Andrew L. Stewart, assistant professor of psychology, wins best paper award

International Team of Scholars for Paper on International Bystanders to the Arab Uprisings

alstewartAndrew L. Stewart, Assistant Professor of Psychology, has won the 2015 Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Relations Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. The honor awards $1,000 to the “best paper or article of the year on intercultural or international relations.” Professor Stewart and an international team of scholars wrote the winning paper, entitled “International Support for the Arab Uprisings: Understanding sympathetic collective action using theories of social identity and social dominance,” which examined the psychological motivations of international bystanders who protested in sympathy with the Arab people during the 2010-2011 Arab uprisings, using data from almost 1500 people from 12 nations. An abstract of the winning paper follows:

“Inspired by the popular Arab protests against oppressive regimes that began in 2010, people around the world protested in sympathy with the Arab peoples. The present research draws on two major theories of intergroup relations to develop an initial integrative model of sympathetic collective action. We incorporate social dominance theory’s (SDT) concept of (rejectionist) legitimizing myths with the solidarity and emotional mediation concept of the social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) to understand motivations for sympathetic collective action among bystanders. Using data from 12 nations (N = 1,480), we tested three models: (a) SIMCA (i.e., solidarity, anger, and efficacy), (b) a social dominance theory model of collective action (i.e., social dominance orientation and ideologies concerning Arab competence), and (c) an integrated model of sympathetic collective action combining both theories. Results find the greatest support for an integrated model of collective action. Discussion focuses on theoretical pluralism and suggestions for future research.”