In-group bias and fair-mindedness as strategies of self-presentation in intergroup perception

Abstract

The authors reviewed the anomalies in tests of the in-group bias hypothesis and tested the hypothesis that intergroup perception is a compromise between the need to preserve a positive social identity and maintain a self-image of fair-mindedness. Given two response measures, participants may show discrimination along one but not the other. Evaluation of multiple groups may invoke recategorization: Contrast between out-group and in-group will serve the social identity need; assimilation of at least one out-group with the in-group will satisfy the fair-mindedness need. Participants age 11 and above showed in-group bias in competence but no discrimination in attraction; the 7-year-olds discriminated along both measures. The hypothesized recategorization effects emerged in a within-participants study. Nonnegative ratings of the out-group also illustrated fairness in the participants. These results portray in-group bias and fair-mindedness as strategies of self-presentation in intergroup perception.