How robust is the cognitive-ecological explanation of intergroup biases? A preregistered direct replication of Alves, Koch and Unkelbach (2018

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilka Helene Gleibs ◽  
Nihan Albayrak-Aydemir
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Model ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Information Ecology ◽  
One Stage ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Open Research ◽  
Cognitive Principles ◽  
Intergroup Biases ◽  
Principles Of Learning ◽  
Work Supports

Intergroup bias and conflict are significant and multidimensional societal challenges that require compound explanations. Recently, Alves et al. (2018) proposed a cognitive-ecological explanation for intergroup bias, which states that biases are formed based on the interaction between the basic cognitive principles of learning and the structure of the information ecology. As part of the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program, the present study consisted of a one-stage replication test of the central finding of Alves et al (2018). In this high-powered, preregistered replication of their study (analytic N = 361), we lent support to their novel explanation by replicating their main findings with different samples in a different context (Cohen’s w = .25). Thus, the current work supports the robustness of the cognitive-ecological model and gives directions for further research into how the cognitive-ecological model could expand research on intergroup bias, both towards and beyond novel groups.

A Cognitive-Ecological Explanation of Intergroup Biases

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1126-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Alves ◽  
Alex Koch ◽  
Christian Unkelbach
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Information Ecology ◽  
Intergroup Biases ◽  
Negative Attributes

People often hold negative attitudes toward out-groups and minority groups. We argue that such intergroup biases may result from an interaction of basic cognitive processes and the structure of the information ecology. This cognitive-ecological model assumes that groups such as minorities and out-groups are often novel to a perceiver. At the level of cognition, novel groups are primarily associated with their unique attributes, that is, attributes that differentiate them from other groups. In the information ecology, however, unique attributes are likely to be negative. Thus, novel groups, and by proxy minorities and out-groups, tend to be associated with negative attributes, leading to an evaluative disadvantage. We demonstrated this disadvantage in three experiments in which participants successively formed impressions about two fictional groups associated with the same number of positive and negative attributes. Participants preferred the first group over the novel group as long as the groups’ unique attributes were negative.

scholarly journals Using Environmental Features to Maximize Prediction of Regional Intergroup Bias

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062090977
Author(s):  
Eric Hehman ◽  
Eugene K. Ofosu ◽  
Jimmy Calanchini
Keyword(s):  
Large Data ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Environmental Attributes ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Parsimonious Models ◽  
Intergroup Biases ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

The present research adopts a data-driven approach to identify how characteristics of the environment are related to different types of regional in-group biases. After consolidating a large data set of environmental attributes ( N = 813), we used modern model selection techniques (i.e., elastic net regularization) to develop parsimonious models for regional implicit and explicit measures of race-, religious-, sexuality-, age-, and health-based in-group biases. Developed models generally predicted large amounts of variance in regional biases, up to 62%, and predicted significantly and substantially more variance in regional biases than basic regional demographics. Human features of the environment and events in the environment strongly and consistently predicted biases, but nonhuman features of the environment and population characteristics inconsistently predicted biases. Results implicate shared psychological causes of different regional intergroup biases, reveal distinctions between biases, and contribute to developing theoretical models of regional bias.

Ecological University for Transformative and Critical Intellectual Capital Advancement and Scholarship in South Africa

2019 ◽  
pp. 64-85
Author(s):  
Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
New Order ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
The University

This chapter interrogates an ecological model of university as a framework to understanding evolving roles played by institutions of higher learning, particularly universities, thus including their implications for a wider society transformational change. Barnett has explored various models ranging from the metaphysical, scientific, entrepreneurial, and bureaucratic to liquid, therapeutic, authentic, and ecological models. The author further argues that being and becoming ecological is a huge project, as it takes the university into a new order of being. A university within this model becomes an entity that constantly engages with itself and its adjacent environment in order to remain relevant and be part of the solutions to the societal challenges. In this chapter, case studies from the South African universities were used as the research technique, including selected interviews with key stakeholders in the higher education sector.

