Waldrop, R. J.*, Warren, M. A., Bock H.* (in progress). Egalitarianism in personality and social psychology: A systematic review and research agenda.

The dominant social psychological perspective on intergroup relations emphasizes values, goals, motivations, and emotions that lead to prejudice reduction. Factors that can instead promote egalitarianism has been emerging, yet central theoretical frameworks have not been formally proposed and motivations influencing these outcomes have largely been underdeveloped. To address this gap, we engage a positive psychology lens to explore how and why do people overcome their internalized biases to seek out successful and positive intergroup relations. We look to the positive counterparts of traditional prejudice-reduction models to begin building a framework of understanding. As a first step, we reviewed the literature on values that guide intergroup behavior. After scanning the 16,540 records that emerged in PsycInfo using keywords “egalitarian,” “nonprejudice,” and “intergroup,” we assessed 110 articles for eligibility. Among the relevant articles (N = 42), we analyzed authors’ definitions, methods of measurement, types of processes, and outcomes associated with egalitarian and nonprejudiced values as they related to positive intergroup behavior. Overall, there was notable variability in how researchers conceptualized and observed egalitarian values in this context. We discuss the five broad categories of egalitarianism (prejudice reduction, positive expression, concern for others, low social-dominance orientation, and universal orientation) and how they each relate to positive or negative, and approach or avoidant outcomes. In attempting to address the lack of a centralized theory for egalitarianism, we propose a model for studying positive values in intergroup contexts.

*Rachael Waldrop, MS Psych student, was awarded a student scholarship in recognition of her outstanding student presentation on this paper from the Western Positive Psychology Association Conference, 2020, Claremont, CA

* Haley Bock is a current graduate student in the MS psychology program at Western.