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At the core of what makes humans, and their behaviour, social, is the interplay between self and other. Our identities, for example, are essential to our functioning as social beings as they allow us to make sense of ourselves, and others, across different contexts. We care about how others see us and achieving congruence between how we see ourselves, how we think relevant others see us, and indeed how relevant others actually see us in turn, becomes integral for achieving a positive sense of self. Therefore, humans require recognition from relevant others. This recognition can take many different forms, from legal recognition of one's rights in society, to social recognition of one's belonging to different groups. Moreover, the absence of recognition can lead to serious repercussions and consequences, resulting, on an individual level, in a reduced mode of being and feelings of exclusion, and on a social and political level, in tensions and conflict. The current special issue takes a multidisciplinary approach to contribute to the growing debates and discussions around the importance of understanding recognition and its role in social behaviour. As the introduction to this special issue, this paper argues that the concept of recognition enables a better understanding of how identification and belonging become entangled with power struggles and expressions of agency. Doing so leads us to conclude that a social psychology of identity and intra/intergroup relations which does not consider power relations, as bound up in processes of recognition and its denial, fails to consider the key processes and broader impact that exclusion, subtle or explicit, has on individuals' well‐being, belonging and ability to act in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how news images of refugees in the context of the war in Ukraine mobilize intergroup relations. A visual rhetorical analysis is used to examine the rhetorical strategies employed in news images of Ukrainian refugees in a mainstream Finnish national newspaper from February 25 to May 31, 2022. The data consisted of 465 images. The study constructed four humanizing visual rhetorical strategies based on the visual expression in news images: maternalizing, fragilizing, agonizing, and activizing. The rhetorical strategies constructed four subject positions for Ukrainian refugees: vulnerable victims, innocent victims, suffering Ukrainians, and persistent/resilient Ukrainians. All rhetorical strategies implicitly communicated the subject position of evil to Russia. The paper contributes to the current knowledge of the humanization of refugees in media discourse and the potential of media images to mobilize intergroup relations. Methodologically, the paper elaborates visual rhetorical analysis as a means of social psychological study of refugee discourse in the context of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a multidimensional approach to collective violence. Stemming from the literature on collective violence and intergroup relations, a sociostructural model is proposed, functionally connecting the structure of intergroup relations with the variety of collective violence. Three archival databases on anti‐Jewish pogroms in Poland and the Russian Empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are used to demonstrate the variability of types of pogrom violence and its relations with social structure. The results are discussed in light of various intergroup threat theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the issue of the paradoxical impact on religious fundamentalism within intergroup relations. In particular, the present study tested how the presence of beliefs of human nature as good (vs. evil) could serve as a moderating factor on the association between religious fundamentalism and outgroup hate. The results from two correlational studies with Muslim participants (a majority group) targeting two outgroup minorities, (non‐Muslim) Chinese Indonesians (Study 1; N = 400) and Christians (Study 2; N = 183) showed that the positive association between religious fundamentalism and hate was attenuated when people believed that human nature is good instead of evil. Same pattern of results was obtained using an experimental design (Study 3, N = 154) from Muslim participants targeting Chinese Indonesians. The findings indicate a promising sign for a way to suppress the influence of religious fundamentalism on outgroup hate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of political polarization, in both its ideological and its affective expressions, has garnered significantly more interest over the last years. But despite recent research on the conceptualization, measurement, causes, and consequences of this socio‐political phenomenon, and some tentative interventions to mitigate it, relevant new avenues remain surprisingly underdeveloped. Indeed, scholarship in the field of political polarization, mainly in the case of affective polarization, frequently uses cognitivist approaches to make sense of the growing antipathy between different social and political groups. However, the bulk of this work seems to overlook valuable insights into the psychology of intergroup conflict, stereotyping, prejudice reduction, and discourse studies. The aim of this paper is to underline the main gaps in the political polarization literature, to subsequently argue how knowledge linked to the tradition of critical social psychology can help in filling them. Ultimately, the article aims to contribute to the psychosocial study of political polarization and to the design, if necessary, of interventions to counter its detrimental consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores psychological processes that underpin the success of community change in the context of urban regeneration schemes. We adopt a social identity approach to develop an understanding of the ways in which social identity dynamics may impact upon peoples' experiences of regeneration, and what influence these identity processes have on the creation of new communities. Qualitative interviews, using thematic analysis as an analytic technique, were conducted with community members (n = 14) in a recently (2001–2011) regenerated area in the South‐West of England. Three overarching themes were identified: Patterns of identification, willingness to engage, and the notion of regeneration as an event. The research overall highlights the central role of group‐based identity in understanding the processes of regeneration and how this is experienced by different community members. Findings are discussed in relation to the impact regeneration schemes have on community members' sense of collective self, unity, and engagement. The research highlights the pivotal role of social identity processes in delivering successful and sustainable strategies of urban regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social psychology has focused on patterns of inequality (e.g., discrimination, stereotyping, stigma, intergroup relations) that underlie well‐documented disparities, often without engaging with the structural and intersectional patterns underlying these experiences. In this paper, we draw on intersectionality theory and research to illustrate how approaches to studying inequity and disparities in social psychology reflect a Western perspective, and structures work to uphold the status quo. It is argued that structures within the research process need to be made visible, both in terms of how research questions are framed, as well as on the representation within institutions responsible for producing and disseminating work addressing disparities. Engaging with intersectionality theory and research, we suggest four strategies that address individual and structural approaches to better position social psychology to contribute meaningfully to the reduction of disparate outcomes affecting minoritized individuals and groups. We suggest (a) examining and addressing the sources of inequality (e.g., addressing racism rather than the effects of racism), (b) carefully attending to language and framing in both the causes and impact of inequality and discrimination to shift the status quo in social psychology research and in society, (c) addressing representation within social psychology research, namely in critically examining representation and assumptions made about research samples, and (d) addressing representation in the "structure" of institutions. We offer these approaches, informed by intersectional theory, as tangible strategies to address some of the structural issues underlying inequality and disparities that can be addressed within social psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared belief systems are generally assumed to forge policy networks. Empirical evidence whether and to what extend shared policy core beliefs create ally networks and under which circumstances shared policy core beliefs are not necessary to form these networks, however, is limited. Based on a novel inferential network approach in combination with mediation analysis, this study investigates the role of belief systems as a link between interest group type and policy preference congruence, ultimately leading to ally networks in the European Union. In order to measure the intervening effect of policy core beliefs, automated text analysis is used. Our results suggest that shared policy core beliefs are a strong mediator for members of the same interest group. In addition, "strange bedfellow" networks between NGOs and businesses do, in fact, lack belief congruence and emerge on issues with low potential for intergroup conflict. This paper makes a contribution to our understanding of ally network formation and adds to the emerging line of research which combines quantitative text with inferential network analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientific work on argumentation is yet to address the perennial tension between social cognition and social constructionism. Moreover, argumentation‐based qualitative analysis protocols are needed for interview and textual data. Nonetheless, argumentation models remain too complex to reflect everyday argumentation and are not necessarily reflective of underlying cognitive processes. This presents the need for further theorising social behaviour, with a view to formulating a model of argumentation that (a) is parsimonious, and (b) aligns with the literature on joint projects, due to the fact that in social cognition terms, argumentation is for doing. In this paper, we draw upon interdisciplinary literature on argumentation, noting convergences among different approaches. We then proceed to consider the socio‐cognitive bedding provided by Lay Epistemic Theory, to present our Minimal Model of Argumentation (MMA). In MMA, interlocutors are held to make claims concerning an issue of concern, and defend them using warrants, evidence and qualifiers. We end by providing empirical examples supporting the utility of our model in qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing empirical evidence supports the positive contribution of cross‐group friendship to intergroup attitudes, as well as to individuals' personal development. However, developing cross‐group friendships may be challenging depending on individuals' respective group identities; namely, their ethnicity, gender, race, and sexual orientation identities. This paper considers how psychological factors related to these group identities contribute to cross‐group friendship. Research on individuals' experiences of cross‐group interactions across different contexts (first encounters; interacting with friends) has found that these interactions can be challenging. Most explanations of these challenges have focused either directly or indirectly on issues related to prejudice. It is suggested here that another important but neglected perspective for understanding intergroup friendship concerns individuals' awareness and responsiveness to differences in privileges and opportunities associated with their own and their friend's group‐related identities. The implications are discussed in the context of friendship values and relationship qualities in intergroup friendship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored how the source of exclusion (ingroup/outgroup) influences ingroup identification and political engagement. It is well documented that social exclusion has a negative impact on individuals' well‐being, but less is known how it affects identification with the ingroup, and subsequent behavior. In two studies, one survey (N = 193) and one experiment (N = 384), we explore how exclusion in the context of Brexit impacts identification with the EU and Remain cause and in turn engagement with a pro‐EU group. Participants sympathetic to the Remain‐side were recruited and findings suggest that exclusion from the outgroup (Leave‐sympathizers) increases ingroup identity measures and engagement with a Pro‐EU group. Mediation analysis revealed that increased ingroup identity mediated engagement with the ingroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human face is arguably the most important of all social stimuli because it provides so much valuable information about others. Therefore, one critical factor for successful social communication is the ability to process faces. In general, a wide body of social cognitive research has demonstrated that perceivers are better at extracting information from their own‐race compared to other‐race faces and that these differences can be a barrier to positive cross‐race relationships. The primary objective of the present paper was to provide an overview of how people process faces in diverse contexts, focusing on racial ingroup and outgroup members within one nation and across nations. To achieve this goal, we first broadly describe social cognitive research on categorization processes related to ingroups vs. outgroups. Next, we briefly examine two prominent mechanisms (experience and motivation) that have been used to explain differences in recognizing facial identities and identifying emotions when processing ingroup and outgroup racial faces within nations. Then, we explore research in this domain across nations and cultural explanations, such as norms and practices, that supplement the two proposed mechanisms. Finally, we propose future cross‐cultural research that has the potential to help us better understand the role of these key mechanisms in processing ingroup and outgroup faces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There remains an obvious gap in the acculturation literature, which relates to cultural change associated with the majority/dominant group. This paper explores how majority members react to a perceived expectation from minority members that majority members should undergo cultural change. A study was conducted exploring how majority members' perceptions of a demand by minority members that the majority should adopt the minority culture affects the majority members' preferences for minority acculturation, and whether effects are mediated by perceptions of symbolic threat. Two hundred sixty‐six participants who self‐reported being white British completed an online survey. A model was hypothesized whereby a perception that minority members demand that the majority takes on the minority culture predicted perceived symbolic threat, which was in turn negatively associated with a desire that minority members should maintain the minority culture, and positively with a desire that minority members should adopt the majority culture. Results supported the hypothesized model, with all individual paths and indirect effects significant in the hypothesized directions. Symbolic threat mediated the effect of perceived demand for minority culture adoption on majority preferences for minority acculturation. Findings are discussed in relation to implications for intergroup relations in culturally plural societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we review the concept of collective narratives and their role in shaping group behaviour. We see collective narratives as 'meta‐stories' embraced by groups that incorporate values and beliefs about social reality, therefore providing a blueprint for group norms which, in turn, inform group members' behaviour. Our aim is to both describe the psychological processes underpinning the relation between collective narratives and group behaviours and develop an integrative typology of the functions of collective narratives (as they connect to various collective behaviours). We start by discussing definitions in the recent literature and propose an integrative conceptualisation which positions collective narratives in the context of collective action research. Next, we focus on the process by which collective narratives