In or out? How the perceived morality (vs. competence) of prospective group members affects acceptance and rejection

When is an individual likely to be accepted or rejected by a group? This research investigates responses towards prospective group members depending on how they compare to the group in terms of their perceived morality or competence. Because morality is of particular importance to groups, we hypothe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of social psychology 2017-10, Vol.47 (6), p.748-762
Main Authors: Lee, Romy, Ellemers, Naomi, Scheepers, Daan, Rutjens, Bastiaan T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Competence
deviance
exclusion
intragroup processes
Morality
Physiological psychology
Self report
Social acceptance
threat
Threats
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:When is an individual likely to be accepted or rejected by a group? This research investigates responses towards prospective group members depending on how they compare to the group in terms of their perceived morality or competence. Because morality is of particular importance to groups, we hypothesized that the perceived morality of prospective group members has more impact on the group's tendency to accept versus reject them than their competence. Across three experiments, employing self‐report, psychophysiological and behavioural measures, results supported this hypothesis: Immoral (vs. incompetent) individuals were perceived as more different from the group and were more likely to be rejected. Additionally, the rejection of prospective group members with perceived inferior morality (but not those with inferior competence) was mediated by the group threat they imply. Inclusion success thus seems to be mainly contingent upon how a group evaluates the individual's morality relative to the group's standards.
ISSN:0046-2772
1099-0992
DOI:10.1002/ejsp.2269