We are, therefore they aren’t: Ingroup construal as a standard of comparison for outgroup judgments

• Published in: Journal of experimental social psychology 2005-09, Vol.41 (5), p.515-526
• Main Authors: Gawronski, Bertram, Bodenhausen, Galen V., Banse, Rainer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cognition & reasoning; Comparative analysis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Group dynamics; In-group; Out-groups; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social attribution, perception and cognition; Social construction; Social interaction; Social interactions. Communication. Group processes; Social judgement; Social psychology
• ISSN: 0022-1031; 1096-0465
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2004.11.002

Five studies tested the assumptions: (a) that ingroups are habitually used as a standard of comparison for outgroup judgments, and (b) that outgroup judgments are generally contrasted away from a momentary construal of the ingroup. Results generally support these assumptions. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated increased activation levels of ingroup knowledge as a result of corresponding outgroup judgments. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that outgroup judgments depend not only on cognitively accessible outgroup exemplars, but also on accessible ingroup exemplars. Finally, Experiment 5 demonstrated that the impact of accessible ingroup exemplars on outgroup judgments is mediated by changes in the construal of the ingroup, such that: (a) outgroups were judged lower with regard to a given trait the higher participants perceived their ingroup with regard to that trait, and (b) controlling for the effect of ingroup construal attenuated the obtained effects on outgroup judgments.