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• Social categorization among e-scooter riders and cyclists was studied. • Higher dispositional attribution ratings for ingroups than outgroups emerged. • Fine severity was higher for the ingroup than the outgroup. • Situational attribution ratings were higher for e-scooter riders than cyclists. • Results imply considerate coexistence among cyclists and e-scooter riders. Problem: In many countries, a new road user group, e-scooter riders, share the existing cycling infrastructure. The study aimed to investigate if an individual's status as a cyclist or e-scooter rider affects their social identity and whether it results in ingroup favoritism or outgroup discrimination. Method: An online experiment involving 179 cyclists and 64 e–scooter riders was conducted, where they rated the behavior of ingroup or outgroup members in six traffic scenarios. Results: Participants rated dispositional attributions as more causally relevant than situational ones across all traffic scenarios. Cyclists and e–scooter riders were inclined to judge ingroup members' rule violations more harshly than those of outgroup members in terms of dispositional attribution ratings and punishment severity. For situational attributions, few indications of ingroup favoritism were observed for the e–scooter rider group. Summary: Findings suggest initial indications of considerate coexistence, from the perspective of social identity theory, between the two modes of transport, supporting current regulations on the use of cycling infrastructure by e–scooter riders. Indications of ingroup discrimination, however, suggest that safety campaigning may target to promote courtesy within the cyclist and e-scooter rider groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast literature on negative treatment of outgroups and favoritism toward ingroups provides many local insights but is largely fragmented, lacking an overarching framework that might provide a unified overview and guide conceptual integration. As a result, it remains unclear where different local perspectives conflict, how they may reinforce one another, and where they leave gaps in our knowledge of the phenomena. Our aim is to start constructing a framework to help remedy this situation. We first identify a few key ideas for creating a theoretical roadmap for this complex territory, namely the principles of etiological functionalism and the dual inheritance theory of human evolution. We show how a "molecular" approach to emotions fits into this picture, and use it to illuminate emotions that shape intergroup relations. Finally, we weave the pieces together into the beginnings of a systematic taxonomy of the emotions involved in social interactions, both hostile and friendly. While it is but a start, we have developed the argument in a way that illustrates how the foundational principles of our proposed framework can be extended to accommodate further cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust is necessary to build and maintain relationships, making the ability to rebuild trust after it has been broken also important. This study explored how the timing of a trust violation (whether it came early in a long-term interaction, before a relationship is established, or later, after a cooperative relationship had been established) impacts subsequent behavioral and attitudinal trust, based on whether the interaction partner is an ingroup or outgroup member (using political ideology). A sample of 208 U.S. participants played 20 rounds of a trust game with either an ingroup member or an outgroup member and were randomly assigned to experience an early trust violation or a late trust violation. Late trust violations were more detrimental than early trust violations. However, there was no significant difference in trusting behaviors and attitudes between ingroup and outgroup pairings, nor a significant difference in how the timing of the trust violation impacted subsequent behavioral trust between ingroup and outgroup pairings. Nonetheless, subsequent trusting attitudes were higher for ingroup pairings after an early trust violation compared to a late one. Moreover, behavioral trust in the first round, before any trust violation had occurred, was higher among ingroup partners, indicating the presence of an ingroup effect, which was nullified over the course of the longer-term interaction. Ultimately, these results suggest that it is important to establish a pattern of trustworthy behavior over time to build relationships. Furthermore, an ingroup bias does not preclude similar kinds of cooperation between outgroup members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-cultural study compared judgments of moral wrongness for physical and emotional harm with varying combinations of in-group vs. out-group agents and victims across six countries: the United States of America (N = 937), the United Kingdom (N = 995), Romania (N = 782), Brazil (N = 856), South Korea (N = 1776), and China (N = 1008). Consistent with our hypothesis we found evidence of an insider agent effect, where moral violations committed by outsider agents are generally considered more morally wrong than the same violations done by insider agents. We also found support for an insider victim effect where moral violations that were committed against an insider victim generally were seen as more morally wrong than when the same violations were committed against an outsider, and this effect held across all countries. These findings provide evidence that the insider versus outsider status of agents and victims does affect moral judgments. However, the interactions of these identities with collectivism, psychological closeness, and type of harm (emotional or physical) are more complex than what is suggested by previous literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Outgroup conflict is a powerful selective force across all social taxa. While it is well documented that individual outgroup contests can have a range of direct and indirect fitness consequences, the cumulative pressure of outgroup threats could also potentially impact reproductive success. Here, we use long-term life-history data from a wild population of dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula) to investigate how intergroup interaction (IGI) rate might influence breeding and offspring survival. IGI rate did not predict the number of litters produced in a season or the inter-litter interval. Unexpectedly, IGI rate was positively associated with the number of pups alive three months after emergence from the breeding burrow. This was not due to a difference in how many pups emerged but because those in groups experiencing more IGIs had a higher survival likelihood