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In this chapter, the authors discuss their minimal group experiments because they furnished the basis for their own research program on intra- and intergroup relations, and as they show, they furthered the development of the minimal group paradigm (MGP) by Henry Tajfel, Billig, M. G. Bundy, and C. I. Flament. The surprising results of the standard MGP of Tajfel et al. provided the main impetus for the development of the social identity (SI) position. The authors describe some of the basic assumptions in which the interdependence perspective (IP) and SI seem to differ from one another. They also describe behavioral interaction model. Willem Doise, who worked closely with Tajfel and his associates at the University of Bristol, suggested that the MGP was modeled with some modifications on the control condition of authors experiment. The authors argue that the social identity theory and IP approaches should be integrated in one theoretical framework.

When will bystanders of workplace mobbing show antisocial or prosocial behaviour toward the victim? Results of a 2 × 2 vignette study (N = 177) suggest that high perceived responsibility of the victim for the onset of the mobbing evokes anger and consequently antisocial bystander behaviour, whereas low perceived responsibility generates sympathy and consequently prosocial bystander behaviour. The results further indicate that bystanders will show more antisocial behaviour and less prosocial behaviour toward the victim when they anticipate stigma by association. The implications of these results for interventions seeking to influence bystanders' behaviour in the context of workplace mobbing and for further research on this bystander behaviour are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This archival study (N = 100) compared Lance Armstrong’s time trial wins to victories demonstrated by all former multiple Grand Tour winners (1949–1995; Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain) and by riders who won similar races in the three major European Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España) from 2006 to 2013, who were either involved in doping affairs or not. Regression analyses yielded a non–significant M = 142 seconds difference between Armstrong vs. the aggregated other riders (ΔR2 = .001, p = .20). The effect emerged after controlling for the influence of competition year (b = -12.23 s per year, ΔR2 = .045, p ≤ .001) and trial distances (b = 84.64 s per kilometer trial distance, ΔR2 = .933, p ≤ .001) on the variation in riders’ speed. Furthermore, Armstrong along with other riders who were suspended for doping use or who acknowledged having used doping in the 2006–2013 periods did not outperform riders who were not involved in doping affairs during the same years (M = -68 s, ΔR2 = .01, p = .35). Findings disprove the argument from ignorance, a false logic which refers to the often heard opinion that cyclists’ performances over time (including Armstrong’s wins) are mainly determined by their use of increasingly potent doping aids. However, in contrast to this logic, the distances of the time trials constitute the main determinant of riders’ performances rather than the year in which they competed, and riders engaged in doping affairs did not significantly outperform riders who were not.

We examined victims' perceived responsibility and bystanders' anticipated risk of being victimized themselves when others associate them with the victim (stigma by association, SBA) as possible antecedents of bystanders' helping behaviour towards a victim of workplace mobbing, and explored the effects of gender. Guided by the attribution model of social conduct (Weiner, 2006), a 2 × 2 vignette experiment was conducted. Participants were Dutch regional government employees (N = 161). Path analyses generally supported the hypotheses, but showed different results for women and men. In the strong (Vs. weak) responsibility condition, women reported less sympathy and more anger and men only more anger, which resulted in lower helping intention. Additionally, for men the results showed an unexpected direct positive effect of responsibility on helping intention. Furthermore, in the strong SBA condition, women and men reported more fear and men, unexpectedly, more anger. Consequently, helping intention decreased. The findings on gender are discussed in the context of social role theory, gender and emotion. Our findings suggest that to prevent and tackle mobbing, organizations and professionals should be aware of the attributional and emotional processes and gender differences in bystanders' helping behaviour.

Using self-report questionnaires, a survey among 606 Dutch primary school children aged 10 to 12 years examined relationships among social support, gender, victimization, and depressive feelings. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that victims and bully/victims would report more depressive feelings than uninvolved children. There was no evidence that social support moderated the relationship between victimization and depressive feelings. However, social support appeared to influence the depressive feelings of victimized children, that is, pupils who were victimized received very little support and hence suffered depression. This general mediation effect could be observed in boys. In girls, the mediating effects of social support were more diffuse. For girls, the risk factor for the development of depressive feelings did not so much pertain to the type of bullying as to the subsequent lack of social support they experienced. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social absorption (SA) and social individuation (SI) are two dimensions that may help understand and predict the quality of interpersonal experiences and relationships (Ickes, Hutchison, & Mashek, 2004). A Dutch translation of the SA and SI scales was validated with a circumplex of interpersonal adjective scales, vulnerability factors to depression and attachment style dimensions among a sample of 429 Flemish and Dutch Open University students. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that SA consisted of two subfactors; SI was shortened for reliability reasons. Subsequent correlational analyses revealed that both SA subfactors correlated positively with warm and assertive interpersonal behaviours, secure attachment style and sociotropy. The shortened SI factor correlated positively with cold and aloof interpersonal behaviours, autonomy and fearful and dismissive attachment. A graphical projection of scales in the interpersonal circumplex further informs the reader about behavioural commonalities between all the variables.(Netherlands Journal of Psychology 65, 40-52.)

