Asymmetric Explanations of Group Differences: Experimental Evidence of Foucault’s Disciplinary Power

Abstract

Author Version Hegarty, P., & Bruckmüller, S. (2013). Asymmetric explanations of group differences:Experimental evidence of Foucault's disciplinary power in social psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 176-186. AbstractWhilst the same group differences can be explained in many ways, explanations of group differences tend to spontaneously figure the distinctive attributes of lower-status groups against a background norm of high-status groups' attributes. We suggest that this asymmetry occurs in the explanations of scientists and laypeople because of 'disciplinary power' and works to disempower lower-status people by making them visible to the human sciences. We argue that social groups who are habitually studied first in research programs, more commonly encountered social groups, and prototypical social groups are all less likely than their counterparts to be marked in spontaneous explanations of empirical group differences. We present evidence that groups who are explicitly mentioned in such explanations are assumed to be lower in power. We describe some limitations to current knowledge about such asymmetric explanations and suggest some directions for further research, including our thoughts about how to integrate existing findings with the possibility of formulating cognitive alternatives to the status quo among minority groups.

Agential Realism als Basis queer(end)er Experimentalpsychologie

“…I am under no illusions that the Special Issue as a whole has escaped this criticism or responded to it in any final or complete way. (Hegarty, 2007, S. 86) Hegarty führt zusammen mit Susanne Bruckmüller (Hegarty & Bruckmüller, 2013) vor, dass Experimentalpsychologie einerseits selbst empirisch nachweisen kann, dass asymmetrische Erklärungen von Gruppenunterschieden zur Benachteiligung je einer Gruppe führen, und die Experimentalpsychologie selbst gleichzeitig genau solche Benachteiligungen betreibt. Damit kommen sie auch noch sechs Jahre nach der Spezialausgabe Power Matters zu dem Schluss: "[P]sychologists have been slow to engage his [Michel Foucault] description of ‚power-knowledge' processes by which social power works through scientific descriptions of people" (Hegarty & Bruckmüller, 2013, S. 182 simply the study of scientific thought and behavior" (Feist, 2012, S. 14).…”

“…Dies hält er vor allem deshalb für erstrebenswert, weil er davon ausgeht, dass Objektivität und jene Distanz zentrale Bestandteile von wissenschaftlichem Fortschritt seien: "In other words, theoretical distance and objectivity are not just useful for the public image; they are key properties of scientific growth." (Fiedler, 2014 Hegarty & Bruckmüller, 2013).…”

“…Zum einen lokalisieren sie die Ursachen für gefundene Asymmetrien nicht allein in der kognitiven Mechanik der Handelnden, sondern erachten diese als "resulting from history, communication pragmatics, learning and knowledge activation" (Hegarty & Bruckmüller, 2013, S. 177 Hegarty & Bruckmüller (2013) legt zum Beispiel nahe, solche Formulierungen u. U. bewusst untypisch zu formulieren, wenn man beispielsweise der Etablierung einer Gruppe als Norm entgegenwirken möchte. Die Autor_inn_en fordern mehr Arbeit zu diesen Einsichten, unerwünschte Auswirkungen beeinflussen zu können, doch nennen sie die Asymmetrien absichtlich nicht Verzerrungen (biases), weil dies implizieren würde, dass sie eine unverzerrte Formulierung kennen würden.…”

Heterosexual Missionary as the Sexual Default and Stigmatization of Perceived Infrequent Sexual Activities

“…different!from!the!default!heterosexual!group! (see !Hegarty!&!Bruckmüller,!2013).!Third,!such! prototypical!…”

IX. Brains, variability, and inheritance: The relevance of Shields (1975) in 21st century times

“…Her inspiration has helped me to carve out a way of working that leads me to the archives to be sure (Hegarty, 2013), but also to examine the sexual politics of remembering (Bharj & Hegarty, 2015), explaining (Hegarty & Bruckmu¨ller, 2013) and essentializing (Falomir-Pichastor & Hegarty, 2014) such science. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I will close by quoting Stephanie again and saying that some of us have been led by her work to recognize ''that science played handmaiden to social values cannot be denied.''…”