post-emergence. Detailed natural observations revealed that both IGI occurrence and the threat of intergroup conflict led to more sentinel behaviour by adults, probably reducing the predation risk to young. Our results contrast the previously documented negative effects of outgroup interactions on reproductive success and highlight the need to assess cumulative threat, rather than just the impact of physical contests, when considering outgroup conflict as a social driver of fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morality has traditionally been described in terms of an impartial and objective “moral law”, and moral psychological research has largely followed in this vein, focusing on abstract moral judgments. But might our moral judgments be shaped not just by what the action is, but who is doing it? We looked at ratings of moral wrongness, manipulating whether the person doing the action was a friend, a refugee, or a stranger. We looked at these ratings across various moral foundations, and conducted the study in Brazil, US, and UK samples. Our most robust and consistent findings are that purity violations were judged more harshly when committed by ingroup members and less harshly when committed by the refugees in comparison to the unspecified agents, the difference between refugee and unspecified agents decays from liberals to conservatives, i.e., conservatives judge them more harshly than liberals do, and Brazilians participants are harsher than the US and UK participants. Our results suggest that purity violations are judged differently according to who committed them and according to the political ideology of the judges. We discuss the findings in light of various theories of groups dynamics, such as moral hypocrisy, moral disengagement, and the black sheep effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of a brief online compassion induction on the individuals' responses towards different outgroups. Method: A single-blinded randomized design was employed. Two hundred twenty-three participants (n = 223) completed the baseline questionnaire. They were randomly assigned to either the compassion condition (watch a 20-min video on guided compassion practice) or the attention control condition (watch a 20-min video on rock formation). Experimenters monitored participants' attentiveness. A post-experiment questionnaire was administered immediately afterwards. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used for outcome analyses. The independent variables included experimental conditions (compassion vs. attention control), timepoint of the measurement (pre-experiment, post-experiment), and interactions between these variables. Outcome variables included negative outgroup emotions and attitudes, social distance, and donation behavior towards three outgroups (ethnic minorities, Mainland immigrants, people with opposite political views). Results: Compared to the control condition, the compassion induction led to a small reduction in the overall negative emotions (d = 0.22), attitudes (d = 0.24), and social distance (d = 0.21) towards outgroup. Small reductions in negative emotions (d = 0.26), attitudes (d = 0.40), and social distance (d = 0.28) towards immigrants were also found. Additionly, a small reduction in negative emotions (d = 0.26) towards political partisans was observed. No effect was found for ethnic minorities, while the effect of compassion on donation behavior was not significant. Conclusions: A brief online compassion induction could facilitate more favorable responses towards outgroups, reducing intergroup psychological barriers. Generic compassion induction could potentially serve as a convenient tool for intergroup interventions targeting various social groups. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeognathae consists of five groups of extant species: flighted tinamous (1) and four flightless groups: kiwi (2), cassowaries and emu (3), rheas (4), and ostriches (5). Molecular studies supported the groupings of extinct moas with tinamous and elephant birds with kiwi as well as ostriches as the group that diverged first among the five groups. However, phylogenetic relationships among the five groups are still controversial. Previous studies showed extensive heterogeneity in estimated gene tree topologies from conserved nonexonic elements, introns, and ultraconserved elements. Using the noncoding loci together with protein-coding loci, this study investigated the factors that affected gene tree estimation error and the relationships among the five groups. Using closely related ostrich rather than distantly related chicken as the outgroup, concatenated and gene tree–based approaches supported rheas as the group that diverged first among groups (1)–(4). Whereas gene tree estimation error increased using loci with low sequence divergence and short length, topological bias in estimated trees occurred using loci with high sequence divergence and/or nucleotide composition bias and heterogeneity, which more occurred in trees estimated from coding loci than noncoding loci. Regarding the relationships of (1)–(4), the site patterns by parsimony criterion appeared less susceptible to the bias than tree construction assuming stationary time-homogeneous model and suggested the clustering of kiwi and cassowaries and emu the most likely with ∼40% support rather than the clustering of kiwi and rheas and that of kiwi and tinamous with 30% support each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tribe Lithospermeae (Boraginaceae) consists of ca. 26 genera and 470 species, in which Onosma constitutes approximately one third of the species (~150). Although the tribe is strongly supported as monophyletic, both generic and species boundaries remain ambiguous. Among them, not only the phylogenetic position of Eastern Asian Onosma species, but also the taxonomic limits of the genus remain unclear. Whether Eastern Asian Onosma is monophyletic, or the genus should be widened to include Maharanga, and maybe Cystostemon, are still open questions. For these reasons, I performed 16 phylogenetic analyses with different taxon coverages, alignments, gene regions and outgroups, with up to 746 taxa of tribe Lithospermeae and with five DNA regions, using data from GenBank. The results, with the widest taxon coverage to date, show that while genus Onosma is not monophyletic in any of the analyses, the phylogenetic relationships among Onosma s.s., Eastern Asian Onosma, Maharanga and Cystostemon differ among analyses. However, the approximately unbiased (AU) test showed that the topology (((Eastern Asian Onosma+Maharanga) Cystostemon) Onosma s.s.) is overwhelmingly supported. Therefore, the current study highlights the importance of taxon, gene and outgroup sampling in Onosma phylogenetics.

