title: Threats to group value, domain-specific self-esteem and intergroup discrimination amongst minimal and national groups.
abstract: The research reported in this investigation sought to examine the self-esteem hypothesis (SEH) using measures of domain-specific and public collective self-esteem (CSE). Two studies were conducted. Each tested both propositions of the SEH. The first study revealed that minimal group members (a) experienced an increase in that domain of self-esteem judged to be relatively more important to the in-group, following the display of in-group favouritism and (b) that minimal group members with low public CSE (and who thus believed that the in-group was negatively evaluated by the out-group) showed enhanced levels of in-group favouritism. The second study, which utilized the members of real social categories (i.e. New Zealanders and Australians) and negative outcome allocations (i.e. white noise) revealed identical findings. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Otago, New Zealand. jhunter@psy.otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stringer
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boyes
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.forename: Jillian G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Hayhurst
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crawford
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010809:Physical Fitness; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012933:Social Identification; D012945:Social Values; D014705:Verbal Behavior