Collective self-esteem consequences of outgroup derogation when a valued social identity is on trial

The Effects of Morally Reframed Messages on White Individuals' Attitudes Toward White Privilege

Many White Americans are unaware of or tend to deny the existence of White privilege. One potential explanation for this denial is the belief that America functions as a meritocracy. Prior research suggests that morally reframed messages can change individuals' beliefs when the reframed messages align with their personal moral values. Contributing to the literature on morally reframed messages, the current pair of studies challenged individuals' beliefs about meritocracy in order to promote their awareness of White privilege. After demonstrating that morally reframed messages about America as a meritocracy can meaningful reflect five distinct moral foundations (i.e., Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Respect, Purity/Sanctity), the current studies revealed that individuals who endorsed the moral values of Authority/Respect, Loyalty/Betrayal, and Purity/Sanctity (the binding foundations) reported stronger beliefs in meritocracy and less awareness of White privilege, whereas individuals who endorsed the moral values of Harm/Care and Fairness/Reciprocity (individualizing foundations) reported weaker beliefs in meritocracy and greater awareness of White privilege (Studies 1 and 2). Although the morally reframed messages promoted individuals' White privilege awareness compared to a control message (Study 2), the effectiveness of the messages was not enhanced when the messages aligned with individuals' moral values (Studies 1 and 2). The current pair of studies is the first to examine if individuals' endorsement of the five moral foundations can be used to change their beliefs about White privilege.

Comedy, consensus, and conflict framework: Comedy as a norm violation can build consensus or escalate conflict in negotiations

In this work, we propose that humor violates norms that can build consensus or escalate conflict in negotiations. Drawing on social identity theory, we propose that humor commits norm violations that are more likely to be perceived as benign among ingroup observers in negotiations, but perceived as offensive to outgroup observers in negotiations. We introduce the Comedy, Consensus, and Conflict Framework to shed light on the interpersonal effect of humor on negotiations. When humor is expressed to an ingroup observer, relative to neutral communication, humor is more likely to violate weak norms that govern social group membership resulting in the violation as being perceived as benign, which promotes cooperative behaviors in negotiations such as concessions and collaborative problem-solving. By contrast, when humor is expressed to an outgroup observer, relative to neutral communication, humor is more likely to violate strong norms that define social group membership resulting in the violation as being interpreted as offensive, which triggers competitive behaviors in negotiations such as aggressive offers and hardened positions. Furthermore, we suggest that humor not only generates appraisals of social identity threats, but also affective responses that influence negotiation behavior. Finally, we expand our theoretical model about humor to consider key relational factors that influence norm strength, which motivates whether negotiators appraise norm violations as offensive or benign.

Acculturation strategies as predictors of fandom identification in the fanfiction, Star Wars fan, and furry communities

Research suggests that people at the interface of two different cultures may face a dilemma regarding how or whether to adopt aspects of the new culture in light of their existing cultural identity. A growing body of research in fan communities suggests that similar group processes may operate in recreational, volitional identities. We tested this by examining the associations between acculturation attitudes and identification with fan communities across three studies. Fanfiction fans, Star Wars fans, and furries completed measures of four different acculturation strategies with respect to managing their fan and non-fan communities as well as a measure of their identification with the fan community. Results across the three studies consistently found that integration and assimilation strategies positively predicted fan community identification, while separation and marginalization strategies negatively predicted fan community identification. Together, the results conceptually replicate and find evidence for the acculturation model.

Understanding children's voices about enablers of obesity from a causal attribution's stance: a vignette study

OBJECTIVE

Childhood obesity is a public health challenge with health, economic and psychosocial consequences. The design of interventions addressing childhood obesity seldom considers children's perspectives on the topic. Weiner's causal attribution framework was used to explore children's perspectives on enablers of obesity.

