How normative and social identification processes predict self‐determination to engage in derogatory behaviours against outgroup hockey fans

Bringing together self‐determination theory, intergroup theories based on the social identity approach, and normative approaches, three studies conducted among hockey fans tested if social norms and social identity predict greater self‐determined motivation to engage in derogatory behaviours against an outgroup team and higher frequency of these behaviours. Higher self‐determination was conceptualised as an indicator of internalisation. In Study 1, hockey fans who identified more strongly as fans of the Montreal Canadiens (N = 181) displayed a stronger positive association between the perceived norm in favour of outgroup derogation and self‐determined motivation to engage in derogatory behaviours against fans of an outgroup team. This interaction also emerged on the frequency with which the derogatory behaviours were enacted. In Studies 2 and 3 (Ns = 105 and 116), this norm by social identity interaction was replicated on both the self‐determination and the frequency outcomes for fans of a diversity of teams in the National Hockey League. In Study 3, these findings were observed over and above a manipulation that framed derogatory behaviours as being either harmful or beneficial. Results are discussed in light of motivational theories, normative approaches, and intergroup theories based on the social identity approach. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uncovering hockey fans' motivations behind their derogatory behaviors and how these motives predict psychological well-being and quality of social identity

ObjectiveThis article tested whether hockey fans' selfdetermined and non self-determined motivation for engaging in derogatory behaviors against an outgroup team predicted the frequency of these behaviors, fans' psychological well-being, and the quality of their social identity as a fan of their team. The two psychological theories we employ in the current research (i.e., self-determination theory and social identity theory) have different assumptions concerning the motivation behind derogatory fan behavior.DesignThree correlational studies were conducted among hockey fans.MethodsFans of rival hockey fans (Study 1; N = 45), fans of the Montreal Canadiens (Study 2; N = 181), and fans of NHL teams (Study 3; N = 105) completed measures of selfdetermination to engage in derogatory behaviors, frequency of these behaviors, psychological well-being, and quality of social identity. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test if the frequency, well-being, and quality of social identity variables were predicted by the self-determined and non self-determined motivations to engage in derogatory behaviors.ResultsAs expected based on self-determination theory (SDT), the more hockey fans engage in derogatory behaviors for non self-determined reasons, the lower their well-being and the less frequently they report engaging in the derogatory behaviors. Moreover, as expected based on social identity theory (SIT), the more hockey fans engage in the derogatory behaviors for self-determined reasons, the higher their well-being, the frequency of these behaviors, and the more positive their social identity.ConclusionsTheses results are interpreted in light of SDT and SIT's theoretical propositions. Comparisons are made with prior studies conducted on this topic.     

The Process of Group Differentiation in a Dynamic Intergroup Setting

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the social categorization processes of between-group differentiation and within-group similarity in a dynamic intergroup setting. Traditionally, these processes have generally been examined in static settings, and it was hypothesized that they may not operate in the same way when group members are in a dynamic intergroup setting. Spectators at four collegiate hockey games were tested throughout the games in order to examine ingroup (home team) versus outgroup (visiting team) perceptions. The traditional effect of ingroup favoritism was found with respect to between-group differentiation, but this effect was influenced by objective measures of performance (i.e., goals). For negative characteristics, ingroup favoritism prevailed regardless of the ingroup's relative performance. The results also demonstrated that a distinction could be made between ingroup favoritism and outgroup discrimination. Although the results pertaining to within-group similarity were only suggestive, they indicated that the outgroup homogeneity effect was not operating in this dynamic context.     

How intergroup friendship works: A longitudinal study of friendship effects on outgroup attitudes

Cross‐sectional research has shown that frequency of self‐disclosure to outgroup members mediates the positive relationship between intergroup friendship and outgroup attitudes. The current research investigated the relationship between self‐disclosure and attitudes in more depth. New undergraduate students were asked to nominate an ingroup or outgroup friend and then report the intimacy of their disclosures to them, their anxiety and attitudes towards a series of social groups, in the first week of the semester and 6 weeks later. Intimacy of disclosure predicted more positive attitudes towards outgroups over time, but this association was only found among participants who nominated an outgroup friend. In the ingroup friend condition, a negative association was found. These associations were mediated by general intergroup anxiety. These relationships highlight the importance of integrating theories of interpersonal and intergroup relations when investigating intergroup contact. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can harmful intergroup behaviors truly represent the self?: The impact of harmful and prosocial normative behaviors on intra-individual conflict and compartmentalization

This research investigates how group members subjectively feel about their prosocial vs. harmful intergroup behaviors, and whether these behaviors can represent who they are more globally as a person. Three experiments tested how group norms (pro-merit/parity vs. pro-discrimination) and congruence with these norms predicted compartmentalization of these intergroup behaviors in the self and intra-individual conflict. Experiment 1 (N = 122) revealed that participants who conformed to a pro-discrimination norm reported compartmentalizing this behavior to a greater extent than participants who conformed to a pro-merit norm. Experiments 2 (N = 149) and 3 (N = 222) replicated and extended these findings in real and conflictual intergroup settings, also over and above the effect of relevant superordinate norms. Mediated moderation analyses also revealed that following discriminatory norms was associated with more intra-individual conflict, and that this conflict in turn predicted higher compartmentalization.     

Investigating the motivations underlying harmful social behaviors and the motivational nature of social norms

The present research applies a self‐determination theory framework to capture the broad spectrum of reasons why individuals engage in harmful normative behaviors. This correlational study (N = 242) focused on harmful behaviors that were either supported by one's in‐group or not. Participants whose in‐group encourages them to engage in a harmful behavior reported stronger motivation, both self‐determined and non‐self‐determined. Perceiving strong in‐group norms in favor of these behaviors was associated positively with the non‐self‐determined motivation pertaining to introjected regulation. The more participants agreed with an in‐group norm in favor of a harmful behavior, the stronger their self‐determination for engaging in this behavior. Results are discussed in light of self‐determination theory, normative models of social influence, and intergroup theories.     

Advantaged group's emotional reactions to intergroup inequality: the dynamics of pride, guilt, and sympathy

Three studies establish intergroup inequality to investigate how it is emotionally experienced by the advantaged. Studies 1 and 2 examine psychology students' emotional experience of their unequal job situation with worse-off pedagogy students. When inequality is ingroup focused and legitimate, participants experience more pride. However, when inequality is ingroup focused and illegitimate, participants experience more guilt. Sympathy is increased when inequality is outgroup focused and illegitimate. These emotions have particular effects on behavioral tendencies. In Study 2 group-based pride predicts greater ingroup favoritism in a resource distribution task, whereas group-based sympathy predicts less ingroup favoritism. Study 3 replicates these findings in the context of students' willingness to let young immigrants take part in a university sport. Pride predicts less willingness to let immigrants take part whereas sympathy predicts greater willingness. Guilt is a weak predictor of behavioral tendencies in all studies. This shows the specificity of emotions experienced about intergroup inequality.     

Ingroup bias in the minimal group paradigm shown by three‐person groups with high or low state self‐esteem

From social identity theory a negative relation between self‐esteem and ingroup bias can be deducted. Much research has been done to test this proposition and largely failed to confirm this relation. Unlike many existing studies, we conducted an experiment in which (a) self‐esteem is not conceived as a trait entity but much more situation‐specific, (b) the self‐esteem manipulation is not relative to the outgroup, and (c) the measure of intergroup differentiation is unrelated to the self‐esteem manipulation. We categorised our participants into two arbitrary minimal groups (Klee or Kandinsky fans) and afterwards formed homogeneous three‐person groups (all persons were either Klee or Kandinsky fans). We manipulated the state self‐esteem of these real groups by giving them positive or negative feedback concerning their performance in a problem‐solving task. Afterwards, all groups distributed money to ingroup and outgroup members via Tajfel distribution matrices. Low state self‐esteem groups were found to exhibit stronger ingroup bias than high state self‐esteem groups overall, although the variability of intergroup discrimination was larger in the low state self‐esteem groups, pointing to more heterogeneous reactions to low state self‐esteem. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vicarious intergroup contact and the role of authorities in prejudice reduction

The present study focuses on the effect of vicarious intergroup contact and the support of an authority figure on the improvement of outgroup and meta-stereotype evaluations. Meta-stereotype refers to the shared beliefs of ingroup members about how they consider outgroup members to perceive their group. Three preliminary studies were carried out to determine desirable and undesirable characteristics for a good basketball performance, the task that best demonstrates the application of these characteristics, and the two groups (basketball teams) that should be involved in the vicarious intergroup contact. Fans of one of the basketball teams participated in the current study. Vicarious intergroup contact improved outgroup and meta-stereotype evaluations as compared with a no contact condition. In addition, the positive effects of vicarious intergroup contact significantly increased when it was supported by an authority figure. More importantly, our study also shows that the improvement of outgroup evaluation was partially mediated by changes on meta-stereotypes.     

The Treatment of Relevant and Irrelevant Outgroups in Minimal Group Situations With Crossed Categorizations

Abstract

Among a sample of Belgian high school boys, the author attempted to determine on the basis of social identity theory (H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1979) whether an outgroup's relevancy in intergroup comparisons influences the amount of intergroup discrimination. Relevancy was manipulated by the use of 2 trivial categorization dimensions that were orthogonally crossed. In 1 of the crossed categorization conditions, this procedure resulted in the formation of 4 groups, whereas in the 2nd condition, only 2 of these groups were effectively formed. Nevertheless, the participants in both conditions were instructed to evaluate 4 groups–either 4 actual groups (1st condition) or 2 actual and 2 hypothetical groups (2nd condition). In both conditions, the intergroup evaluations exhibited the same pattern–that is, they did not differentiate their ingroups from the partly overlapping groups but were clearly biased against the double outgroup.     

