Intergroup Cognition Research Articles

Which group matters more: The relative strength of minimal vs. gender and race group memberships in children's intergroup thinking

Experimentally created “minimal” social groups are frequently used as a means to investigate core components of intergroup cognition in children and adults. Yet, it is unclear how the effects of such arbitrary group memberships compare to those of salient real-world group memberships (gender and race) when they are directly pitted against each other in the same studies. Across three studies, we investigate these comparisons in 4–7-year-olds. Study 1 (N = 48) establishes the minimal group paradigm, finding that children develop ingroup preferences as well as other forms of group-based reasoning (e.g., moral obligations) following random assignment to a minimal group. Study 2 (N = 96) and Study 3 (N = 48) directly compare this minimal group to a real-world social group (gender or race) in a cross-categorization paradigm, in which targets are participants' ingroups in terms of the minimal group and outgroups in terms of a real-world social group, or vice versa. The relative strength of the minimal group varies, but in general it either has a similar effect or a stronger effect as compared to race and in some cases even gender. Our results support the contention that an abstract tendency to divide the world into “us” and “them” is a central force in early intergroup cognition.

Who is a typical woman? Exploring variation in how race biases representations of gender across development.

From early in development, race biases how children think about gender-often in a manner that treats Black women as less typical and representative of women in general than White or Asian women. The present study (N=89, ages 7-11; predominately Hispanic, White, and multi-racial children) examined the generalizability of this phenomenon across middle childhood and the mechanisms underlying variability in its development. Replicating prior work, children were slower and less accurate to categorize the gender of Black women compared to Asian or White women, as well as compared to Black men, suggesting that children perceived Black women as less representative of their gender. These effects were robust across age within a racially and ethnically diverse sample of children. Children's tendencies to view their own racial identities as expansive and flexible, however, attenuated these effects: Children with more flexible racial identities also had gender concepts that were more inclusive of Black women. In contrast, the tendency for race to bias children's gender representations was unrelated to children's multiple classification skill and racial essentialism. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying variation in how race biases gender across development, with critical implications for how children's own identities shape the development of intergroup cognition and behavior.

Social-Structure Learning

Social-structure learning is the process by which social groups are identified on the basis of experience. Building on models of structure learning in other domains, we formalize this problem within a Bayesian framework. According to this framework, the probabilistic assignment of individuals to groups is computed by combining information about individuals with prior beliefs about group structure. Experiments with adults and children provide support for this framework, ruling out alternative accounts based on dyadic similarity. More broadly, we highlight the implications of social-structure learning for intergroup cognition, stereotype updating, and coalition formation.

Communicated Stereotypes, Attitudes, and Intended Accommodation of Appalachians

ABSTRACT The study illuminates intergroup cognitions and intended communication towards Appalachians. American MTurk workers’ (N = 252) open-ended responses illuminated stereotype content of “backwards,” “uneducated,” “poor,” “mountain dwelling,” “self-reliant,” “kind,” and “prejudiced,” corroborating non-Appalachians’ closed-ended responses that Appalachians are deemed moderately competent and warm. The previous contact with an Appalachian yielded no significant differences in “attitudes towards Appalachians” scores. Intended (non)accommodations towards Appalachians commonly included “no adjustments,” with a variant array of overaccommodations (e.g. talking slower) and avoidance that either invoked or enforced stereotypes. Results may inform future testing and enhancement of intergroup and interpersonal communication with and about Appalachians.

Ingroup bias does not influence inequity aversion in children.

Ingroup favoritism influences third-party norm enforcement: Third-party punishers are more lenient when an ingroup member has been unfair. By contrast, in 2-party contexts, where punishers are the victims of unfairness, group bias effects are absent or inconsistent. Thus, group bias appears to be particularly influential when enforcing fairness among others, but less so when protecting oneself from unfairness. This would have implications for theories of how cooperation and intergroup cognition interact, but a more direct empirical test is lacking. To this end, developmental data are particularly useful as they can tell us whether and if so how group bias and fairness norm enforcement are related from their first emergence. Using a minimal groups manipulation, we induced ingroup bias in 6- to 9-year-olds and tested their willingness to reject disadvantageous (more for you) and advantageous (more for me) resource allocations when paired with in- and outgroup members. Group bias did not affect children's rejections of unfair allocations, although they reported that it was worse when an outgroup member had more. Our findings suggest that ingroup bias does not influence children's costly endorsement of equality, indicating that children perceive the equality norm to be indiscriminate and enforceable across group boundaries. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A cross-cultural investigation of children's implicit attitudes toward White and Black racial outgroups.

