ABSTRACT

The present research examined the role of social norms as a determining source of ingroup favoritism in minimal groups. Across three studies (total N = 814), results showed that ingroup favoritism was reduced when participants imagined the reaction of an external (and egalitarian) entity, as compared to a control condition or a condition in which they were explicitly asked to imagine the reaction of ingroup members. In line with the prediction that the desire to appear as a good group member drives conformity to the ingroup norm, the findings also revealed that favoring the ingroup resulted in higher self-esteem (Study 2). This was however limited to situations where the ingroup norm was inferred or induced to be pro-discriminatory, but not when it was anti-discriminatory (Study 3). The proposed explanation is discussed in the light of dominant explanations of ingroup favoritism.

摘要

本研究考察了社会规范作为最小群体内群体偏爱的决定性来源的作用。在三项研究（总N = 814）中，结果表明，与控制条件或明确要求他们想象反应的条件相比，当参与者想象外部（和平等主义）实体的反应时，内群体偏爱会减少内群的成员。与希望成为优秀群体成员的愿望驱使对内群体规范的一致性的预测一致，研究结果还表明，偏爱内群体会导致更高的自尊心（研究 2）。然而，这仅限于内群体规范被推断或诱导为支持歧视的情况，但不适用于反歧视的情况（研究 3）。建议的解释是根据对内群体偏爱的主要解释进行讨论的。