Person:
O'Brien, Thomas

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Doctoral Candidate
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O'Brien
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Thomas
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    Perceived Norms and Classroom Ethnic Composition
    (2014-01-01) O'Brien, Thomas Christopher
    Students’ perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations from teachers and school staff have been linked to a number of positive intergroup outcomes (Green, Adams, & Turner, 1988; Jugert, Noack, & Rutland, 2011). Additional studies testing the effects of ethnic proportions in classrooms show evidence for positive and negative intergroup outcomes between ethnic majority and ethnic minority students (e.g., Durkin et al., 2011; Vervoort, Scholte, & Scheepers, 2011). Still, research has yet to test simultaneously the effects of ethnic proportions in a classroom in conjunction with students’ subjective perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations. With a sample of Latino and White students from 44 classrooms in two public middle schools the current research tests (1) how two sets of perceived school norms (promoting positive intergroup relations and promoting fairness) predict levels of comfort with outgroup members and greater interest in cross-ethnic friendship, and (2) whether proportions of outgroup members in the classroom moderates the relationships between each set of perceived norms and the outcomes.
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    Intergroup Solidarity in Peace Activism: The Potential for Success or Backlash
    (2017) O'Brien, Thomas Christopher
    Integrating theory on distinct modes of social identity (Roccas, Sagiv, Schwartz, & Eidelson, 2008) with group-based emotion in protracted conflict (Halperin & Pilskin, 2015) and exposure to outgroups (Saguy & Halperin, 2014), this dissertation tests how Jewish Israelis respond when ingroup members and outgroup members work together to advocate for peaceful solutions to conflict (i.e., intergroup solidarity), and how glorification of one’s national group moderates these responses. Instructing participants to imagine a peace activist organization, Study 1 shows evidence that glorification of one’s ingroup predicts more anger, less hope, and less support for a political solution reflecting compromise. With a student sample, Study 2 shows that learning about an activist organization where both groups work together, relative to an organization where ingroup members work alone, increases support for allowing the organization to present on campus by reducing anger and increasing hope. Manipulating both group composition and the target of criticism, Study 3 shows that glorification becomes less predictive of negative responses to activism when the activist organization consists of only ingroup members, and when both ingroup members and outgroup members are criticized for their role in the conflict.