Social Similarity and Opinion Conflict: The Impact of Relationship Concerns

Abstract

We examine the impact of social categorization and disagreement on individuals' affective and cognitive reactions in decision-making settings. A 2 (social similarity: in-group vs. out-group) x 2 (task opinion similarity: agree vs. disagree) between-subjects experiment showed that participants were least relationship focused (e.g., concerned with getting along) when they disagreed rather than agreed with out-group coworkers, whereas disagreement had no impact on relationship focus toward in-group coworkers. However, cognitively, systematic information processing was higher when out-group coworkers disagreed rather than agreed, but higher when in-group coworkers agreed rather than disagreed. In a mediation analysis we find support for the argument that level of relationship focus determines the amount of systematic processing of information that individuals are willing to exert. In a second experiment, we manipulate the level of relationship focus individuals have toward a disagreeing in-group or an out-group coworker and find further support for our argument. The implications of this work for understanding the underlying psychological processes affecting responses to social and task-relevant diversity are discussed.