The current study investigated the ethnic hierarchy in ingroup and outgroup preference and rejection among 6‐ to 10‐year‐old children of the dominant White Dutch group (n = 145), and the underrepresented Turkish‐Dutch (n = 78), and Afro‐Dutch (n = 57) groups (55% girls, M = 7.49, SD =.98) in the Netherlands. Results from a social preference task indicated that White Dutch children showed clearly more preference for their own ethnic group (ingroup preference) compared to the two outgroup preferences (Middle Eastern and Black), while Turkish‐ and Afro‐Dutch children showed limited ingroup preference. Both White and Turkish‐Dutch children showed less preference for and more rejection of the Black outgroup compared to Afro‐Dutch children. Younger children showed more Black rejection compared to older children. This study provides much‐needed evidence for the generalizability of prejudice patterns in children beyond the United States, and suggests that interventions aimed at improving interethnic relations are already relevant at primary school age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research tested the hypothesis that an increase in perceived disease vulnerability would create more feelings of disgust and a reduced willingness to help persons with dissimilar attitudes. To test these hypotheses, two studies were performed. In the first study, 173 university undergraduates indicated their willingness to help a target person who held similar or dissimilar attitudes. Then the participants' feelings of disgust about helping, and perceived vulnerability to disease were measured. In the second study, 127 university undergraduates read materials designed to make a disease threat or a non-disease threat salient then indicated their willingness to help a target person with similar or dissimilar attitudes. As predicted a concern about disease and attitude similarity interacted to influence willingness to help and this effect was mediated by feelings of disgust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are eager to update their beliefs, such as a perceived risk, if they receive information that is better than expected but are reluctant to do so when the evidence is unfavourable. When estimating the likelihood of future outcomes, this phenomenon of asymmetrical belief update helps generate and maintain personal optimism bias. In this study, we investigated whether asymmetrical belief update also extends to estimating the future of other individuals. Specifically, we prompted respondents to assess the perceived likelihood of three social targets experiencing future positive and negative events: An in-group, a mild out-group, and an extreme out-group. We then provided the respondents with feedback about the base rates of those events in the general population and prompted them to re-assess their initial estimates for all social targets. Respondents expected more positive than negative outcomes for the in-group and the mild out-group, but more negative outcomes for the extreme out-group. We also found an asymmetrical update of beliefs contingent on the valence of the future event and the social target. For negative outcomes, respondents updated more following good news than bad news, particularly for the mild out-group. For positive outcomes, respondents equally updated their beliefs following good news and bad news for the in-group and the mild out-group. However, they updated their beliefs significantly more following bad news than good news for the extreme out-group member. Our data thus reveal the strong influence of social stereotypes on future expectancies for others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans form impressions toward individuals of their own social groups (ingroup members) and of different social groups (outgroup members). Outgroup-focused theories predict that intergroup impressions are mainly shaped by experiences with outgroup individuals, while ingroup-focused theories predict that ingroup experiences play a dominant role. Here we test predictions from these two psychological theories by estimating how intergroup impressions are dynamically shaped when people learn from both ingroup and outgroup experiences. While undergoing fMRI, male participants had identical experiences with different ingroup or outgroup members and rated their social closeness and impressions toward the ingroup and the outgroup. Behavioral results showed an initial ingroup bias in impression ratings which was significantly reduced over the course of learning, with larger effects in individuals with stronger ingroup identification. Computational learning models revealed that these changes in intergroup impressions were predicted by the weight given to ingroup prediction errors. Neurally, the individual weight for ingroup prediction errors was related to the coupling between the left inferior parietal lobule and the left anterior insula, which, in turn, predicted learning-related changes in intergroup impressions. Our findings provide computational and neural evidence for ingroup-focused theories, highlighting the importance of ingroup