Initial theory and research examining children's implicit racial attitudes suggest that an implicit preference favoring socially advantaged groups emerges early in childhood and remains stable across development (Dunham, Baron, & Banaji, 2008). In two studies, we examined the ubiquity of this theory by measuring non-Black minority and non-White majority children's implicit racial attitudes toward White and Black racial outgroups in two distinct cultural contexts. In Study 1, non-Black minority children in an urban North American community with a large Black population showed an implicit pro-White (versus Black) bias in early childhood. Contrary to previous findings, the magnitude of this bias was lower among older children. In Study 2, Malay (majority) and Chinese (minority) children and adults in the Southeast Asian country of Brunei, with limited contact with White or Black peers, showed an implicit pro-White (versus Black) bias in early childhood. However, the magnitude of bias was greater for adults. Together, these findings support initial theorizing about the early development of implicit intergroup cognition, but suggest that context may affect these biases across development to a greater extent than was previously thought. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgQP8e4MSCk&feature=youtu.be.

Sources of implicit and explicit intergroup race bias among African-American children and young adults.

Implicit intergroup bias emerges early in development, are typically pro-ingroup, and remain stable across the lifespan. Such findings have been interpreted in terms of an automatic ingroup bias similar to what is observed with minimal groups paradigms. These studies are typically conducted with groups of high cultural standing (e.g., Caucasians in North America and Europe). Research conducted among culturally lower status groups (e.g., African-Americans, Latino-Americans) reveals a notable absence of an implicit ingroup bias. Understanding the environmental factors that contribute to the absence of an implicit ingroup bias among people from culturally lower status groups is critical for advancing theories of implicit intergroup cognition. The present study aimed to elucidate the factors that shape racial group bias among African-American children and young adults by examining their relationship with age, school composition (predominantly Black schools or racially mixed schools), parental racial attitudes and socialization messages among African-American children (N = 86) and young adults (N = 130). Age, school-type and parents’ racial socialization messages were all found to be related to the strength of pro-Black (ingroup) bias. We also found that relationships between implicit and explicit bias and frequency of parents' racial socialization messages depended on the type of school participants attended. Our results highlight the importance of considering environmental factors in shaping the magnitude and direction of implicit and explicit race bias among African-Americans rather than treating them as a monolithic group.

Emotion and aggressive intergroup cognitions: The ANCODI hypothesis.

Previous research has suggested an important role for the emotion of hatred in intergroup aggression. Recent theoretical and empirical work has strongly suggested that the combination of anger, contempt, and disgust (ANCODI) comprise the basic elements of hatred, and are the key emotions associated with intergroup aggression. No study, however, has provided evidence that these emotions cause hostile cognitions about specific groups. We report two studies that provide initial evidence. In both, participants were members of ideologically motivated groups and were primed with ANCODI. In Study 1 participants primed with ANCODI produced more aggressive cognitions relative to their opponent outgroup than a neutral outgroup; this effect did not occur for participants primed with fear-sadness. In Study 2 participants primed with ANCODI engaged in more competitive decision making against their opponent outgroups than a neutral outgroup; this effect did not occur for participants primed with disgust only. These findings contribute to the literature on the role of emotion in intergroup aggression and hostility, and provide a more nuanced view of the role of emotions in intergroup relations, possibly identifying the basic emotional elements of hatred. Aggr. Behav. 43:93-107, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Effects of Minimal Group Membership on Young Preschoolers’ Social Preferences, Estimates of Similarity, and Behavioral Attribution

We investigate young children’s sensitivity to minimal group membership. Previous research has suggested that children do not show sensitivity to minimal cues to group membership until the age of five to six, contributing to claims that this is an important transition in the development of intergroup cognition and behavior. In this study, we investigated whether even younger children are sensitive to minimal cues to group membership. Random assignment to one of either of two color groups created a temporary, visually salient minimal group membership in 3 and 4-year-old study participants. Using explicit measures, we tested whether children preferred minimal group members when making social judgments. We find that, in the absence of any knowledge regarding the two groups, children expressed greater liking for ingroup than outgroup targets. Moreover, children estimated that ingroup members would share their preferences. Our findings demonstrate that from early in development, humans assess unknown others on the basis of minimal cues to social similarity and that the perception of group boundaries potentially underlies social assortment in strangers.

