INTERPERSONAL AND GROUP FACTORS IN FAVOURITISM : A DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

According to social categorisation paradigm (Hogg & Abrams, 1988, 1990; Tajfel 1970, 1974, 1982; Tajfel, Billig, Mundy, & Flament, 1971 ), the mere simple act of dividing subjects into two groups was sufficient to make the subjects respond to the group labels and show favour to their fellow ingroup members but discriminate against the outgroup members. However, the attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971) regards interpersonal attraction as a critical factor: People tend to favour those who like them and discriminate against those who dislike them. The study here tested the contrasting predictions of the two paradigms within a developmental framework. The design followed Tan and Singh's (1993) developmental approach with 7-, 11-, 14- and 20-year-old subjects. All subjects were given two bogus persons to rate and evaluate, but the nature of information about the strangers given to the subjects varied under various experimental conditions. In one of the two experimental conditions, only the group membership of the two strangers was given, with one being in the same group as the subjects and the other being in a different group. In the personal condition, the subjects were provided with bogus strangers' evaluation of them, with one person giving positive but the other giving negative ratings. These two experimental conditions were set to test the social categorisation paradigm and the attraction paradigm, respectively. Moreover, following Rosenbaum's ( 1986a) idea, a control condition of no-information about the stranger was added to serve as a baseline. No favouritism toward any of the two person was expected under the control condition. The two experimental condition were compared with the control condition to find out which paradigm was more powerful in producing a higher degree of favouritism. The result did not support social categorisation paradigm, as the act of social categorising failed to elicit ingroup favouritism toward the ingroup members. In contrast, subjects under the personal condition showed significantly higher favouritism to the stranger who liked them than to the one who disliked them. lnterpersonal factor was hence viewed u a superior and more effective determinant of favouritism. Moreover, subjects at all ages showed a similar tendency to favour the stranger who liked them but discriminate against the one who disliked them. This result can be accounted for by the attraction paradigm, as subjects at all age levels reported increased attraction towards the former stranger but higher repulsion toward the latter. However, it may be pointed out that such interpersonal attraction was not always a direct consequence of assumed attitudinal similarity. Other possible mediating factors, such u personal evaluations, and subjects' age, and their affective states, also play important roles in favouritism.