METHODS AND MEASURES

Children (N = 277) responded to a vignette with an open-ended question. Data were analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Children perceived internal, unstable and controllable causes (e.g. dietary intake, self-regulation and emotionality) as the main enablers (76.53%) of obesity, while some (11.91%) highlighted external, unstable and controllable causes (e.g. parent food restrictions). A focus on children with healthy body weight showed that they mentioned more internal, stable and controllable causes for obesity than children with unhealthy body weight/obesity did. The latter mentioned more external, unstable and controllable causes than their counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding children's causal attributions for obesity is expected to deepen our knowledge of obesity enablers and help design interventions matching children's perspectives.

Subtle primes of in-group and out-group affiliation change votes in a large scale field experiment

Identifying the influence of social identity over how individuals evaluate and interact with others is difficult in observational settings, prompting scholars to utilize laboratory and field experiments. These often take place in highly artificial settings or, if in the field, ask subjects to make evaluations based on little information. Here we conducted a large-scale (N = 405,179) field experiment in a real-world high-information context to test the influence of social identity. We collaborated with a popular football live score app during its poll to determine the world's best football player for the 2017-2018 season. We randomly informed users of the nationality or team affiliation of players, as opposed to just providing their names, to prime in-group status. As a result of this subtle prime, we find strong evidence of in-group favoritism based on national identity. Priming the national identity of a player increased in-group voting by 3.6% compared to receiving no information about nationality. The effect of the national identity prime is greatest among individuals reporting having a strong national identity. In contrast, we do not find evidence of in-group favoritism based on team identity. Informing individuals of players' team affiliations had no significant effect compared to not receiving any information and the effect did not vary by strength of team identity. We also find evidence of out-group derogation. Priming that a player who used to play for a user's favorite team but now plays for a rival team reduces voting for that player by between 6.1 and 6.4%.

Interweaving xenophobia and racism in South Africa: the impact of racial discrimination on anti-immigrant hate violence among people of colour

Self-reported experiences of racial discrimination are quite prevalent among the adult population of colour in South Africa. This article will argue that ongoing experiences of racial intolerance encourage participation in hate crime. To validate this thesis, two models are tested: (a) the Common Ingroup Identity (CII) and (b) Social Identity Threats (SITs). The former suggests that experiences of discrimination can help create a shared ‘disadvantaged’ identity that produces intergroup tolerance. The latter contends that group discrimination undermines social norms and the stress caused can encourage aggression. The study examined participation in anti-immigrant violence as well as behavioural intention towards the same. Nationally representative survey data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey was used. Multinomial regression analysis found that experiences of perceived personal and collective discrimination influenced participation in hate crime. This finding was consistent with the SITs model rather than the CII model. Socio-economic status was found to buffer the influence of racial discrimination, showing how economic advantages helped people cope with adverse situations. Study outcomes demonstrate how the legacy of white settler colonialism has contributed to xenophobia in the post-apartheid period. Policy interventions (especially those targeting the poor) that reduce racial discrimination will decrease public participation in hate crime.

Internalized Homonegativity and Mental Health Among Chinese Gay and Bisexual Cisgender Men: Exploring the Moderating Influences of Psychosocial and Sexual Identity Factors

Much research on Chinese gay and bisexual men has focused on sexual health and, in particular, HIV-related issues. However, relatively little research has considered psychosocial aspects of being a gay or bisexual man in China. The present study was designed to address this gap by examining psychosocial predictors of mental health from a minority stress perspective. Results from an online survey of 1,786 Chinese gay and bisexual cisgender men revealed that higher levels of internalized homonegativity predicted greater psychological distress and a lower sense of positive well-being. Higher self-esteem, social support, and resilience were strong predictors of lower psychological distress and higher well-being, but these psychosocial factors mostly did not moderate associations between internalized homonegativity and mental health. A stronger sense of sexual identity superiority weakened the associations between internalized homonegativity and both mental health measures, but sexual identity centrality only moderated the association between internalized homonegativity and positive well-being. This study is among the first to examine minority stressors and psychosocial factors, distinct from the HIV-focussed literature, in a Chinese context. These findings may inform interventions targeting increased self-esteem, social support, and resilience, which could be beneficial for the mental health of Chinese gay and bisexual cisgender men.

Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?

From vaccination refusal to climate change denial, antiscience views are threatening humanity. When different individuals are provided with the same piece of scientific evidence, why do some accept whereas others dismiss it? Building on various emerging data and models that have explored the psychology of being antiscience, we specify four core bases of key principles driving antiscience attitudes. These principles are grounded in decades of research on attitudes, persuasion, social influence, social identity, and information processing. They apply across diverse domains of antiscience phenomena. Specifically, antiscience attitudes are more likely to emerge when a scientific message comes from sources perceived as lacking credibility; when the recipients embrace the social membership or identity of groups with antiscience attitudes; when the scientific message itself contradicts what recipients consider true, favorable, valuable, or moral; or when there is a mismatch between the delivery of the scientific message and the epistemic style of the recipient. Politics triggers or amplifies many principles across all four bases, making it a particularly potent force in antiscience attitudes. Guided by the key principles, we describe evidence-based counteractive strategies for increasing public acceptance of science.

Reducing Explicit Blatant Dehumanization by Correcting Exaggerated Meta-Perceptions

If explicitly, blatantly dehumanizing a group of people—overtly characterizing them as less than human—facilitates harming them, then reversing this process is paramount. Addressing dehumanization among American political partisans appears especially crucial, given that it has been linked to their anti-democratic hostility. Perhaps because of its overt nature, partisans recognize—and greatly exaggerate—the extent to which out-partisans explicitly, blatantly dehumanize them. Past research has found that when people perceive they are dehumanized by an outgroup (i.e., meta-dehumanization), they respond with reciprocal dehumanization. Therefore, we reasoned that partisans’ dehumanization could be reduced by correcting their exaggerated meta-dehumanization. Indeed, across three preregistered studies ( N = 4,154), an intervention correcting American partisans’ exaggerated meta-dehumanization reduced their own dehumanization of out-partisans. This decreased dehumanization persisted at a 1-week follow-up and predicted downstream reductions in partisans’ anti-democratic hostility, suggesting that correcting exaggerated meta-dehumanization can durably mitigate the dark specter of dehumanization.

Stigmatization and Interpersonal Deviance Behaviors of Tour Guides: The Influence of Self-Identity Threat and Moral Disengagement

Severe tour guide stigma is a significant problem hindering tourism development. Based on self-identity threat and moral disengagement theory, this study analyzed the relationship between tour guide stigmatization and tour guides’ interpersonal deviance behavior. Survey data collected from 241 tour guides at three different points in time showed that tour guide stigmatization was positively related to tour guides’ interpersonal deviance behavior and that self-identity threat mediated this effect. The results also show that moral disengagement moderated the effect of tour guides’ self-identity threat on interpersonal deviance behavior, as well as the indirect effect of tour guide stigmatization on tour guides’ interpersonal deviance behavior via self-identity threat. This study enriches theoretical research on tour guide stigmatization and offers practical suggestions for solving stigmatization problems for tour guides and organizations.

How are we going to treat Chinese people during the pandemic? Media cultivation of intergroup threat and blame

This study integrates cultivation and intergroup threat theories to examine media cultivation effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that U.S. media have consistently portrayed China as a threat and target of blame. The cultivation of media has thus resulted in perceived threat of and blame on Chinese people for the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a cross-sectional survey in two samples (MTurk: N = 375; college: N = 566) showed that the amount of media consumption predicted stronger perceptions that Chinese people were a health threat, and also predicted blame on Chinese people for the COVID-19 outbreak. Threat perception and blame were further associated with support of media content that derogated China, stronger intentions to attack, and weaker intentions to help Chinese people. The findings have profound implications for intergroup threat and cultivation research, and practical importance for intergroup relations, especially when the global community finds itself in a public crisis.

