Self-anchoring and differentiation processes in the minimal group setting.
In-group favoritism in the minimal group setting was hypothesized to be a function of 2 processes: a tendency to base in-group judgments on the self (self-anchoring) and a tendency to assume 1 group to be opposite of the other (differentiation). In the first 3 experiments, in which the order of rating the self and target group was varied, was categorized and uncategorized participants were given trait information about 1 group and were asked to estimate the level of those traits in the other group. In-group judges tended to base group ratings on the self, whereas out-group and uncategorized judges inferred the 2 groups to be opposite of one another. Experiment 4 attempted to directly assess the direction of inference between self and in-group by giving feedback about self or in-group on unfamiliar dimensions and found that participants were more willing to generalize from self to in-group than from in-group to self.
Cadinu
M R
MR
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene 97403-1227, USA.
Rothbart
M
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012925:Social Conformity; D012932:Social Facilitation; D012933:Social Identification