provide the bases for identity formation, development, and change, thus shaping group behaviour. We see collective narratives as central in understanding group behaviour, as they function as 'meta‐stories' that incorporate moral codes and values, and beliefs about the ingroups and outgroups—providing a blueprint for group norms which, in turn, inform group members' behaviour. In the second part of the article, we describe a typology of collective narratives according to their functions, structured around two core dimensions: the context/s in which collective narratives develop and are shared (i.e., intragroup vs. intergroup) and their effects within these contexts (i.e., driving consensus vs. driving dissent). We identify four distinctive types of collective narrative functions and review research showing how each of them shapes specific social identity content, including behaviour prescribing norms. We then show how these specific norms shape behaviours ranging from cooperation and pro‐social action to hostile intergroup conflict. The implications of this contribution are twofold. First, by providing a systematic account and categorisation of how collective narratives function in society and of their connections to social identities (and their content), we can more accurately deduct group norms and predict behaviours in specific circumstances, including in relation to political violence. Second, by better understanding the narratives that provide the bases of identity formation, development, and change, we can improve attempts to create alternative narratives that unify rather than divide people, so that pathways to co‐operation might be chosen over conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural relations benefit from the social psychological study of arguments made by different groups about joint projects of mutual concern. This focus allows researchers to map representations of the project in question, among communities in different cultural milieus. This paper presents a study looking at Arabs' views on the project of integration. Arabs' perspectives revolved around six argumentative themes: cultural, economic, psychological, religio‐cultural, socio‐political or stigma‐related. After comparing all claims on integration across the communities involved (the Arab minority and the Maltese majority), we describe Arabs' positive, negative and mixed/ambivalent socio‐political claims in detail, complementing a previous study on majority views. This enables a discussion of Arabs' perspectives in view of the semiotic resources relevant to localised intercultural relations. Arabs' argumentative themes clearly reflect three key patterns: (a) social representation of integration as difficult but necessary, (b) minority representation of the majority group as being resistant to integration and (c) de‐essentialism of ingroup and outgroup. These patterns contrast with the majority members' arguments in significant ways. Findings are discussed theoretically in view of how minority arguments re‐present social processes to advance or resist intercultural projects, and substantively in terms of the application of these findings for ameliorating intercultural relations in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21st century has highlighted major dilemmas on how to best manage diversity in our increasingly plural societies. Various strategies for managing diversity have been promoted to address this challenge including assimilation, colorblindness, and multiculturalism. However, empirical evidence has revealed that each poses weaknesses for intergroup relations. As a result, policy‐makers and political theorists have promoted interculturalism as an alternate strategy that addresses new and emerging realities revolving around superdiversity, cultural fusions, and mixed forms of identity. In the current paper, we explore interculturalism as a pro‐diversity ideology that takes a more dynamic view of cultural identity where individuals belonging to different social groups are supported to interact and influence each other leading to new and complex self‐understandings. We consider the meaning and conceptualization of interculturalism, its psychological correlates, its implications for intergroup relations, and how minority group members perceive interculturalism. Given that empirical research on interculturalism is in its infancy, we further consider gaps in our understanding of the topic and suggest avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenspaces facilitate well‐being benefits for humans in several ways including through cognitive restoration, physical exercise and social interaction. However, some groups are under‐represented in greenspaces, including women, older people, those with health conditions, people with lower socioeconomic status and people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and so are less likely to accrue these benefits.Using thematic analysis and semi‐structured interviews with 40 individuals from under‐represented groups in Leeds, UK, we explore (1) a range of perceived barriers to greenspace access, (2) how spending time in greenspace contributes to well‐being for these groups, (3) the perceived positive and negative aspects of greenspace, (4) what impact COVID‐19 had on access to greenspace and (5) how greenspaces could be improved.We also highlight inter‐group differences and how some barriers disproportionately affect some of the groups in this study. Safety concerns were particularly important for women and people with low incomes, which included problems with anti‐social behaviour (e.g. incivilities and disorder). Cultural barriers were also evident with ethnic minority participants often citing concerns about dogs and issues with visibility and prejudice. Participants desired physical improvements to the quality of greenspaces, along with easier access and transport options, changes in policy regarding dogs and increased security and park wardens to limit anti‐social behaviour.We argue that to increase visitation for under‐represented groups, upgrades in the physical environment must be coupled with harnessing community involvement and co‐design. Some group differences and tensions in greenspaces, and problems with anti‐social behaviours and safety concerns might be limited by more considerate planning and incorporating research findings that address these tensions through intergroup contact. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, anti‐immigration movements have emerged and aim to gain the attention and support of the public. In two studies (Study 1, N = 775, student sample; Study 2, N = 500, non student sample) we investigated the role of positive and negative intergroup contact to predict support for anti‐immigration movements from native Germans in a context of a recent intergroup conflict. Using path analysis, we analyzed the mediating processes of threat perceptions for the intentions to engage in collective action against immigration policies and the justification of the protests. Extending previous research on collective action, intergroup contact and threat, we further tested the moderating role of the identification with Germany. Findings from both studies supported the predictive power of intergroup contact as well as the mediating role of threat for collective action intentions and the justification of protests. Our results suggest that behavioral support was predicted by a strong identification with the threatened ingroup, whereass passive support was not. These findings highlighting the role importance of identification for movement support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey is the country with the highest Syrian refugee population hosted in the world. Social acceptance of immigrants by the local community is as important as the social cohesion of immigrants regarding the social integration process. The aim of the current study was to examine the role of social contact, intercultural sensitivity, intergroup anxiety, gender, age, education, abroad experience and city on attitudes of Turkish local society towards Syrians. In this regard, data were collected from 207 local community members living in Ankara and Adana provinces of Turkey. According to the analysis, qualitative social contact, intercultural sensitivity and intergroup anxiety predicted the attitudes of the local community towards Syrians. In addition, intergroup anxiety had a mediating