Intragroup Contexts Research Articles

Children's and adolescents' expectations, evaluations and reasoning about a bystander who challenges social exclusion within intragroup and intergroup peer contexts

AbstractThis paper examined British children's (8‐ to 10‐year‐olds) and adolescents' (13‐ to 15‐year‐olds, N = 340; Female N = 171, 50.3%) expectations, evaluations and reasoning about a bystander peer who challenges the social exclusion of an immigrant or non‐immigrant peer by a peer group of non‐immigrant students. Participants read a hypothetical scenario in which a peer was excluded from an afterschool club by the peer group. The scenarios were either intergroup or intragroup contexts. Participants' expectations of a peer bystander challenging the social exclusion by the peer group, their perception of how the peer group would evaluate the challenger, and their reasoning around their expectations were measured. Adolescents were less likely to expect a peer bystander to challenge exclusion compared to children. Participants' perceptions of how the group would evaluate the challenger were significantly lower in intergroup compared to intragroup contexts. In intergroup contexts, adolescents with low expectations of challenging favoured group dynamics and group repercussions reasoning over moral reasoning, while children did not use group repercussions reasoning.

Developmental differences in bystander behavior toward intergroup and intragroup exclusion.

This study examined prosocial bystander behavior in an online ball-throwing game (Cyberball), toward the exclusion of immigrants and nonimmigrant peers within intergroup and intragroup contexts. Participants were British children (8- to 10-year-olds) and adolescents (13- to 15-year-olds, N = 292; female N = 144). They were an ethnically diverse low-to-middle SES sample from a South Asian, White, Black, or mixed ethnic background. Participants played the game and witnessed a victim being excluded by peers. The victim's and excluders' group membership and status were highlighted in a prototypical (i.e., majority status peers excluding a minority status victim) or nonprototypical (i.e., minority status peers excluding a majority status victim) intergroup context. In intragroup contexts exclusion involved peers from the same group (i.e., majority status peers excluding a majority status victim or minority status peers excluding a minority status victim). Prosocial bystander behavior and "verbal" reactions to the exclusion were measured. Adolescents showed more prosocial bystander behavior than children when it was an intergroup context but not when it was an intragroup context. Only adolescents showed more prosocial bystander behavior when the intergroup context was prototypical compared to nonprototypical. Verbal reactions were related to prosocial bystander behavior and, with age, individuals increasingly verbally challenged the exclusion and the motivation behind it. The findings support the Social Reasoning Developmental (SRD) approach to social exclusion by showing that from late childhood into midadolescence bystander behavior is increasingly related to group membership and group status of the excluders and victim. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Play vocalisations and human laughter: a comparative review

ABSTRACT Complex social play is well-documented across many animals. During play, animals often use signals that facilitate beneficial interactions and reduce potential costs, such as escalation to aggression. Although greater focus has been given to visual play signals, here we demonstrate that vocalisations constitute a widespread mode of play signalling across species. Our review indicates that vocal play signals are usually inconspicuous, although loud vocalisations, which suggest a broadcast function, are present in humans and some other species. Spontaneous laughter in humans shares acoustic and functional characteristics with play vocalisations across many species, but most notably with other great apes. Play vocalisations in primates and other mammals often include sounds of panting, supporting the theory that human laughter evolved from an auditory cue of laboured breathing during play. Human social complexity allowed laughter to evolve from a play-specific vocalisation into a sophisticated pragmatic signal that interacts with a large suite of other multimodal social behaviours in both intragroup and intergroup contexts. This review provides a foundation for detailed comparative analyses of play vocalisations across diverse taxa, which can shed light on the form and function of human laughter and, in turn, help us better understand the evolution of human social interaction.

Oxytocin modulates responsibility attribution and hypothetical Resource allocation during cooperation

Reasonable responsibility attribution and resource allocation in intragroup contexts benefit the evolution of group cooperation. Oxytocin (OT) has been shown to promote prosocial behavior; however, it remains unclear whether OT affects responsibility attribution and hypothetical resource allocation. In the present study, participants were intranasally administered OT or placebo (PLC) before a response task with a partner. The participant could win a certain amount of money depending on the group’s performance, which was determined by the faster player. The contribution was manipulated to be similar in the first phase, while the participants could individually contribute more in the second phase. Our results show that both groups attributed more credit to the player who performed better in a trial. Moreover, reward magnitude only enhanced effort-based attribution in the OT group. Although both groups proposed to distribute money based on individual efforts, the PLC group increased their effort-based allocation when they contributed more, regardless of the fact that the money was eventually equally distributed. Our study demonstrates that OT modulates responsibility attribution and hypothetical resource allocation in different manners, suggesting that OT has different effects on a participant’s perception of individual contribution and fairness when allocating a reward during social cooperation in a real effort task.