experiences in shaping social impressions in intergroup settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ingroup/outgroup categorisation is a repeatedly found phenomenon. Given the long‐standing caste system, the Indian societal structure provides a unique perspective on such social categorisation. The Indian caste system contains hereditarily inherited identity roles defining profession and status‐based hierarchies. In this preregistered experiment, we investigate the influence of caste‐based identity on cooperation using a (hypothetical) Prisoner's Dilemma. Specifically, Indian participants (N = 685) were paired with a (hypothetical) other in a Prisoner's Dilemma, whose last name reflected either a general caste (i.e., a "high" caste) or a backward ("lower") caste including the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and other backward classes. Because participants indicated belonging to a general or a backward caste themselves, they thus played the (hypothetical) Prisoner's Dilemma with either a member of the same or a different caste group. We did not find that the partner's caste group membership in terms of stemming from an ingroup (same caste) or outgroup (different caste) influenced participants' cooperation. Further, we found participants from the general caste to be more cooperative when paired with (hypothetical) backward caste others (outgroup), compared to backward caste participants when paired with (hypothetical) general caste participants (outgroup); however, this difference disappeared once controlling for other demographic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how tightness-looseness, reflecting strictness of social norms, of state of residence in the USA predicts behaviors and attitudes related to COVID-19. Because individual-level tightness may better capture current attitudes during the pandemic, whereas state-level archival measures reflect historical factors, we assessed the extent to which tightness-looseness at both levels predicted adherence to public health guidelines and biases toward outgroups related to COVID-19. In Spring 2020, 544 mTurk participants, primarily from the 13 tightest and 13 loosest states, completed survey questions about health behaviors in response to COVID-19, endorsement of future policy changes, feeling of responsibility for lives, and attitudes toward groups marginalized during the pandemic (i.e., Asians, older adults). State-level results indicated some associations with attitudes toward Asians and older adults, but effects were not robust. Results based on individuals' ratings of the tightness of their state indicated that higher levels of perceived tightness were associated with higher levels of protective self-reported public health behaviors (e.g., mask wearing, handwashing) during COVID-19, more endorsement of future policy changes to contain the pandemic, higher reported feelings of responsibility for one's life, and stronger negative attitudes toward Asians. The relations between tightness and health outcomes persisted after controlling for political attitudes and demographics. Thus, individual, more than state, tightness-looseness accounted for some degree of public health behaviors (unique contribution of individual tightness: R 2 =.034) and attitudes toward marginalized groups (R 2 =.020) early during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of these findings for interventions to support behavior change or combat anti-Asian bias are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are eager to update their beliefs, such as a perceived risk, if they receive information that is better than expected but are reluctant to do so when the evidence is unfavourable. When estimating the likelihood of future outcomes, this phenomenon of asymmetrical belief update helps generate and maintain personal optimism bias. In this study, we investigated whether asymmetrical belief update also extends to estimating the future of other individuals. Specifically, we prompted respondents to assess the perceived likelihood of three social targets experiencing future positive and negative events: An in-group, a mild out-group, and an extreme out-group. We then provided the respondents with feedback about the base rates of those events in the general population and prompted them to re-assess their initial estimates for all social targets. Respondents expected more positive than negative outcomes for the in-group and the mild out-group, but more negative outcomes for the extreme out-group. We also found an asymmetrical update of beliefs contingent on the valence of the future event and the social target. For negative outcomes, respondents updated more following good news than bad news, particularly for the mild out-group. For positive outcomes, respondents equally updated their beliefs following good news and bad news for the in-group and the mild out-group. However, they updated their beliefs significantly more following bad news than good news for the extreme out-group member. Our data thus reveal the strong influence of social stereotypes on future expectancies for others.

