title: Intergroup threat and experienced affect: the distinct roles of causal attributions, ingroup identification, and perceived legitimacy of intergroup status.
abstract: Across three studies, it was predicted and found that in the case of intergroup threat, low ingroup identifiers experience greater negative affect when they make an ingroup-internal rather than an outgroup-internal attribution, and high ingroup identifiers experience greater negative affect when they make an outgroup-internal rather than an ingroup-internal attribution. These effects were mediated by the perceived legitimacy of ingroup- outgroup status differences that results from their reflecting social reality (i.e., actual differences in the groups' standing on a relevant comparison dimension). Combining the findings of two distinct literatures, the current work provides new insights into the yet-unexplored distinct roles played by intergroup attributions as a predictor and ingroup identification as a moderator of the affective responses produced by social identity threat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Sciences and Education, University of Trento, Italy. sandro.costarelli@unitn.it
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Costarelli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007558:Italy; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires