Ingroup Characteristics Research Articles

“False advertising, fact-checked” examining how social identification affects fact-checking of false advertisements

This study examines the effectiveness of fact-checking technology in combating false advertising on social media. Focusing on two understudied consumer groups: vegans and vegetarians (Study 1) and mothers (Study 2), the study employs a social identity framework to explore the impact of fact-checking tools on consumer perceptions. The findings indicate that such tools can be beneficial for consumers, leading them to have a heightened sense of deception towards false advertising. However, the study also highlights the potential for fact-checking features to backfire when persuasive content emphasizes the consumer’s social identity in-group characteristics. Despite consumers recognizing attempts at deception in the advertisement, they find its persuasive message more credible when it aligns with their identity group’s distinctive traits. Overall, this research contributes to the literature on social identity theory, targeted advertising, message credibility, cognitive dissonance, and false information. Furthermore, the findings guide managerial decisions regarding the implementation of fact-checking features in social media advertising.

The effects of positive and negative intergroup contact in virtual reality on outgroup attitudes: Testing the contact hypothesis and its mediators

Virtual reality (VR) expands the opportunities for meaningful intergroup contact, surpassing the perceived naturalism and emotional salience of other online contact experiences. By embodying an avatar of ingroup characteristics, one can interact with outgroup members in a shared virtual space while maintaining a high sense of body ownership and copresence. Two studies conducted in Finland ( N = 53) and Italy ( N = 134) assessed the impact of intergroup contact in VR on implicit and explicit attitudes towards Black people. Utilizing the VR app AltspaceVR, participants were immersed in a virtual environment as White avatars to play an interactive game with another player represented as a Black (intergroup contact) or White avatar (intragroup contact). In Study 1, the avatars played the game as a team to win against other teams. The participants’ attitudes were assessed both pre- and postcontact using questionnaires and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). In Study 2, participants were randomly assigned to either cooperate (play as a team) or compete (play against each other) in the game. The IAT and explicit attitudes were measured postcontact. The findings from both studies revealed that cooperative contact with a Black avatar led to improved attitudes towards Black people. While Study 1 demonstrated an improvement in explicit attitudes, Study 2 demonstrated positive effects of contact at the implicit level exclusively. Additionally, the positive impact of contact on implicit attitudes was observed following cooperative, rather than competitive, intergroup interactions.

The Impact of Narrative Role on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions in the Agricultural Product Live Stream: A Study Based on the Theory of Perspective Taking

This study aims to investigate the relationships of narrative role, empathy, host identification, spatial distance, and purchase intention. This study conducts three experiments with 460 participants to analyze the influencing mechanism of narrative role (in-group vs. out-group) on consumers’ purchase intentions from the perspective of empathy and host identification through three experiments in different spatial distances (distant vs. close). (a) The study found that in the context of agricultural product live stream, hosts taking an in-group character are more likely to trigger consumers’ purchase intentions than hosts taking an out-group character. (b) Empathy and host identification play a mediating role in the impact of the narrative role on consumers’ purchase intentions. (c) The impact of the host’s narrative role on purchase intention does not significantly differ in a spatially distant location. Compared to the host as an out-group character, the host as an in-group character is more likely to promote consumers’ purchase intention when the spatial distance is close.

Music and Sports as Catalysts for Intergroup Harmony

Abstract: Mediated intergroup contact positively influences attitudes toward social out-groups; here, we explored whether different intergroup contact activities might influence attitudes via different mechanisms. We investigated whether mediated musical or sports contact improves intergroup attitudes through theoretically derived mediators (interpersonal synchronization, empathy, and humanization). This was accomplished by exposing US respondents to videos featuring Chinese singers or table tennis players. We found support for mediated effects of intergroup musical exposure on prejudice through the mediator humanization. We also examined whether seeing in-group (vs. out-group) members enjoying the out-group performance in the video (a “reaction video”) would improve attitudes via norms-related processes. Sharing the viewing experience with an in-group character enables identification with that in-group character, which facilitates modeling of positive intergroup relations. We found that seeing an in-group member enjoying an out-group performance reduced prejudice via norms, but only when people viewed the sports performance. Results are discussed in terms of the prejudice-reducing potential of exposure to media featuring music and sports.