Representing ‘Us’ and ‘Them’: Building Blocks of Intergroup Cognition

Three experiments explored whether group membership affects the acquisition of richer information about social groups. Employing a minimal-groups paradigm, 6- to 8-year-olds were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 novel social groups. Experiment 1 demonstrated that immediately following random assignment to a novel group, children were more likely to generalize negative behaviors to outgroup members and positive behaviors to ingroup members and to report a preference for ingroup members. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this initial ingroup-favoring bias interacts with subsequent learning, thereby attenuating the effect of negative information about the ingroup and enhancing the effect of negative information about the outgroup. These effects were more powerful with respect to preferences than induction: After hearing that some ingroup members behaved badly, children predicted that ingroup members would behave more negatively than outgroup members, but they did not express preferences for the outgroup over the ingroup. Together these data shed light on the construction of social category knowledge as well as the processes underlying the absence of own-group positivity among children from lower-status social groups.

Constraints on the Development of Implicit Intergroup Attitudes

Implicit attitudes form in the 1st years of life and change little across development. By age 6, children's implicit intergroup attitudes are sensitive to the cultural standing of their group relative to other groups in their milieu, such that individuals prefer their own group less when the comparison group is of higher cultural standing. In this article, I consider the claim that the stability of the magnitude of implicit attitudes across development reflects the absence of meaningful developmental change. I also examine the extent to which the developmental stability for implicit intergroup attitudes describes similarly the ontogeny of other forms of implicit associations, including stereotypes, identity, and self-esteem. And I characterize the landscape of what may be changing across these formative years in children's implicit intergroup cognition.

Germs and the out-group: Chronic and situational disease concerns affect intergroup categorization.

Throughout human evolutionary history, members of unfamiliar out-groups are likely to have posed significant disease threats. The current studies assessed whether concerns about disease would bias people toward categorizing social targets as members of an unfamiliar out-group. Using a minimal group paradigm, 2 experiments assessed the extent to which perceivers categorized neutral targets and those displaying heuristic disease cues as members of the in-group versus the out-group. A bias toward categorizing targets with heuristic disease cues (but not neutral targets) as members of the novel out-group was observed among people high in chronic germ aversion and among those for whom disease threat had been experimentally primed. Consistent with theories emphasizing the pernicious dangers potentially posed by out-group pathogens, this bias was strongest if the targets were also a part of a racial out-group. Findings suggest a fundamental link between disease avoidance processes and biases in intergroup cognition.

The present and future on the research of intergroup cognition and interaction

The present and future on the research of intergroup cognition and interaction

Perceived group identity of outgroup members and anticipated rejection: People think that strongly identified group members reject non‐group members

AbstractMany studies of intergroup relations have examined the effects of group identity on various types of intergroup cognition and behavior. However, few studies have focused on the perceived group identity of outgroup members. This study examined the effects of perceptions of outgroup identity on anticipated rejection by an outgroup. In Study 1, we administered a questionnaire pertaining to 30 social groups to Japanese undergraduate and vocational students. The collective images and intra‐individual processes relating to perceived outgroup identity were investigated by applying correlation analysis and multilevel structural equation modeling. In Study 2, we conducted an experiment in which we manipulated the participants' perceptions of relative levels of outgroup members' identity. Both studies demonstrated, as predicted, that people anticipated rejection by strongly identified outgroup members more than by weakly identified outgroup members. Furthermore, in Study 2, anticipated same‐group favoritism mediated the relationship between the manipulation of perceived outgroup identity and anticipated rejection. These findings suggest the important role of perceived outgroup identity in intergroup cognition.

Self-socialization of gender in African American, Dominican immigrant, and Mexican immigrant toddlers.

This article advances a self-socialization perspective demonstrating that children's understanding of both gender categories represents an intergroup cognition that is foundational to the development of gender-stereotyped play. Children's (N=212) gender category knowledge was assessed at 24months and play was observed at 24 and 36months. Higher levels of gender category knowledge and, more specifically, passing multiple measures of knowledge of both gender categories at 24months was related to increases in play over time with gender-stereotyped toys (doll, truck), but not gender-stereotyped forms of play (nurturing, motion). In contrast to the long-standing focus on self-labeling, findings indicate the importance of intergroup cognitions in self-socialization processes and demonstrate the generalizability of these processes to a diverse sample.

The Evolution, Tendency, and Theoretical Construction of Chinese Social Cognition Research

Social cognition refers to individual's perception and comprehension to social object, social phenomenon and their relations. According to the object, social cognition can be divided into self-cognition, interpersonal cognition and social events cognition with social decision as the core. Domestic scholars have carried out a series of beneficial explorations focused on above four aspects, which made a pioneering contribution to the research of the Chinese social However, no matter in terms of theoretical construction, research paradigm and research content, amount of studies followed overseas studies' precondition and category, that is own-based cognition. These studies broke away from the basis of the breed of Chinese social cognition – the traditional cultural based on differential pattern and the cultural in the context of current dramatic social change. Through combing and integrating the studies which related to the subject of social we found that the fundamental characteristic of Chinese social cognition is he-based cognition, and it reflects as intergroup cognition(hierarchy cognition) which derived and developed from differential pattern cultural. And then, around the main line of intergroup cognition, we try to interpret and construct the theoretical framework of Chinese social This study, which can promote the research of Chinese social has profound theoretical significance and practical significance.