role between qualitative social contact, intercultural sensitivity and attitudes towards Syrians. When close social contact and intercultural sensitivity of Turkish local society increase, intergroup anxiety decreases and it increases positive attitudes towards Syrians. Lastly, while there was no gender difference in attitude towards Syrians, females were higher in intercultural sensitivity than males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our case study explored a Local Resilience Forum's (LRF) civil contingency response to COVID‐19 in the United Kingdom. We undertook 19 semistructured ethnographic longitudinal interviews, between March 25, 2020 and February 17, 2021, with a Director of a Civil Contingencies Unit and a Chief Fire Officer who both played key roles within their LRF. Within these interviews, we focused on their strategic level decision‐making and how their relationship with national government impacted on local processes and outcomes. Using a form of grounded theory, our data describe the chronological evolution of an increasingly effective localized approach toward outbreak control and a growing resilience in dealing with concurrent emergency incidents. However, we also highlight how national government organizations imposed central control on aspects of the response in ways that undermined or misaligned with local preparedness. Thus, during emergencies, central governments can undermine the principle of subsidiarity and damage the ways in which LRFs can help scaffold local resilience. Our work contributes to the theoretical understanding of the social psychological factors that can shape the behaviour of responder agencies during a prolonged crisis. In particular, the implications of our analysis for advancing our conceptual understanding of strategic decision‐making during emergencies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examined the perspectives of both White and Black racial justice activists on the roles of White allies in the struggle for justice for Black people in the United States. Study 1 used Q methodology, a mixed‐methods approach, which identified four distinct perspectives about the role of White allies from a sample of activists (33 White and 22 Black Americans): (1) mobilize to support Black leadership, (2) interpersonal activism, (3) avoid dominating Black people's efforts, and (4) lifelong learning. In Study 2, we interviewed activists (22 White and 12 Black Americans) to understand their evaluation of, and preference for, each of perspective identified in Study 1. Thematic analyses showed that each perspective had its pros and cons regarding considerations of how to best use ingroup advantages without dominating the movement. Our findings contribute to our understanding of potential tensions in solidarity‐based social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding rainbow filters in support of LGBTQ+ movements or changing profile pictures to black squares to show support for the BlackLivesMatter movement have become common contemporary expressions of solidarity. However, these actions are often criticized as being 'performative' and falling short of genuine social change. Despite its popularity, little is known about what performative allyship is and what its pitfalls or potential benefits may be. We review the existing psychological literature on intergroup relations and allyship to provide a definition and framework for studying performative allyship and its consequences for social change. We propose that the term performative allyship refers to easy and costless actions that often do not challenge the status quo and are motivated primarily by the desire to accrue personal benefits. The literature suggests that engaging in performative allyship may have a negative impact on the physical and mental well‐being of disadvantaged groups, but also on allies. We discuss negative and some positive consequences of engagement in performative allyship on disadvantaged groups, allies and society at large and provide directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the associations between cultural diversity approaches endorsed by teachers and adolescents' positive and negative intergroup contact in schools. Participants were 984 adolescents (Mage = 14.66; 62.7% female; 24.8% ethnic minority) involved in a three‐wave longitudinal study between 2019 and 2020. Results highlighted that perceived equal treatment by teachers was related to higher positive and lower negative contact over time. However, perceived support for contact and cooperation and interest of teachers in children's cultural background were not related to either positive or negative contact over time. Importantly, the results were replicated across ethnic minority and majority adolescents. This study provides novel insights into the key role that teachers can play in promoting cultural diversity approaches to facilitate harmonious intergroup interactions in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that part of the problem in combatting prejudice lies in people's dynamic understandings of what prejudice is. To examine this, we asked participants to rate the degree to which they perceived specific group‐relevant attitudes as prejudice. In Study 1, White participants perceived the attitudes as more prejudiced when the attitudes were targeted at Asian people than at White people and when expressed by an Anglo‐European speaker than by an Asian speaker. Study 2 was a direct replication but expanded the sample to include Asian participants. The Study 1 results were partially replicated in Study 2, although the target main effect was stronger among White than Asian participants. Together, the data suggest a normative legitimacy process in which injunctive norms dictate appropriate and inappropriate speakers and targets of specific group‐relevant attitudes. The data also confirm the original proposition of dynamic understandings of prejudice. Prejudice is understood by people not only by what is said but also by who is saying it and whom it is about. To the degree that these latter two variables are dynamic, then prejudice judgements themselves will remain so. We conclude by considering the implications of our data for both psychological theory and applications in prejudice‐reduction efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting prosocial behaviour towards those who are dissimilar from oneself is an urgent contemporary issue. Because children spend much time in same‐gender relationships, promoting other‐gender prosociality could help them develop more inclusive relationships. Our goals were to better understand the development of school‐age children's intergroup prosocial behavior and the extent to which elementary school‐age children consider their own and the recipient's gender in prosocial behaviour. Participants included 515 3rd, 4th and 5th graders (263, 51.1% boys, Mageinyears = 9.08, SD = 1.00) surveyed in the fall (T1) and spring (T2). We assessed children's prosociality using peer nominations. Children became more prosocial toward same‐gender peers over time but prosocial behavior toward other‐gender peers remained stable. We found that gender mattered: Children showed an ingroup bias in prosociality favouring members of their own‐gender group. Having other‐gender friendships positively predicted children's prosocial behaviour towards other‐gender peers over time. Children's felt similarity to other‐gender peers was not directly, but indirectly, related to more prosocial behaviour toward other‐gender peers. Findings shed light on potential pathways to fostering school‐age children's intergroup prosocial behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a long‐standing debate regarding how whites respond to Black political activists who push for racial equity. Symbolic racism researchers have argued that white reactions result from a blend of racial animus and traditional moral values, while conflict theorists have argued they are more a matter of group interests. Others who take a politics centered approach argue that principled objections rooted in political ideology—not racial considerations—are the driving force. In this article, I outline the history of this debate, with a particular emphasis on the symbolic racism and group conflict perspectives and their theoretical foundations. Efforts to synthesize these perspectives have made a case that both feelings are aspects of whites' sense