Political Alliance Formation and Cooperation Networks in the Utah State Legislature.

Social network analysis has become an increasingly important tool among political scientists for understanding legislative cooperation in modern, democratic nation-states. Recent research has demonstrated the influence that group affinity (homophily) and mutual exchanges (reciprocity) have in structuring political relationships. However, this literature has typically focused on political cooperation where costs are low, relationships are not exclusive, and/or partisan competition is high. Patterns of legislative behavior in alternative contexts are less clear and remain largely unexamined. Here, we compare theoretical expectations of cooperation in these contexts from the political and biosocial sciences and implement the first assessment of political alliance formation in a novel legislative environment where costs to cooperation are high and party salience low. We implement a stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM) to examine bill floor sponsorship, a process in which a "floor sponsor" becomes the exclusive advocate for a colleague's piece of legislation, in the Utah state legislature from 2005 to 2008-a context in which gender (male) and political party (Republican) supermajorities exist. We find that (1) party and gender homophily predict who legislators recruit as floor sponsors, whereas seniority does not, and (2) legislators frequently engage in reciprocal exchanges of floor sponsorship. In addition, whereas gender homophily increases the likelihood of reciprocity, party homophily decreases it. Our findings suggest that when the cost of cooperation is high, political actors use in-group characteristics for initiating alliances, but once a cooperative relationship is established with an out-group political member, it is reinforced through repeated exchanges. These findings may be useful for understanding the rise of political polarization and gridlock in democracies internationally.

Perception of Multi-Cue Indexical Speech Leads to Amplified Stereotyping

ABSTRACT Negative appraisals may stem from the identification of a social mismatch (i.e., expectation violation) of cues assumed by in-group characteristics, with out-group persons perceived more negatively. Few studies have focused on the compounding effects of multi-factor out-group socio-vocal cues that indexically mark social appraisals, potentially leading to reliance on stereotypes and thus heightened social stigmatization. A matched-guise technique was used to create two vocal socio-indexical cues to speaker identity (out-group accent; stuttering) that may independently garner negative social appraisal, increasing the likelihood of social stigmatization when they occur together. Digitally manipulated stuttered speech from two U.S. American accented male speakers (Northern; Southern) was presented to typically fluent U.S. Northern (USN) accented listeners in a computer mouse-tracking paradigm. Results indicated that while both accented speakers who had a pseudo-stutter were perceived negatively, the USN listeners tended to perceive the speaker with multiple out-group vocal cues (pSWS – U.S. Southern accented speaker who pseudo-stutters) more negatively relative to the speaker with one in-group and one out-group cue (pNWS – U.S. Northern accented speaker who pseudo-stutters). Findings suggest that individuals with multiple socio-indexical out-group cues may experience amplified negative appraisals through compounding effects of socio-indexical cue perception, which could lead to amplified stereotypes and discrimination in real-world contexts.

The importance of out-group characteristics for the own-group face memory bias

ABSTRACT The own-group bias (OGB) in face recognition refers to the finding that in-group faces are recognized with greater accuracy than out-group faces. Current literature emphasizes the importance of in-group characteristics for the OGB. Across two experiments we explored the importance of both in-group and out-group characteristics. Using an old/new task, Experiment 1 categorized faces by university membership and found no evidence of the OGB or a relationship between the OGB and attitudes towards the in-group. Experiment 2 used real-world categories of football (soccer) teams, with the out-group representing a high or low threat to the in-group. Here we found an out-group disadvantage (rather than an in-group advantage) only when the out-group was low threat, and a relationship between out-group but not in-group attitudes and the size of the OGB. These findings suggest that the characteristics of the out-group can be more important than the in-group in modulating the OGB.

