In-group Superiority Research Articles

Morality, Social Inclusion, and In-Group Superiority: The Differential Role of Individualizing and Binding Foundations in Perceptions of the Social Identity of In-Group and Out-Group Members.

Research into social identity and morality judgments typically focuses on how the former influences the latter. We approach this theme from the opposite direction, establishing the influence of morality on perceptions of social identity. In three studies, conducted in two cultures, we show that in-group members acting immorally are excluded from the group. Extending this investigation to the overlooked study of out-group-on-out-group behavior, in Studies 2 and 3, we compare perceptions of social inclusion for in-group members following (im)moral behavior toward the in-group with perceptions of out-group members following (im)moral behavior toward the out-group. We show that people treat in-group and out-group members alike with respect to binding morals, which concern preservation and protection of the group, but not individualizing morals, which concern preservation and protection of individual rights. Finally, in Study 3, we confirm the underlying motivating mechanism of reasserting in-group superiority by affirming the positive distinctiveness of one's own group.

The Gift of Gab: A Netnographic Examination of the Community Building Mechanisms in Far-Right Online Space

ABSTRACT Major social media platforms have recently taken a more proactive stand against harmful far-right content and pandemic-related disinformation on their sites. However, these actions have catalysed the growth of fringe online social networks for participants seeking right-wing content, safe havens, and unhindered communication channels. To better understand these isolated systems of online activity and their success, the study on Gab Social examines the mechanisms used by the far right to form an alternative collective on fringe social media. My analysis showcases how these online communities are built by perpetuating meso-level identity-building narratives. By examining Gab’s emphasis on creating its lasting community base, the work offers an experiential examination of the different communication devices and multimedia within the platform through a netnographic and qualitative content analysis lens. The emergent findings and discussion detail the far right’s virtual community-building model, revolving around its sense of in-group superiority and the self-reinforcing mechanisms of collective. Not only does this have implications for understanding Gab’s communicative dynamics as an essential socialisation space and promoter of a unique meso-level character, but it also reflects the need for researchers to (re)emphasise identity, community, and collectives in far-right fringe spaces.

A comparison of ethnocentrism and global citizenship attitudes among Kuwaiti education students

ABSTRACT This study examined the level of and relationship between ethnocentrism and global citizenship attitudes among 346 undergraduate education students at a university in Kuwait. Ethnocentrism was measured using the General Ethnocentrism Scale (GENE) developed by (Neuliep, J. W., and J. C. McCroskey. 1998. “The Development of a U.S. and Generalized Ethnocentrism Scale.” Communication Research Reports 14 (4): 385–398; Neuliep, J. W., and J. C. McCroskey. 2013. “Ethnocentrism Scale.” Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences. https://www.midss.org/sites/default/files/ethnocentrism_scale.pdf) and global citizenship was measured using the Global Citizenship Scale by (Morais, D. B., and A. C. Ogden. 2011. “Initial Development and Validation of the Global Citizenship Scale.” Journal of Studies in International Education 15 (5): 445–466), both of which were translated into Arabic. No significant correlation was found between the two scales overall, but there were significant correlations between some of the subscales. Specifically, ingroup preference was negatively correlated with intercultural communication while ingroup superiority was positively correlated with global self-awareness. These findings suggest that the relationship between ethnocentrism and global citizenship is multifaceted, with some aspects of ethnocentrism working against some aspects of global citizenship, while others may work together. In pursuit of developing sustainable global citizenship education (GCE) programmes, it is imperative to keep the complexity of the relationship between ethnocentrism and global citizenship in mind.

Masculine Conformity and Social Dominance’s Relation With Organizational Culture Change

While the workforce is becoming increasingly more modernized and diverse, masculine norms are prevalent among certain organizations that remain male-dominated. Namely, the military is an institution that promotes masculine stereotypes and a culture where such stereotypes form a normative system of hierarchy. This study, surveying 145 military cadets at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), found that social dominance orientation, or preference for in-group superiority and out-group inequality, was associated with higher conformity to masculine norms. Moreover, higher levels of social dominance explained the relationship between masculine conformity and less acceptance toward cultural reforms in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). These findings suggest that achieving true organizational culture change in the military involves challenging not only masculine norms but, more importantly, the dominant and nonegalitarian attitudes of social dominance.

