Intergroup evaluations and social context: a multilevel approach

✍ Scribed by Barbara Kinket; Maykel Verkuyten

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 169 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0046-2772
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199903/05)29:2/3<219::aid-ejsp925>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

Social psychologists studying intergroup relations acknowledge the importance of social context but remain strongly focused on the individual in both theoretical and methodological respects. The present study tries to go beyond this `individualistic' perspective by using multilevel analysis to address the eects of both individual and contextual variables and their interactions. Ethnic group evaluations among Dutch and Turkish children (10±13 years of age) were examined. First, the results showed that intergroup evaluations are determined not only by characteristics of the child but also by the context in which the child is situated. Second, contextual variables not only aected ingroup favouritism directly but also moderated the relationship between identi®cation and ingroup favouritism. Third, children in classes in which the teacher pays attention to ethnic discrimination and cultural dierences indicated less ingroup favouritism. Furthermore, relative group size did not aect ingroup favouritism directly, rather it was found that only children who constituted a numerical minority revealed a positive association between identi®cation and ingroup favouritism. Additionally, at the individual level ingroup favouritism was explained by identi®cation, the perception of the teacher's reaction to ethnic harassment among classmates and subject ethnicity. It is concluded that a multilevel approach can make a contribution to the existing literature on intergroup evaluation and towards a more contextual social psychology.