Mindfulness and intergroup bias: A systematic review

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022097869
Author(s):  
Danielle L. Oyler ◽  
Mollie A. Price-Blackshear ◽  
Steven D. Pratscher ◽  
B. Ann Bettencourt
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Dispositional Mindfulness ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Mindfulness Induction ◽  
Intergroup Biases

People’s proclivity for favoring their ingroups over outgroups has negative consequences for individuals, groups, and societies. Social psychologists have explored a variety of techniques to reduce these intergroup biases. Emerging research suggests that mindfulness may be effective for this purpose. Mindfulness is defined as present-moment attention and awareness with an accepting attitude, and it is often cultivated through meditation. Our systematic review of the mindfulness-intergroup literature suggests that, across the heterogeneity of paradigms, mindfulness attenuates intergroup bias. Supporting this supposition, for all studies in the current review, regardless of operationalization of mindfulness (i.e., mindfulness-based intervention, brief mindfulness induction, expert meditators, dispositional mindfulness), the overall effect size was g = +.29 ( k-number of studies = 36; 95% CI [0.20, 0.39]; Z = 5.94, p < .0001), suggesting a small but significant effect of mindfulness on improved levels of intergroup bias. In the current work, we review the eligible studies and their findings in detail and conclude by discussing critical issues and implications for future research.

scholarly journals Empathy and schadenfreude in human–robot teams

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorina de Jong ◽  
Ruud Hortensius ◽  
Te-Yi Hsieh ◽  
Emily S. Cross
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Team Identification ◽  
Intergroup Dynamics ◽  
Competitive Reaction ◽  
Total N ◽  
Robot Teams ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Intergroup Biases

Intergroup dynamics shape the ways in which we interact with other people. We feel more empathy towards ingroup members compared to outgroup members, and can even feel pleasure when an outgroup member experiences misfortune, known as schadenfreude. Here, we test the extent to which these intergroup biases emerge during interactions with robots. We measured trial-by-trial fluctuations in emotional reactivity to the outcome of a competitive reaction time game to assess both empathy and schadenfreude in arbitrary human-human and human-robot teams. Across four experiments (total n = 361), we observed a consistent empathy and schadenfreude bias driven by team membership. People felt more empathy towards ingroup members than outgroup members and more schadenfreude towards outgroup members. The existence of an intergroup bias did not depend on the nature of the agent: the same effects were observed for human-human and human–robot teams. People reported similar levels of empathy and schadenfreude towards a human and robot player. The human likeness of the robot did not consistently influence this intergroup bias, however, similar empathy and schadenfreude biases were observed for both humanoid and mechanical robots. For all teams, this bias was influenced by the level of team identification; individuals who identified more with their team showed stronger intergroup empathy and schadenfreude bias. Together, we show that similar intergroup dynamics that shape our interactions with people can also shape interactions with robots. Our results highlight the importance of taking intergroup biases into account when examining social dynamics of human-robot interactions.

Reducing Prejudice Through Promoting Cross-Group Friendships

2021 ◽  
pp. 108926802110612
Author(s):  
Melanie Killen ◽  
Katherine Luken Raz ◽  
Sandra Graham
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
Intergroup Biases ◽  
Prejudicial Attitudes ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Around the globe, individuals are affected by exclusion, discrimination, and prejudice targeting individuals from racial, ethnic, and immigrant backgrounds as well as crimes based on gender, nationality, and culture (United Nations General Assembly, 2016). Unfortunately, children are often the targeted victims (Costello & Dillard, 2019). What is not widely understood is that the intergroup biases underlying systemic racism start long before adulthood with children displaying notable signs of intergroup bias, sometimes before entering grade school. Intergroup bias refers to the tendency to evaluate members of one’s own group more favorably than someone not identified with one’s group and is typically associated with prejudicial attitudes. Children are both the victims and the perpetrators of bias. In this review, we provide evidence of how biases emerge in childhood, along with an analysis of the significant role of intergroup friendships on enhancing children’s well-being and reducing prejudice in childhood. The review focuses predominantly on the context of race, with the inclusion of several other categories, such as nationality and religion. Fostering positive cross-group friendships in childhood helps to address the negative long-term consequences of racism, discrimination, and prejudice that emerges in childhood and continues through to adulthood.

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