Conflict Transformation and Cultural Heritage Use in Cyprus

Cultural heritage use is often a point of friction between antagonistic groups in intrastate conflict. In other instances, use of heritage may facilitate intergroup contact and provide space for conflict transformation. The Cyprus issue is not an exception to this phenomenon. Although Cyprus is one of the most researched frozen conflict cases, cultural heritage use vis-à-vis conflict transformation is relatively understudied focusing primarily on tangible heritage protection, restoration and museology. This brief examines the degree of influence (be it positive or negative) of cultural heritage activity on conflict transformation between the two Cypriot communities. In specific, it examines bicommunal heritage projects, use of in-group and out-group heritage and, visits to own heritage sites on the other side of the divide. Results show that bicommunal heritage projects foster contact and cooperation, use of tangible heritage becomes the ground for antagonism over neglect and care of in-group and out-group sites, and visits to heritage on the other side provoke questions over use and reuse of neglected heritage of the other. In total, this brief demonstrates that often heritage issues are exploited in order to back ethnocentric positions. Both sides use own, neglected, damaged or lost heritage to support arguments of in-group superiority. Contrarily, the Cypriot communities do not consider intergroup cultural differences a deterring factor to transformation. The dynamic potentials of heritage can be utilised towards conflict transformation through bicommunal heritage activities, ventures attributing local ownership and joint management, and critical notions of heritage that favour intangibility and hybridity.

Support for Conciliatory Policies in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Role of Different Modes of Identification and Territorial Ownership Perceptions.

Understanding people’s attitudes toward conciliatory policies in territorial interethnic conflicts is important for a peaceful conflict resolution. We argue that ingroup identification in combination with the largely understudied territorial ownership perceptions can help us explain attitudes toward conciliatory policies. We consider two different aspects of ingroup identification—attachment to one’s ethnic ingroup as well as ingroup superiority. Furthermore, we suggest that perceptions of ingroup and outgroup ownership of the territory can serve as important mechanisms that link the different forms of ingroup identification with conciliatory policies. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among Israeli Jews (N = 1,268), we found that ingroup superiority, but not attachment, was negatively related to conciliatory policies. This relationship was explained by lower outgroup (but not by higher ingroup) ownership perceptions of the territory. Our findings highlight the relevance of studying ingroup superiority as a particularly relevant dimension of identification that represents a barrier to acknowledging outgroup’s territorial ownership, and is thus indirectly related to less support for conciliatory policies in intergroup conflict settings.

Negative Evaluations of National Ethics and Its Impact on Islamic Radicalism

This research set out to examine the role of negative evaluations of national ethics in escalating Islamic radicalism. To this end, we conducted three studies among samples of Muslims in Indonesia. In Study 1b involving 610 participants, we tested in an explorative way the latent structure or the number of dimensions of negative evaluations of national ethics reflecting the perceived immorality, illegitimacy, and inefficiency of national ethics based on participants’ religious beliefs. We confirmed the number of dimensions of the negative evaluations of national ethics in Study 2 ( N = 214), which also showed as expected how they augmented feelings of in-group superiority and tendencies to justify violence. These radical beliefs ultimately evoked intentions to carry out unlawful collective actions and offensive Jihad, negative intergroup attitudes such as out-group blame and negative group-based emotions such as anger. We also observed in Study 2 how the acknowledgment or awareness that Islam and the nation are of equal importance to the Indonesian context, which we referred to as dual identity centrality, explained fewer negative evaluations of national ethics. In Study 3, we recruited 583 participants through an online experiment devised as an intervention that proved significant for the enhancement of dual identity centrality. Designed as an extension of Study 2 in which radical beliefs were complemented with radical thoughts such as dogmatic intolerance, Study 3 also demonstrated that each of those radical tendencies significantly contributed to negative group-based attitudes and emotions, as well as motivations to engage in violent actions. What can be derived from these empirical findings is that dual identity centrality holds potential for reducing the negative evaluations of national ethics, which in turn may overcome Islamic radicalism along with its detrimental intergroup consequences.

