You get us, so you like us: Feeling understood by an outgroup predicts more positive intergroup relations via perceived positive regard.

Intergroup felt understanding-the belief that outgroup members understand and accept ingroup perspectives-has been found to predict positive intergroup outcomes, but the mechanism through which it has its positive effects is unclear. Across eight studies, we tested the hypothesis that felt positive regard-the perception that outgroup members like and respect ingroup members-mediates the positive effects of felt understanding on outcomes like outgroup trust. Studies 1-6 (total N = 1,366) included cross-sectional and experimental designs and a range of intergroup settings such as Sunni-Shia relations in Lebanon, gender relations, and support for "Brexit" in the United Kingdom. Results of meta-analytic structural equation models across these studies provided evidence of the indirect effect of felt understanding via felt positive regard on outcomes including trust and positive relational emotions. Study 7 (N = 307) then tested the causal effect of felt positive regard through a direct manipulation. Findings confirmed that felt positive (vs. negative) regard did lead to more positive intergroup perceptions. Finally, Study 8 (N = 410) tested the indirect effect as a within-person change process using a year-long, two-wave study of the conflict in Chile between Indigenous Mapuche and Non-Indigenous Chileans: Change over time in felt understanding indirectly predicted change over time in trust via change in felt positive regard. We consider the theoretical implications of the findings for how intergroup relations may be improved and the possibilities presented by felt understanding for intervention development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Felt understanding in intergroup relations.

In this paper, I review recent research on the importance of intergroup felt understanding - the belief that outgroup members understand and accept the perspectives of ingroup members - in intergroup relations. I first discuss felt understanding in conceptual terms in the broader context of research on intergroup meta-perception, before reviewing recent findings on how feeling understood in intergroup terms predicts more positive intergroup outcomes such as trust. In the second part, I consider future possibilities for this work, including (1) how felt understanding relates to other concepts such as 'voice' and feeling empathized with; (2) how felt understanding might be fostered through interventions; and (3) connections between felt understanding - and the more general concept of responsiveness - and intergroup contact.

When social movements fail or succeed: social psychological consequences of a collective action's outcome.

Collective actions occur all around the world and, in the last few years, even more frequently. Previous literature has mainly focused on the antecedents of collective actions, but less attention has been given to the consequences of participating in collective action. Moreover, it is still an open question how the consequences of collective action might differ, depending on whether the actions are perceived to succeed or fail. In two studies we seek to address this gap using innovative experimental studies. In Study 1 (N = 368) we manipulated the perceptions of success and failure of a collective action in the context of a real social movement, the Chilean student movement from last decade. In Study 2 (N = 169), in addition to manipulating the outcome, we manipulated actual participation, using a mock environmental organization aiming to create awareness in authorities, to test the causal effect of both participation and success/failure on empowerment, group efficacy, and intentions of future involvement in normative and non-normative collective actions. Results show that current and past participation predict overall participation in the future, however, in Study 2 the manipulated participation was associated with having less intentions of participating in the future. In both studies, perception of success increases group efficacy. In Study 1, we found that when facing failure, participants increase their willingness to participate more in the future as opposed to non-participants that actually decrease theirs. In Study 2, however, failure increases the perception of efficacy for those with a history of non-normative participation. Altogether these results highlight the moderating role of the outcome of collective action to understand the effect of participation on future participation. We discuss these results in light of the methodological innovation and the real world setting in which our studies were conducted.

The intergenerational transmission of participation in collective action: The role of conversation and political practices in the family.

In this study, we examined the intergenerational transmission of collective action from parents to children. Using a mixed-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, we analysed data from 100 dyads of activist parents in Chile (involved in the mobilizations against the dictatorship during the 1980s) and their adult children (N = 200). The quantitative analysis addressed the role of conversations about politics in the family. The results provided evidence of a direct association between those conversations and the frequency of participation in conventional and radical actions by the children, and an indirect association via children's knowledge about parental involvement in past social movements. The qualitative phase, which used interviews and thematic analysis on a subsample of 24 dyads (N = 48), confirmed the role of political conversations, but also revealed the influence of other factors such as cultural consumption and joint political participation. This phase allowed the identification of factors that facilitate or hinder family transmission. Overall, the study highlights the relevance of family as a critical site of socialization that enables the intergenerational transmission of protest.

