PLEASE CITE AS:

THOMAE, M., BIRTEL, M.D. & WITTEMANN, J. (2016). THE INTERPERSONAL TOLERANCE SCALE

(IPTS): SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION. PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 2016 ANNUAL

MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, WARSAW, POLAND,

13TH – 16TH JULY 2016

RESPONSE FORMAT FOR ALL IPTS ITEMS:

Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly agree

THE INTERPERSONAL TOLERANCE SCALE (IPTS): SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION

MANUELA THOMAE

MICHELE D BIRTEL

JÖRG WITTEMANN

INTRODUCTION

• ALLPORT (1954)

• TO TOLERATE SOMEBODY OR SOMETHING VS. A TOLERANT PERSON

• INTOLERANCE OF INTOLERANCE (MILITANT VS. PACIFISTIC TOLERANCE)

• LINKS TO

• LIBERAL ATTITUDES

• EDUCATION

• EMPATHIC ABILITY

• SELF-INSIGHT

• INTROPUNITIVENESS

• TOLERANCE OF AMBIGUITY

• PERSONAL VALUES

INTRODUCTION

• ALLPORT (1954)

• TOLERANCE AS IN ‘TOLERANT PERSONALITY’

• “IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LACKS A

BETTER TERM TO EXPRESS THE FRIENDLY AND TRUSTFUL ATTITUDE

THAT ONE PERSON MAY HAVE TOWARD ANOTHER, REGARDLESS OF

THE GROUPS TO WHICH EITHER BELONGS” (ALLPORT, 1954; P. 425)

• “…TOLERANT PEOPLE ARE THOSE IN WHOM ETHNIC ATTITUDES

HAVE NO SALIENCE AT ALL. THEY HAVE NO INTEREST IN GROUP

DISTINCTIONS. TO THEM A PERSON IS A PERSON” (ALLPORT, 1954;

P.428)

INTRODUCTION

• RIVKA WITENBERG: TOLERANCE TO HUMAN DIVERSITY

• TOLERANCE AS A MORAL VIRTUE

• ‘PUTTING UP WITH’ VS. RESPECT, EQUALITY, LIBERTY

• BUTRUS & WITENBERG (2013)

• PREDICTORS OF TOLERANCE TO HUMAN DIVERSITY

• DILEMMA-LIKE STORIES

• OPENNESS, AGREEABLENESS, INTERPERSONAL REACTIVITY

INTRODUCTION

• WITTEMANN (2005)

• ADDRESSES THE PROBLEM OF MEASUREMENT OF TOLERANCE (IN GERMAN)

• INTERPERSONAL FOCUS

• 3 DIMENSIONS

• WARM TOLERANCE

• COLD TOLERANCE

• LIMITS OF TOLERANCE

RESEARCH AIMS

1. TO TRANSLATE, ADAPT, EXTEND AND VALIDATE AN ENGLISH

LANGUAGE VERSION OF WITTEMANN’S TOLERANCE SCALE

2. TO ESTABLISH THE FACTORIAL STRUCTURE, ITEM AND SCALE

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE IPTS

3. TO ESTABLISH FIRST EVIDENCE OF CONVERGENT AND

DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY OF THE IPTS

METHODOLOGY

Study 1 Study 2

Sample Size 252 294

Study Environment Online Online

Sex 82.5% female 84% female

Age 21.34 (5.83) 21.00 (5.67)

Occupation 98% student 99% student

METHODOLOGY

• STUDY 2 ONLY:

• BASIC EMPATHY SCALE (CARRE ET AL., 2013, BASED ON JOLLIFFE & FARRINGTON, 2006)

• MOTIVATION TO CONTROL PREJUDICED REACTIONS (DUNTON & FAZIO, 1997)

• RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM (FUNKE, 2005)

• SOCIAL DOMINANCE ORIENTATION (PRATTO ET AL., 1994)

• INTERPERSONAL TRUST SCALE (ROTTER, 1967)

Study 1 Study 2

Cronbach’s Alpha Warm Tolerance

Cold Tolerance

Total

Limits of Tolerance

.82

.83

.88

.77

.86

.85

.90

.81

Mean Warm Tolerance

Cold Tolerance

Total

Limits of Tolerance

5.68 (0.55)

3.25 (0.85)

5.23 (0.62)

5.04 (0.83)

5.54 (0.62)

3.42 (0.91)

5.08 (0.68)

5.07 (0.83)

