A gentle reminder that mean does not imply modal behavior: Few are in‐group biased in minimal groups. Issue 6 (15th July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sand, Anders
• Is Part Of: Scandinavian journal of psychology. Volume 61:Issue 6(2020)
• Page Start: 794
• Page End: 802
• Publication Date: 2020-07-15
• Subjects: Intergroup processes -- social identity -- discrimination -- group processes; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12662
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0036-5564

Abstract

Abstract : Previous research reports that people organized into newly formed, arbitrary groups (i.e., minimal groups) are on average in‐group biased. However, that people on average behave in a certain way does not imply that most people behave that way. Here, I report four studies ( n = 224) demonstrating in‐group biased average behaviors driven by a minority of about 30% participants. Further, only 14% reported allocating resources in a group‐biased manner because they "favored the in‐group." I investigate and discuss how methodological issues related to non‐normally distributed data, not taking participants' intentions into account, and using fixed response matrices can lead to overestimations of how widespread in‐group bias is in minimal groups.