Testing the effect of historical representations on collective identity and action.

Historical representation of collective identity offer means of influencing the extent to which group members engage in activities in line with the collective interests of their group vs. their own individual interests. This research tested the effect of different historical representations of the African people on Africans' perceptions of African social identity and engagement in identity management strategies across two studies. In Study 1 (N = 162), we tested the effect of two historical representations: positive (prestigious precolonial African history and resistance to the colonial power) and negative (inhumane practices of precolonial Africans). In Study 2 (N = 431), we tested the effect of two historical representations: positive (prestigious precolonial African history) and negative factual (inhuman practices of precolonial Africans) while also making salient the ubiquitous historical representation of the African people (negative colonial-perspective) across all history conditions. We predicted that positive (vs. negative) historical representation would lead to more positive perceptions of African identity, which in turn would predict more collectively-oriented identity management strategies. Altogether, results provided no support for these predictions. We highlight methodological (and by extension theoretical) features-such as, psychological reactance and outgroup audience effect-which may have limited the effect of the manipulations to help inform the interpretation of the null findings obtained. We conclude by discussing other limitations and the theoretical implications of our work, before pointing out various avenues for future research to help us better test, and understand, the role of historical representation in the African context.

"They just don't understand us": The role of felt understanding in intergroup relations.

We report 5 studies examining the unique role of felt understanding in intergroup relations. In intergroup terms, felt understanding is the belief that members of an outgroup understand and accept the perspectives of ingroup members, including ingroup members' beliefs, values, experiences, and self-definition/identity. In Studies 1 (Scotland-U.K. relations; N = 5,033) and 2 (U.K.-EU relations; N = 861) felt understanding consistently and strongly predicted outcomes such as trust, action intentions, and political separatism, including participants' actual "Brexit" referendum vote in Study 2. These effects were apparent even when controlling for outgroup stereotypes and metastereotypes. Felt understanding was a unique predictor of outgroup trust and forgiveness in Study 3 (Catholic-Protestant relations in Northern Ireland; N = 1,162), and was a powerful predictor of political separatism even when controlling for specific, relational appraisals including negative interdependence and identity threat in Study 4 (Basque-Spanish relations; N = 205). Study 5 (N = 190) included a direct manipulation of felt understanding, which had predicted effects on evaluation of the outgroup and of ingroup-outgroup relations. Overall, the findings provide converging evidence for the critical role of felt understanding in intergroup relations. We discuss future research possibilities, including the emotional correlates of felt understanding, and its role in intergroup interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Whose tweets? The rhetorical functions of social media use in developing the Black Lives Matter movement.

Research on collective action frequently characterizes social media as a tool for mobilization. However, social media activity can fulfil a variety of different functions for social change. In particular, the rhetorical functions of social media use by social movements are not well understood. We address this shortfall by analysing the rhetorical functions of Twitter use during an early stage of the Black Lives Matter social movement. We examine how activists used Twitter to balance competing aims for social change, such as growing the movement beyond disadvantaged-group members, while preventing appropriation or dilution of their message by advantaged-group 'allies'. We find that although Twitter users promote different, and often competing, definitions of the issues that the movement represents, rhetorical strategies are used to advance inclusive definitions that focus on racism. When activists address alternative definitions of movement actors and issues, representations of Otherness are used to characterize the proponents of these definitions as in opposition to the movement. Finally, we find that one way of resolving the tension between growing the movement and promoting disadvantaged-group control is by using identity and technology resources to explicitly define (1) how different groups can be movement advocates, and (2) action strategies for social change.

Advancing the social psychology of rapid societal change.

In this introduction to the special section on rapid societal change, we highlight the challenges posed by rapid societal changes for social psychology and introduce the seven papers brought together in this special section. Rapid societal changes are qualitative transformations within a society that alter the prevailing societal state. Recent such changes include the election of right-wing populist governments, the Arab Spring revolutions, and devastating civil wars in the Middle East. Conceptually, such events require consideration of how societal-level events relate to more proximal psychological processes to bring about the often abrupt, non-linear (as opposed to incremental and linear) nature of rapid societal change. They also require empirical approaches that allow such qualitative transformations to be captured and studied. This is true both in terms of directly addressing rapidly unfolding societal events in research, and in terms of how rapid, discontinuous change can be analysed. The papers in the special section help to address these issues through introducing novel theoretical and methodological approaches to studying rapid societal change, offering multiple perspectives on how macro-level changes can both create, and be created by, micro-level social psychological phenomena.