EFA (Oblimin) 3 Factors 3 Factors

Factor Loadings Warm Tolerance

Cold Tolerance

Limits of Tolerance

.431 to .718

.470 to .654

.344 to .696

.341 to .669

.390 to .645

296 to .698

RESULTS: STUDY 2

CFA

Chi-square

df

p

1220.22

524

.000

CFI .780

RMSEA

90% CI

.068

.063 to .073

RESULTS: STUDY 2

Warm Tolerance Cold Tolerance Total Limits of Tolerance

Warm Tolerance - -.58** .85** .09

Cold Tolerance - -.92 .11

Total - -.03

Limits of Tolerance -

Empathy .29** -.26** .31** .10

Motivation to

Control Prejudice

.17** -.15** .18** -.13**

RW Authoritarianism -.17** .21** -.22** -.31**

SDO -.26** .37** -.37** -.20**

Interpersonal Trust .13* -.20** .19** -.19**

THE INTERPERSONAL TOLERANCE SCALE (IPTS)

Scale Items

Warm

Tolerance

1. I see differences in people's opinions and beliefs as opportunities to learn from each other.

2. If I perceive somebody as acting incorrectly or curiously, I try to understand the reasons for

their behaviour.

3. If the values and behaviours of another person contradict my own values, I make an effort to

understand the other person before judging them.

4. I embrace other people the way they are, even if we have very little in common.

5. I can respect another person, even if their beliefs contradict my own beliefs.

6. I give other people room to be themselves, without trying to change them.

7. I am able to acknowledge new and unfamiliar things, even if I dislike them.

8. I am able to reconsider and adjust my opinion if a conversation yields novel viewpoints.

9. I try to fully put myself into another person's position in order to understand their viewpoint.

10.I believe that there are multiple accurate viewpoints for most things.

11.If I am bothered by the attitudes or acts of another person, I can discuss it with them without

rejecting them as a person.

12.I always try to respect another person, irrespective of their beliefs and behaviours.

13.I accept that other cultural communities may act upon values which I consider intolerant.

Cold Tolerance (Intolerance?) Limits of Tolerance

1. I tend to ignore other people's opinions, values and beliefs if I don't

understand them.

2. I think that my values are more correct than those of most others.

3. I often judge others based on first impressions.

4. I find it hard to view other people's business without passing my own

judgement.

5. I tend to judge others even if I don't really know anything about their

situation.

6. I try to avoid people who hold values different from my own.

7. I find it difficult to accept people who are very different from me.

8. I struggle to appreciate people who do not conform to my personal

ideals.

9. I try to get people to change if they are behaving in a way that I don't

approve of.

10. I find people unpleasant whose lifestyle violates norms which are

important to me.

11. I find it hard to tolerate practices that I consider embarrassing.

12. If someone provoked or upset me, I would look for opportunities for

payback.

1. I point it out to people when they make

intolerant comments.

2. I challenge those who act aggressively

towards weaker people.

3. I challenge negative generalisations based

on a person's identity (e.g., sexual

orientation, gender, race, religion).

4. I challenge intolerance based on incorrect

or biased information.

5. I challenge intolerance whenever I see it.

6. I challenge intolerance whenever I can think

of strong arguments.

7. The limit of my tolerance is easily achieved

when somebody spoils somebody else's

experiences in life.

8. It is important to me to challenge

intolerance.

9. My tolerance ends where harm begins.

CONCLUSIONS

• DEVELOPMENT OF A PSYCHOMETRIC SCALE MEASURING INTERPERSONAL

TOLERANCE

• 3 DISTINCT FACTORS: WARM TOLERANCE, COLD TOLERANCE, LIMITS OF TOLERANCE

• BUT: WARM AND COLD TOLERANCE COULD BE USED AS ONE SCALE (FACE VALIDITY)

• IPTS IS AN EXTENSION, TRANSLATION AND ADAPTATION OF WITTEMANN’S (2005)

GERMAN WORK

• CROSS-CULTURAL VALIDATION (AUGUST 2016)

• WIDER RANGE OF SAMPLES

• ESTABLISH LINKS WITH

• PERSONALITY FACTORS (E.G. AGREEABLENESS, OPENNESS)

• BEHAVIOURAL (NON-SELF-REPORT) MEASURES

• IPTS RESPONSES TO INTERVENTIONS SUCH AS INTERGROUP CONTACT, MINDFULNESS OR

THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS

REFERENCES

ALLPORT, G.W. (1954). THE NATURE OF PREJUDICE. 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. CAMBRIDGE,

MA: PERSEUS BOOKS

BUTRUS, N. & WITENBERG, R.T. (2013). SOME PERSONALITY PREDICTORS OF TOLERANCE TO

HUMAN DIVERSITY: THE ROLES OF OPENNESS, AGREEABLENESS, AND EMPATHY. AUSTRALIAN

PSYCHOLOGIST 48(4), 290-298. DOI: 10.1111/J.1742-9544.2012.00081.X

WITTEMANN, J. (2005). DIE ZWISCHENMENSCHLICHE-TOLERANZ-SKALA (ZMT-SKALA):

SKALENENTWICKLUNG UND VALIDIERUNG. UNPUBLISHED DIPLOM THESIS, FRIEDRICH-

SCHILLER-UNIVERSITÄT JENA, GERMANY