Positive attitude towards others who are different
Insociology,allophilia is having a positive attitude towardsoutgroup members. The outgroup members can be anyone who possesses characteristics that are different from one's own, such as people of differentraces,religions,cultures, etc. It is a framework for understanding effective intergroup leadership and is conceptualized as a measurable state of mind with tangible consequences.[1][2]
Allophilia scale
The allophilia scale measures affection, comfort, engagement, enthusiasm, kinship.[3][4] It has been adapted and validated to other languages such as Italian and Spanish, also to various settings, such as to measure positive attitude toward people with dementia, younger and older adults.[5][6][7][8][9]
Allophilia predicts positive relationships with outgroup members. For instance, a study in Spain shows that students having higher allophilia had lower social distance toward people with obesity.[10] Besides, positive experience with outgroup members may increase allophilia, as it is shown in a longitudinal study of a cook's tour in Vietnam. In that study, the participants, who were Americans, reported positive feelings toward Vietnamese mirroring Allophilia facets in nearly 10 years after the event.[11]In one study,symhedonia (experiencing empathic joy) has been shown to be more closely associated with increased levels of allophilia, while sympathy (experiencing empathic sorrow) has been shown to be more strongly associated with decreased levels of prejudice.[12] Allophilia enhancement can serve as complement to prejudice reduction.[12][13]
The termallophilia was coined byHarvard professorTodd Pittinsky in 2006, after he was unable to find an antonym for prejudice in any dictionary.[14][disputed –discuss] The term derived fromGreek words meaning "liking or love of the other".[15]
The typical remedy forprejudice is to bring conflicting groups into a state of tolerance. However,tolerance is not the logical antithesis of prejudice, but rather is the midpoint between negative feelings and positive feelings toward others.[16]
^Pittinsky, T. L.; Rosenthal, S. A.; Montoya, R. M. (2011). "Measuring positive attitudes toward outgroups: Development and validation of the Allophilia Scale". In Tropp, L. R.; Mallett, R. K. (eds.).Moving beyond prejudice reduction: Pathways to positive intergroup relations. American Psychological Association. pp. 41–60.doi:10.1037/12319-002.ISBN978-1-4338-0928-6.
^Alfieri, S.; Marta, E. (2011). "Positive attitudes toward the outgroup: adaptation and validation of the Allophilia scale".Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology.18:99–116.
^Kinney, Jennifer M; Yamashita, Takashi; Brown, James Scott (17 February 2016). "Measuring positive attitudes toward persons with dementia: A validation of the Allophilia scale".Dementia.16 (8):1045–1060.doi:10.1177/1471301216633247.PMID26892304.S2CID25179675.
^Wagner, Lisa S.; Luger, Tana M. (20 December 2016). "Assessing positive attitudes toward older and younger adults".Educational Gerontology.43 (3):147–165.doi:10.1080/03601277.2016.1272890.S2CID152164924.
^Livert, David (September 2016). "A Cook's Tour Abroad: Long-Term Effects of Intergroup Contact on Positive Outgroup Attitudes".Journal of Social Issues.72 (3):524–547.doi:10.1111/josi.12180.
^abPittinsky, Todd L.; Montoya, R. Matthew (2009). "Sympathy e symhedonia nelle relazioni intergruppi. Dispiacere empatico e gioia empatica in rapporto a pregiudizio e allofilia" [Sympathy and symhedonia in intergroup relations: The relationship of empathic sorrow and empathic joy to prejudice and allophilia].Psicologia Sociale (in Italian).4 (3):347–364.doi:10.1482/30689.
^Pittinsky, Todd L. (2010). "A two-dimensional model of intergroup leadership: The case of national diversity".American Psychologist.65 (3):194–200.doi:10.1037/a0017329.PMID20350018.
