The Impact of Group Entitativity on Linguistic Discrimination: Ingroup Favoritism and Outgroup Derogation in the Explanation of Negative Outcome Allocations

In: Social psychology, Band 42, Heft 4, S. 292-299

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of minimal group entitativity on linguistic ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation. Group entitativity varied across three conditions: mere categorization, spatial separation of groups, and common fate. Participants described with spontaneous language negative outcome allocations performed either by ingroup or by outgroup members. Findings showed that linguistic discrimination was not elicited by mere categorization and occurred only in the common fate condition. Group entitativity mainly affected linguistic outgroup derogation. This study adds to the evidence of linguistic discrimination in minimal groups and shows the strength of a linguistic measure in disentangling the different components of intergroup bias.