Effects of perspective taking on attitudes towards outgroups: the moderating role of group identification

DOI

Previous research has demonstrated that positive attitudes towards other social groups can be encouraged by instructing people to adopt the perspective of individual members of those (out)groups. The current research develops the idea that perspective taking can sometimes undermine people's need to form a positive image of their own groups, often achieved by portraying other groups less favourably than their own. Four experiments are planned which test the hypothesis that people who are most motivated to portray their group positively namely, strongly identified group members will employ strategies which enable them to avoid adopting the perspective of outgroup members. The research also tests the suggestion that under certain circumstances, such as when the outgroup is of higher status than the ingroup, perspective taking will have the ironic consequence of promoting the formation of more negative outgroup attitudes. A fifth experiment examines a procedure by which perspective taking can be employed to bring about more positive attitudes amongst strongly and weakly identified group members alike. Collectively, the studies comprising this research will provide new and important insight into the perspective taking process and, as such, they stand to make a significant contribution to the intergroup relations and prejudice reduction literature.

All data were collected using questionnaires / computer presentation. Participants (individuals) were tested in the laboratory, lecture theatre or the university library (depending on study). Datafiles Cases Variables Study 1: 1 359 133 Study2a: 1 54 114 Study2b: 1 100 43 Study3: 1 127 49 Study4: 1 40 12 Study5: 1 74 37 NB:Number of variables contains both individual scale items as well as aggregate variables (for which analyses were computed).

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-850290
Metadata Access https://datacatalogue.cessda.eu/oai-pmh/v0/oai?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_ddi25&identifier=8e2d8e91878329d318d7178a03895a2ff52e00395a1d4ce171b98995246fdec7
Provenance
Creator Tarrant, M
Publisher UK Data Service
Publication Year 2009
Funding Reference Economic and Social Research Council
Rights Mark Tarrant; The Data Collection is available for download to users registered with the UK Data Service.
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Numeric
Discipline Psychology; Social and Behavioural Sciences
Spatial Coverage United Kingdom