"Fury, us": Anger as a basis for new group self-categories.

We tested the hypothesis that shared emotions, notably anger, influence the formation of new self-categories. We first measured participants' (N = 89) emotional reactions to a proposal to make university assessment tougher before providing feedback about the reactions of eight other co-present individuals. This feedback always contained information about the other individuals' attitudes to the proposals (four opposed and four not opposed) and in the experimental condition emotion information (of those opposed, two were angry, two were sad). Participants self-categorised more with, and preferred to work with, angry rather than sad targets, but only when participants' own anger was high. These findings support the idea that emotions are a potent determinant of self-categorisation, even in the absence of existing, available self-categories.

Explaining reactions to normative information about alcohol consumption: a test of an extended social identity model.

BACKGROUND: To test the role of group identification and the perceived importance of alcohol consumption to a group identity in shaping reactions to normative information about alcohol consumption. METHODS: The study had a 2 (behaviour: identity-defining/alcohol vs. non-identity defining/caffeine) × 2 (norm: low vs. heavy consumption) between-subjects factorial design. Group identification and personal attitudes towards alcohol/caffeine consumption were included as measured predictors. Participants were 83 undergraduate students (44 female, 38 male, one unspecified) at a University in Scotland. Predictor and outcome variables included questionnaire measures of group (student) identification, personal attitudes to alcohol/caffeine consumption, the perceived importance of alcohol/caffeine consumption to group identity, and behavioral intentions to consume alcohol/caffeine. RESULTS: Personal attitude and group identification moderated the impact of norm information on consumption intentions, but only for alcohol consumption, and not caffeine consumption. For alcohol, norm information did affect intended consumption (ps ≤ .034), with the crucial exception of high identifiers who had favourable personal attitudes towards alcohol consumption. Instead, these individuals resist norm information (ps = .458 and .174), showing no decrease in intentions in the face of norm information that emphasised relatively 'low' levels of consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of norm information on alcohol consumption intentions depends on group-based factors such as group identification and the perceived importance of alcohol to a group identity. When both of these factors are high, and an individual also personally favours the behaviour, the potential for norm-based interventions to fail is increased.

The influence of referees' expertise, gender, motivation, and time constraints on decisional bias against women.

The influence of player gender on referees' decision making was experimentally investigated. In Experiment 1, including 145 male handball referees, we investigated (a) the influence of referees' level of expertise on their decisional biases against women and (b) the referees' gender stereotypes. Results revealed that biases against women were powerful regardless of the referees' level of expertise and that male referees' stereotype toward female players tends to be negative. In Experiment 2, including 115 sport science students, we examined the influence of the participants' gender, motivation to control bias, and time constraints on gender bias. Results indicated that participants' gender had no impact on gender bias and that participants were able to reduce this bias in conditions in which they were motivated to control the bias.

Admiration regulates social hierarchy: Antecedents, dispositions, and effects on intergroup behavior.

In four studies, we report evidence that admiration affects intergroup behaviors that regulate social hierarchy. We demonstrate that manipulating the legitimacy of status relations affects admiration for the dominant and that this emotion negatively predicts political action tendencies aimed at social change. In addition, we show that greater warmth and competence lead to greater admiration for an outgroup, which in turn positively predicts deferential behavior and intergroup learning. We also demonstrate that, for those with a disposition to feel admiration, increasing admiration for an outgroup decreases willingness to take political action against that outgroup. Finally, we show that when the object of admiration is a subversive "martyr," admiration positively predicts political action tendencies and behavior aimed at challenging the status quo. These findings provide the first evidence for the important role of admiration in regulating social hierarchy.

The influence of norms and social identities on children's responses to bullying.

BACKGROUND: Research on bullying increasingly focuses on social processes, showing that group membership affects children's responses to bullying scenarios. Additionally, correlational research has shown links between norms of cooperation and prosocial behaviour, and between competition and more aggressive forms of behaviour. AIMS: This paper focuses on how children's peer group membership affects their group-based emotions in response to an intergroup bullying incident, and the action tendencies that these emotions predict, in the context of different background norms (for competitive or cooperative behaviour). SAMPLE: Italian schoolchildren, 10-13 years old (N= 128, 65 males) took part in this study. METHODS: Participants were randomly assigned to the group of a perpetrator, target, or third-party group member described in a scenario. Next, they played a game designed to induce a cooperative, competitive, or neutral norm, and read the scenario. They then answered a questionnaire measuring their group-based emotions. RESULTS: Results underscored the role of norms and group processes in responses to bullying. In particular, children exposed to a cooperative norm expressed less pride and more regret and anger about the bullying than those in other conditions. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that the influence peer groups have on bullying may be tempered by the introduction of a cooperative normative context to the school setting.

The language barrier?: context, identity, and support for political goals in minority ethnolinguistic groups.

In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that not having a potentially group-defining attribute (e.g., in-group language) can affect social identification and support for group goals (e.g., national autonomy). Focusing on the Welsh minority in the UK, Study 1 provided evidence that Welsh language fluency predicted Welsh identification and support for national autonomy, and that identification accounted for the language-autonomy association. Study 2 extended this by (1) examining British and English as well as Welsh identification; and (2) quasi-manipulating the surrounding context (Welsh speaking vs. non-Welsh speaking). As predicted, low Welsh language fluency predicted stronger British and English identification, but only where language was criterial (Welsh-speaking regions). British identification, in turn, predicted lower support for national autonomy. Implications and prospects for future research are discussed.

We feel, therefore we are: emotion as a basis for self-categorization and social action.

Building on intergroup emotion research, we test the idea that intergroup emotion influences self-categorization. We report two studies using minimal (Study 1) and natural (Study 2) groups in which we measured participants' emotional reactions to a group-relevant event before manipulating the emotional reactions of other ingroup members and outgroup members (anger vs. happiness in Study 1; anger vs. indifference in Study 2). Results supported the hypotheses that (a) the fit between participants' own emotional reactions and the reactions of ingroup members would influence self-categorization, and (b) the specific content of emotional reactions would shape participants' willingness to engage in collective action. This willingness was greater when emotional reactions were not only shared with other group members, but were of anger (consistent with group-based action) rather than happiness or indifference (inconsistent with group-based action). Implications for the relationship between emotion and social identities are discussed.

Ganging up or sticking together? Group processes and children's responses to text-message bullying.

Drawing on social identity theory and intergroup emotion theory (IET), we examined group processes underlying bullying behaviour. Children were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a perpetrator's group, a target's group, or a third party group. They then read a gender-consistent scenario in which the norm of the perpetrator's group (to be kind or unkind towards others) was manipulated, and an instance of cyberbullying between the perpetrator's group and a member of the target's group was described. It was found that group membership, group norms, and the proposed antecedents of the group-based emotions of pride, shame, and anger (but not guilt) influenced group-based emotions and action tendencies in ways predicted by social identity and IET. The results underline the importance of understanding group-level emotional reactions when it comes to tackling bullying, and show that being part of a group can be helpful in overcoming the negative effects of bullying.

Oiling a neglected wheel: an investigation of adolescent internalising problems in rural South Australia.

