Memory for and experience of differential competitive behavior of individuals and groups.

Four experiments investigated whether differential experiences with groups and individuals led to previously obtained results of greater competitive expectations in intergroup than interindividual relations. In Experiment 1, participants rated their recalled instances of intergroup relations as more competitive than their interindividual relations. In Experiment 2, a relatively greater proportion of competitive to cooperative intergroup relations were recalled compared with interindividual relations. In Experiment 3, participants recorded relevant interactions for 7 days, and rated their intergroup relations as more competitive than their interindividual relations. In Experiment 4, participants recorded a relatively greater number of cooperative than competitive relations with individuals than with groups. These results can be interpreted as a demonstration in a nonlaboratory context that intergroup relations are more competitive than interindividual relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interindividual-intergroup discontinuity in the domain of correspondent outcomes: The roles of relativistic concern, perceived categorization, and the doctrine of mutual assured destruction.

Most prior research on the tendency for groups to be less cooperative than individuals (the interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect) has used the Prisoner's Dilemma Game (PDG). Experiment 1 examined the discontinuity effect with 3 additional matrices: Chicken, Leader, and Battle of the Sexes (BOS). Unlike the PDG, these matrices are characterized by correspondence of outcomes. The discontinuity effect was significant for the PDG and Chicken matrices only. With the BOS and Leader matrices, both individuals and groups pursued outcome maximization through coordinated turn taking. Despite the lesser competitiveness, sets of interacting participants in the BOS and Leader conditions did perceive that they were 2 groups. Experiment 2 examined the discontinuity effect in 2 Chicken matrices with varying outcomes associated with mutual competition. Consistent with the doctrine of mutual assured destruction, the discontinuity effect was eliminated for the matrix in which mutual competition was associated with very low outcomes. Although concern for relative in-group standing gave rise to intergroup competition even in the domain of correspondent outcomes, such concern was constrained to the extent that it interfered with outcome maximization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intragroup social influence and intergroup competition.

Three experiments examined the role of intragroup social influence in intergroup competition. In the context of a mutual fate control situation, participants in Exp 1 demonstrated more intergroup competition in the presence than in the absence of social support for shared self-interest. Exp 2 revealed that, in the context of a Prisoner's Dilemma Game, this social support effect was stronger when noncorrespondence of outcomes between the interacting groups was low than when it was high. Results from Exp 3 were consistent with the possibility that the effect of social support is attenuated when noncorrespondence of outcomes is high because under these circumstances intergroup competition is prescribed by a norm of group interest. The implications of these findings for understanding the antecedents of interindividual-intergroup discontinuity are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term outcome maximization and the reduction of interindividual–intergroup discontinuity.

Two experiments demonstrated that different procedures can be used to reduce the tendency for intergroup relations to be more competitive than interindividual relations. Experiment 1 revealed that this tendency was reduced when individual or group participants interacted with individual or group confederates who followed a tit-for-tat strategy as opposed to a Pavlov strategy or a standard control condition that did not involve confederates. Experiment 2 revealed that the tendency for groups to be more competitive than individuals was less pronounced with successive responding than with simultaneous responding. Further results indicated that the higher the total session score on the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale, the less the competition between groups. The results from both experiments were interpreted as indicating that intergroup competitiveness can be reduced by inducing a concern with long-term outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interindividual–intergroup discontinuity reduction through the anticipation of future interaction.

Consistent with the role of a long-term perspective in reducing the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive than interindividual relations in the context of noncorrespondent outcomes, an experiment demonstrated that anticipated future interaction reduced intergroup but not interindividual competitiveness. Further results indicated that the effect was present only for groups composed of members high in abstractness (Openness–Intellect on the Big 5 Inventory and Intuition on the Myers–Briggs Type Inventory) who trusted their opponents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduction of interindividual-intergroup discontinuity: The role of leader accountability and proneness to guilt.