산촌생태마을 운영매니저의 역할에 대한 인식 특성 분석 - 역량강화교육 개선을 중심으로 -

ABSTRACT : The importance of human resources empowerment for operation and management is increasing for sustainable effects and improvement in mountain eco village development projects. This study aimed to understand the cognition characteristics of operator who works for mountain eco villages as part of the mountain village development and to suggest improvement methods in empowerment training aspects. The survey contained operator’s empowerment and operator systems in mountain eco villages and the results were analyzed for the study. Operators who joined the mountain eco village operator training course by Korea Forest Service were conducted the survey on March 12th~13th in 2012 and March 13th~15th in 2013. 69 and 58 of questionnaires were collected respectively and analyzed for the study. T-test was applied to Intergroup cognition difference and regression analysis was used for influential factors in necessity of operator’s role. Collected data was analyzed by statistical package programme SPSS 18.0 version. According to the comparison of empowerment cognition with contingent upon training experience, ‘harmony with residents’ showed significantly difference at p<0.05 level. In the recognition comparison for prospect of future mountain eco village development, ‘various training experiences’ was significantly difference at p<0.01 level between positive and negative prospect group. Regression analysis revealed that ‘communication with village leader’, ‘harmony with residents’, and ‘idea related to the project’ have an effect on necessity of operator’s empowerment significantly. Based on the results, the study suggests improved directions for operator’s empowerment training as a horizontal leader who conduces a mountain village.

Teaching &amp; Learning Guide for: The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Intergroup bias is one of the most actively researched topics in the field of social psychology. Hundreds of books and thousands of research articles have addressed this issue over more than half a century. Although the psychological roots of blatant prejudices are well documented, the development of more subtle and often unintentional forms in societies in which its expression is discouraged poses new and unique challenges to the pursuit of justice and equality in contemporary society. Our interests in the psychological underpinnings of prejudice as researchers and educators are both practical and conceptual. On the practical side, understanding the nature of contemporary forms of prejudice has clear implications for developing effective techniques for combating bias and discrimination. In 1967, nearly 3 years after the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, race riots in the United States prompted the Kerner Commission to investigate the sources of racial tension. Upon the conclusion of its investigation, the commission cited White America’s failure to assist Blacks in need, rather than actively trying to harm Blacks, as a primary cause of racial disparities and, ultimately, civil unrest (Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968). Indeed, it was research on the differential helping behavior of politically liberal Whites toward Black and White motorists who were stranded on a highway that represented the first empirical work on aversive racism (Gaertner, 1973). Considerable subsequent research on aversive racism has revealed that the consequences of subtle bias can be as severe and pernicious as those of blatant prejudice. Conceptually, the complexities of contemporary forms of prejudice and recent advances in techniques and tools for studying non-conscious biases make this research area an exciting and challenging one. We hope that this guide can help orient educators to the many excellent resources that exist and convey our enthusiasm for exploring what psychological methods and theories can contribute to understanding one of the most challenging social issues faced in contemporary society.

The development of implicit intergroup cognition

Challenging the view that implicit social cognition emerges from protracted social learning, research now suggests that intergroup preferences are present at adultlike levels in early childhood. Specifically, the pattern of developmental emergence of implicit attitudes is characterized by (i) rapidly emerging implicit preferences for ingroups and dominant groups and (ii) stability of these preferences across development. Together these findings demonstrate that implicit intergroup preferences follow a developmental course distinct from explicit intergroup preferences. In addition these results cast doubt on 'slow-learning' models of implicit social cognition according to which children should converge on adult forms of social cognition only as statistical regularities are internalized over a lengthy period of development.

Does social dominance generate prejudice? Integrating individual and contextual determinants of intergroup cognitions.

Social dominance orientation (SDO) has been proposed as an important variable in the explanation of prejudice. We distinguish between three conceptualizations of SDO: SDO as a personality trait (personality model), SDO as a moderator of the effects of situational variables (Person x Situation model), and SDO as a mediator of the effect of social position on prejudice (group socialization model [GSM]). Four studies (N = 1.657) looking at the relations between social positions, SDO, and prejudice in a natural setting and in a laboratory setting provide strong support for the GSM. In contrast to previous correlational findings, there is evidence of a cause (dominant social position), an effect (prejudice increases), and a mediator (SDO). These results suggest new perspectives on the integration of individual and contextual determinants of prejudice.