Providing potential donors with information about the behavior of others (i.e., social information) is an increasingly used strategy to nudge prosocial decision-making. In the present study, we investigated the effect of ingroup vs. outgroup information on participants’ charity preferences by applying a Drift Diffusion Model (DDM) approach. In a joint evaluation scenario, we manipulated different levels of ingroup/outgroup preference ratios for two charities within subjects. Every subject was presented with three stimulus types (i.e., high, medium, and low ingroup ratio) randomized in 294 trials divided into six blocks. We expected that for stimuli with a high ingroup/outgroup ratio, participants should more often and faster decide for the ingroup’s most favored charity. We expected that the speed of evidence accumulation will be higher the larger the ingroup/outgroup ratio. Additionally, we investigated whether variations in model parameters can explain individual differences in participants’ behaviors. Our results showed that people generally followed ingroup members’ preferences when deciding for a charity. However, on finding an unexpected pattern in our results, we conducted post-hoc analyses which revealed two different behavioral strategies used by participants. Based on participants’ decisions, we classified them into “equality driven” individuals who preferred stimuli with the least difference between ingroup and outgroup percentages or “ingroup driven” individuals who favored stimuli with the highest ingroup/outgroup ratio. Results are discussed in line with relevant literature, and implications for practitioners are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project differentiates between communication that praises one's political in-group (in-group praise), attacks the opposition (out-group derogation), or focuses on policy details (evidence based), testing their effects on network and attitude polarization. We begin with an agent-based model, which shows that congenial evidence-based exchanges polarize the network and the inclusion of identity-driven communications leads to greater polarization. Once out-group derogation reaches a certain threshold, the network of agents splits into two groups, yet the polarizing effects of in-group praise are yet stronger and emerge more rapidly (i.e., a lower threshold of in-group praise is needed to polarize the network). Using an experimental design on a sample of American partisans, we offer a partial validation of the model. In-group praise and out-group derogation polarize attitudes more than balanced evidence-based news, but not more than congenial evidence-based news. Identity-driven news also has no effects on affective polarization. This multidisciplinary evidence shows that the nature of political content matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing potential donors with information about the behavior of others (i.e., social information) is an increasingly used strategy to nudge prosocial decision-making. In the present study, we investigated the effect of ingroup vs. outgroup information on participants' charity preferences by applying a Drift Diffusion Model (DDM) approach. In a joint evaluation scenario, we manipulated different levels of ingroup/outgroup preference ratios for two charities within subjects. Every subject was presented with three stimulus types (i.e., high, medium, and low ingroup ratio) randomized in 294 trials divided into six blocks. We expected that for stimuli with a high ingroup/outgroup ratio, participants should more often and faster decide for the ingroup's most favored charity. We expected that the speed of evidence accumulation will be higher the larger the ingroup/outgroup ratio. Additionally, we investigated whether variations in model parameters can explain individual differences in participants' behaviors. Our results showed that people generally followed ingroup members' preferences when deciding for a charity. However, on finding an unexpected pattern in our results, we conducted post-hoc analyses which revealed two different behavioral strategies used by participants. Based on participants' decisions, we classified them into “equality driven” individuals who preferred stimuli with the least difference between ingroup and outgroup percentages or “ingroup driven” individuals who favored stimuli with the highest ingroup/outgroup ratio. Results are discussed in line with relevant literature, and implications for practitioners are given.

Objective. Study of the role of individual values, authoritarian attitudes and social identity in the expression of discriminatory orientation of the personal in Russia. Background. Discriminatory attitudes not only hinder social development, but also negatively affect interpersonal and intergroup relationships, creating social and humanitarian problems. Therefore, finding out and explaining the reasons for the formation of a discriminatory attitude and determining how to eliminate them are the most important tasks of modern social psychology. Study design. The paper studied the relationship between the degree of dislike for representatives of various discriminated groups and the areas of discrimination by calculating the Pearson correlation. Predictors of discriminatory attitudes are established using regression analysis (step-by-step method). Structural modeling of the determinants of discriminatory attitudes of the individual by area (sphere) of discrimination and subject (discriminated group) using the SEM method is carried out. Participants. The study involved 217 people (the average age is 28.9±11.2 years, 36% of men). Measurements. We used the developed questionnaire and scales of discriminatory attitudes, the method of assessing values of Sh. Schwartz, a short version of the scales of the method of J. Dukkit. All scales are checked for meaningful validity and reliability. Results. It was found that the discriminatory attitude is most pronounced in the sphere of sports, education and career. Biases and rejection of representatives of different groups in various spheres of life are associated with the high significance of the values of personal and social security, power — resources, traditions (positive); values of interpersonal conformity and independence — thoughts (negative) and reputation as a desire to maintain a public image (ambivalent in different areas). The directions of relations between values, authoritarian attitudes, social identity and discriminatory attitudes are established. Сonclusions. It is shown that civil identity is a factor of institutional discrimination rather than domestic one. Adherence to an ethnic group affects the strength of a domestic discriminatory attitude directly, and institutional attitudes indirectly, through civic identity. As a result of structural equation modeling, a suitable model has been determined that explains up to 24% of variations in the outgroup discriminatory attitude and up to 25% of variations in the manifestation of biases in various spheres of life.

The current development of information technology has transformed the form of public participation in politics. Political participation not only occurs in the real world but also in virtual spaces, and this is a manifestation of a smart society. Forms of political participation in virtual spaces, such as those observed on social media, give rise to the phenomenon of affective polarization, which is polarization based on likes and dislikes between internal and external groups. While some scholars have focused on affective polarization in the context of ingroup and outgroup dynamics within social media, there is still limited research on polarization occurring within the same ingroup. This study aims to address this gap by examining the phenomenon of affective polarization on Twitter, using the keywords 'PDIP' and 'Jokowi.' These hashtags emerged as reactions to a video segment of Megawati's speech that criticized Jokowi. By employing sentiment and content analysis on 964 tweets and user accounts, we found that 67% of Twitter users expressed negative sentiments towards Megawati's remarks about Jokowi, and these Twitter users included both Jokowi's supporters and neutral users. This result demonstrates that affective polarization not only occurs between internal and external groups but can also happen within the same group. These findings contribute to the advancement of research on affective polarization in the online context.

In this work, we propose that humor violates norms that can build consensus or escalate conflict in negotiations. Drawing on social identity theory, we propose that humor commits norm violations that are more likely to be perceived as benign among ingroup observers in negotiations, but perceived as offensive to outgroup observers in negotiations. We introduce the Comedy, Consensus, and Conflict Framework to shed light on the interpersonal effect of humor on negotiations. When humor is expressed to an ingroup observer, relative to neutral communication, humor is more likely to violate weak norms that govern social group membership resulting in the violation as being perceived as benign, which promotes cooperative behaviors in negotiations such as concessions and collaborative problem-solving. By contrast, when humor is expressed to an outgroup observer, relative to neutral communication, humor is more likely to violate strong norms that define social group membership resulting in the violation as being interpreted as offensive, which triggers competitive behaviors in negotiations such as aggressive offers and hardened positions. Furthermore, we suggest that humor not only generates appraisals of social identity threats, but also affective responses that influence negotiation behavior. Finally, we expand our theoretical model about humor to consider key relational factors that influence norm strength, which motivates whether negotiators appraise norm violations as offensive or benign., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Acute stress has been found to elicit pro-social, anti-social or null responses in humans. The causes for these contradicting findings are currently poorly understood, and may rise from subjects' characteristics, such as sex or hormonal status, as well as stimuli-based traits, such as group membership. In the current study, 120 subjects performed either the Trier Social Stress Test or a control (non-stress inducing) condition, followed by ranking displayed faces according to several attributes (e.g., trustworthiness, attractiveness, dominance). Participants' eye gaze was also tracked while viewing facial stimuli. We examined how acute stress interacts with participants' sex, female participants' hormonal status (hormonal contraceptives, early-follicular phase and mid-luteal phase), and the observed faces’ social group (ethnicity-based in-group or out-groups). In general, frequentist and Bayesian analyses showed that acute stress exposure did not affect social attributions or gaze behavior, nor did it interact with subjects' sex or the group membership of the observed faces. Interestingly, sub-group analyses showed that in females, acute stress interacted with hormonal status to yield heterogenous anti-social effects, such as post-stress reductions in perceived trustworthiness in the early-follicular phase, and lower perceived attractiveness in the mid-luteal phase. Given the small sample sizes for the sub-groups, these results should be viewed as preliminary until further replicated. Our results highlight the necessity for large-scale studies, particularly in females, to further refine existing theories regarding the nature and contexts by which acute stress elicits changes in social cognition and behavior.

