The moderating role of need for closure in the relation between uncertainty and discrimination toward immigrants : a quantitative case study / Ambra Brizi, Lucia Mannetti
The aim of this case study is to give a clear understanding of how to conduct experimental research to contribute to a better understanding of the theories on uncertainty and how to apply the research tools. Some typical uses of experimental research in social psychology take the form of supraliminal and subliminal priming and implicit association tests. This case study examines the impact of two different types of uncertainty (personal and economic) and measures them both supraliminally and subliminally in relation to implicit attitudes (Studies 1 and 3) and in relation to explicit discriminatory intentions (Study 2) toward the members of the outgroup. The results of this research show how uncertainty increases discrimination against an outgroup among people who are low in their need for cognitive closure but not among those who are high in their need for cognitive closure who show a high tendency of discrimination independent of the certainty versus uncertainty induction
