Behavioral immune system and ingroup derogation: the effects of infectious diseases on ingroup derogation attitudes.

ABSTRACT: From evolutionary reasoning, we derived a novel hypothesis that ingroup derogation is an evolved response of behavioral immune system which follows the smoke detector principle and the functional flexibility principle. This hypothesis was tested and supported across three experiments. In Experiment 1, participants' group membership was manipulated by using a minimal group paradigm. The results indicated that mere social categorization alone - a heuristic cue that implies the differentiation between "us" and "them" - was sufficient to elicit ingroup derogation among Chinese participants, and, such an intergroup bias was positively associated with the perceived vulnerability to diseases, which was also more consistently associated with ingroup attitudes. Experiment 2 extended and partially r

SUBMITTER: Wu Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4376670 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature