Fighting Inequalities in Society – The role of Social Identity, Appraisals of Injustice, and Prosocial Emotions Help in Overcoming Ingroup Favoritism to Increase Outgroup Helping Behavior

Tschritter, Julie (2023) Fighting Inequalities in Society – The role of Social Identity, Appraisals of Injustice, and Prosocial Emotions Help in Overcoming Ingroup Favoritism to Increase Outgroup Helping Behavior. Master thesis, Psychology.

Text Master Thesis J. Tschritter s5035023.pdf Restricted to Repository staff only Download (1MB)

Abstract

This study examined how ingroup favoritism can be counteracted to increase outgroup helping behavior. Based on the social identity approach and research on appraisals of injustice and helping behavior, I assumed that group belongingness (ingroup versus outgroup), identification with a shared category with a disadvantaged group, and appraisals of injustice would affect helping behavior. To test these factors, I performed a 2x2 (in- versus outgroup x Strong versus weak identification as a woman) factorial between-subject design and ran moderation analyses. N = 204 female Bachelor psychology students of the University of Groningen participated in the online survey. Results showed that the in- versus outgroup condition did not affect helping behavior, while identification with a shared category with a disadvantaged group affected helping behavior for the respective group. Further, moderation analyses showed that appraisals of injustice were related to both, in- and outgroup helping behavior but to be a better predictor of ingroup than of outgroup helping behavior. It also appeared as if people are more aware of injustices their ingroups face. Additionally, I investigated the role of prosocial emotions in helping behavior, revealing that moral outrage and empathy mediated the effect of perceived injustice on helping behavior. Hereby, empathy was, like perceived injustice, found to be particularly influential in ingroup helping behavior. Overall, findings imply that outgroup helping behavior is more complex. Nevertheless, the findings still contribute to the understanding of outgroup helping behavior and can thus help to promote outgroup helping behavior and fight inequalities in society. Keywords: outgroup helping behavior, social identity approach, prosocial emotions, injustices in society

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Spears, R.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	09 Aug 2023 08:32
Last Modified:	09 Aug 2023 08:32
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2737

Actions (login required)

View Item