The role of comparative victim beliefs in predicting support for hostile versus prosocial intergroup outcomes

AbstractCollective memories of historical ingroup victimization can be linked to prosocial or hostile intergroup outcomes. We hypothesize that such discrepant responses are predicted by different construals of the ingroup's victimization in relation to other groups (i.e., comparative victim beliefs). Using improved measures of inclusive and exclusive victim beliefs, with a global or regional reference group, multigroup structural equation modeling showed across four different groups (Armenian Americans [N = 265], Jewish Americans [N = 297], Hungarians [N = 301], Poles [N = 468]) that inclusive victim beliefs predict prosocial, conciliatory attitudes, while exclusive victim beliefs predict hostile attitudes towards historical perpetrator groups and (in the Polish and Hungarian samples) religious and ethnic outgroups targeted in the present. Moreover, comparative victim beliefs mediated effects of more general psychological orientations (ingroup superiority, universal orientation, perspective‐taking) on intergroup outcomes. These findings suggest the importance of considering distinct collective victim beliefs, and different contexts in research on collective victimhood.

(Im)moral Symbols and (Im)moral Deeds: Defensive Strategies for Coping with Historical Transgressions of Group Heroes and Villains

In two post-conflict societies (Serbia and Cyprus), the authors investigated how people cope with in-group historical transgression when heroes and villains relevant for their collective identity are made salient in it. The authors set the events in foundational periods for Serbian (Experiment 1) and Greek Cypriot (Experiment 2) ethnic identity—that is, historical representations of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and the Liberation Struggle (1955–1959), respectively. In both experiments, a between-subjects design was used to manipulate group membership (in-group or out-group) and representation of the salient character (hero, villain, or neutral) in fictitious but historically plausible accounts of transgressions. In Experiment 1 ( N = 225), the participants showed more moral disengagement in the case of in-group historical transgressions than in the case of identical transgressions by an out-group, while the in-group hero was rejected less than all the other historical characters. Social identification based on in-group superiority moderated both observed effects in such a manner that they were more pronounced for participants perceiving their ethnic group as superior. In Experiment 2 ( N = 136), historical transgression involving the in-group hero provoked the most moral disengagement and the least rejection of the group deviant. In-group superiority and in-group importance as distinct modes of social identification moderated these effects in such a way that they were more pronounced for high-identifying individuals. Taken together, the experiments show that the in-group hero, as a highly valued ethnic symbol, is exempt from the black sheep effect and the sanctions of critically attached group members. The authors discuss the implications of in-group heroes for political and educational communication.

Racial Prejudice Towards African-American Portrayed In 12 Years A Slave

Racial prejudice is a wrong assessment in society which is done by particular group towards other groups based on their visual appearance. These researches aimed to investigate the factors causing racial prejudice as depicted in 12 Years A Slave movie. The data were collected by using a qualitative method. This literary research examines the racial prejudice of white people towards black people. White people have negative prejudice towards black people without enough knowledge. The result of the research illustrated the racial prejudice arises because of two factors. They are Hereditary Categorical Thinking about Others and In-Group Superiority and Out-Group Discrimination Keywords: 12 Years a Slave, Racism, Racial Prejudice, Slave Narrative

Risk factors for (violent) radicalization in juveniles: A multilevel meta-analysis

Abstract Juveniles who become radicalized pose a great threat for society. Although research on radicalization is accumulating, a quantitative review of risk factors for youth radicalization is lacking. Therefore, a series of meta-analyses were conducted on k = 30 studies (247 effect sizes) to examine risk factors for radicalization in youth, yielding significant effects for 15 out of 17 risk domains, ranging in magnitude from r = 0.080 to r = 0.482. Medium positive effects were found for activism, perceived in-group superiority and perceived distance to other people, while small effects were found for gender, personality, delinquency and aggression, lower educational level, negative peers, in-group identification, perceived discrimination, perceived group threat, perceived procedural injustice, perceived illegitimacy of authorities, and other, whereas the effect for poverty was very small. Moderator analyses showed that the risks of negative parenting and societal disconnection were smaller for right-wing radicalization than for religious or unspecified radicalization. The risks of personality and perceived group threat were greater for willingness to carry out extremist acts and extremist behavior than for attitude towards radicalization. Further, when the percentage of ethnic minorities in the sample increased, the risks of personality, negative parenting, and societal disconnection for radicalization were larger.