Two experiments contrasted interactions between group leaders with interactions between individuals in a mixed-motive setting. Consistent with the idea that being accountable to the in-group implies normative pressure to benefit the in-group, Experiment 1 found that accountable leaders were more competitive than individuals. Consistent with the idea that being unaccountable to the in-group implies normative pressure to be cooperative and that high guilt proneness provides motivation to be moral, Experiment 2 found that when guilt proneness was high, unaccountable leaders were less competitive than accountable leaders and did not differ significantly from individuals. In other words, the robust interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect was eliminated when groups had unaccountable leaders who were high in guilt proneness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How does cooperation reduce intergroup bias?

This experiment examined the hypothesis derived from the social categorization perspective that intergroup cooperation reduces bias by transforming members' cognitive representations of the aggregate from 2 groups to 1 group. Two 3-person groups experienced intergroup contact under conditions that varied (a) member's representations of the aggregate as 1 group or 2 groups (without involving cooperation) and (b) the presence or absence of intergroup cooperation. As expected, in the absence of cooperation, bias was lower among Ss induced to conceive of the 6 participants as 1 group rather than as 2 groups. Also as predicted, among Ss in the 2-groups condition, intergroup cooperation increased the strength of the 1-group representation and decreased bias. Multiple regression mediation analysis revealed, as expected, that members' representations mediated bias and that the 1-group representation primarily increased the attractiveness of former outgroup members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term outcome maximization and the reduction of interindividual-intergroup discontinuity

Two experiments demonstrated that different procedures can be used to reduce the tendency for intergroup relations to be more competitive than interindividual relations. Experiment 1 revealed that this tendency was reduced when individual or group participants interacted with individual or group confederates who followed a tit-for-tat strategy as opposed to a Pavlov strategy or a standard control condition that did not involve confederates. Experiment 2 revealed that the tendency for groups to be more competitive than individuals was less pronounced with successive responding than with simultaneous responding. Further results indicated that the higher the total session score on the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale, the less the competition between groups. The results from both experiments were interpreted as indicating that intergroup competitiveness can be reduced by inducing a concern with long-term outcomes.     

The role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of mother–child behavior.

This study examined the role of ethnicity in untrained observers’ ratings of videotaped mother–child interactions. Participants were Black, White, and Latino undergraduates (N = 109), who rated videotapes of 4 Black, 4 White, and 4 Latino mother–child dyads. Overall, participants of different ethnicities showed more similarities than differences in their ratings of parent–child behavior. There was, however, evidence that participant ethnicity and parent–child ethnicity interacted for ratings of child defiance/negative emotion. Black and White participants differed in their ratings of Black and White children’s defiance/negative emotion, with members of each ethnic group favoring children of their own ethnic group. Intergroup contact appeared to play a role in ratings of parent behavior among Black observers. Black observers who reported low intergroup contact tended to rate Black mothers high on strictness and low on permissiveness. More research is needed to better understand the role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of parent and child behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social loafing and self-evaluation with a social standard.

Social loafing has been described as the phenomenon in which participants who work together generate less effort than do participants who work alone (e.g., Latané, Williams, & Harkins, 1979). Subsequent research (Harkins & Jackson, 1985; Williams, Harkins, & Latané, 1981) has shown that a particular aspect of this paradigm leads to the loafing effect. In those studies, the evaluation potential of the experimenter has been emphasized. However, when the experimenter could not evaluate individual outputs, neither could the participants evaluate themselves. In this study we tested the possibility that the opportunity for the participants to evaluate themselves would be sufficient to eliminate the loafing effect. In 2 experiments, the evaluation potential of the experimenter (experimenter evaluation vs. no experimenter evaluation) was crossed with the potential for self-evaluation (self-evaluation vs. no self-evaluation). Consistent with previous loafing research, the potential for evaluation by the experimenter was sufficient to increase motivation, whether participants could self-evaluate or not. However, when the experimenter could not evaluate the participants' outputs, the potential for self-evaluation reliably improved participant performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When trying to understand detracts from trying to behave: Effects of perspective taking in intergroup interaction.

