Jenny Paterson

Northumbria University · Department of Psychology

This report will focus on the extent and nature of transphobic hate crime and the effects that this type of crime has on trans* people’s attitudes towards criminal justice agencies and, more broadly the government, in relation to hate crime.

Cross-group romantic relationships are an extremely intimate and often maligned form of intergroup contact. Yet, according to intergroup contact theory, these relationships have the potential to improve the intergroup attitudes of others via extended contact. This study combines the interpersonal and intergroup literatures to examine the outcomes a...

Here we present the findings from the 5 year project investigating the indirect effects of hate crimes on Muslim and LGBT communities.

In three studies with Jewish participants, we explored the consequences of intergroup conspiracy theories on those targeted. In Study 1 (N = 250), perceived Jewish conspiracy theory popularity was positively associated with intergroup threat and negatively associated with the closeness of contact with non-Jewish people. Study 2 (n = 194) employed a...

Crimes motivated by hatred toward a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity typically cause greater physical and emotional harm than comparative crimes not motivated by hate. Compounding these impacts, hate crime victims receive less empathy, less support, and are blamed more for their victimization both by society in general and by criminal...

Conspiracy theorizing can motivate non-normative intentions (e.g., tax evasion and violence). However, less is known about the contributors of these conspiracy-inspired intentions or if they translate into behaviors. Two studies (N = 1,155) found a positive correlation between loneliness and conspiracy theorizing, which in turn related to non-norma...

This article investigates the attitudes and emotional reactions of LGBT+ people to enhanced sentencing (ES) and restorative justice (RJ) interventions for hate crime. When forced to choose between interventions, our survey (N = 589) found a preference for the use of RJ over ES, which was perceived to be better at reducing reoffending and supporting...

A short primer on "Pylons ablaze: Examining the role of 5G COVID‐19 conspiracy beliefs and support for violence" published in the British Journal of Social Psychology (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjso.12394).

Supplementary Materials, as part of Pylons ablaze: Examining the role of 5G COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and support for violence published in the British Journal of Social Psychology (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjso.12394).

Amid increased acts of violence against telecommunication engineers and property, this pre‐registered study (N = 601 Britons) investigated the association between beliefs in 5G COVID‐19 conspiracy theories and the justification and willingness to use violence. Findings revealed that belief in 5G COVID‐19 conspiracy theories was positively correlate...

Intergroup contact has long been recognized as an important factor in promoting positive intergroup attitudes. However, in operationalizing intergroup attitudes, previous studies have rarely investigated attitudes toward one of the most intimate forms of contact, romantic relationships. In this study (N = 176), we expand the intergroup contact lite...

This article examines the indirect impacts of hate crimes on LGBT and Muslim communities in the United Kingdom. Based on 34 qualitative interviews, we explore both the perceived meaning of "community" in the context of targeted victimization, and the emotional and behavioural effects that anti-LGBT and Islamophobic hate crimes have on other members...

A longitudinal study ( N = 774) explored the short and longer term impacts of anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans (LGBT) hate crime experienced directly, indirectly, and through the media. In the short term, being a victim (direct) or personally knowing of a hate crime victim (indirect) was positively associated with vulnerability, emotional res...

In two experimental studies (N = 120; N = 102), we apply intergroup emotions theory (IET) to examine the effects of hate crime on other community members. With participants from an oft-targeted group-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans people, we are the first to show empirically that hate crimes elicit more pronounced emotional and behavioural respo...

Hate crimes against LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans) individuals have been shown to indi-rectly impact other members of the community (e.g., Noelle, 2002). However, as the LGBT community is a diverse grouping of individuals with various sexual and gender identities, we examined experimen-tally whether reactions were enhanced when participan...

Based on a survey of 593 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United Kingdom, this study shows that direct anti-LGBT hate crimes (measured by direct experiences of victimization) and indirect anti-LGBT hate crimes (measured by personally knowing other victims of hate crime) are highly prolific and frequent experiences for LG...

The Sussex Hate Crime Project 1 is a five year research study which is examining the direct and indirect impacts of hate crime on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGB&T) and Muslim communities throughout England and Wales. Using large scale quantitative surveys, experiments, and qualitative interviews, we have examined the emotional, beh...

Here we review recent developments in the field of indirect intergroup contact, an extension of the classic Contact Hypothesis. Three forms of indirect contact are assessed: extended, vicarious and imagined. The strengths and limitations of each are evaluated. Although not as potent as direct contact, indirect forms of contact generally offer a mor...