Cognitive balance theory posits that a drive for cognitively consistent thoughts modulates interpersonal relations. We extended cognitive balance theory to intergroup relations and tested it in a real-life setting where intergroup relations are under strain: Northern Ireland in the wake of the UK's withdrawal from the EU. We predicted that when the groups of Irish people and British people in Northern Ireland are perceived as more compatible, intergroup bias would be lower than when groups are perceived as less compatible. We collected data of residents of Northern Ireland before the UK's official withdrawal from the EU (N = 604) and after (N = 350). As hypothesized, attitudes towards British people positively related to attitudes towards Irish people when participants perceived the groups as more compatible. We found the opposite relationship at low levels of perceived compatibility. Exploratory cross-lagged panel analyses did not show that these effects occurred longitudinally, suggesting that cognitive balance does not drive judgements over time possibly because people are less likely to notice inconsistent responses across different time points. The present research demonstrates that intergroup attitudes assessed at a certain point in time follow cognitive balance principles.

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理解英国脱欧后北爱尔兰群体间态度的认知平衡方法

认知平衡理论认为，认知一致思想的驱动力可以调节人际关系。我们将认知平衡理论扩展到群体间关系，并在群体间关系紧张的现实生活环境中对其进行了测试：英国退出欧盟后的北爱尔兰。我们预测，当爱尔兰人和北爱尔兰的英国人群体被认为更兼容时，群体间偏见将低于当群体被认为不那么兼容时。我们收集了英国正式退出欧盟之前（ N  = 604）和之后（N  = 350）北爱尔兰居民的数据。正如假设的那样，当参与者认为这些群体更兼容时，对英国人的态度与对爱尔兰人的态度呈正相关。我们发现在低水平的感知兼容性下存在相反的关系。探索性交叉滞后面板分析并未表明这些影响是纵向发生的，这表明认知平衡不会随着时间的推移而驱动判断，这可能是因为人们不太可能注意到不同时间点上不一致的反应。目前的研究表明，在某个时间点评估的群体间态度遵循认知平衡原则。