Two experiments examined the role of threat-related action-state orientation in how observers become psychologically involved with victims of violence. Observing incidents of random, “senseless” violence is uniquely threatening to observers because they violate just world beliefs and appear like they could happen to anyone. Because stronger threat-related state-oriented individuals are less effective in down-regulating such threats to the self, they should perceive stronger self-concerned position identification (i.e., “this could happen to me”) when confronted with random, “senseless” violence. In contrast, no such effects should occur for observers' person identification (i.e., their other-concerned empathy for the victim). The results of two experiments supported these ideas and ruled out potential alternative explanations based on individuals' just world beliefs, need for cognition, and their attribution strategies. We discuss the importance of threat-related self-regulation processes with regard to self- and other-concerned mechanisms through which observers come to care for victims of violence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A survey (N= 120) examined variables that contribute to the willingness of people to engage in silent marches against violence in the Netherlands. As argued in Sacred Value Protection Model (SVPM) of Tetlock, Kristel, Elson, Green, and Lerner (2000) and moral mandate theory of Skitka, Bauman, and Sargis (2005), moral threats that are triggered by violent incidents, may indeed drive people to protest against such incidents. Our findings indicated dual pathways to such protests, that are all associated with reactive, angry empathic concerns. These concerns involve people's outrageous, punitive reactions towards offenders on behalf of the victims. These concerns are directly or indirectly related to people's participation intentions. That is, they directly influence the participation intention variable, or indirectly, through (re-)establishing the belief in a just-world, or through more fearful, self-directed moral cleansing reactions. These latter reactions aim at reinforcing community-shared moral standards. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The individual – group discontinuity effect entails that in mixed-motive situations, such as the Prisoner's Dilemma game (PDG), intergroup interactions are more competitive than inter-individual interactions. Based on Pruitt and Kimmel's (1977) goal/expectation theory and Axelrod's (1984) cooperation theory, we propose a cautious reciprocation model (CRM), which specifies variables that extinguish or reduce the discontinuity effect by enhancing intergroup cooperation. The model entails that, relative to individuals, the cooperative decisions of the more rational and instrumental group members are more strongly determined by a combination of a concern for long-term greed and a fear of anticipated retaliation, leading them to become more responsive to changes in the PDG task and/or social environment, and to follow an instrumental, cautious reciprocation technique. This technique is measured by increases in the level of cooperation (or competition) shown by groups in reaction to changes in the PDG decisions...

Building on just-world theory, the cur-rent study examined variables contributing to the labeling of violent incidents as senseless. In a 2 x 2 (Blame Opportunities x Victim Ethnicity) design, Dutch participants (N = 78) were provided with a written hypothetical situation depicting a violent incident. Consistent with predictions, the violence was evaluated to be less deserved and more senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was stronger) when participants had no opportunity to blame the victim than when they did have an opportunity to blame the victim. Likewise, an act of violence committed against a victim belonging to an ethnic minority (allochthonous victim) was perceived to be more deserved and less senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was smaller) than a similar violent act directed against a native (autochthonous) victim. Findings designate that the just-world theory offers a promising approach to investigate factors determining the labeling of violent incidents as senseless by outside, uninvolved observers.

A 2 (anticipated initiation or control) by 2 (male or female) laboratory study (N = 72) sought to delineate factors explaining the effects of severe initiations on group attraction. Building upon Schachter’s affiliation theory, the authors formulated a severity-affiliation-attraction hypothesis (SAAH). SupportingSAAH, an anticipated-initiationconditionincreased participants’level of affiliationtendencyandgroupattractioncompared to a control condition. Also supporting the hypothesis, affiliation tendency significantly mediated the severity-attraction relationship. Interaction effects further indicated that SAAH held only for males, not for females, for whom a mere affiliation-attraction relationship was observed. Results suggest that, contrary to males, the anticipation of a threatening initiation does not appear to be effective in strengthening group attraction via affiliation-related processes for females.

