Can psychologically and culturally wise narratives of aid better interrupt cycles of poverty and prejudice? : evidence from Kenya, Niger, and the U.S
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Every year, millions of low-income households around the world receive over $100 billion in an effort to mitigate global poverty. This dissertation focuses on an understudied social identity—aid recipients—and the efficacy of the programs intended to support them. I build on theoretical principles of wise interventions and culture match to develop narratives of aid programs that are both psychologically and culturally wise. In contrast to status quo narratives focused on recipients' neediness and helplessness, these narratives offer a construal of aid grounded in recipients' agency. Building on an emerging literature on welfare-related stereotyping, this dissertation suggests that the status quo narrative of aid may paradoxically maintain cycles of stigma, prejudice and poverty. However, three sets of experiments demonstrate that these cycles can be interrupted when narratives represent aid as an opportunity for recipients to realize their agency and aspirations in culturally resonant ways. Chapter 2 presents a lab experiment in a low-income area of Kenya comparing a status quo narrative with a narrative emphasizing recipients' interdependent agency. The latter culturally wise narrative mitigated stigma and shifted behavior, increasing recipients' choice to build business skills. In Chapter 3 in a field experiment in rural Niger, portraying and promoting women's interdependent agency in a wise intervention format, comprised of brief video and guided discussion, improved household economic outcomes (e.g., food security) one year later compared to no intervention. In both Chapters 2 and 3, a narrative portraying independent agency showed more limited benefits in these predominantly interdependent cultural contexts. Chapter 4 turns to public opinion in the U.S., a more independent cultural context. A series of online experiments find that a culturally wise narrative—here emphasizing the economic independence of recipients—reduced conservatives' welfare-related prejudice and opposition to a proposed anti-poverty policy, universal basic income. Together, these studies provide initial evidence for how psychologically and culturally wise narratives of aid may simultaneously advance recipients' economic and psychosocial empowerment and thus better combat poverty and prejudice.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2022; ©2022 |
| Publication date | 2022; 2022 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Thomas, Catherine Cole |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Markus, Hazel Rose |
| Thesis advisor | Markus, Hazel Rose |
| Thesis advisor | Cohen, Geoffrey |
| Thesis advisor | Walton, Gregory M. (Gregory Mariotti) |
| Degree committee member | Cohen, Geoffrey |
| Degree committee member | Walton, Gregory M. (Gregory Mariotti) |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Catherine Cole Thomas. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2022. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/fz988rn5916 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2022 by Catherine Cole Thomas
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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