The approach–avoidance dilemma at the heart of group‐based support: Evidence that group identification increases willingness to seek support at the same time that identity‐based support threat reduces it

AbstractDespite the benefits of shared group membership, group members often experience an approach–avoidance dilemma when seeking support. At the same time that group members’ willingness to seek support is increased by the positive implications of group identification (the approach hypothesis), it is reduced by negative implications, including the capacity for support to threaten their standing in the group (the avoidance hypothesis). As this dilemma predicts, we find evidence that as participants’ group identification increases, their willingness to seek support increases, but that this willingness is simultaneously reduced by increased identity‐based support threat (Study 1, N = 125; Study 2, N = 161). Furthermore, manipulated support threat decreases willingness to seek support. In a team‐based game (Study 3, N = 117), support threat is reduced when group norms encourage support‐seeking, leading to increases in support‐seeking behavior through increases in willingness to seek support, as predicted by the avoidance‐reduction hypothesis. Implications for strategies to promote effective social support in intragroup contexts are discussed.

Mistrust and refugee women who are lone parents in resettlement contexts

The theme of mistrust in resettlement contexts is largely overlooked in refugee discourses. Through a qualitative inquiry of post-migration experiences of four women raising children alone in Brisbane, Australia, this paper outlines how the presence of mistrust could at times create difficult resettlement circumstances for these women, who then needed to negotiate additional obstacles in everyday life. The definition of social mistrust used here is a form of deliberate and ongoing suspicion about lone refugee women’s choices and lifestyles from other community members. Importantly, the women achieved a sense of well-being despite experiencing mistrust, both in inter-group and intra-group contexts, indicating that they conceptualised access to and benefits from social networks with different emphases on trust. Sociocultural narratives of mistrust, particularly gender-specific perspectives can enrich refugee discourses and challenge established notions of trust inherent to understandings of social networks in resettlement. The findings discussed in this paper contribute to debunking the ‘myth’ of homogeneity in relation to refugee groups and demonstrate the diversity of experiences among sub-groups of refugee women. The theme of mistrust, particularly among women, is an oft-neglected aspect and requires further attention.

The form and function of duets and choruses in Red-backed Fairy-wrens

In many avian species, both members of a pair or all members of a breeding group sing, often in duets or choruses. Previous studies indicate that duets often function in territorial defence. However, other potential functions, such as acoustic mate-guarding, need further study, because most species that have been studied have low or unknown rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP) and theoretical models predict species with moderate rates of EPP will guard more than those with very low or high rates. We conducted behavioural observations to describe the form of duets and test hypotheses for the function of duets in breeding groups of Red-backed Fairy-wrens (Malurus melanocephalus), a species with moderately high rates of EPP. Within duets, notes overlapped in frequency and time, rather than being antiphonally coordinated. Duets and choruses occurred more in pre-breeding than other stages of breeding, and more in inter-group than intra-group contexts, supporting a territorial defence function. Contrary to predictions of an acoustic mate-guarding function, males did not duet with mates more when they were fertile. Likewise, functions of breeding coordination and group establishment were not supported. Thus, Red-backed Fairy-wrens may use duets for territorial defence rather thanmate-guarding, despite their moderately high rates of EPP. Investigating how vocal behaviour varies across different mating systems allows us to test theoretical predictions and determine how mating system affects the evolution of signalling strategies in birds and other taxa.

Facilitating Innovation in Interdisciplinary Science Teams: The Role of Intergroup Leadership

Inter-group leadership focuses on improving inter-group outcomes, such as innovation, that requires the integration of knowledge from two or more distinct working groups. Leadership efforts that are effective in intra-group contexts, such as creating a common identity, are problematic in inter-group contexts due to deep-rooted disciplinary differences in training, education, and conceptual frameworks. We study the impact of inter-group leader background and behavior on the knowledge integration and innovative performance of newly formed interdisciplinary medical science teams composed of diverse members who hail from disparate areas of knowledge and practice. We examine how the intrapersonal heterogeneity of an inter-group leader directly and indirectly affects the innovativeness of a science team through its moderating influence on team disciplinary diversity. We then identify, through an inductive observational study, the communication practices that intergroup leaders use to foster the integration and generation of knowledge. We focus both on characteristics of the leader and the processes of facilitating exchange and integration of knowledge between group members who represent distinct work and knowledge communities. We find that the intrapersonal heterogeneity of experience of inter-group leaders moderates the effect of team diversity on integration and innovation. Further, we find that inter-group leaders who used specific communication structuring behaviors aimed at addressing inconsistent cognitive frames and facilitating new knowledge creation led teams to higher levels of integration and innovation. Our findings highlight the importance of inter-group leadership on facilitating performance in interdisciplinary teams that require two or more groups to work collaboratively to achieve a common aim.

