responds by increasing that individual’s anxiety, producing an affective response and
signaling to the individual the increased necessity to pay attention to contemporary
Gray’s theory suggests that when things are going well and no threat is
apprehended, people rely on their standing decisions. However, when
people are confronted with noxious groups, they are likely to feel
threatened and might either reaffirm their previously adopted commitments
or adjust them. His theory also suggests that whether any adjustment is
made will depend upon the kind of information people have available at the
moment of decision.
Thus, Gray’s model leads the authors to posit that perceptions of threat (allowing for
stimulation of the BIS) render information more important to decision-making.
As such, With Malice Towards Some posits three components of importance to
tolerance decision-making: individual long-term predispositions, ‘standing’ decisions, and
‘contemporary’ information.
As such, the authors focus upon testing their theoretical
foundation through survey-experiments meant to gauge the effect of contemporary
information about a repellent group’s activities upon political tolerance.
Toward Some argues that, within the range offered by an individual’s ‘standing decisions’
regarding tolerance, contemporary and group-specific information may determine the level
Indeed, in the model resulting from their survey experimentation,
variables attached to several categories of contemporary information yielded significant
results, providing evidence that information can alter citizen support for core democratic
principles.
31
See id. at 47.
32
Id. at 45.
33
See id.
34
See id. at 50.
35
See id. at 59-65.
36
See id. at 55.
37
See id. at 78-79.
9
Convention