Prejudicial reactions to the removal of Native American mascots

As Native American mascots are discontinued, research is needed to understand the impact on intergroup relations. Such discontinuations may be threatening to some and increase prejudice against Native Americans. In Study 1 ( N = 389), exposure to information about a Native American mascot removal increased punitive judgments against a Native American in a hypothetical legal scenario, particularly among those high in racial colorblindness and those residing in the implicated geographical location. Study 2 ( N = 358,644) conceptually replicated and extended these findings, using population-level implicit bias data to perform a natural quasi-experiment. Prejudice against Native Americans increased in the year following the removal of two Native American mascots: “Chief Illiniwek” and “Chief Wahoo.” However, in the case of Chief Illiniwek, the effect diminished after 6 years. Together, the studies contribute to understanding the psychological impact of Native American mascots, offering a first look at how their removal influence intergroup relations.

The Role of Dynamic Social Norms in Promoting the Internalization of Sportspersonship Behaviors and Values and Psychological Well-Being in Ice Hockey

Conducted among parents of young ice hockey players, this field experiment tested if making salient increasingly popular (i.e., dynamic) social norms that promote sportspersonship, learning, and having fun in sports, increases parents' own self-determined endorsement of these behaviors and values, improves their psychological well-being, and impacts on their children's on-ice behaviors. Hockey parents (N = 98) were randomly assigned to the experimental condition (i.e., presenting dynamic norms that increasingly favor sportspersonship, learning, and fun) vs. control condition (i.e., presenting neutral information). Parents' motivations for encouraging their child to learn and to have fun in hockey were then assessed. Score sheets for the games that followed the study provided access to their children's on-ice behaviors (i.e., penalties), as indicators of sportspersonship. Parents in the experimental condition reported higher self-determination for encouraging their child to learn and have fun in hockey compared to parents in the control condition. Furthermore, children of parents in the experimental condition had more assists. A mediation model revealed that the dynamic norms manipulation increased parents' self-determined motivation for encouraging their child to learn and to have fun in hockey, which in turn, predicted higher psychological well-being (i.e., lower anxiety, more vitality). Together, these results provide support for the contention that highlighting increasingly popular social norms that promote sportspersonship, learning, and fun in sports, represents a promising strategy for creating positive social change in this life context.

Testosterone fluctuations in response to a democratic election predict partisan attitudes toward the elected leader

Intergroup competitions such as democratic elections can intensify intergroup polarization and conflict. Partisan attitudes toward the elected leader can also shift from before to after an election, but the biology underlying these attitudinal shifts remains largely unknown. An important factor could be the hormone testosterone, which is theorized to fluctuate during competition and to influence status seeking. In a naturalistic study of 113 registered voters, we measured changes in testosterone levels and attitudes toward the winner of the 2012 US Presidential Election. We found that supporters of the losing candidate (Mitt Romney) showed acute increases in testosterone levels compared to supporters of the winner (Barack Obama) on the evening of Election Day. Supporters of the losing candidate also demonstrated flatter diurnal testosterone slopes on Election Day that persisted up to two days after the election. Furthermore, greater increases in acute testosterone levels and flatter diurnal slopes among supporters of the losing candidate were associated with less positive evaluations of the winning candidate. These testosterone-moderated attitudinal shifts observed in the days after the election showed a directionally similar pattern with a weaker effect size six months later. Finally, we confirmed that the main results were robust to alternative data analytic choices using multiverse specification curve analysis. The findings from this paper suggest that hormonal responses to large-scale intergroup competitions may shape how we perceive our elected leaders, shedding light on the biology of intergroup relations.

The residential stability mindset increases racial in-group bias in empathy

With the deepening of internationalization, the population's mobility has greatly increased, which can impact people's intergroup relationships. The current research examined the hypothesis that residential mobility plays a crucial role in racial in-group bias in empathy (RIBE) with three studies. By manipulating the residential mobility/stability mindset and measuring subjective pain intensity ratings (Study 1) and event-related potentials (ERPs, Study 2) of Chinese adults on painful and neutral expressions of Asian and Caucasian faces, we found that the RIBE in subjective ratings and N1 amplitudes increased and P3 amplitudes decreased in the stability group. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) manipulation in Study 3 further found that anodal stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) increased the RIBE of participants with residential stability experience but had no effect on those with residential mobility experience. As residential mobility continues to increase worldwide, we may observe concomitant changes in racial intergroup relationships.