Four studies demonstrate that perspective taking can backfire in intergroup interaction, leading lower prejudice individuals to treat an outgroup member less positively than they do when they adopt alternative mind-sets; for higher prejudice individuals, perspective taking instead had a positive, albeit less consistent, effect on behavior. The net result was behavior disruption, whereby individuals' treatment of an outgroup member became incongruent with their inner attitudes. This disruption effect was evident for cognitive and affective forms of perspective taking, in ostensible and real face-to-face intergroup interactions, and for feelings of happiness experienced by individuals' interaction partner as well as outside observers' behavior assessments. Results further suggested that self-regulatory effort mediated the effect of perspective taking on intergroup interaction behavior, with the negative consequences of perspective taking for lower prejudice individuals' behavior appearing to stem from complacency rather than trying too hard. Overall, the findings reveal that perspective taking rather than self-focus accounts for the cognitive resource depletion and behavior disruption effects previously demonstrated to stem from evaluative concern in intergroup interaction and indicate that perspective taking may be more reliably helpful outside of intergroup interaction situations than within them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual-group discontinuity as a function of fear and greed.

Two studies tested the schema-based distrust interpretation of the tendency of intergroup relations to be more noncooperative (or competitive) than interindividual relations. According to this interpretation, anticipated competitiveness rationally leads to noncooperativeness or defensive withdrawal. Thus, the postulated motivation is fear of the group's competitive intent. Study 1 was a nonexperimental investigation in which discussion of distrust of another group was assessed and correlated with the number of cooperative choices. As predicted, the greater the within-group discussion of distrust for the other group, the less the number of cooperative choices. Study 2 was an experimental investigation that included as independent variables intergroup versus interindividual relations and PDG matrix versus PDG-Alt matrix (PDG matrix plus a third Alt or withdrawal choice producing intermediate outcomes regardless of the opponent's choice). As predicted, there were more withdrawal choices on the PDG-Alt matrix for groups than for individuals. However, it was still found that on the PDG-Alt matrix (where a safe withdrawal choice is possible), groups competed more than individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information presentation constraints and the adaptive decision maker hypothesis.

Participants examined sets of apartments described along 4 dimensions. Attribute values were manipulated to provide a way to infer strategy from response patterns. Experiment 1 established baseline behavior in unconstrained search, whereas Experiments 2–4 constrained participants to search either by alternative or by dimension. Dimensionwise presentation resulted in higher accuracy and reduced looking times. In 3-alternative choice, there was no evidence that strategy use depended on constraint condition. Evidence for possible strategy differences across constraint conditions was found when either multiple judgments rather than a single choice had to be made or the number of alternatives was increased to 5. These results supported features of the adaptive decision maker hypothesis (J. W. Payne, J. R. Bettman, & E. J. Johnson, 1988) but suggested that strategy use is not always strongly linked to acquisition pattern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of bilateral lesions of the amygdala on dyadic social interactions in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

The role of the amygdala in dyadic social interactions of adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) was assessed after bilateral ibotenic acid lesions. Social, nonsocial, and spatial behaviors of amygdalectomized and control monkeys were assessed in 3 dyadic experiments: constrained, unconstrained, and round robin. Lesions produced extensive bilateral damage to the amygdala. Across all experiments, the amygdalectomized monkeys demonstrated increased social affiliation, decreased anxiety, and increased confidence compared with control monkeys, particularly during early encounters. Normal subjects also demonstrated increased social affiliation toward the amygdalectomized subjects. These results indicate that amygdala lesions in adult monkeys lead to a decrease in the species-normal reluctance to immediately engage a novel conspecific in social behavior. The altered behavior of the amygdalectomized monkeys may have induced the increased social interactions from their normal companions. This is contrary to the idea that amygdalectomy produces a decrease in social interaction and increased aggression from conspecifics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can the absence of prejudice be more threatening than its presence? It depends on one's worldview.

The present research used validated cardiovascular measures to examine threat reactions among members of stigmatized groups when interacting with members of nonstigmatized groups who were, or were not, prejudiced against their group. The authors hypothesized that people's beliefs about the fairness of the status system would moderate their experience of threat during intergroup interactions. The authors predicted that for members of stigmatized groups who believe the status system is fair, interacting with a prejudiced partner, compared with interacting with an unprejudiced partner, would disconfirm their worldview and result in greater threat. In contrast, the authors predicted that for members of stigmatized groups who believe the system is unfair, interacting with a prejudiced partner, compared with interacting with an unprejudiced partner, would confirm their worldview and result in less threat. The authors examined these predictions among Latinas interacting with a White female confederate (Study 1) and White females interacting with a White male confederate (Study 2). As predicted, people's beliefs about the fairness of the status system moderated their experiences of threat during intergroup interactions, indicated both by cardiovascular responses and nonverbal behavior. The specific pattern of the moderation differed across the 2 studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action.