Habituation to ethnic ingroup members has been reported to be greater than to ethnic outgroup members. This pattern could be due to the lack of perceptive experience (familiarity) with outgroup facial morphs or, alternatively, to the prejudice held toward that outgroup. We explored this disjunctive in 71 participants, all Spanish, who were experimentally habituated to faces from their Ingroup and to faces from two unfamiliar outgroups, one for which there is low probability of prejudice in this population (Non-prejudiced Outgroup), and one for which the probability of prejudice is higher (Prejudiced Outgroup). We indexed habituation through event-related potentials, concretely as the differential amplitude of the face-sensitive N170 component from Initial to Final trials of each group. Afterward, participants completed several prejudice measures. N170 showed significant habituation to all faces, though it did not differ among groups. However, a regression analysis revealed that individual habituation to the Outgroup faces was inversely related to implicit prejudice scores. Importantly, N170 amplitudes were maximal for the Prejudiced Outgroup in both Initial and Final trials. We conclude that these effects are explained by the prejudice held toward a specific outgroup rather than perceptive experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regarding the phylogenetic relationship of the three primary groups of teleost fishes, Osteoglossomorpha (bonytongues and others), Elopomorpha (eels and relatives), Clupeocephala (the remaining teleost fish), early morphological studies hypothesized the first divergence of Osteoglossomorpha, whereas the recent prevailing view is the first divergence of Elopomorpha. Molecular studies supported all the possible relationships of the three primary groups. This study analyzed genome-scale data from four previous studies: 1) 412 genes from 12 species, 2) 772 genes from 15 species, 3) 1,062 genes from 30 species, and 4) 491 UCE loci from 27 species. The effects of the species, loci, and models used on the constructed tree topologies were investigated. In the analyses of the data sets (1)–(3), although the first divergence of Clupeocephala that left the other two groups in a sister relationship was supported by concatenated sequences and gene trees of all the species and genes, the first divergence of Elopomorpha among the three groups was supported using species and/or genes with low divergence of sequence and amino-acid frequencies. This result corresponded to that of the UCE data set (4), whose sequence divergence was low, which supported the first divergence of Elopomorpha with high statistical significance. The increase in accuracy of the phylogenetic construction by using species and genes with low sequence divergence was predicted by a phylogenetic informativeness approach and confirmed by computer simulation. These results supported that Elopomorpha was the first basal group of teleost fish to have diverged, consistent with the prevailing view of recent morphological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criticizing people on their prior moral failures often causes them to react defensively, especially when this is done by an outgroup. In the current research, we tested whether people become more receptive to such outgroup criticism when it refers to (failures of) their competence, rather than their morality. We conducted two studies, using a 2: Critic's group‐membership (receiving criticism from an ingroup vs. outgroup) × 2: Dimension (competence vs. morality as focal concern addressed with the criticism) mixed design. Findings showed that, regardless of source, participants made fewer negative attributions, were more motivated to improve, and more often indicated they changed their behavior after they had been criticized on their competence, instead of on their morality. Thus, criticizing past behavior for failing to show competence instead of morality might be a way to reduce defensive responses and to stimulate behavior change, even for outgroup critics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the discursive construction of a nation and its enemies in the discourse of the Slovak extreme right party, Kotlebovci - People's Party Our Slovakia (K-ĽSNS). KĽSNS is one of the most dominant extreme right parties in Slovakia and the concept of the nation belong among key concepts they work with. The communication of the political parties has been research objective for a long time because political discourse has huge influence on public opinion. The paper's main objective was to reveal how the Slovak nation and its enemies are constructed in the discourse of K-ĽSNS and how discursive strategies were applied in this construction. Attention was also paid to the relationship between the Slovak nation and K-ĽSNS. The pre-election newspaper consisting of the election program of KĽSNS from 2020, was analysed. In the paper, the nation was understood as a social construct that must be systematically legitimized and reconstructed by various discourses in everyday social and political life. Thus, discourse analysis was chosen for text analysis. The analysis showed that the Slovak nation was presented as a victim and under the constant threat of its enemies (mainly politicians and minorities). The most often mentioned enemies were the Roma people and liberals. K-ĽSNS presented itself as the only political party able to protect the Slovak nation against its enemies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We animals have evolved a variety of mechanisms to avoid conspecifics who might be infected. It is currently unclear whether and why this "behavioral immune system" targets unfamiliar individuals more than familiar ones. Here I answer this question in humans, using publicly available data of a recent study on 1969 participants from India and 1615 from the USA. The apparent health of a male stranger, as estimated from his face, and the comfort with contact with him were a direct function of his similarity to the men in the local community. This held true regardless of whether the face carried overt signs of infection. I conclude that our behavioral immune system is finely tuned to degrees of outgroupness — and that cues of outgroupness are partly processed as cues of infectiousness. These findings, which were consistent across the two cultures, support the notion that the pathogens of strangers are perceived as more dangerous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-related differences in explicit and implicit racial biases in Black Cameroonians (N = 187, 94 females) were investigated using a cross-sectional design. Participants ranged in age from 3 to 30 years, and were from middle-to-high income families in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Biases were assessed by comparing attitudes toward Blacks with those toward Whites and Chinese. Implicit