Intergroup behavior (VL 10)

Question 1

Intergroup behavior - Definition

Answer 1

Any behavior that is influenced by group members perceptions of an outgroup

Question 2

Relative Deprivation - Definition

Answer 2

• Group members may engage in collective protest to the extent that they feel deprived as a group relative to their aspirations or to other groups

Question 3

How relative deprivation leads to collective violence

Answer 3

1. Relative deprivation
2. Frustation
3. Aversive environmental conditions amplifies (verstärken) frustration
4. Individual acts of aggression
5. Individual acts of aggression exacerbated (verschlimmern) by aggressive stimuli
6. Aggression becomes more widespread and assumes role of dominant response
7. Aggression spreads rapidly through social facilitation process
8. Collective violence

Question 4

Conflict

Answer 4

A situation that occurs when it is perceived by the parties involved that gains made by the other party decrease their own change of gaining rewards  their goals are incompatible

Question 5

Competition

Answer 5

almost always the result of conflicts, attempts by each party to gain as many of the limited rewards as possible and to reduce the likelihood of success for the other parties

Question 6

Realistic and perceived conflicts

Answer 6

Realistic conflicts:
goals of the interacting parties are incompatible, ex. winning a soccer game (only one team can win)

Perceived conflicts:
based upon misperceptions of the intentions of others or the nature of the potential awards

Question 7

Outcomes of Cooperation and Conflict

Answer 7

• David Johnson: members of cooperative groups reported more positive attitudes, more effective learning and better performance (in comparison to members of groups with competitive environments)
• Conflict within groups can produce innovation and creativity (Coser), it changes existing norms and ways of making decisions
• Rapoport: Matrix Games
  o Simulation to study cooperation and conflict
  o Ex. prisoner dilemma (Luce and Raiffa)
  o Assumption: individuals try to maximize their own rewards in their interactions with others

Question 8

Realistic Conflict Theory – Muzafer Sherif

Answer 8

• Competition for scarce resources tends to produce intergroup conflict, cooperation to achieve a shared goal reduces conflict
• Robber´s Cave Study: Boys at summer camp were divided into groups and competition fostered negative perceptions on one part of each group, which was quickly followed by overt hostility. But hostility was reduced when the boys had to work together on a shared problem

Question 9

Social identity approach

Answer 9

• Social categorization: people identify with the category, precondition for being a group and engaging in intergroup behavior
• Self-categorization: process of identifying with a group and behaving as a group member
• Social comparison and the need for self-esteem motivate groups to compete in different ways for relatively positive social identity

Question 10

Categories that are used to describe others

Answer 10

• Categorization is influenced by the characteristics of the person that categorizes and that is being categorized
• Salience: characteristics that are immediately apparent when we see someone, ex. sex, age, race
• Accessibility: how often a category is used and how important it is to the individual that categorizes

Question 11

Negative outcome of social categorization

Answer 11

Stereotypes associated with a category may be activated, judgement might be influenced

Question 12

In-Group Favoritism (Tajfel)/ Minimal Intergroup effect

Answer 12

More positive attitudes or behavior are shown towards in-group members compared to outgroup members

• Occurs on the basis of arbitrary (Willkür)
• Occurs also when there is little similarity among the members within a group

Question 13

Individual Mobility

Answer 13

• Attempts on the part of individuals to leave a low-status group and move to a higher-status group
• Give up the social identity with the original group and direct communication and behavior towards the higher-status group in the hope of joining the group

Question 14

Individual Mobility - Problems

Answer 14

• Loss of identity: People may not wish to leave a group if they are highly identified with the group
• Permeability (Durchlässigkeit): Mobility is only likely if the individual perceives that movement is possible
• Membership constraints: Memberships can be constrained by physical appearance or cultural norms
• Individual constraints: Individuals are unlikely to attempt moving if they feel they do not have the skills or ability

Question 15

Social creativity

Answer 15

Use of strategies that allow members of a low-status group to perceive their group as better than other groups, at least in some dimensions, that allows them to gain some positive social identity

Question 16

Collective action

Answer 16

May be considered, if individual mobility is not possible, attempt to change the social status hierarchy by improving the status of the in-group relative to others

Question 17

Determinants of attempts at social change

Answer 17

For prediction of which actions members of low-status groups will take to improve their status it is necessary how the individuals involved perceive the current group Relations

• Permeability
• Stability
• Legitimacy

Question 18

Determinants of attempts at social Change

- Permeability

Answer 18

• When boundaries seem permeable, individual mobility is the most likely strategy
• When boundaries seem impermeable, strategies such as social creativity and social mobility are preferred
• With high group identity and perceived group impermeability, the desire for social change is likely

Question 19

Determinants of attempts at social Change

- Stability

Answer 19

• Stability of the group = Possibility of change at the group level rather than the individual level
• When group relationships are stable = no change no matter what efforts are made
• When group differences are likely to change over time = higher motivation to attempt to change the status relationships through collective action
• Motivations for change are particularly high with high group identity

Question 20

Determinants of attempts at social Change

- Legitimacy

Answer 20

• If existing status is seen as fair and higher-status group members seem trustworthy, people will be less likely to attempt change
• Perception of illegitimacy is based on social comparison theory, the group´s relative position (not on objective position)

Question 21

Procedural justice

Answer 21

The belief, that those with a higher status and power can be trusted to treat lower-status individuals fairly

Question 22

Perception of fraternalistic deprivation

Answer 22

The perception that one´s group has a lower status than it deserves; accompanied by strong social identity it increases the likelihood that individuals use collective action strategies of social change

Example for fraternal deprivation: Civil rights riots in the 1960s, blacks started to compare themselves to whites instead of other blacks and felt that their relative status was illegitimate (after making new gains in terms of equal rights legislation)

Question 23

Crowd - Definition

Answer 23

Collection of a large number of individuals who come together in a common place for a common purpose

Question 24

Mob - Definition

Answer 24

A crowd in which some individuals are acting violently, harming the property of themselves and others

Question 25

When turns a crowd into a mob and why?

Answer 25

• Relevant social norms break down creating deindividuation and leaving individuals to act on their own accord
• The norms of the crowd are still strong and important for the mob, but they are different norms than from before the precipitating event (auslösendes Ereignis) occurred

Question 26

Deindividuation

Answer 26

• Most common explanation for mob behavior
• In the mob individuals become anonymous and their individual behavior can no longer be identified
• Resulting, individuals behave in ways they normally would not behave
• Larger crowd = each individual becomes less identifiable, which increases the likeliness of deindividuation
• Larger crowds are therefore more likely to produce aggressive and harmful behavior and breaking social norms
• Mann, 1981: Large crowds are more likely to urge potential suicidal jumpers

Question 27

How to improve intergroup relations

Answer 27

• Education, propaganda, shared goals

- Bringing groups into contact with one another reduces prejudice

Question 28

The Contact Hypothesis, Allport,

The six conditions for intergroup contact

Answer 28

• Idea, that merely by bringing members of different groups into contact with each other, prejudice is reduced
• Therefore, six conditions for intergroup contact are necessary

Question 29

The six conditions for intergroup contact, Allport

Answer 29

• Mutual interdependence
• A common goal
• Equal status of group members
• Having informal interpersonal contact
• Having multiple contacts with several members of the outgroup
• Social norms are in place that promote equality

Question 30

The positive outcomes of intergroup contact

Answer 30

• Intergroup contact provides information that dispels (zerstreuen) stereotypes and prejudice, people see the similarities between themselves and the other group
• Anxiety about interacting with members of other groups is reduced
• Social norms in the groups such as expressing negative beliefs are no longer seen as appropriate and changed

Question 31

Model of the casual order of the contact – Van Dick and Wagner

Answer 31

1. Distal contact (ex. neighborhood)
2. Proximal contact (ex. friends)
3. Perceived quality importance
4. Prejudice