The role of lay beliefs about group transgressions in acceptance of responsibility for ingroup harm‐doing

AbstractDenial of responsibility by perpetrator groups is the most common response to group‐based transgressions. Refusal to acknowledge responsibility has dire consequences for intergroup relations. In this research we assessed whether shifting lay beliefs about group‐based transgressions in general influences acceptance of responsibility for a specific ingroup transgression. In two experimental studies we manipulated lay beliefs about group transgressions as reflecting either a group's stable character (i.e., a global defect construal) or a specific characteristic (i.e., a specific defect construal). Specific defect construals (compared to global defect construals) increased acceptance of ingroup responsibility by increasing group malleability beliefs, but reduced acceptance of ingroup responsibility by reducing the ingroup's perceived moral failure. These effects were moderated by ingroup superiority in Study 1, but not Study 2. We draw implications for our understanding of mechanisms of denial of responsibility, identity threat, and coping with this threat.

How Turkey’s repetitive elections affected the populist tone in the discourses of the Justice and Development Party Leaders

Perceived uncertainty and anger lead people to investigate with respect to the establishment, and politicians who are seen as reckless within society. In this sense, populist discourse paved a way to respond by glorifying one group of people and scapegoating others that emerge as group differentiation. Critical moments especially illustrate mutual constructive identification through the discourse of political actors. This article explores a contextual change in the populist discourse of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) leaders by observing the successive elections that occurred in 2015. It argues that the leaders mainly expressed an “us–them distinction,” “in-group superiority,” and “the people” populist themes; as well as these themes, the electoral speeches made for the second election presented scapegoating and exclusionary statements even more.

Narcissistic group dynamics in multiparty systems

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce and illustrate the notion of narcissistic group dynamics. It is claimed that narcissism does not simply reside within individuals but can be characteristic of groups and social systems. In this case, the focus is on narcissistic dynamics in multiparty systems. Design/methodology/approach – Social psychological understandings of group narcissism are complemented with notions from psychoanalysis. A systems-psychodynamic perspective, informed by psychoanalysis and systems theory, is adopted. Findings – Narcissistic group dynamics in a multiparty context are illustrated by observations from a two-day simulation of interorganizational relationships that is called “The Yacht Club” (Vansina et al., 1998). Originality/value – In the social psychological literature, narcissism thus far has been largely understood as the prevalence of feelings of ingroup superiority vis-à-vis a particular outgroup. Sometimes the term narcissism is explicitly used, in other cases not, for example in social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), a theory that is built on group members’ need to regulate self-esteem. Psychoanalysts adopt an individualistic perspective while aiming to understand the underlying dynamics resulting in narcissism. A cross-fertilization of social psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives results in deindividualizing and depathologizing narcissism and a deeper understanding of the dynamics of (inter)group narcissism.

Alignment with globalized Western culture: Between inclusionary values and an exclusionary social identity

AbstractReactions to globalized Western culture (GWC) are influential in shaping intergroup relations and social issues worldwide. GWC is conceptualized here as an inclusionary cultural value system but a simultaneously exclusionary social identity. Whereas GWC's inclusive values may promote the civil liberties and fair treatment of gay people, for instance, as a social identity, groups may use their alignment with GWC to buttress ingroup superiority over less aligned outgroups. Three studies (one correlational and two experimental in design) probe these opposing vectors in samples of Jewish‐Israelis, who are generally highly aligned with GWC. Results demonstrate that GWC alignment is associated with decreased anti‐gay prejudice (Studies 2 and 3) but exclusionary responses towards Arab individuals and groups (Studies 1, 2, and 3), who are perceived to be less aligned with GWC. Conducted during the 2014 Israeli‐Palestinian war, Study 3 notably demonstrated that a GWC identification prime reduced Jewish‐Israelis' willingness to offer humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in need. This may suggest that in some contexts, GWC's divisive function as a social identity supersedes its more inclusionary humanistic values. These contrary effects of GWC alignment by social target are discussed, alongside their implications on national, regional, and international levels.

Collective identity factors and the attitude toward violence in defense of ethnicity or religion among Muslim youth of Turkish and Moroccan Descent