pro-Black/anti-other-race (White and Chinese) biases were present at age 4, in contrast to anti-Black/pro-other-race biases, which were observed among 9- to 30-year-olds. In addition, explicit pro-Black/anti-other-race biases that were present at age 4 were no longer evident by age 7. These findings provide a detailed picture of age-related differences in racial biases in an understudied part of the world that can inform theories regarding the development of racial biases, as well as efforts to reduce such biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: How groups view themselves and each other is very important in order to promote effective work practices. These views can be tribal in nature and lead to stereotyping which may affect how we communicate and act with other groups. This study primarily aims to identify how student radiographers view their own and other radiographic profession. Method: A survey was undertaken using the Student Stereotypes Rating Questionnaire with all radiographic training sites in England. The questionnaire was given to radiography students training as either diagnostic radiographers or therapeutic radiographers. It asked students to rate four professions: doctors, diagnostic radiographers, therapeutic radiographers and nurses on nine characteristics. Results: The online survey was open between February and July 2019 and elicited 233 responses. Overall, the radiography students' perceptions of their own profession and the other non-radiography professions were generally positive; however, each radiographic profession's view on the other radiographic professions was less favourable, the scores being significantly lower than for other professions. The professions each identified unique attributes (interpersonal skills, being a team player and independent working) that separated the professions from each other. Differences and similarities in stereotypes appeared not to change with time, although gender differences for certain attributes did exist. Conclusion: Students appear to have preconceived positive stereotype of their own profession and a more negative stereotype of the other radiography profession that appears relatively stable during their training period and was unaffected by interprofessional education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How people perceive outgroup prosocial behaviors is an important but under‐researched aspect of intergroup relations. In three experiments conducted in two cultural contexts (Italy and Kosovo) and with two different populations (adolescents and adults; N = 586), we asked participants to imagine being offered help by an outgroup versus ingroup member. Participants attributed fewer prosocial motives to and were less willing to accept help from the outgroup (vs. ingroup) member. This was particularly true for highly prejudiced participants and when the outgroup was described negatively. Participants' perceptions of the outgroup helper's prosocial motives and expected quality of the interaction with the helper mediated the effect of helper's group membership on willingness to accept the help (Experiment 3). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are less likely to learn from individuals belonging to a different group (outgroup) than from individuals of their own group (ingroup), yet the source of this societally relevant deficit has remained unclear. Here we used neuroimaging and computational modeling to investigate how people learn from observing the actions and outcomes of ingroup and outgroup demonstrators. Politically left-wing male and female participants performed worse when observing computer-simulated actions they believed were from a right-wing outgroup member compared with those from a left-wing ingroup member. A control experiment in which participants observed choices from a nonhuman agent confirmed that this performance difference reflected an outgroup deficit, rather than an ingroup gain. Accounting for the outgroup deficit, a computational model showed that participants relied less on information from outgroup actions compared with ingroup actions, while learning from outgroup outcomes was not impaired. At the neural level, the differences in observational ingroup versus outgroup learning were reflected in lateral prefrontal activity. The stronger the activity in this region, the more strongly participants weighed ingroup compared with outgroup learning signals (action prediction errors), which formally captured deficits in outgroup learning. Together, our work provides a computational and neural account of why people learn less from observing outgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article develops a practical operational view of Ruth Benedict’s shame and guilt culture concept as one of the attributes which might characterize the structure and operation of Japanese social groups. After giving a short overview of critical approaches to this concept, several norm-forming, normoperating and sanctioning practices are examined in relation to the aspect of shame and guilt reactions from the everyday lives of intercultural industrial organizations (companies) located in Hungary, featuring Japanese company cultural elements in their operation. The evaluation and analysis of several related phenomena are conducted on the basis of fieldwork, involving further sociological concepts such as relational subjectivism, kanjin 閑人, shikaku 資格 and ba 場, chū 忠 and kō 孝, giri 義理 and ninjō 人情, wa 和, amae 甘えand others.

This study conducted among Muslim first and second generation immigrants living in Italy is based on intergroup theory to examine the relationship between three identity dimensions (religious, ethnic, and national) and affective ratings of multiple religious subgroups (Catholics, Jews, non-believers and Buddhists). 204 Muslim immigrants participated in structured interviews, and a series of mixeddesign analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. The findings showed clear differences between first and second generation: compared to second generation, the former reported higher levels of religious and ethnic identity and more negative feelings towards other religious groups (in particular, Jews, non-believers, and Buddhists). Muslim first and second generations do not differ in the affective ratings of Catholics. Furthermore, all three identity dimensions were significantly associated with feelings towards religious outgroups: 'total' Muslim identification and high ethnic identity were linked to more negative ratings of religious outgroups (Jews, non-believers), while high level of national (Italian) identity was linked to positive feelings towards outgroups among second generations. The results are discussed within the tradition of social identity theory, highlighting the salience of religion as an identity marker for intergroup relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]