Publications by authors named "Stephanie J Tepper"

The widely documented "outgroup homogeneity effect" refers to people's tendency to view members of groups to which they do not belong (outgroups) as more similar to one another than members of their own groups (ingroups). Here, we present evidence for a novel but related phenomenon: People tend to view members of different minority groups as collectively more similar to one another than members of the majority group are to one another. Across nine studies (and four studies reported in the Supplemental Materials), we demonstrate a robust "minority-groups homogeneity effect" among participants from both majority groups (Studies 1-5) and minority groups (Studies 6-8), albeit less consistently among the latter.

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Despite the ever-growing economic gap between the very wealthy and the rest of the population, support for redistributive policies tends to be low. This research tested whether people's tolerance of inequality differs when it is represented in terms of a successful individual versus a group of people at the top of the economic ladder. We propose that drawing people's attention to wealthy individuals undermines support for redistribution by leading people to believe that the rich person's wealth is well deserved.

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The present research evaluated the social, affective, and cognitive processes underlying sustained patterns of health behavior as articulated by the upward spiral theory of lifestyle change. Specifically, we tested whether positive affect experienced during physical activity changes over time in tandem with perceived social integration (PSI), and whether PSI is associated with future activity indirectly through sociality during physical activity, positive affect during physical activity, and positive spontaneous thoughts about physical activity. Adult participants (N = 226) reported daily on their PSI, physical activity behavior, and affect during physical activity for 11 weeks.

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