative attitudes toward immigrants. At the same time, greater prejudice is found in those individuals scoring high in authoritarianism and symbolic threat. These results confirm, on one hand, the dual process motivation model of ideology and prejudice, and on the other, the bifactor structure of outgroup threat. As a conclusion, we propose that in order to foment peaceful coexistence and reduce hostility towards minority groups within today’s social context, it is important to consider the relevance of ideological postulates and outgroup threat. It is a priority to design public policies that favour the inclusion and integration of minority groups with the goal of building more sustainable societies that respect human rights.

Refugees frequently experience traumatic situations that result in the deterioration of their psychological well-being. In addition, perceived prejudice and discrimination against them by the host society can worsen their mental health. In this research study, using a Spanish sample, prejudice towards Syrian refugees is analyzed taking into account feeling of threat (realistic or symbolic), precarious employment, and perceived outgroup morality. Using a total of 365 participants, our results reveal that individuals feel more prejudice towards refugees when the former scored higher in realistic threat and symbolic threat, were in a highly precarious situation of employment and perceived refugees as being more immoral. Furthermore, it was found that persons who scored high in realistic threat and at the same time were in a situation of precarious employment, were those who displayed greater prejudice. The results likewise pointed to individuals who scored high in symbolic threat and in outgroup morality as being those who felt greater rejection towards the refugees. Accordingly, our results confirm the importance of feeling of threat in relation to prejudice, and highlight two important moderating factors: precarious employment and perceived outgroup morality.

This empirical work focuses on social norms as a way of transmitting psychological violence in young people, which could be affecting the effectiveness of preventive programs in dating violence. These programs are effective in changing beliefs, but new intervention approaches are in demand due to the former’s limitations in achieving behavioral changes. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate that some dimensions of psychological violence are transmitted as a descriptive social norm, without any need of victimization. In a sample of 1,265 people (18–25 years old) and through two different studies, we explored the perception of prescriptive and descriptive social norms in situations of coercive control applied to three contexts (Study 1), isolation and domination (Study 2), under the hypothesis that coercive control is passed on as a descriptive social norm between peers. Characteristics describing diversity are taken into account. The results in frequency and Structural Equation Model analysis confirm the main hypothesis, because both perceptions are not correlated. Social norms no covariate with social characteristics. Same cannot be said of isolation and domination, leading to three conclusions for prevention. (1) Not all psychological violence works the same. Coercive control starts from a primary cognitive process that requires complementary actions, based for example on the cognitive hierarchy among social norms; (2) Preventive programs are often based on “prescribed” behaviors, related to the consequences they have on victims, whereas the descriptive social norm found in this study does not correlate with victimization, unless control is applied to specific contexts. Therefore, an additional effort in prevention could go deeper with more specific behaviors that show both the different types of psychological violence and the contexts of application; (3) Finally, at the policy level, results found call for the need for preventive efforts on psychological violence in the 18 to 25 age group and specific awareness campaigns.