The effect of metastereotyping on judgements of higher-status outgroups when reciprocity and social image improvement motives collide

Abstract

Two experiments examined the effect of metastereotype valence on high and low identifiers' judgments of an outgroup. As high identifiers are strongly emotionally invested in the ingroup, we expected that such group members would feel angry when they activate negative metastereotypes which would correspondingly lead to less favourable evaluation of the outgroup. We further expected this pattern to be particularly visible when high identifiers could communicate their dissatisfaction to an outgroup (but not an ingroup) audience presumably to persuade the outgroup to reevaluate their attitudes toward the ingroup. We did not expect low identifiers to reflect the valence of metastereotypes in their outgroup attitudes and judgments, given their weak emotional ties with the ingroup and because such members are likely to feel that metastereotypes do not apply to them personally. Results from two experiments (Study 1, N = 78; Study 2, N = 80) supported these predictions and are discussed in light of the implications of metastereotyping for intergroup relations.