Morality in intergroup conflict

Intergroup conflict encompasses a broad range of situations with moral relevance. Researchers at the intersection of social and moral psychology employ diverse methodologies, including surveys, moral dilemmas, economic games, and neuroimaging, to study how individuals think, feel, and act in intergroup moral encounters. We review recent research pertaining to four types of intergroup moral encounters: (a) value-expressive and identity-expressive endorsements of conflict-related actions and policies; (b) helping and harming ingroup and out-group members; (c) reacting to transgressions committed by in-group or out-group members; and (d) reacting to the suffering of in-group or out-group members. Overall, we explain how sacred values, social motives, group-based moral emotions, and the physiological processes underlying them, shape moral behavior in intergroup conflict

Us and them: Intergroup failures of empathy

People are often motivated to increase others' positive experiences and to alleviate others' suffering. These tendencies to care about and help one another form the foundation of human society. When the target is an outgroup member, however, people may have powerful motivations not to care about or help that “other.” In such cases, empathic responses are rare and fragile; it is easy to disrupt the chain from perception of suffering to motivation to alleviate the suffering to actual helping. We highlight recent interdisciplinary research demonstrating that outgroup members' suffering elicits dampened empathic responses as compared to ingroup members' suffering. We consider an alternative to empathy in the context of intergroup competition: schadenfreude—pleasure at others' pain. Finally, we review recent investigations of intergroup-conflict interventions that attempt to increase empathy for outgroups. We propose that researchers across the range of psychological sciences stand to gain a better understanding of the foundations of empathy by studying its limitations.Princeton University (Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Fellowship)Alliance of Civilizations (Media Fund)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (grant #N000140910845

Feeling for and as a group member: understanding LGBT victimisation via group-based empathy and intergroup emotions

In two experimental studies (N = 120; N = 102), we apply intergroup emotions theory (IET) to examine the effects of hate crime on other community members. With participants from an oft‐targeted group – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans people, we are the first to show empirically that hate crimes elicit more pronounced emotional and behavioural responses in other members of the victims’ community than comparable non‐hate crimes. The findings also reveal the psychological processes behind these effects. Consistent with IET, hate crimes were seen to pose more of a group‐based threat and so led to heightened emotional reactions (anger and anxiety) and, subsequently, to behavioural intentions (avoidance and pro‐action). Importantly, we also show that hate crime victims, due to increased perceptions of similarity, received more empathy than non‐hate crime victims. Such empathy, although neglected in previous research, was shown to be a potential mediator in understanding the indirect effects of hate crime. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to psychological theory and their potential to support the argument for the utility and appropriateness of hate crime legislation

Big spoon or little spoon: Relations of couples’ attachment styles to cuddling, affection, sleep, and relationship satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of attachment styles on relationship satisfaction and sleep quality in romantic couples. The study also sought to understand how cuddling and other types of affection (i.e. verbal and supportive) may mediate those relationships. The Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to examine 104 heterosexual couples from the United States to determine whether actor and/or partner effects were present for the relationship between insecure attachment (i.e. anxious and avoidant) and relationship satisfaction. APIM was also used to determine whether actor/partner effects were present between insecure attachment and sleep disturbance. Significant actor effects were present in these models, indicating those who reported higher anxious and avoidant attachment, reported lower relationship satisfaction, and higher sleep disturbance. Some of the partner effects for the outcome of relationship satisfaction were also significant. The APIM with mediation (APIMeM) and bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence limits were used to assess mediation and test the significance of the indirect effects of cuddling, affectionate communication, and sleep disturbance. Affectionate communication partially mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction, such that those with lower avoidant attachment reported more affectionate communication, and in turn, reported higher relationship satisfaction. Affectionate communication also partially mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and sleep quality, such that those with higher avoidant attachment reported lower affectionate communication, and in turn, reported higher sleep disturbance. Significant mediation effects were present for actors only. Sleep disturbance partially mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and relationship satisfaction for actors, such that those with lower anxious attachment reported lower sleep disturbance, and in turn, reported higher relationship satisfaction. There were no significant indirect effects for cuddling as a mediator in the relationship between insecure attachment and relationship satisfaction, nor in between insecure attachment and sleep disturbance. There were no significant indirect effects for affectionate communication as a mediator between anxious attachment and relationship satisfaction, nor in between anxious attachment and sleep disturbance. There was also no significant mediation effect for sleep quality in the relationship between avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction. Implications for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed

An Information Operation Model and Classification Scheme

Information systems are used in overt and covert conflict and information operations target an opponent’s ability to manage information in support of operations for political, commercial and military advantage. System level attacks are complicated by logistic problems that require resources, command and control. Node level attacks are practical but of limited value. Collocated equipment comprises a temporary node that may be feasibly attacked. Estimation of IW operation merits may founder on the difficulty of predicting the net benefit for the costs. Starting from with Shannon’s model, a simple costbenefit model is discussed. Existing models are extended by an IW attack classification. A notional attack on system hardware is discussed with some defensive measures

A common neural code for social and monetary rewards in the human striatum

Although managing social information and decision making on the basis of reward is critical for survival, it remains uncertain whether differing reward type is processed in a uniform manner. Previously, we demonstrated that monetary reward and the social reward of good reputation activated the same striatal regions including the caudate nucleus and putamen. However, it remains unclear whether overlapping activations reflect activities of identical neuronal populations or two overlapping but functionally independent neuronal populations. Here, we re-analyzed the original data and addressed this question using multivariate-pattern-analysis and found evidence that in the left caudate nucleus and bilateral nucleus accumbens, social vs monetary reward were represented similarly. The findings suggest that social and monetary rewards are processed by the same population of neurons within these regions of the striatum. Additional findings demonstrated similar neural patterns when participants experience high social reward compared to viewing others receiving low social reward (potentially inducing schadenfreude). This is possibly an early indication that the same population of neurons may be responsible for processing two different types of social reward (good reputation and schadenfreude). These findings provide a supplementary perspective to previous research, helping to further elucidate the mechanisms behind social vs non-social reward processing

Parochial Empathy Predicts Reduced Altruism and the Endorsement of Passive Harm

Empathic failures are common in hostile intergroup contexts; repairing empathy is therefore a major focus of peacebuilding efforts. However, it is unclear which aspect of empathy is most relevant to intergroup conflict. Although trait empathic concern predicts prosociality in interpersonal settings, we hypothesized that the best predictor of meaningful intergroup attitudes and behaviors might not be the general capacity for empathy (i.e., trait empathy), but the difference in empathy felt for the in-group versus the out-group, or “parochial empathy.” Specifically, we predicted that out-group empathy would inhibit intergroup harm and promote intergroup helping, whereas in-group empathy would have the opposite effect. In three intergroup contexts—Americans regarding Arabs, Hungarians regarding refugees, Greeks regarding Germans—we found support for this hypothesis. In all samples, in-group and out-group empathy had independent, significant, and opposite effects on intergroup outcomes, controlling for trait empathic concern

Why partisans feel hated:Distinct static and dynamic relationships with animosity meta-perceptions

Partisans hold inaccurate perceptions of the other side. What drives these inaccuracies? We address this question with a focus on partisan animosity meta-perceptions (i.e. how much a partisan believes opposing partisans hate them). We argue that predictors can relate to meta-perceptions statically (e.g. at a specific point in time, do partisans who post more about politics on social media differ in their meta-perceptions relative to partisans who post less?) or dynamically (e.g. does a partisan who increases their social media political posting between two defined time points change their meta-perceptions accordingly?). Using panel data from the 2020 US presidential election, we find variables display distinct static and dynamic relationships with meta-perceptions. Notably, between individuals, posting online exhibits no (static) relationship with meta-perceptions, while within individuals, those who increased their postings over time (dynamically) became more accurate. The results make clear that overly general statements about metaperceptions and their predictors, including social media activity, are bound to be wrong. How meta-perceptions relate to other factors often depends on contextual circumstances at a given time.</p

Cutting Gordian Knots: Reducing Prejudice Through Attachment Security

The positive role of secure attachment in reducing intergroup biases has been suggested in prior studies. We extend this work by testing the effects of secure attachment primes on negative emotions and aggressive behaviors toward outgroup members across four experiments. Results from Studies 1A and 1B reveal that secure attachment prime, relative to neutral, can reduce negative outgroup emotions. In addition, Studies 1B and 3 results rule out positive mood increase as an alternative explanation for the observed effects. Results from Studies 2 and 3 reveal that secure attachment primes can reduce aggressive behavior toward an outgroup member. The effect of secure attachment primes on outgroup harm was found to be fully mediated by negative emotions in Studies 2 and 3. An interaction between secure attachment primes and ingroup identification in Study 2 indicated that the positive effects of secure attachment in reducing outgroup harm may be especially beneficial for highly identified ingroup members

Pleasure in response to out-group pain as a motivator of intergroup aggression

If humans are innately good, cooperative, fair, and averse to harming one another, why does widespread intergroup violence continue to afflict society? Several factors contribute to fomenting aggression between groups; here I focus on the role of pleasure in response to out-group pain.Psycholog