A shared dual identity promotes a cardiovascular challenge response during interethnic interactions

Abstract

We examined the influence of the social identity representation of an ethnic majority-group member on physiological responses during interactions with an ethnic minority-group member. Before engaging in a collaborative task with a Moroccan-Dutch confederate, native Dutch participants studied the advantages of a “one-group” representation that emphasizes their common Dutch nationality or a “dual identity” representation that simultaneously emphasizes their different ethnic subgroups and their overarching “Dutch” nationality. During the task, cardiovascular indices of challenge and threat motivational states were measured in accordance with the biopsychosocial model (Blascovich, 2008). We found that a salient dual identity representation led to more benign cardiovascular arousal (i.e., challenge instead of threat), but only when the minority-group interaction partner also expressed preference for a dual identity. Results are discussed in terms of the fruitfulness of a dual-identity approach for improving intergroup relations, and the importance of social identity factors for turning intergroup threat into challenge.