11 - Intergroup Behaviour Flashcards
Intergroup Behaviour?
Behaviour among individuals that is regulated by those individuals’ awareness of and identification with different social groups
Metatheory?
A set of interrelated concepts and principles concerning which theories or types of theory are appropriate
Relative deprivation?
A sense of having less than we feel entitled to - arises from comparisons between our experiences and our expectations
J-Curve?
A graphical figure that captures the way in which relative deprivation arises when attainments suddenly fall short of rising expectations
Two forms of relative deprivation?
- Egoistic - from the individual’s sense of deprivation relative to other similar individuals
- fraternalistic - from comparisons with dissimilar others, or members of other groups (may lead to competitive intergroup behaviour or social protest)
Factors contributing to farternalistic… translating into competitive intergroup behaviour and social protest?
- Strong ingroup identification
- Feasibility of collective action
- Perception of injustice
- Comparison with outgroups
Four steps in social movement participation?
- Becoming part of the mobilisation potential
- Becoming a target of mobilisation attempts
- Developing motivation to participate
- Overcoming barriers to participation
Ethnocentrism?
A key feature of intergroup behaviour, the evaluative preference for all aspects of our own group relative to other groups.
Four phases of Sherif’s experiment?
- Initial friendship
- Group division
- Intergroup competitions
- Superordinate goals
Superordinate goals?
Goals that both groups desire but that can be achieved only by both groups cooperating
Key points from Sherif’s experiments?
- latent ethnocentrism
- emergence of prejudice and discrimination from real intergroup conflict
- absence of authoritarian or dogmatic personalities
- greater aggression from the less-frustrated group
- formation of ingroups despite friendships with outgroup members
- limited impact of simple contact on improving intergroup relations
Realistic conflict theory?
Sherif’s theory of intergroup conflict that explains intergroup behaviour in terms of the nature of goal relations between groups
Competitive integroup behaviour can spontaneously manifest: ?
- Even when groups’ goals are not interdependent
- Despite explicitly non competitive or cooperative intergroup relations
Minimal group paradigm?
Experimental methodology to investigate the effect of social categorisation alone on behaviour
Social categorisation?
Classification of people as members of different social groups. Lays the groundwork for social identity theory
Self categorisation theory?
Turner and associates’ theory of how the process of categorising oneself as a group member produces social identity and group and intergroup behaviours
Social identity?
That part of the self-concept that derives from our membership in social groups
Ingroup favoritism?
Behaviours that favour one’s own group over other groups
Intergroup differentiation?
Behaviour that emphasises differences between one’s own group and other groups
Social mobility belief system?
Belief system that intergroup boundaries are permeable. Thus, it is possible for someone to pass from a lower status into a higher group to improve social identity.
Social change belief system?
Belief that intergroup boundaries are impermeable. Therefore, a lower status individual can improve social identity only by challenging the legitimacy of the higher status group’s position
Cognitive alternatives?
Belief that the status quo is unstable and illegitimate, and that social competition within the dominant group is the appropriate strategy to improve social identity
Social creativity?
Group based behavioural strategies that improve social identity but do not directly attack the dominant group’s position
Social competition?
Group-based behavioural strategy that improve social identity by directly confronting the dominant group’s position in society
Accentuation effect?
Overestimation of similarities among people within a category and dissimilarities between people from different categories
Relative homogeneity?
Tendency to see outgroup members as all the same, and ingroup members as more differentiated
Illusory correlation?
Cognitive exaggeration of the degree of co-occurrence of two stimuli or events, or the perception of a co-occurrence where none exists (may help explain stereotypes)
Optimal distinctiveness?
People strive to achieve a balance between conflicting motives for inclusiveness and separateness, expressed in groups as a balance between intragrup differentiation and intragroup homogenisation
Intragrup emotions theory? (IET)
Theory that, in group contexts, appraisals of personal harm or benefit in a situation operate at the level of social identity and thus produce mainly positive ingroup and negative outgroup emotions
Anxieties about inergroup contact stem from 4 main sources:
- Realistic threat - a perceived threat to the group’s existence, well being or political power
- Symbolic threat - from perceived challenges to one’s values
- Intergroup anxiety - from threats to one’s self during interaction with members of other groups
- negative stereotypes
Contact hypothesis?
The view that bringing members of opposing social groups together will improve intergroup relations and reduce prejudice and discrimination
Challenges in contact?
- contact may amplify some differences and further reduce liking
- may be misleading to promulgate the view that some very diff groups are similar, false positive expectations that are disconfirmed by contact
- intergroup attitudes often stem from real conflicts of interest between groups and are maintained by the existence of social categories, making it unlikely for contact to actually make a change
Three ways in which contact can enhance attitudes towards a group?
- Bookkeeping - accumulation of favourable info about an outgroup
- Conversion - dramatically counter stereotypical info
- Subtyping - the ougroup stereotype becomes more complex but the superordinate category remains unchanged
Extended contact?
Knowing about an ingroup member who shares a close relationship with an outgroup member can improve one’s own attitudes towards the outgroup
Vicarious contact?
Observing an ingroup member interacting with an outgroup member
Bargaining?
Process of intergroup conflict resolution where representatives reach agreement through direct negotiation
Mediation?
Process of intergroup conflict resolution where a neutral third party intervenes in the negotiation process to facilitate a settlement
How can mediators help?
- Able to reduce the emotional heat
- Can help to reduce misperceptions
- Can propose novel compromises
- Help both parties make a graceful retreat
- Can inhibit unreasonable claims
- Can reduce intragroup conflict
Arbitration?
Process of intergroup conflict resolution in which a neutral third party is invited to impose a mutually binding settlement
Conciliation?
Process whereby groups make cooperative gestures to one another in the hope of avoiding an escalation of conflict