The Development and Influence of Parasocial Relationships With Television Characters: A Longitudinal Experimental Test of Prejudice Reduction Through Parasocial Contact

The current study investigates parasocial relationships as the underlying mechanism explaining prejudice reduction following extended exposure to mediated outgroups. Heterosexual participants viewed a fictional television series for 10 weeks depicting outgroup (gay) characters in which the outgroup attribute (sexuality) was accentuated or sanitized. Parasocial relationships with outgroup characters grew significantly over the course of the study regardless of condition. White participants and participants who reported the strongest pretest prejudice experienced the most intense growth. Outgroup prejudice decreased significantly over time for participants in both experimental conditions. Parasocial relationships predicted both prejudice reduction over time and behavioral responses to the outgroup. Parasocial relationships with an ingroup character engaged in intergroup contact did not contribute to prejudice reduction beyond parasocial relationships with outgroup characters. This research suggests that audiences can develop socioemotional bonds with outgroup television characters that can influence attitudes and behaviors much the same as direct, interpersonal intergroup contact.

Reducing Prejudice Through Narratives

Abstract. Recent extensions to the contact hypothesis reveal that different forms of contact, such as mediated intergroup contact, can reduce intergroup anxiety and improve attitudes toward the outgroup. This study draws on existing research to further consider the role of identification with an ingroup character within a narrative depicting intergroup contact between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Results reveal that identification with the non-Muslim (ingroup) model facilitated liking the Muslim (outgroup) model, which reduced prejudice toward Muslims more generally. Identification with the ingroup model also increased conversational self-efficacy and reduced anxiety about future intergroup interactions – both important aspects of improving intergroup relations.

We are the opposite of you! Mirroring of national, regional and ethnic stereotypes

ABSTRACTThe content of stereotypes can be shaped by multiple mechanisms, one of them possibly being the “mirroring effect.” Mirroring describes a phenomenon whereby people rate their ingroup characteristics as opposite to characteristics typical of a relevant outgroup. The aim of our study was to explore mirroring in three intergroup contexts—in national, regional, and ethnic stereotypes. In Study 1, 2,241 participants rated national ingroup stereotype and outgroup stereotypes of five Central European countries. In Study 2, 741 Czech participants rated regional ingroup and outgroup stereotypes of people living in two distinct parts of the Czech Republic. In Study 3, 463 majority and Hungarian minority participants in Slovakia rated ethnic ingroup and outgroup stereotypes. The results showed a clear presence of mirroring in all three contexts.

Institutional discrimination: Stereotypes and social reproduction of “class” in the Swedish upper-secondary school

This article discusses the effects of separating 15–16 years-old school students in isolated academic and practical study programs in upper-secondary education. It is based on an investigation of the social identities developed by and about youth learners in these circumstances. In particular we examine the creation of identity positions by youth on academic programs regarding themselves and people like them (in-group characteristics) on the one hand and for other kinds of students on the other, on vocational programs. These constructions are analyzed as a product of self-categorization theory. The investigation involved 224 students from upper-secondary school academic programs. Our results showed that the academic program students expressed strong stereotypes with extremely negative potentials in relation to future social solidarity and equity. On the basis of the findings we strongly recommend introducing mixed classes in upper-secondary school, where students from academic and vocational programs take the same courses in general subjects as a way of reducing stereotypes and prejudice.

The Advantage of Fitting the Ingroup: Ingroup Prototypicality and Attributed Occupational Success

According to social identity theory people are viewed as prototypical of a group to the extent that they possess ingroup characteristics but not outgroup characteristics. Based on this, previous research demonstrated that high-status group members (e.g., in the occupational field: men) may profit from failure in low-status domains, that is, domains in which members of a low-status group (e.g., in the occupational field: women) outperform high-status group members. In this case individual failure of a high-status group member appear highly prototypical for the high-status ingroup and therefore leads to the attribution of future occupational success (so called Failure-as-an-Asset effect). The current work extends this reasoning, by taking into account that perceived prototypicality of an individual group member is assumed to depend on meta-contrast based perception, meaning the ratio of differences between in- and outgroup characteristics and similarities of the ingroup and the respective group member. Therefore, the present study investigated how manipulated differences in ingroup prototypicality (i.e., meta-contrast quotient) of a failing male individual affect attributed occupational success. Thus, we predicted perceived prototypicality to moderate the Failure-as-an-Asset effect. In line with our hypothesis, we found that increased ingroup prototypicality lead to higher attributed occupational success.

"Not one of us": predictors and consequences of denying ingroup characteristics to ambiguous targets.

We investigated individual difference predictors of ascribing ingroup characteristics to negative and positive ambiguous targets. Studies 1 and 2 investigated events involving negative targets whose status as racial (Tsarnaev brothers) or national (Woolwich attackers) ingroup members remained ambiguous. Immediately following the attacks, we presented White Americans and British individuals with the suspects' images. Those higher in social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)-concerned with enforcing status boundaries and adherence to ingroup norms, respectively-perceived these low status and low conformity suspects as looking less White and less British, thus denying them ingroup characteristics. Perceiving suspects in more exclusionary terms increased support for treating them harshly, and for militaristic counter-terrorism policies prioritizing ingroup safety over outgroup harm. Studies 3 and 4 experimentally manipulated a racially ambiguous target's status and conformity. Results suggested that target status and conformity critically influence SDO's (status) and RWA's (conformity) effects on inclusionary versus exclusionary perceptions.

Pals in Power Armor: Attribution of Human-Like Emotions to Video Game Characters in an Ingroup/Outgroup Situation

Previous research has demonstrated the tendency for humans to anthropomorphize computers-that is, to react to computers as social actors, despite knowing that the computers are mere machines. In the present research, we examined the attribution of both primary (non-uniquely human) and secondary (human-like) emotions to ingroup (teammate) and outgroup (opponent) computer-controlled characters in a video game. We found that participants perceived the teammate character as experiencing more secondary emotions than the opponent character, but that they perceived the teammate and opponent character as experiencing equal levels of primary emotions. Thus, participants anthropomorphized the ingroup character to a greater extent than the outgroup character. These results imply that computers' "emotions" are treated with a similar ingroup/outgroup social regard as the emotions of actual humans.

Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking.

The present research introduces the concept of experience-taking-the imaginative process of spontaneously assuming the identity of a character in a narrative and simulating that character's thoughts, emotions, behaviors, goals, and traits as if they were one's own. Six studies investigated the degree to which particular psychological states and features of narratives cause individuals, without instruction, to engage in experience-taking and investigated how the merger between self and other that occurs during experience-taking produces changes in self-judgments, attitudes, and behavior that align with the character's. Results from Studies 1-3 showed that being in a reduced state of self-concept accessibility while reading a brief fictional work increased-and being in a heightened state of self-concept accessibility decreased-participants' levels of experience-taking and subsequent incorporation of a character's personality trait into their self-concepts. Study 4 revealed that a first-person narrative depicting an ingroup character elicited the highest levels of experience-taking and produced the greatest change in participants' behavior, compared with versions of the narrative written in 3rd-person voice and/or depicting an outgroup protagonist. The final 2 studies demonstrated that whereas revealing a character's outgroup membership as a homosexual or African American early in a narrative inhibited experience-taking, delaying the revelation of the character's outgroup identity until later in the story produced higher levels of experience-taking, lower levels of stereotype application in participants' evaluation of the character, and more favorable attitudes toward the character's group. The implications of these findings in relation to perspective-taking, self-other overlap, and prime-to-behavior effects are discussed.

Predictors of ingroup projection: The roles of superordinate category coherence and complexity

Based on an integration of research on ingroup projection, self-anchoring and social identification, three experiments investigated whether projection of ingroup characteristics to a superordinate category would be moderated by both the perceived complexity (number of defining prototypes) and coherence (structural clarity, organization) of the superordinate category. We predicted that ingroup projection would be prevented by the presence of either a complex or coherent superordinate representation. However, we also predicted that complexity would reduce ingroup projection at the expense of superordinate category identification, while coherence would not. We observed the predicted interaction between superordinate category complexity and coherence in three studies: a complex or coherent superordinate category led to lower levels of projection. However, only complexity of the superordinate category reduced superordinate group identification. These findings clarify and refine our understanding of the conditions under which ingroup projection can be discouraged, and the cognitive mechanisms involved.