Perceptions of free will and self-control in a medically relevant treatment recommendation scenario

Do provider perceptions of patient free will and treatment related self-control influence treatment recommendations and do such perceptions differ due to race? If so, such bias may be a mechanism for racial disparities in medical treatment recommendations. We hypothesized: (1) greater perceived patient free will would indirectly effect treatment recommendations for patients through increased perceived patient treatment related self-control; (2) participants would perceive greater free will for a hypothetical racial ingroup patient than outgroup patient; and (3) such effect would be exacerbated by greater levels of racial identity and racial bias. A 2 (Participant: Black vs. White) x 2 (Target: Black vs. White) x Continuous (Racial Identity/Racial Bias) between-subjects design supported hypothesis 1. Perceived patient free will predicted more rigorous treatment recommendations treatment related self-control. No evidence was found in support of hypotheses 2 and 3. Using a novel experimental design, this work demonstrates the importance of free will and self-control perceptions.

Misremembering Brexit: partisan bias and individual predictors of false memories for fake news stories among Brexit voters

Exposure to fake news stories can result in false memories for the events portrayed, and this effect can be enhanced if the stories conform to the reader's ideological position. We exposed 1299 UK residents to fabricated news stories about Brexit. 44% of participants reported a false memory for at least one fabricated story, with a higher rate of false memories for stories that reflected poorly on the opposing side. This effect of ideological congruency was somewhat greater among participants who were exposed to a threat to their social identity as a Leave or Remain supporter; however, this moderating effect was only statistically significant in exploratory analyses using a more conservative definition of false memory. Participants with higher cognitive ability and analytical reasoning scores were less susceptible to false memories. Individuals with better knowledge about Brexit showed better discrimination between true and false stories, while self-reported engagement with the Brexit debate was associated with an increased tendency to "remember" any story, regardless of its truth. These results implicate a combination of social and individual factors in the development of false memories from fake news, and suggest that exposure to social identity threats may enhance the polarising effects of fake news.

Collective Self-Esteem and School Segregation in Chilean Secondary Students

Chile has established hybrid policies for the administrative distribution of its educational establishments, leading to significant gaps in educational results and school conditions between public, mixed, and private schools. As a result, there are high levels of segregation, and social and economic vulnerability that put public schools at a disadvantage, affecting their image and causing a constant decrease in enrollment. An abbreviated version of Luhtanen and Crocker’s (1992) collective self-esteem scale was adapted and validated for the Chilean educational context because of its usefulness in studying processes of social segregation and cultural coherence, seeking to identify student perception about the appreciation of school actions in the context of belonging and identification with schools, in order to compare between groups according to types of establishment and assess the effects of school conditions on the perception of students. A representative sample of Chilean secondary students between 9th and 12th grades participated (n = 3635, 52.8% women, average age 15.9 years, SD = 1.1). Descriptive analyses, comparison of means between groups, confirmatory factorial analyses, and multi-group analyses were conducted to test the adjustment and invariance of the unifactorial structure of a reduced version of four items. The results indicated that the scale satisfactorily complies with the proposed adjustment indexes, presents total invariance by gender and partial invariance by administrative dependence, and allows establishing statistically significant differences in the collective self-esteem, indicating a higher score for students in the private system, and a lower score for those in the public system. These results show the negative effects of high school segregation on students’ collective self-esteem, affecting the appreciation of personal, collective, and institutional activities and the sense of belonging. Although previous research has explored some of the effects of school segregation, the present study focuses on collective self-esteem, which is closely related to identity and belonging, and allows for further innovative research on school segregation. The scale is useful as an instrument for researching social conditions of student well-being, in regards to educational management.