of group position and might be described as "collective racial resentment." Drawing on this concept, I argue that whites are likely to be angered by Black political activists because they are perceived to be a threat to the group's position. I then propose the more general concept of "collective racial emotion" to capture contexts where whites may feel paternalistic warmth if they believe their group's position is being protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What counts as discrimination? Sometimes an event has to be a deliberate act of hate before it is described as discrimination. Sometimes "discrimination" can include much more subtle actions (e.g., microaggressions). There is good evidence that "what counts" as discrimination is mired in controversy, uncertainty, or ambivalence. We present a novel approach that bridges sociocultural and social cognitive accounts of "discrimination." Definitional boundaries of discrimination are the widely shared, common sense rules that people deploy when arguing whether an event constitutes discrimination or not (e.g., an emphasis on the personality of the alleged perpetrator; the importance of intention; and claims that the problem of discrimination is small and/or mostly limited to the past). These rules are culturally situated but also deployed by individuals in specific local contexts. We introduce a 15‐item measure of the extent to which participants are deploying broader or narrower definitional boundaries of discrimination (DBDs). We demonstrate that the measure has good convergent and discriminant validity (Study 1); that participants who are deploying narrow DBDs are less likely to make attributions to discrimination (Study 2); that participants' DBDs predict judgments for some intergroup contexts but not others (Study 3), and that participants who identify as racialized majorities have significantly narrower racism DBDs compared to participants who identify as racialized minorities (Study 4). We conclude with suggestions about how DBDs could be used in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In interpersonal relations, it is known that expressing self‐conscious emotions such as guilt and shame following a transgression is beneficial to reconciliation. In the current research, we examine whether this also applies to intergroup relations. Groups of three persons played an intergroup version of the "centipede game," in which one party can cooperate with or exploit another party. In Study 1, two groups played six rounds of this game in each of two phases. Between phases, groups rated how much guilt, shame, and pride they experienced in relation to how they had performed in Phase 1; these ratings were shared with the opposing group. Groups expressing high levels of guilt and shame were associated with greater cooperation in Phase 2, whereas groups expressing high levels of pride were associated with lower cooperation in Phase 2. In Study 2, all groups played against a "group" programmed to behave in an exploitative way in Phase 1. This group then expressed shame, pride, or no emotion (control) about its performance. Cooperation in Phase 2 was significantly higher in the shame than in the pride condition, and altruistic punishment was highest in the pride condition and lowest in the shame condition. Between them, these studies show that emotional expression plays an important role in repairing intergroup relationships and in particular that expressing shame about a transgression enhances intergroup cooperation following a transgression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers subscribe to the three‐component conceptualization of attitudes, the idea that attitudes have cognitive, affective, and behavioural (intentional) components. Yet, these components are rarely considered simultaneously in scales, especially those measuring attitudes towards refugees. Moreover, it is debated how these components relate to one another. We present the development and validation of a six‐item short‐scale to measure attitudes towards refugees based on three surveys (Study 1: N = 330; Study 2a: N = 2,083; Study 2b: N = 2,174). We assessed the performance of this scale with respect to three rivalling attitude conceptualizations (one‐factor, three‐factor, and second‐order factor model). We found that a three‐factor or second‐order factor conceptualization fitted best to the data. The scale had excellent psychometric properties. We hope that our work stimulates a wave of relevant research on attitudes towards refugees that applies this scale, and contributes to the debate on the conceptualization of attitudes in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration may be perceived by members of host countries as a threat, with psychological and material impacts on immigrants' well‐being: it may reinforce negative stereotypes, promote discrimination, or even encourage violence. One means of alleviating such prejudice is increased intergroup contact. However, under certain conditions, increased contact can produce harmful outcomes as intergroup contact may provide opportunities for positive and negative relationships between ingroup and outgroup members. Further, relatively little research has examined intergroup contact between native host country members and immigrants in Asian societies, and in particular, in Singapore. To address this gap, the current research examined the effects of separating, clustering, or integrating international students from local ones at two Singaporean universities. We assessed the degree to which different living arrangements impacted local and international students' intergroup contact, satisfaction with university life, perceptions of conflict, and intergroup attitudes. The findings suggest that those who are interested in improving intergroup relations via influencing the social ecology of majority and minority residents should provide opportunities for integration over separation or enclaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive attitudes and trust towards former adversaries facilitate reconciliation and peace building. Both historical and current intergroup experiences such as intergroup contact and conflict predict intergroup attitudes and trust, but no previous research has investigated the joint effects of these experiences. Therefore, we study the interplay of positive intergroup contact preceding conflict, negative experiences of the conflict, and positive intergroup contact following conflict. Drawing on social representations theory and using a multilevel design, we highlight the importance of both individual and collective experiences. We examine the effects of such experiences on intergroup attitudes and trust among a large sample of Greek Cypriots (N = 802) and Turkish Cypriots (N = 718) from 54 formerly ethnically mixed villages in the context of a protracted and frozen conflict in Cyprus. Present‐day individual contact related to more positive attitudes and higher trust regardless of participants' past experiences of conflict or contact. Furthermore, past collective contact experiences predict more positive attitudes and higher trust, whereas past collective conflict experiences predicted more negative attitudes and lower trust. Finally, present‐day contact closes the gap in trust between respondents with low and high past contact. Overall, both current and historical and individual and collective experiences matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article examines how the presence of others from a different social group (i.e., outgroup audience) influences consumers' food choices relative to the presence of others from their own social group (i.e., ingroup audience). In four studies, using various types of group memberships (race, university affiliation, and work affiliation), we first find that consumers are more likely to make healthy food choices in the presence of racial (Study 1) and university (Study 2) outgroup (vs. ingroup) audiences. Then, using an experimental causal‐chain mediation approach, we show this effect occurs because consumers anticipate more negative judgment from outgroup (vs. ingroup) audiences (Studies 3a and 3b). We discuss the possible role of outgroup contact and diversity in promoting healthy eating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although anti‐immigrant attitudes continue to be expressed around the world, identifying these attitudes as prejudice, truth