Collective deprivation, connectedness to mainstream society (friendship and psychological closeness to majority individuals) and in-group identity factors (i.e. strength of in-group identity, and perceived in-group superiority) were investigated among Muslim Dutch youth of Turkish and Moroccan descent, in relation to their attitudes toward violence in defense of religion or ethnicity, and the willingness to use such violence. Data come from a sample of students (N=398, age 14–18 years). Results show that perceptions of in-group superiority were predicted by higher connectedness to the in-group and lower connectedness to Dutch society in both ethnic groups and by collective relative deprivation among Moroccan-Dutch participants only. In both groups, attitudes toward violent in-group defense and violence willingness were predicted by perceptions of in-group superiority. Collective relative deprivation directly predicted more positive attitudes to violent in-group defense among Turkish-Dutch youth, as well as indirectly (via in-group superiority) among Moroccan-Dutch. Connectedness to the in-group directly predicted the willingness to use a violent in-group defense among the Turkish-Dutch participants and again indirectly (via in-group superiority) among Moroccan-Dutch participants. The results underline the relevance of collective identification processes to the attitudes of violent in-group defense among young Muslims of the second generation in a rather tensed socio-political climate. The study outcomes emphasize the importance of examining the dynamics between different Muslim groups, as their unique acculturation patterns yield particular pathways to the attitudes toward violent in-group defense and the willingness hereof.

The Role of Inclusive and Exclusive Victim Consciousness in Predicting Intergroup Attitudes: Findings from Rwanda, Burundi, and DRC

The present research examined the differential relationship between distinct construals of collective victimhood—specifically, inclusive and exclusive victim consciousness—and intergroup attitudes in the context and aftermath of mass violence. Three surveys in Rwanda (N = 842), Burundi (N = 1,074), and Eastern DRC (N = 1,609) provided empirical support for the hypothesis that while exclusive victim consciousness predicts negative intergroup attitudes, inclusive victim consciousness is associated with positive, prosocial intergroup attitudes. These findings were significant when controlling for age, gender, urban/rural residence, education, personal victimization, and ingroup superiority. Additionally, exclusive victim consciousness mediated the effects of ingroup superiority on negative intergroup attitudes. These findings have important theoretical implications for research on collective victimhood as well as practical implications for intergroup relations in regions emerging from violent conflict.

Identity centrality and in-group superiority differentially predict reactions to historical victimization and harm doing

Two U.S. studies report a differential effect of identity centrality and in-group superiority on reactions to in-group victimization and in-group harm-doing. Study 1 (N = 80) found that higher identity centrality predicted less justification for freely-recalled in-group victim events, whereas higher in-group superiority predicted more justification for freely-recalled in-group harm-doing events. Study 2 (N = 105) reexamined these findings in specific contexts of historical victimization (Pearl Harbor) and harm-doing (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), finding that in-group superiority was a predictor of reactions to historical in-group harm-doing (justification, emotional reactions, importance of events), whereas centrality was a predictor of reactions to historical in-group victimization.

“My In‐group is Superior!”: Susceptibility for Radical Right‐wing Attitudes and Behaviors in Dutch Youth

AbstractIn this study among Dutch youth (N = 1086), we focus on the determinants of the susceptibility for adopting radical right‐wing attitudes and behaviors. By means of structural equation modeling, we find that (a) perceived injustice, (b) perceived group threat, (c) relative deprivation, and (d) identification with the Dutch are important background determinants of a radical right‐wing belief system (e.g., perceived in‐group superiority, perceived illegitimacy of Dutch authorities, perceived distance to others, and a feeling of being socially disconnected). Perceived in‐group superiority in turn is positively associated with endorsement of right‐wing motivated violence, which is a determinant of own violent intentions. Results are discussed in terms of the role of various determinants of the process of susceptibility of extreme right‐wing belief system.

Right‐wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation and prejudice against threatening and competitive ethnic groups

AbstractThis research rests on the assumption that individual differences approaches to prejudice benefit from an integration of intergroup factors. Following Duckitt (2001), we assumed that two prominent individual differences variables, right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO), would differentially predict majority members' levels of ethnic prejudice depending on specific factors of the intergroup context: RWA as an index of motivational concerns about social cohesion, stability and security should drive prejudice against outgroups perceived as socially threatening, and SDO as an index of concerns about ingroup superiority and dominance should predict prejudice against outgroups perceived as potential competitors for power‐status. Across two studies (Ns = 82, 176), using between‐participants and within‐participants experimental designs, the effects of RWA on prejudice were particularly powerful when the outgroup was manipulated to be socially threatening, but the effects of SDO on prejudice appeared not to increase when the outgroup was manipulated to be competitive. In Study 2, presenting the outgroup as having low status also increased the effect of RWA, but not the effect of SDO. These results support the differential prediction assumption for RWA, but not for SDO. Implications for the conceptualisation of RWA and SDO are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.