The symbolic identity implications of inter and intra‐group transgressions

AbstractThe current investigation proposes that symbolic identity concerns underlie retributive desires following a transgression, but that the type of identity concern that primarily drives that retribution varies between intra and intergroup contexts. More specifically, a respondent's social identity may be threatened by calling into question his or her ingroup's status and power in the larger superordinate society, a concern that is particularly relevant in intergroup contexts. Identity may also be threatened by questioning a group's identity‐defining values, a concern that is particularly relevant in intragroup contexts. In support of these assertions, the current study shows that desires for retribution following an intergroup terrorist attack were stronger when the attack was framed as attempting to undermine the victimized nation's status/power, but were stronger following an intragroup terrorist attack when framed as attempting to undermine national values. Moreover, these differences only occurred for respondents high in national identification, underscoring that the effects are based on identity processes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Song Sharing in a Group-Living Songbird, the Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina Tibicen. Part Iii. Sex Specificity and Individual Specificity of Vocal Parts in Communal Chorus and Duet Songs

In this paper we continue our study of the role of song in the social behavior of a cooperatively living songbird, the Australian magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen (Cracticidae). In this species, all members of a cooperative group sing and fight together in defense of their territory. Communal chorus songs consist of loud carol syllables; each individual sings a particular vocal role. We sampled the song repertoires of 24 magpies in 12 territorial groups in Queensland, Australia, and of 12 magpies in 4 territorial groups in the Manawatu region of New Zealand. Our results include: 1. Description of duet and chorus song. Carol portions of song are usually preceded by an introductory warble segment. Carol syllables are diverse in physical structure. We grouped 204 distinct carol syllables into 11 general classes. 2. Between-sex differences in syllable repertoires. Some syllable classes were sex-specific, and a few were sung by magpies of both sexes. Female-specific syllables were more complex structurally than those of males. Females had significantly (p 0.5) in the average percentage of the repertoire shared between same-sex birds who were vs were not territorial neighbors at our Queensland study site. 4. Carol song repertoires. The number of duet song types in each group's repertoire varied widely from group to group. Females had significantly (p<0.05) larger song repertoires than their mates. 5. Carol development in young birds. A young magpie seemed to sing variants of the carol syllables of only one parent, perhaps the same-sex parent, and echoed the parent's carol syllables during communal choruses. 6. Geographic variation in carol syllables. Carol syllables of individuals at our New Zealand study site were also sex-specific, and could be grouped into general classes. No syllables were the same as those recorded from the Australian study birds. 7. Song context. We compared the amount of time magpie groups spent warbling, warble-caroling, and not singing, during five commonly occurring types of contexts. Warbles were most frequent in nonaggressive intragroup contexts. Warble-carols were most frequent in aggressive intergroup contexts. We discuss the function of song in social cohesion, and group and individual recognition ; evolution of duet song; singing behavior of females; and mechanisms of vocal learning.

Contrastive patterns of intragroup and intergroup interaction in the creole continuum of Belize

ABSTRACTThe decreolization process observed in the creole continuum of Belize, Central America is examined in relation to the extralinguistic factor of ethnicity. The speech patterns of Creole speakers are analyzed in terms of two distinct types of ethnic contact, namely, intragroup communication vs. interaction with Black Caribs. Decreolization is viewed as a code-switching phenomenon which affects all native speakers of creole without implying a unified progression toward the acrolect (English). Special attention is given to: I) intraindividual variability which is found to span the whole continuum in intragroup contexts, but to be restricted to mesolectal varieties in intergroup situations; and 2) the relative significance of the five morphosyntactic variables selected to measure decreolization. These features follow distinctive overall patterns of co-occurrence. However, the mesolectal bloc, when viewed in detail, discloses an internal complexity which defies scaling of linguistic features, and reveals the influence of conflicting social and psychological pressures. (Creole studies; ethnic interaction; sociolinguistics; code-switching.)