INTRODUCTION: Despite a paucity of research, adolescents living in rural areas appear to have a heightened risk for developing a mental health problem compared with their urban counterparts. The main objectives of this study were to contribute to building an evidence base of prevalence rates and determinants of internalising problems of adolescents in rural South Australia. A multidimensional Process Model was used as theoretical framework to enable an investigation of the various determinants from individual, family and community domains; specifically, the contribution of self-esteem, parental acceptance and elements of social capital at an individual level (ie participation in the local community and proactivity in a social context represented structural social capital, and feelings of trust and safety, and neighbourhood connections represented cognitive social capital). METHODS: In this cross-sectional prospective study, a total of 388 Year 9 (2nd year of secondary school) students (208 females, 180 males) aged 13-15 years (mean age = 14.2 years) participated from 11 high schools within the Country Health South Australian area. These adolescents completed a battery of self-reported measures online at school. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that the adolescents experienced a 'normal' level of self-esteem and a 'moderate' level of perceived parental acceptance. The level of social capital was considered 'low' and the adolescents experienced a 'moderate' level of internalising symptoms. Based on the mean score of the Revised Child Anxiety & Depression Scales (RCADS), 25% of the adolescents experienced internalising symptoms ranging in severity from mild to severe, with no significant differences between males and females. Approximately 13% were considered above the clinical threshold, with 4% reporting experiencing severe symptoms. Relationships between all measures were investigated using Pearson product-moment correlations coefficients and associations between self-esteem, parental acceptance, social capital, and internalising problems were assessed using multivariate linear regressions. Both parental acceptance and social capital were found to predict self-esteem. Parental acceptance was also significantly associated with social capital. The linear contribution of self-esteem, parental acceptance and social capital was significantly related to internalising problems. Approximately 33% of the variance in internalising problems could be accounted for by the combination of the three predictors; however, self-esteem and parental acceptance were the significant contributors to the prediction of internalising problems. Social capital was not a significant predictor of internalising problems. CONCLUSIONS: The present study only begins to contribute to the lack of existing data on the mental health status of adolescents from rural areas of South Australia. Greater research is needed to enhance understanding of this overlooked population and also assist in providing evidence-based guidelines in establishing priorities for newly appointed Federally funded youth services in rural Australia. In light of the concerning rates of internalising problems demonstrated by the present study, coupled with the fact that young people from rural areas were not considered in previous National Mental Health Surveys, it seems timely to highlight the importance of including as many Australians as possible from rural and remote areas, in the approaching, subsequent National survey. This will provide a more accurate evidence-based representation of Australia's adolescent population to inform policy and facilitate the implementation of relevant strategies.

Birds of a feather bully together: group processes and children's responses to bullying.

Recent research has shown that a group-level analysis can inform our understanding of school bullying. The present research drew on social identity theory and intergroup emotion theory. Nine- to eleven-year olds were randomly assigned to the same group as story characters who were described as engaging in bullying, as being bullied, or as neither engaging in bullying nor being bullied. Participants read a story in which a bully, supported by his or her group, was described as acting unkindly towards a child in a different group. Gender of protagonists and the bully's group norm (to be kind or unkind to other children) were varied. Identification affected responses to the bullying incident, such that those who identified more highly with each group favoured this group. Moreover, children's group membership predicted the group-based emotions they reported, together with the associated action tendencies. Implications for understanding the processes underlying bullying behaviour are discussed.

Illegitimacy and identity threat in (inter)action: predicting intergroup orientations among minority group members.

We test the hypothesis that intergroup orientations among minority group members are shaped by the interaction between the perceived illegitimacy of intergroup relations and identity threat appraisals, as well as their main effects. This is because together they serve to focus emotion-mediated reactions on the out-group's role in threatening in-group identity. In a large-scale field study (N=646), conducted among the Welsh minority in the UK, we quasi-manipulated the extent to which Welsh identity was dependent on the 'threatened' Welsh language. Results supported our hypothesis that the illegitimacy x identity threat interaction would be strongest where Welsh identity was most dependent upon the Welsh language, and through intergroup anger would predict support for more radical, unconstitutional forms of action.

The language of change? Characterizations of in-group social position, threat, and the deployment of distinctive group attributes.

A considerable body of research has shown that group members establish and emphasize characteristics or attributes that define their in-group in relation to comparison out-groups. We extend this research by exploring the range of ways in which members of the same social category (Welsh people) deploy a particular attribute (the Welsh language) as a flexible identity management resource. Through a thematic analysis of data from interviews and two public speeches, we examine how the deployment of the Welsh language is bound up with characterizations of the in-group's wider intergroup position (in terms of power relations and their legitimacy and stability), and one's position within the in-group. We focus in particular on the rhetorical and strategic value of such characterizations for policing in-group boundaries on the one hand, and for the in-group's intergroup position on the other. We conclude by emphasizing the need to (1) locate analyses of the uses and importance of group-defining attributes within the social setting that gives them meaning and (2) to appreciate such characterizations as attempts to influence, rather than simply reflect that setting.