Passionate hockey fans: Appraisals of,coping with,and attention paid to the 2012–2013 National Hockey League lockout

ObjectivesWe examined if harmonious and obsessive passion for watching hockey were differentially related to stress experiences during the 2012–2013 National Hockey League (NHL) lockout.DesignCross-sectional data were collected from 256 undergraduate hockey fans.MethodParticipants completed questionnaires that measured passion types, stress appraisals, coping, and how they attended to lockout-related information.ResultsObsessive passion was positively associated with stress appraisals, most types of coping, and with avoiding information about the lockout. Harmonious passion was unrelated to stress appraisals, showed few relationships with coping, and was positively related with monitoring lockout-related information. Structural equation modelling supported a model whereby threat appraisal mediated the relationship between obsessive passion and disengagement-oriented coping.ConclusionsAppraising, coping with, and paying attention to the NHL lockout among hockey fans varied to the extent that their passion for hockey was more harmonious or obsessive.     

Imagined contact in high conflict settings: The role of ethnic group identification and the perspective of minority group members

Recent contact literature has shown that imagining a positive intergroup encounter improves intergroup attitudes and behaviors, yet less is known about the effects of imagined contact in high conflict settings. We conducted three studies to understand the potential effects of imagined intergroup contact among ethnic Turks (majority status) and ethnic Kurds (minority status) in the Turkish‐Kurdish interethnic conflict setting. Study 1 (N = 47, Turkish) tested standard imagined contact effects (neutral vs. standard imagined contact condition) among majority Turks and showed that imagined contact was effective on outgroup attitudes, perceived threat, intergroup anxiety, and support for multiculturalism only among participants with higher ethnic identification. Study 2 (N = 107, Turkish) examined how ethnic identification of the contact partner would influence the effectiveness of the standard imagined contact scenario (neutral vs. standard vs. ethnic identification condition) and demonstrated that imagined contact effects were more negative when the contact partner identified with his/her ethnic group during imagined contact. Study 3 (N = 55, Kurdish) investigated imagined contact effects (neutral vs. standard imagined contact condition) among an ethnic minority group and showed that imagined contact did not improve minority group members' outgroup attitudes, but did decrease intergroup anxiety and perceived discrimination (marginally significantly) and increased perceived positive attitudes from the majority group. Practical implications of the use of imagined intergroup contact strategy in conflict‐ridden settings were discussed.     

Relationship of Fan Identification to Determinants of Aggression

Abstract

Fan identification refers to the psychological connection that individuals have with sport teams. This study sought to determine whether fans possessing different levels of identification respond differently to the antecedents to aggressive spectator behaviors that are addressed by the theory of planned behavior. Fans of four professional sport teams (N = 231) were placed in one of three groups based on their scores for fan identification strength. Consistent with hypotheses, highly identified fans felt less control over their behavior at games than moderately identified fans and lowly identified fans. Contrary to hypotheses, however, neither attitudes towards aggression nor subjective norms on aggression differed between identification levels. Discussion centers on the relevance of the findings for the control of different types of aggression.     

The intergroup sensitivity effect in mergers and acquisitions: Testing the role of merger motives

Research has shown that people are more defensive to criticism when it stems from an outgroup member, compared to an ingroup member (the intergroup sensitivity effect: ISE). We conducted two online vignette experiments to examine the ISE in the context of an organizational merger and the role of merger motives for the ISE. We predicted that the ISE would also emerge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), but people would respond less negatively to criticism from the outgroup when the motive for the merger is described as achieving synergies rather than growth. In Experiment 1 (N = 452), which did not mention any motives behind the acquisition, a significant ISE emerged. Experiment 2 (N = 587) again showed an ISE regardless of the merger motive. In both experiments, the ISE was mediated by perceptions of the outgroup criticism as less legitimate and constructive. Overall, this research points to the intergroup sensitivity effect as a relevant phenomenon during post-merger integration.     