Hated but still human: Metadehumanization leads to greater hostility than metaprejudice

Metadehumanization, the perception that members of an outgroup dehumanize your group, has been found to exacerbate intergroup conflict by inspiring reciprocal dehumanization of the offending outgroup. Moreover, metadehumanization is distinct from metaprejudice (i.e., the perception that an outgroup hates your group). Given the mutual animosity reported in public opinion polls toward the other side, we believed US–Russia relations would be a worthwhile context in which to extend this model. Therefore, we measured Americans’ levels of metadehumanization and metaprejudice of Russians to determine the association between these perceptions and their hostility toward Russians (Study 1). In this novel intergroup conflict, metadehumanization remained a consequential predictor of outgroup hostility over and above metaprejudice, suggesting that it can exacerbate a broader range of intergroup conflicts than those heretofore examined. Given these findings, we then sought to experimentally differentiate between metadehumanization and metaprejudice. In Study 2, we manipulated both metadehumanization and metaprejudice to (a) determine whether one or both cause greater outgroup hostility and (b) elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which they may produce this effect. Whereas metadehumanization produced greater hostility, metaprejudice did not. Moreover, although both metaperceptions inspired greater prejudice, only metadehumanization led to greater dehumanization. We conclude that metadehumanization may be a particularly potent fomenter of hostility because it inspires reciprocal dehumanization over and above more general negative bias.

Examining dispositional and situational effects on outgroup attitudes

Two research lines have dominated the quest for the antecedents of outgroup attitudes. Whereas the first has viewed outgroup attitudes as a result of individual differences, the second stressed the importance of the intergroup situation. In order to investigate the interplay of individual differences and situational characteristics, key predictors of the individual differences perspective (i.e. right‐wing authoritarianism or RWA, and social dominance orientation or SDO) and the intergroup relations perspective (i.e. ingroup identification and ingroup threat) were simultaneously tested. Two studies revealed additive but no interaction effects of RWA and SDO, ingroup identification and threat. Additionally, Study 1 showed that threat effects remain limited to the outgroup that is portrayed as threatening and do not generalize to other outgroups. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Do dominant group members have different emotional responses to observing dominant-on-dominant versus dominant-on-disadvantaged ostracism? Some evidence for heightened reactivity to potentially discriminatory ingroup behavior

The importance of social connection to well-being is underscored by individuals’ reactivity to events highlighting the potential for rejection and exclusion, which extends even to observing the social exclusion of others (“vicarious ostracism”). Because responses to vicarious ostracism depend at least in part on empathy with the target, and individuals tend to empathize less readily with outgroup than ingroup members, the question arises as to whether there is a boundary condition on vicarious ostracism effects whereby individuals are relatively immune to observing ingroup-on-outgroup ostracism. Of particular interest is the case where members of a dominant ethnic group observe fellow ingroup members ostracize a member of a disadvantaged ethnic minority group, as here there is a compelling potential alternative: Perceived violation of contemporary social norms condemning prejudice and discrimination might instead lead dominant group members to be especially upset by “dominant-on-disadvantaged” ostracism. Accordingly, the present research examines, across four studies and 4413 participants, individuals’ affective reactions to observing dominant-on-disadvantaged versus dominant-on-dominant ostracism. In each study, dominant group members (White/Europeans) observed dominant group members include or ostracize a fellow dominant group member or a disadvantaged ethnic minority group member (a Black individual) in an online Cyberball game. Results revealed that dominant group members felt more guilt, anger, and sadness after observing severe ostracism of a disadvantaged as opposed to dominant group member. Although no direct effects emerged on behavioral outcomes, exploratory analyses suggested that observing ostracism of a disadvantaged (versus dominant) group member had indirect effects on behavior via increased feelings of anger. These results suggest that observing ostracism may be a sufficiently potent and relatable experience that when it occurs across group boundaries it awakens individuals’ sensitivity to injustice and discrimination.