or free speech remains contested. This contestation occurs, in part, because of the absence of consensually agreed‐upon understandings of what prejudice is. In this context, the current study sought to answer the question, "what do people understand to be prejudice?" Participants read an intergroup attitude expressed by a member of their own group (an "in‐group" member) or another group (an "out‐group" member). This was followed by an interpretation of the attitude as either "prejudiced" or "free speech." This interpretation was also made by in‐group or an out‐group member. Subsequent prejudice judgements were influenced only by the group membership of the person expressing the initial attitude: the in‐group member's attitude was judged to be less prejudiced than the identical attitude expressed by an out‐group member. Participants' judgements of free speech, however, were more complex: in‐group attitudes were seen more as free speech than out‐group attitudes, except when an in‐group member interpreted those attitudes as prejudice. These data are consistent with the Social Identity Approach to intergroup relations, and have implications for the processes by which intergroup attitudes become legitimised as free speech instead of prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most Germans reacted welcoming toward newly arrived refugees in 2015 and 2016, parallelly overt hateful reactions such as hate crimes, social exclusion, and increasing right‐wing electoral support have been registered all over Germany with several regions emerging as "hot spots" in these regards. Among them was our case, the mid‐sized town of Bautzen in the state of Saxony, where intergroup conflict and violent clashes between locals and refugees caused news headlines. To analyze intergroup conflicts in the ethnically super‐homogenous context of Bautzen, we performed a qualitative interview study. More specifically, we conducted 48 semistructured interviews with residents and members of the victimized outgroup of refugees. Our analysis reveals that the societal basis of intergroup conflict in Bautzen seems to be a distinct climate of exclusion aimed at tagged outgroups. Refugees report facing everyday discriminatory practices and even violence. Further, this specific local climate is facilitated by several Bautzen‐specific characteristics on the macro level, such as low number of foreigners and high levels of right‐wing electoral support. Our findings suggest that limited diversity and widespread stereotypes affect locals' reactions toward and perception of refugees. We discuss our results in light of the intergroup contact hypothesis and encourage more qualitative research on the nexus of intergroup contact and intergroup conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the case of Riace, a small multiethnic community in Southern Italy, as a lens to evaluate key theoretical and methodological aspects of the influential Intergroup Contact Theory. The article draws upon 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Riace, Italy, a town that for more than 20 years has hosted and integrated refugees into the local community. We analyzed the ethnographic material in light of assumptions underlying intergroup contact theory. Findings demonstrate that friendly everyday interactions between inhabitants of different ethnic backgrounds serve as the critical "social glue" for the Riace community, but that there are social inequalities, as well as group stereotypes, group‐based friendships, and spatial segregation. The different interpretations and nuanced outcomes of everyday social interactions demonstrate the importance of a contextualized understanding of the nature and implications of intergroup contact in real‐world settings for future research and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. witnessed deep ideological rifts during the 2020 presidential election, with reverberations that continue to this day. Both the media reports and the research evidence reveal the passion with which people cling to their ideologies and the barriers to communication that people often erect between themselves and those who do not share their political viewpoints. Consider the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January 6, 2021, as an historical example of the vilification and disrespect that people express toward those with different viewpoints from their own. Here we test whether moments of shared subjective experience (i.e., I‐sharing) can facilitate liking for politically different others, as well as more productive dialogue across political lines. Drawing from previous work on the intergroup implications of I‐sharing, we predicted and found that I‐sharing increased liking for one's interaction partner, irrespective of one's own political preferences and irrespective whether one's interaction partner shares those political preferences. In addition, I‐sharing (relative to not I‐sharing) promoted a greater sense among Biden supporters that they could have a productive dialogue with Trump supporters, although the parallel effect did not hold true for Trump supporters. The results point to the possibility that moments of I‐sharing can get people with differing political views to, as Biden put it so simply on November seventh, 2020, "listen to each other again." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Culturally diverse schools contribute to adolescents' intergroup relations. Complex and inclusive social identities are mechanisms that can explain the link between structural school cultural diversity (i.e., proportion of students of immigrant descent and the number of different ethnic groups) and positive intergroup relations. We expected that similar mechanisms might be at play linking cultural diversity approaches in schools with adolescents' intergroup relations. Aim: We examined the link between two sub‐dimensions of cultural diversity approaches (i.e., equal treatment; heritage and intercultural learning) and adolescents' prosocial intentions and behaviour towards refugee youth. Then, we explored the mediating role of identity inclusiveness (i.e., perceived similarity of the self with others). Sample and methods: We sampled culturally diverse eighth grade adolescents from 54 classrooms in Berlin (N = 503, Mage = 13.76 years, 50.6% female). Surveys measured perceived cultural diversity norms, adolescents' perceived identity inclusiveness with refugee youth, prosocial intentions to support refugee youth, and willingness to donate to a project for refugee youth. Results: Multilevel models revealed that adolescents' perception of heritage and intercultural learning predicted adolescents' prosocial intentions towards refugee youth, but not their willingness to donate. Equal treatment was not a significant predictor of adolescents' prosocial intentions towards refugee youth, or their willingness to donate. Identity inclusiveness did not mediate the relation between cultural diversity approaches and prosocial intentions. However, identity inclusiveness did positively relate adolescents' prosocial intentions and willingness to donate. Conclusions: We conclude that culturally diverse schools that engage in heritage and intercultural learning might help to promote positive relations between local and refugee youth in schools and society. Fostering inclusive identities may enhance local adolescent's prosocial intention and behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Americans' political identity is more relevant, salient, and central than their American identity. Political parties provide party members with an identity and belief system. Political identities influence identity‐based ideologies which increase affective polarization and potential anti‐social intergroup conflict between political parties. The purpose of the current research is to determine how political party identification and ideological extremity influences affective polarization for Republicans and Democrats across two studies. Participants in both studies completed a survey which measured political identification, ideological extremity, and uniquely operationalized measures of affective polarization, including support for co‐partisans, attitudes about political rivals, emotions towards political rivals, action tendencies towards political rivals, and perceived threat from political rivals. Study 1 (N = 530) used responses to the survey from a convenience sample crowdsourced by Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) in 2018. Study 1 showed that higher political party identification is associated with significantly higher affective polarization for members of both parties and that ideological extremity partially mediates this effect. Study 2 (N = 260) used a 2020 AMT sample to replicate Study 1's results. Findings extend our understanding of identity‐based ideological extremity and suggest that affective polarization could be driven by political party identification and partisans' ideological extremity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite studies examining political ideology, group dehumanization, and intergroup contact as predictors of intergroup support and affect, research on their interplay in shaping such outcomes has been limited. In fact, considering the possibility that conservatives might view immigrants in various ways (as more or less human) is important to understand the impact of interventions (positive imagined contact) on intergroup relations. The results of two experiments (N = 671) with U.S. citizens in relation to two outgroups—Muslim immigrants in Experiment 1 and Mexican immigrants in Experiment 2—consistently showed that imagined positive contact condition (vs. control/no contact condition) influenced intergroup support (i.e., in both experiments) and positive emotions (i.e., in Experiment 2) more for individuals who endorsed a conservative ideology and scored high for dehumanizing immigrants. Participants' willingness to attribute positive emotions to outgroup members ultimately explained the observed effects. In this research, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for intergroup relations and outgroup dehumanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines group membership and inter‐group relations in Iraq through the prism of Sunni political participation in the post‐2003 era. There has been much scholarly interest in this process of regime change, which has generally focused on the Sunni insurgency and the Shi'i shift towards sectarianism. Less, however, is known about the Sunni leaders who cooperated with the new Shi'i‐Kurdish federation. These new Sunni players had little manoeuvring space to truly address the socio‐economic challenges of a marginalized community. Their success lay in placing Sunnis on the political map of the new power‐sharing system, thereby providing an alternative to militant separatism and political exclusivity and paving the way to legitimizing Sunni participation in the political process. Growing realism in the aftermath of the ISIS takeover and acceptance of a civic model may now lead to greater inter‐communal cooperation based on professionalism and pragmatism. Understanding the limits of identity‐based politics can contribute to the emergence of more cross‐communal alliances based on a moderate Islamic outlook, broad affinity with an Arab heritage, and all‐Iraqi inclusivity. This case illustrates that identity politics is not detached from power, interests, and majority‐minority relations. Therefore, all of these components should be woven together to fully comprehend the role played by identity as part of the political dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the relationship between general inclusive victimhood (i.e., perceived similarity between the ingroups' and other victim groups' experiences of collective victimization) and willingness to engage in direct, intimate (e.g., intimate relationships) and distant (e.g., neighbors) contact with the adversary group in the aftermath of collective violence. We tested this link across two post‐conflict contexts: Bosnia‐Herzegovina (N = 147 students) and the Basque Country (N = 351 adults). We found that general inclusive victimhood was linked to greater willingness to engage in distant intergroup contact in two contexts (e.g., having an outgroup member as a neighbor), but only predicted more intimate forms of intergroup contact (e.g., having a former adversary member as a romantic partner) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The link between general inclusive victimhood and both types of contact was sequentially mediated by conflict‐specific inclusive victimhood and trust in Bosnia‐Herzegovina and Basque Country, and via conflict‐specific inclusive victimhood and empathy in the Basque Country. Theoretical and practical implications for reconciliation in the aftermath of ethnic conflict are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In three surveys of adults in five nations, we investigated how shared beliefs about the political system motivate individuals' political engagement. Specifically, we tested whether individuals' beliefs that the political context is fair, noncorrupt, and their belief that they could influence politics motivates political engagement to a higher extent for higher‐ compared to lower‐status group members. In a novel use of social dominance theory, we theoretically conceived of these political beliefs as legitimizing ideologies, so that we predicted that people with higher social dominance orientation endorse these beliefs, which in turn enhance the motivation to engage in politics to support current social hierarchical systems. Moreover, we expected that these relationships would be stronger for higher‐ compared to lower‐status groups. These hypotheses were tested considering different levels of group status: wealth status within a country (Study 1), political‐regional differences within a country (Study 2), and international status (i.e., between countries; Study 3), and they were largely supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present meta‐analysis summarizes the international basis of evidence regarding links between psychologically meaningful risk factors and political violence outcomes among adolescents and young adults. We synthesized 422 cross‐sectional effect sizes from 95 samples (67 index publications, 23 countries), using robust variance estimation. The results of seven longitudinal studies and one intervention study are discussed in a narrative manner. We detected significant effects for depression (r =.07, k = 10); empathy (r = −.16, k = 7); aggression (r =.24, k = 10); identification (r =.21, k = 30); relative group deprivation (r =.19, k = 11); realistic threat (r =.30, k = 27); symbolic threat (r =.28, k = 10); negative intergroup emotions (r =.25, k = 9); experiences of discrimination (r =.11, k = 12); dissatisfaction with the police, political actors, and institutions (r =.11, k = 32); and negative attitudes toward democracy (r =.17, k = 10). No significant effect was found for self‐esteem, intolerance of uncertainty, narcissism, or exposure to intergroup conflict. The reviewed longitudinal and intervention studies mainly confirm these cross‐sectional results. The script and our data are available in an open online repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deprovincialization is a set of attitudes characterized by two sides: a nuanced and fresh perspective on the in‐group culture and an open and accepting attitude toward other groups. After reviewing early research and indirect tests of the construct, we focused our attention on research investigating these two sides of deprovincialization. Studies conducted in various countries demonstrate that deprovincialization as in‐group cultural nuance is a strong and reliable correlate of reduced prejudice and improved intergroup relations; moreover, it is distinct from both national identification and cultural relativism. Studies conducted in Italy show that deprovincialization as openness toward other groups is related to positive intergroup contact and intergroup harmony and has longitudinal negative effects on prejudice. Importantly, in both lines of research the beneficial role of deprovincialization goes beyond the effects of constructs such as social dominance orientation, right‐wing authoritarianism, nationalism, and demographic variables. We conclude by proposing suggestions for future research and highlighting relevant issues to be considered in policy development and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through two studies (N = 602) conducted in Italy between February and March 2020, we examined the impact of the COVID‐19 emergency on biologization—a form of dehumanization that involves the perception of others as contagious entities—and outgroup prejudice. Overall, results showed that