Pathways to prejudice and outgroup hostility: Group alignment and intergroup conflict among football fans

How do different forms of group alignment influence our attitudes toward outgroups? To answer this, the current fieldwork study explored how identification and identity fusion differentially impact outgroup anxiety, prejudice, and hostility toward rival football fan supporter groups in Australia. The community participants (N = 100) were members of two active fan groups who had experienced a history of intergroup tensions. The findings from the full path model confirmed that the predictor group alignment variables of identification and fusion were correlated, and the two outcome variables of outgroup prejudice and hostility were correlated, as predicted. The findings also revealed that fusion with one's club predicted outgroup hostility, but not prejudice, whereas identification with one's club predicted outgroup prejudice, but not hostility. Additionally, outgroup anxiety was found to significantly mediate the relationship between ingroup identification and outgroup prejudice, whereas a similar relationship was not found for fusion. These findings highlight the differential impact of group alignment (i.e., identification and identity fusion) on social constructs of outgroup anxiety, prejudice, and hostility. Empirically, this is the first study to demonstrate the workings of these distinct group alignment pathways in an applied setting involving hard-core football fans. We discuss the broader implications of these findings for a fuller understanding of the drivers of intergroup tensions and conflict.     

Receptivity to dating and marriage across the religious divide in Northern Ireland: The role of intergroup contact

Intergroup contact has long been recognized as an important factor in promoting positive intergroup attitudes. However, in operationalizing intergroup attitudes, previous studies have rarely investigated attitudes toward one of the most intimate forms of contact, romantic relationships. In this study (N = 176), we expand the intergroup contact literature to examine the association between intergroup contact and, arguably, a litmus test of intergroup attitudes: receptivity to intergroup romance. We do so in Northern Ireland, a context that is historically and presently characterized by sectarian division and tension between Catholics and Protestants. Our findings reveal that intergroup contact is positively associated with receptivity to both dating and marrying an outgroup member. These associations are mediated by ingroup norms toward outgroup romances. General outgroup attitudes were also found to be positively associated with contact but, in contrast to romantic attitudes, this association was shown, for the first time, to be simultaneously mediated by ingroup norms, anxiety, empathy, and trust. In addition, strength of ingroup identification played a moderating role, with a stronger positive relationship between contact and both romantic and general outgroup attitudes among higher identifiers. The findings highlight the importance of examining attitudes toward intergroup romantic relationships, as well as understanding the different mediating and moderating mechanisms which may account for how contact influences general attitudes and romantic attitudes. In the wake of the UK vote to leave the European Union, they also serve as an important reminder of how intergroup contact can be effective in promoting peace in Northern Ireland.     

Effects of In-Group Bias on Planned Encounters of Jewish and Arab Youths

Abstract

In a sample of 9th-grade Jewish (n = 118) and Arab (n = 100) students in Israel who participated in planned binational encounters, the author examined in-group biases as a function of (a) their perceptions of the encounter between the groups as interpersonal or as intergroup contact and (b) their views of the status of their respective national groups in Israel as legitimate and stable. In comparisons of the 2 encounter groups (of equals status), both groups showed in-group biases. In comparisons of the national groups at large (of unequals status), the Arab students considered their group similar to the Jewish group, whereas the Jewish students rated their group more favorably than they rated the Arab group. For the Jewish, but not the Arab, students, in-group bias was contingent on simultaneous ratings (legitimate–illegitimate; stable–unstable) of the binational situation in Israel. The data support a 2-dimensional model rather than a 1-dimensional model of intergroup-interpersonal definition of the encounter.     

Outgroup prejudice and perceptions of prosocial intergroup behaviors

How people perceive outgroup prosocial behaviors is an important but under‐researched aspect of intergroup relations. In three experiments conducted in two cultural contexts (Italy and Kosovo) and with two different populations (adolescents and adults; N = 586), we asked participants to imagine being offered help by an outgroup versus ingroup member. Participants attributed fewer prosocial motives to and were less willing to accept help from the outgroup (vs. ingroup) member. This was particularly true for highly prejudiced participants and when the outgroup was described negatively. Participants' perceptions of the outgroup helper's prosocial motives and expected quality of the interaction with the helper mediated the effect of helper's group membership on willingness to accept the help (Experiment 3). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for intergroup relations.     

Disappointment expression evokes collective guilt and collective action in intergroup conflict: the moderating role of legitimacy perceptions

Research on intergroup emotions has largely focused on the experience of emotions and surprisingly little attention has been given to the expression of emotions. Drawing on the social-functional approach to emotions, we argue that in the context of intergroup conflicts, outgroup members’ expression of disappointment with one’s ingroup induces the complementary emotion of collective guilt and correspondingly a collective action protesting ingroup actions against the outgroup. In Study 1 conducted immediately after the 2014 Gaza war, Jewish-Israeli participants received information about outgroup’s (Palestinians) expression of emotions (disappointment, fear, or none). As predicted, outgroup’s expression of disappointment increased collective guilt and willingness to participate in collective action, but only among those who saw the intergroup situation as illegitimate. Moreover, collective guilt mediated the relationship between disappointment expression and collective action, moderated, again, by legitimacy perception. In Study 2, we replicated these results in the context of racial tension between Black and White Americans in the US. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of the findings.