Gratitude inhibits competitive behaviour in threatening interactions

It is well established that gratitude favours prosocial tendencies in neutral and amicable social interactions. Less is clear, however, about the role of gratitude in threatening situations that breed competitive impulses. As gratitude inhibits self-centred impulses and motivates a communal orientation, we predict and demonstrate that gratitude reduces competitive behaviour in threatening interactions. In Study 1 (N = 171), after emotion induction, participants went through the classic Trucking game paradigm, whereby a bogus opponent behaved in a competitive manner (i.e. closing the gate on them). Gratitude, as compared to joy and a neutral mood state, reduced participants' competitive behaviour against the opponent. In Study 2 (N = 422), after losing to a bogus opponent on a self-relevant task, participants were given an opportunity to sabotage the opponent's chances of winning a lottery. Individuals induced to feel gratitude showed less sabotaging behaviour than those in a neutral mood state. Importantly, this effect was only observed against a highly competitive, but not a neutral, opponent, suggesting that gratitude inhibits competitive behaviour only under high threat. Our findings suggest that gratitude is instrumental in arresting the competitive cycles from developing in threatening social interactions.

Gender identity relevance predicts preferential neural processing of same-gendered faces

The very early perceptional processes that underlie social categorization can be detected with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Using this methodology, the present work aims to detect differential attentional processing of ingroup and outgroup members based on gender categories. Specifically, three EEG studies tested how factors that enhance social identity relevance, namely gender identification and contextual salience of gender representation, moderate neural gender categorization effects. Study 1 showed that both women (Study 1a) and men (Study 1b) were more likely to show preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members, but only when they identified strongly with their gender group. Study 2 showed that when gender categories in an intergroup leadership context were made salient (i.e., when women were numerically underrepresented versus equally represented compared to men), women, irrespective of their level of gender identification, showed preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members. Together, this work provides empirical evidence for (1) the neural gender categorization effect among both men and women as soon as 100 ms after face perception and (2) the moderating role of factors that enhance social identity relevance in early gender categorization.

Symbolic threat affects negative self-conscious emotions

Self-conscious emotions are a distinct category of emotional responses that are rooted in social contexts. Previous findings suggest that negative self-conscious emotions might be elicited by a specific social factor, that is, symbolic intergroup threat. The present study tested the hypothesis that this is true, with three experiments conducted in the Chinese-context. In particular, the Mandarin words for shame (羞愧), guilt (内疚) and loss of face (丢脸) were examined. Symbolic threats were manipulated in all three experiments, with participants randomly divided into a symbolic threat condition and a control condition in each experiment. As expected, participants in the symbolic threat condition always reported more negative self-conscious emotions compared to participants in the control condition. These results suggest that symbolic intergroup threat can lead to self-conscious emotions as well as basic emotions, as was demonstrated by previous research.

Underlying Differences Between Chinese Omnivores and Vegetarians in the Evaluations of Different Dietary Groups

Drawing upon self-categorization theory, the present research investigated the attitudes of omnivores and vegetarians toward five dietary groups, including omnivores, conscientious omnivores, semi-vegetarians, vegetarians, and vegans. When they had high (vs. low) meat rationalization, omnivore participants had fewer negative attitudes toward and more positive evaluations of the omnivore groups but more negative attitudes toward and fewer positive evaluations of the vegetarian groups. Vegetarian participants had the most negative attitudes toward the omnivore group, followed by the conscientious omnivore group, the semi-vegetarian group, the vegetarian group, and the vegan group; the vegetarian participants with high meat rationalization (vs. those with low meat rationalization) had more positive evaluations of the omnivore groups. Such findings suggested that high levels of meat-eating rationalization predicted more favorable attitudes toward omnivores among both omnivore and vegetarian participants.

