Two studies examined the relationship between categorization, intergroup anxiety and intergroup attitudes (intergroup bias and negative a€ect). Study 1 consisted of a survey of 236 British and Japanese nationals. Study 2 was a longitudinal study of 54 Japanese students studying in the UK. Of the three categorization variables (interpersonal, superordinate and intergroup), only intergroup catego...

Polarization between groups is a major topic of contemporary societal debate as well as of research into intergroup relations. Formal modelers of opinion dynamics try to explain how intergroup polarization can arise from simple first principles of interactions within and between groups. Models have been proposed in which intergroup attitudes affect social influence in the form of homophily or x...

We analyzed whether attending to versus ignoring inand out-group members systematically influences intergroup bias. In two studies (N 1⁄4 187), we manipulated attention by asking participants to count the appearance of in-group (or out-group) members in the presence of out-group (or in-group) distractors. Prior to and during the counting task, we assessed intergroup bias by having participants ...

Three studies examine the amplifying effects of intergroup anxiety on individuals' negative and offensive responses to out-group-initiated contact. Because intergroup anxiety typically results in avoidance of the initiation of intergroup contact, these studies explored how intergroup anxiety affected individuals' interpretation of and responses to out-group-initiated contact. The authors hypoth...

Intergroup cognition has been among the central topics of social psychology since its inception, and research has recently surged in allied fields such as developmental and cognitive psychology. Cognitive anthropology has also offered unique contributions, especially by drawing attention to commonalities as well as differences across cultural settings. This review places the study of intergroup...

Intergroup interactions between racial or ethnic majority and minority groups are often stressful for members of both groups; however, the dynamic processes that promote or alleviate tension in intergroup interaction remain poorly understood. Here we identify a behavioral mechanism-response delay-that can uniquely contribute to anxiety and promote disengagement from intergroup contact. Minimall...

Extensive research has investigated societal and behavioral consequences of social group affiliation and identification but has been relatively silent on the role of perception in intergroup relations. We propose the perceptual model of intergroup relations to conceptualize how intergroup relations are grounded in perception. We review the growing literature on how intergroup dynamics shape per...

When will children decide to help outgroup peers? We examined how intergroup competition, social perspective taking (SPT), and empathy influence children's (5-10 years, N = 287) prosocial intentions towards outgroup members. Study 1 showed that, in a minimal group situation, prosociality was lower in an intergroup competitive than in a non-competitive or interpersonal context. Study 2 revealed ...

Group-based competition is considered to be a ubiquitous social context in human society. However, little is known about its potential effects on children's prosocial behaviors. To this end, we designed an experiment in which two age groups (2.5-3.5 years of age and 5.5-6.5 years of age) engaged in an intergroup competition task where they did a so-called "game" where each child transferred tab...

Two studies tested the prediction that more positive intergroup contact would be associated with reduced aggressive intergroup action tendencies, an effect predicted to occur indirectly via reduced intergroup threat perceptions, and over and above well-established effects of contact on intergroup attitudes. Study 1, using data based on a cross-section of the general population of eight European...