Out-group flies in the in-group's ointment: evidence of the motivational underpinnings of the in-group overexclusion effect

Title: Out-group flies in the in-group's ointment: evidence of the motivational underpinnings of the in-group overexclusion effect
Creator: Rubin, Mark; Paolini, Stefania
Relation: Social Psychology Vol. 45, Issue 4, p. 265-273
Publisher Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000171
Publisher: Hogrefe Verlag GmbH
Resource Type: journal article
Date: 2014
Description: People tend to misclassify ambiguous individuals as members of the out-group rather than the in-group. This in-group overexclusion effect (IO effect) is thought to occur because people are motivated to maintain their in-group's positivity by protecting it from potential out-group intrusions. The present research tested this explanation by asking university students (N = 122) to complete a self-esteem scale and then recall the group memberships of individuals who belonged to minimal groups. Consistent with predictions, participants misassigned significantly fewer individuals to the in-group than to the out-group when the in-group was positive and the out-group was negative but not when these valences were reversed. In addition, self-esteem negatively predicted the IO effect. Alternative explanations of the IO effect are discussed.
Subject: in-group overexclusion effect; social identity; self-esteem; minimal groups
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1304909
Identifier: uon:20957
Identifier: ISSN:1864-9335
Language: eng
Reviewed

		Thumbnail	File	Description	Size	Format