Implicit Theories of the World and Implicit Theories of the Self as Moderators of Self-Stereotyping

Self-stereotyping involves aligning one's self-perception with the ingroup characteristics and norms, and is arguably a manifestation of a general process to fit oneself in the world. We predicted that this general process should be most salient if the individuals believe in a fixed world and also a malleable self. Using an implicit measure of self-stereotyping, we found that when the individuals believed in a fixed world and the traits were positive, self-stereotyping was accentuated. Furthermore, when they also believed in a malleable self, the aforementioned accentuating effect was stronger. The results suggest that belief in a fixed world may orient individuals to fit in, while belief in a malleable self may further facilitate the process. Also, the moderation effects were found on positive traits only, suggesting that a prevailing self-enhancement process may be concurrently operating. In sum, the results provide an interesting perspective into self-stereotyping from the implicit theories approach.

Entertaining anti-racism. Multicultural television drama, identification and perceptions of ethnic threat

Abstract Television content that contains non-stereotypical representations of ethnic minorities and models positive intercultural interactions may potentially aid in reducing the prejudices of its viewers (Brown Graves, Journal of Social Issues 55: 707–727, 1999, Persson, Early Childhood Research Quarterly 18: 530–546, 1999, Shochat, Conflict Resolution Quarterly 21: 2003). However, the exact effect has yet to be demonstrated. Furthermore, the cognitive mechanisms behind such an effect remain unclear. This article tests hypotheses derived from social identity theory and social learning theory that attribute this effect to the identification patterns with ingroup and outgroup characters in television drama. In an experiment (N = 152), participants either watched episodes of a multicultural drama or a regular soap series. Results showed that viewers of multicultural drama had lower perceptions of ethnic threat. Moreover, this effect was mediated by identification with characters, namely, increased identification with outgroup and lowered identification with ingroup characters resulting in lower ethnic threat. The results suggest that short term viewing effects are best explained with social identity theory. The implications for long term effects and the possible role of social learning are analyzed in the discussion.

Ours is human: On the pervasiveness of infra‐humanization in intergroup relations

Both at a conceptual and an empirical level, infra-humanization has been put on par with the relative greater attribution of uniquely human emotions to the in-group, assuming that a group's humanity is exclusively a matter of having uniquely human characteristics. In the present research we suggest that people also adopt another strategy to infra-humanize the out-group by considering those aspects that characterize and differentiate the in-group from the out-group as more uniquely human. In three studies, characteristics presented as typical of the in-group and the out-group were judged on a not uniquely human-uniquely human dimension. In addition to humanity, in Study 3 participants judged in-group and out-group characteristics also on an evaluative dimension. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants judged in-group characteristics as more human than those of the out-group, independent of their valence. The implications of these results for infra-humanization theory are discussed.

Superordinate identities and intergroup conflict: The ingroup projection model

This chapter summarises results from a research programme on the psychological basis of tolerance and discrimination in intergroup relations, with particular consideration of the role of superordinate identities. According to the ingroup projection model, a relevant superordinate group provides dimensions and norms for comparisons between ingroup and outgroup. Groups gain positive value or status when they are considered prototypical for the (positively valued) superordinate group. Group members tend to generalise (project) distinct ingroup characteristics onto the superordinate category, implying the relative prototypicality of their ingroup. To the extent that outgroup difference is regarded as a deviation from the ethnocentrically construed prototype it is evaluated negatively. Our research studied consequences and determinants of ingroup projection, as well as moderators of its implications. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes involved in intergroup discrimination and indicate new pathways for the reduction of prejudice, towards mutual intergroup appreciation and tolerance.