Do unto others as they do unto you: Reciprocity and social identification as determinants of in-group favoritism

Predictions from the bounded and unbounded reciprocity hypotheses and from social identity theory (SIT) were examined in a minimal group experiment in which ingroup outcome dependence, outgroup outcome dependence, and the strength of social identity were orthogonally manipulated. Both ingroup and outgroup outcome dependence affected reward allocations. Participants made more ingroup-favoring reward allocations across all conditions. The identification manipulation produced hypothesized effects on social identification measures and marginal effects of identification on reward allocations in the no-dependence condition. Support was found for both an unbounded and bounded version of the reciprocity hypothesis and marginal support for a SIT approach to intergroup discrimination. The study highlights insufficiencies of both theoretical approaches and suggests possibilities for integration and elaboration

Ervaren stigmatisering en psychologisch welbevinden van mensen met epilepsie

This survey examined the relationship between perceived stigma and psychological well-being among people with epilepsy (N = 103) and examined the moderating role of perceived social support. Visitors of the website www.epilepsie.net filled out a questionnaire which included background variables, the Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire (CESQ); Rosenberg self-esteem scale, Becks Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Social Support List 12-Interactions (SSL12-1). Perceived stigma was negatively related to self-esteem and positively related to depressive symptoms. The relationship between stigmatization and depressive symptoms was not mediated by self-esteem. Contrary to our expectations, social support did not moderate the relationships between perceived stigma and self esteem or between perceived stigma and depressive symptoms. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Competition between individuals and groups: Do incentives matter?

In their research on individual-group discontinuity using Prisoner’s Dilemma Game (PDG), Schopler, Insko, and associates observed that groups were more competitive than individuals. Alternatively, we propose that this effect can be interpreted as a group-adaptiveness phenomenon. In a 2 (individuals vs. groups)x2 (low vs. high incentives to cooperate) PDG study, individuals groups played against a cooperative opponent. Individual-group discontinuity was found when incentives to cooperate were low, but not when incentives were high. Results further suggest that the stronger intergroup competition observed in past discontinuity research may have been triggered and perpetuated by between-group violations of cooperative proposals. These findings are consistent with our group adaptiveness perspective, which proposes that groups are not invariably more competitive than individuals, but that they are more likely to adapt their behaviors to variations in the task and/or social environment in an attempt to attain important group goal