Previous research has shown that trait concepts and stereotypes become active automatically in the presence of relevant behavior or stereotyped-group features. Through the use of the same priming procedures as in previous impression formation research, Experiment 1 showed that participants whose concept of rudeness was primed interrupted the experimenter more quickly and frequently than did participants primed with polite-related stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants for whom an elderly stereotype was primed walked more slowly down the hallway when leaving the experiment than did control participants, consistent with the content of that stereotype. In Experiment 3, participants for whom the African American stereotype was primed subliminally reacted with more hostility to a vexatious request of the experimenter. Implications of this automatic behavior priming effect for self-fulfilling prophecies are discussed, as is whether social behavior is necessarily mediated by conscious choice processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The loyal member effect: On the preference for ingroup members who engage in exclusive relations with the ingroup.

The goal of this article was to investigate an indirect form of intergroup differentiation in children in the context of racial attitudes: the preference for ingroup members who interact positively with other ingroup members rather than with outgroup members. Study 1 confirmed this general hypothesis with preschool and 1st-grade children, demonstrating that respondents preferred the ingroup member who played only with other ingroup members, evaluated this child more positively, and felt more similar to him or her. Studies 2 and 3 tested the boundary conditions of the phenomenon. Study 4 analyzed developmental changes demonstrating that the effect is no longer observed among 9- to 11-year-old children. Overall, these studies suggest that engaging in positive interactions with the outgroup might have its costs in terms of a relative devaluation and rejection by one's peers. Results are discussed by stressing the importance of intragroup processes for the regulation of intergroup relations among very young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A methodological and substantive note on the performance-cue effect in ratings of work-group behavior.

According to research on the performance-cue effect in work ratings, knowledge that a group performed well or poorly can trigger raters' implicit theories, resulting in inaccurate judgments of the group's behavior. Unfortunately, because information concerning group performance has always been provided by the experimenter, it has been impossible to tell whether the performance-cue effect reflects the influence of participants' implicit theories or is simply an attempt to conform to the experimenter's belief. To test these 2 explanations, participants observed a work group without having received performance information and then completed evaluative and behavioral ratings of the group. Allowing participants to evaluate the group free of any externally provided performance information enabled participants to form independently generated impressions; thus, the demand characteristic problem was eliminated. Results indicated the performance-cue effect is not an artifact and that it is likely due to a systematic response bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language exclusion and the consequences of perceived ostracism in the workplace.

The current research examined the impact of workplace ostracism on work-related attitudes and behaviors. Participants read a vignette describing a series of workplace interactions between the participant and two coworkers. During the interactions, participants were included in a group discussion, ostracized by coworkers in English or ostracized in Spanish. Consistent with predictions, ostracized participants reported lower levels of organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors than included participants. Ostracism by language resulted in lower work group commitment and higher levels of symbolic threat compared with included participants and those ostracized in English. Increased prejudice was also reported by participants exposed to language ostracism. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for general attitudinal processes and employee-related work attitudes and behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How attributional ambiguity shapes physiological and emotional responses to social rejection and acceptance.

The authors examined White and Black participants' emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses to same-race or different-race evaluators, following rejecting social feedback or accepting social feedback. As expected, in ingroup interactions, the authors observed deleterious responses to social rejection and benign responses to social acceptance. Deleterious responses included cardiovascular (CV) reactivity consistent with threat states and poorer performance, whereas benign responses included CV reactivity consistent with challenge states and better performance. In intergroup interactions, however, a more complex pattern of responses emerged. Social rejection from different-race evaluators engendered more anger and activational responses, regardless of participants' race. In contrast, social acceptance produced an asymmetrical race pattern--White participants responded more positively than did Black participants. The latter appeared vigilant and exhibited threat responses. Discussion centers on implications for attributional ambiguity theory and potential pathways from discrimination to health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)