Two forms of intergroup discrimination with positive and negative outcomes: Explaining the positive‐negative asymmetry effect

Moves of subgroup and superordinate category identification paralleled these findings, and their inclusion as covariates in the analyses of favouritism and parity measures eliminated the previously significant interactions, thus implicating recategorization as the process mediating positive-negative asymmetry effects in intergroup discrimination.

Abstract

The minimal group paradigm is widely used for the study of intergroup discrimination. Reliably, group members show in-group favouritism in the allocation of positive outcomes but not in the allocation of negative outcomes. Less frequently investigated has been the withdrawal of positive and negative outcomes in the minimal paradigm. In this minimal group experiment the method of discrimination (allocation vs. withdrawal) and valence of outcomes (positive vs. negative) were combined in a 2 x 2 design (N = 57). Participants showed significant in-group favouritism only in the allocate (+) condition, less in withdrawal (-), and none at all in the remaining two cells (where parity predominated). Measures of subgroup and superordinate category identification paralleled these findings, and their inclusion as covariates in the analyses of favouritism and parity measures eliminated the previously significant interactions, thus implicating recategorization as the process mediating positive-negative asymmetry effects in intergroup discrimination.