Flags on fire: Consequences of a national symbol’s desecration for intergroup relations

Desecrating a national symbol is a powerful means of protest or of showing antipathy for a national group, but how do such actions impact ingroup favoritism? We investigated this issue via two field studies conducted prior to the France versus Ireland (Study 1, N = 72) and France versus Germany (Study 2, N = 165) matches at the Euro 2016 soccer tournament. We asked French participants to imagine the ingroup/competition outgroup flag being burnt by ingroup/competition outgroup perpetrators. Imagining the ingroup flag being burnt increased proingroup bias through increase in either ingroup favoritism (Study 1) or outgroup derogation (for all outgroups, including those unconnected with the threat; Study 2). Perpetrators’ group membership did not have the expected moderating effect. We discuss the implications of these results for social identity defense strategies and for the consequences of intragroup versus intergroup threats.

Autobiographical recall of mastery experiences is a mechanism of self-affirming under social identity threat

Autobiographical memories are relevant to many areas of psychological functioning. So far, however, there is no evidence whether personal memories can also be instrumental for self-affirmation. We conducted two experiments, varying national identity threat among U.S. Americans recruited through MTurk. In Study 1, participants spontaneously recalled autobiographical memories after being exposed to varying levels of threat. When the threat was identity-relevant, those who spontaneously recalled mastery autobiographical memories had higher collective self-esteem than those who did not. In Study 2, we instructed participants to recall either mastery autobiographical memories or routine memories. When the threat was identity-relevant, collective self-esteem was again higher for mastery recall compared to routine recall, moderated by national identification and self-esteem. We also found a general, self-affirmative effect of autobiographical memories, regardless of threat relevance or recall content. Findings provide a first empirical demonstration that autobiographical recall can enhance self-affirmation in identity threat situations.

Respect and political disagreement: Can intergroup respect reduce the biased evaluation of outgroup arguments?

Past research indicates that in political debates the same arguments are judged very differently depending on the perceiver's own position on the issue, because positions on controversial issues are often tied to collective identities. In this article, we test the assumption that equality-based respect from an opposing opinion-based group can reduce such biases. Results confirmed that identification as an opponent or proponent of a contested issue was negatively related to evaluations of outgroup arguments (Study 1) and that this negative link was no longer significant when intergroup respect was experimentally induced (Study 2). Results support the notion that disagreements over political issues are intergroup conflicts, in which different socio-political groups struggle for recognition, and that approaches that protect collective identities and improve intergroup relations should be employed to de-escalate them.

Leaving an attacked group: Authoritative criticism decreases ingroup favoritism

Research suggests people try to protect their social self-esteem from threats from the ingroup or the outgroup. However, how members react to a threat to social self-esteem from a third party remains unclear. Three studies were conducted to examine the influence of a threat to social self-esteem from an authoritative third party on ingroup favoritism. We explored the effect of negative (versus positive) evaluation from the testing system on explicit and implicit ingroup favoritism in Study 1 and Study 2 respectively. We compared the effect of negative evaluation posed by the testing system or the competitive outgroup on ingroup favoritism in Study 3. Results suggested that individuals experiencing a threat to social self-esteem from an authoritative third party manifested less ingroup favoritism than those experiencing no threat or outgroup threat. The theoretical implications of this research on social identity theory and the practical implications of reducing intergroup bias are discussed.

When the tables are turned: The effects of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election on in-group favoritism and out-group hostility

The outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election was a big surprise to many, as the majority of polls had predicted the opposite outcome. In this two-stage cross-sectional study, we focus on how Democrats and Republicans reacted to this electoral surprise and how these reactions might have influenced the way they allocated resources to each other in small groups. We find that, before the election, Republicans showed greater in-group favoritism than Democrats, who treated others equally, regardless of their political affiliation. We then show that Democrats experienced the election outcome as an ego shock and, in the week following the election, reported significantly higher levels of negative emotions and lower levels of self-esteem than Republicans. These reactions then predicted how individuals’ decided to allocate resources to others: after the election, Republicans no longer showed in-group favoritism, while Democrats showed out-group derogation. We find these decisions when the tables were turned can be partially explained by differences in participants’ state self-esteem.