Exemplary Self-Discipline, Leniency towards Others: Competitive Contexts Amplify the "Black Sheep Effect" in Restoring Ingroup Trust

Intergroup interaction, a pivotal aspect of social interaction, encompasses both cooperation and competition. Group identity significantly impacts individual behaviors and decision-making processes. This influence manifests in two contrasting ways when addressing rule-breaking by interaction partners: in-group favoritism, where individuals are more lenient towards infractions committed by in-group members, and the black sheep effect, where in-group members are penalized for their rule-breaking. Although trust is crucial in intergroup interactions, the precise impact of group identity on trust restoration and the potential moderating role of intergroup interaction types remain to be elucidated. This study presents two experiments designed to explore these dynamics. In Study 1, the manipulation of group identity through a point estimation task was utilized to evaluate its impact on intergroup trust restoration via a series of repeated trust games. Study 2 aimed to explore the moderating role of intergroup interaction on intergroup trust restoration by contrasting cooperation and competition situations. The results uncovered a "black sheep effect", where participants demonstrated a greater propensity for trust restoration with out-group members than with in-group members. This effect, however, was only evident in competitive contexts. Conversely, in cooperative contexts, the individual's trust in the in-group and out-group members is effectively repaired. These findings contribute to a deeper comprehension of trust dynamics in intergroup interactions, promoting trust establishment and repair between diverse groups, thereby boosting team collaboration efficiency and mitigating conflicts.

Trust game, survey trust, are they correlated? Evidence from China

Trust Game and survey trust are the two most popular measurements in the field of trust research, but most studies conducted in developing countries have found low or even insignificant correlations between them, we therefore validated this phenomenon in the cultural context of the largest developing country, China. Within-country differences can be of the same magnitude as the between country differences, especially in a culturally diverse China. Thus, we focus on comparing the characteristics of trust in the South and North regions of China. Through zero-order correlation and hierarchical regression analysis, our findings are consistent with those of numerous developing countries: Trust Game is lowly correlated with in-group trust survey and not with out-group trust survey. On the other hand, we found that Chinese individuals exhibit a distinct pattern of in-group trust, and there is no fundamental difference in the characteristics of trust between the South and the North.

Relationship Between Mental Health Education Competency and Interpersonal Trust Among College Counselors: The Mediating Role of Neuroticism

Objective

Based on the motivated cognition account, this study aimed to explore the relationship between mental health education competency and interpersonal trust among college counselors, as well as the mediating effect of neuroticism.

Materials and Methods

A total of 483 college counselors were selected, including 155 men and 328 women. The youngest college counselor was 22 years old and the oldest was 56 years old (M = 31.69, SD = 6.12). The college counselors were asked to fill out the Mental Health Education Competency Scale for College Counselors, a 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory, and an Interpersonal Trust Scale.

Results

(1) This study found a significantly positive correlation between mental health education competency and interpersonal trust. (2) Mental health education competency and interpersonal trust were negatively correlated with neuroticism. (3) The mediating role of neuroticism in the association between mental health education competency and interpersonal trust was significant.

Conclusion

Mental health education competency partly affected interpersonal trust via the mediating effect of neuroticism.

Inclusive and exclusive beneficiary attributions: The role of social identity complexity in interpretations of and punishment for dissent

We suggest that intentionality attributed to dissenting behavior in intergroup contexts (e.g., exposing one’s country’s secrets) may be conceptualized as benefitting one of four social circles. Two social circles exclude the perceiver: (a) the actor him/herself and (b) the outgroup affected by the behavior; and two circles include the perceiver: (c) the ingroup of both the perceiver and the actor and (d) humanity as the ultimate collective including both ingroup and outgroup. We further suggest that adopting different beneficiary attributions depends on the perceivers’ social identity complexity (Roccas & Brewer, 2002), which refers to an individual’s representation of their multiple social identities on a continuum from highly overlapping to highly differentiated (i.e., simple vs. complex social identity). Perceivers are more likely to attribute dissent behavior to social circles that exclude (rather than include) themselves the simpler their social identity; such exclusive attributions lead to harsher moral judgements, expressed as punitiveness.

The Impact of the Number of a Trustee's Social Identities on Their Trustworthiness

Although many studies have focused on how trustees’ particular or single social identity affects their trustworthiness, only one study has revealed that trustees with multiple social identities are judged as more trustworthy than those with a single identity. However, the study could not show how trustworthiness systematically changes with an increasing number of social identities. The present study addressed this issue and further explored in two experiments whether the growth trend of trustworthiness was particular to social identities. Experiment 1 showed that when the number of trustees’ social identities increased, they were judged as more trustworthy. Experiment 2 found that trustees with more social identities were judged as more trustworthy, whereas the amount of trustees’ personal physical information did not have that large effect in facilitating trustworthiness. These results demonstrate the special influence of social identity information on trust or trustworthiness.

Stimulating interethnic contact in Kosovo: The role of social identity complexity and distinctiveness threat

The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by now. However, the potential of contact for intergroup relations is only available when there is readiness to have contact with outgroup members to begin with. In two correlational studies with the main ethnic groups in postconflict Kosovo, Albanian majority (Study 1, N = 221) and Serb minority (Study 2, N = 110), we examine how social identity complexity mechanism and distinctiveness threat contribute to predicting more readiness to have contact with outgroup members. As the establishment of a new national identity unfolds, we show that while there are different processes that work for each of the groups, distinctiveness threat is a central concern to both as it mediates the relationship between identity and intergroup outcomes. For the Albanian majority group, having more complex identities (or perceiving less identity overlap between national and ethnic identity) predicts more readiness to have contact and feeling more positively towards members of the outgroup via reduced distinctiveness threat. For the Serb minority, however, threat is predicted only by strength of ethnic identification, which in turn predicts negative feelings towards members of the ethnic outgroup and less readiness to contact them. We conclude by comparing results for the majority and the minority groups and discuss strategies needed to reduce threat and improve intergroup relations in this segregated context struggling for reconciliation.

Do Economic Crises Always Undermine Trust in Others? The Case of Generalized, Interpersonal, and In-Group Trust

After the global economic collapse triggered by the Great Recession, there has been an increased interest in the potential psychological implications of periods of economic decline. Recent evidence suggests that negative personal experiences linked to the economic crisis may lead to diminished generalized trust (i.e., the belief that most of the people of the society are honest and can be trusted). Adding to the growing literature on the psychological consequences of the economic crisis, we propose that the perceived personal impact of the economic crisis not only would undermine generalized trust but also may lead to increased interpersonal trust (i.e., directed to specific and close people) and depersonalized in-group trust [i.e., directed to individuals who, while strangers, belong to the same group (e.g., social class)]. Across three studies (N = 1379), we tested these central hypotheses and ascertained whether the perceived personal impact of the crisis would predict these types of trust (assessed using questionnaire and behavioral measures) independent of individuals' socioeconomic status. Non-experimental data from Study 1 revealed that a higher perceived personal impact of the crisis is related to lower levels of generalized trust and higher levels of interpersonal trust. These effects were independent of participants' socioeconomic status. Non-experimental data from Study 2 replicated the findings obtained in Study 1 and also showed a positive association between the perceived personal impact of the crisis and depersonalized in-group trust. This pattern of results emerged even after controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, age, political orientation, religiosity, and unemployment status. In Study 3, using an experimental design, we found that the salience of a possible economic downturn led to decreased generalized trust and increased interpersonal and depersonalized in-group trust - independently of socioeconomic status - compared with the control condition. These results challenge the conventional wisdom that economic crises invariably undermine trust in others. The implications of the present research as well as future research directions are discussed.