higher emergency perception was associated with greater biologization toward the groups most affected by the virus, namely the Chinese outgroup and the Italian ingroup. In turn, biologization toward the outgroup increased prejudice against that group. We also found that when the pandemic hit Italy, the greater emergency perception was associated with increased emotional closeness with Chinese people, resulting in reduced biologization and prejudice toward them. However, these results held true only for Italian respondents who reported higher levels of ingroup biologization. Taken together, our findings contribute to the knowledge gaps of biologization and prejudice by also providing relevant insights into the ongoing health emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intergroup conflict is widespread in nature and is proposed to have strong impacts on the evolution of social behavior. The conflict–cohesion hypothesis predicts that exposure to intergroup conflict should lead to increased social cohesion to improve group success or resilience in future conflicts. There is evidence to support this prediction from studies of affiliative responses to outgroup threats in some animal societies. However, most of these studies have focused on behavioral changes over short time periods (minutes and hours after exposure to an outgroup), and hence very little is known about the dynamics and durability of responses to intergroup conflict over the longer term. We investigated this question by simulating intergroup encounters in wild banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) and measuring social behavior before, during, and after these encounters over a 5‐day period. We also ran control trials with non‐threatening stimuli. Banded mongooses reacted immediately to intrusion stimuli by vocalizing, grouping together, and advancing on the stimulus. In the first 5 min after simulated intrusions, we saw an elevation in grooming levels, but in the hour after exposure grooming rates declined sharply, contrary to our expectation. In the two subsequent days, grooming rates remained at this depressed rate. In control trials, the initial increase in grooming was not seen, but grooming declined compared to the longer‐term time periods. Grooming changed across time, but not in the same pattern as during intrusions, suggesting that intrusions had an impact above and beyond that of the experimental setup. The dynamics of grooming responses were short lived and more complex than we initially expected. We suggest this unexpected result may be linked to the frequency of aggressive intergroup encounters in this system. As control and experimental trials were run at different times of year, future work would be needed to confirm that these relative patterns are replicable. Our results indicate short‐lived impacts of outgroup threat on measures of social cohesion in this species, but cannot confirm longer‐term changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive literature in political science shows how citizens' evaluations of politicians—as well as their electoral behavior—are affected by trait impressions of these politicians. However, deeper, interdisciplinary theory building that seeks to address when and for whom specific trait impressions come to guide candidate evaluations remains absent. In this article, I outline the theory of adaptive followership that seeks to address this shortcoming. Grounded in evolutionary psychology, I argue that leadership evolved as a solution to problems of intragroup coordination in ancestral small‐scale societies. In order to understand the traits that drive followers' and voters' evaluations of leaders and politicians, one should therefore focus on problems related to group coordination and ask how these problems might regulate followers' prioritizations of various traits in leaders. On this basis, I outline an analytical framework consisting of three predictions that simultaneously formulate how (1) contexts and (2) individual differences of relevance to a given group‐coordination problem regulate trait preferences, and (3) how such preferences differ between leaders and nonleaders (i.e., other social categories). The analytical framework is applied for structuring two reviews (including new empirical studies) of the ways through which intergroup conflict and disease threat, respectively, affect followers' trait preferences in leaders. Finally, directions and suggestions for future research on trait‐based candidates and leader evaluations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review, we propose that the social dynamics of founder populations in novel and newly available environments can have critical effects in shaping species' sociality and can produce long‐lasting changes in social structure and behavior. For founder populations which expand into an underexploited niche separated from the parent population, the necessity of bond formation with strangers, lack of clear territories, and initial abundance of resources can lead to altered initial social dynamics to which subsequent generations adapt. We call this the founder sociality hypothesis. After specifying the theoretical reasoning and mechanism of effect, we focus on three particular cases where the social dynamics of founder populations may have a central role in explaining their modern behavioral ecology. In particular, we develop and review evidence for three predictions of the founder sociality hypothesis in territorial, mixed‐sex group forming species: relatively stronger social bonds in the dispersing sex with relatively weaker bonds in the nondispersing sex, reduced territoriality, and increased social tolerance. We briefly touch on the implications for human evolution given our species' evolutionary history marked by frequent expansion and adaptation to novel environments. We conclude by proposing several experiments and models with testable predictions following from the founder sociality hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To learn more about why people falsely confess without external pressure, we examined voluntary blame‐taking in three experiments. Drawing from theories of prosocial behavior and social identity, we investigated whether participants' blame‐taking is influenced by (a) their relationship with the guilty person (Experiment 1) and (b) the group membership of the person asking to take the blame (Experiments 2a and 2b). In Experiment 1, participants (N = 130) considered whether they would take the blame for a small traffic violation for their best friend and a stranger in a vignette‐scenario. As expected, intended blame‐taking rates were higher for their best friend (60.8%) than for a stranger (8.5%). Reported reasons for taking the blame included reciprocity and empathy. In Experiments 2a and 2b (Ns = 60; 89), we tested actual blame‐taking behavior in two field experiments, using a new experimental paradigm. An experimenter approached participants and asked them to commit insurance fraud for a broken camera. Participants who shared the same group as the person in need were more willing to take the blame (47%‐48%) than participants who were from a different group (21%‐23%). The most frequently listed reason for taking the blame was empathy. Implications for the occurrence of voluntary blame‐taking behavior to protect someone else are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that people are more defensive to criticism when it stems from an outgroup member, compared to an ingroup member (the intergroup sensitivity effect: ISE). We conducted two online vignette experiments to examine the ISE in the context of an organizational merger and the role of merger motives for the ISE. We predicted that the ISE would also emerge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), but people would respond less negatively to criticism from the outgroup when the motive for the merger is described as achieving synergies rather than growth. In Experiment 1 (N = 452), which did not mention any motives behind the acquisition, a significant ISE emerged. Experiment 2 (N = 587) again showed an ISE regardless of the merger motive. In both experiments, the ISE was mediated by perceptions of the outgroup criticism as less legitimate and constructive. Overall, this research points to the intergroup sensitivity effect as a relevant phenomenon during post‐merger integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]