We integrate and extend insights from just world theory (Lerner, 1980), appraisal and attribution theories of emotion (e.g. Scherer, Schorr, & Johnstone, 2001; Weiner, 1995), and the sacred value protection model (Tetlock, Kirstel, Elson, Green, & Lerner, 2000) to explain observers' emotional and behavioural responses to incidents of so-called ‘senseless’ violence. The presence or absence of an opportunity to blame a victim for his or her violent fate resulted in stronger perceptions of ‘senselessness’ of the violence, stronger identification with the victim's suffering (i.e. person identification) and stronger identification with his or her violent fate (i.e. position identification). The presence or absence of an opportunity to blame the victim also influenced observers' feelings of anger and pity, and their willingness to protest and help. Importantly, both types of identification helped explain these emotional and behavioural responses. The results of this experiment suggest dual motivations for how observers come to feel and care for victims of ‘senseless’ violence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In a laboratory experiment, three-person interactive and three-person nominal groups of college students brainstormed without externally imposed time constraints. All groups were homogeneous with regard to gender. Half of the participants were instructed to continue brainstorming until they ran out of ideas (expectancy stop rule), whereas the other half were instructed to continue until they were satisfied with their performance (satisfaction stop rule). We found that interactive groups were more persistent than nominal groups in both of the stop rule conditions and thereby compensated for their usual productivity loss. We also found, as predicted, that women were more persistent in the satisfaction stop rule condition, whereas men were more persistent in the expectancy stop rule condition. This effect may be due to gender differences in self-evaluations.

Production blocking (group members must take turns expressing their ideas) is an important cause of productivity loss in brainstorming groups. However, it is not yet clear why production blocking has this detrimental effect. We hypothesized that delays between the generation and articulation of ideas, arising when group members wait for their turns, interfere with the cognitive process of generating ideas. In three experiments, production blocking was simulated for individuals working at computer terminals. Production blocking interfered with idea generation in two ways. First, it disrupted the organization of idea generation when delays were relatively long. Second, it reduced the flexibility of idea generation when delays were unpredictable. Implications for group information processing are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

The effects of idea sharing on cognitive processes and performance were assessed in an idea exposure paradigm. Participants generated ideas while being exposed to stimulus ideas that were semantically homogeneous or diverse, and were offered in an organized or a random sequence. As compared to a control condition, participants generated more diverse ideas when exposed to ideas from a wide range of semantic categories, and they generated more ideas per category when exposed to many ideas from only a few categories. The semantic organization of ideas was higher when participants were exposed to ideas that were organized in semantic clusters than when participants were exposed to unorganized ideas. Idea exposure had positive effects in general, because it reduced response latencies for category changes. Implications for information processing in groups are discussed.

Studies examining effects of doping in professional road racing building on archival records of the three major European stage races—the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España—concluded that riders’ final performances in the “epo era” (>1990) strongly improved, yet declined since 2004. These observations can be criticized. First, we argue that time trial performances are more valid than final performances to indirectly evaluate doping effects. Second, we will pay attention to an informal logical flaw—the Texas sharpshooter fallacy—which may have biased findings and conclusions presented in the studies. To empirically substantiate our critique, we analyzed mean kilometers per hour (km/h) performances realized by winning riders in all time trials on flat and rolling terrain in the three tours (1933-2013, N = 325). Regression analyses revealed no evidence for nonlinear in- or decreases in riders’ speed beyond the 1990s, but a straightforward linear progress over time of b = 0.16 km/h per year (R2 = 0.50, p ≤ 0.001). Findings corroborate our comments on previous archival studies and qualify opinions about effects of the “epo epidemic” on cyclists’ achievements, since the time trial performances delivered in these years are no exemption to the observed linear progress in speed.

The massive doping schemes that surfaced in professional cycling suggest that riders’ performances, realized in the controversial ‘epo era’ (>1990), are a cut above achievements delivered by their forerunners. We examined this superior performances assumption (SPA) by conducting six historic studies, which all scrutinized archival records of winning riders’ stage race and time trial performances demonstrated in the three European Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España; 1903–2013), including Lance Armstrong’s wins. Findings revealed that all riders’ wins in the epo years are no exception to the variability in speed progress observed in the three races over time and none of their achievements proved to be outliers. This also holds true for Armstrong’s performances. These findings agree with results of a meta–analysis of epo studies we conducted, indicating that the ergogenic effects of epo and blood doping on riders’ aerobic performances and associated cycling speeds are overrated. In conclusion, we argue that our observations render the SPA doubtful. They also made us realize that arguments used in contemporary discussions about effects of doping in cycling often involve psychological biases, false reasoning and fabrications. They are presented in the closing sections of this contribution.

This experiment investigated the effect of procedural interdependence on interindividual–intergroup discontinuity (i.e., the tendency within mixed-motive situations for intergroup interactions to be more competitive than interindividual interactions) in Dutch and U.S. college populations. Groups composed of members who were procedurally interdependent, groups composed of members who were procedurally independent, and individuals interacted with a programmed other on three trials of a Prisoner's Dilemma Game. Results across trials indicate that procedurally interdependent group members were more competitive than pooled procedurally independent group members and individuals. The latter two conditions did not differ significantly. No significant effects involving participant nationality were observed. We propose that these findings reconcile diverging perspectives on interindividual–intergroup discontinuity.

Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstances under which violence is perceived as senseless by outside observers. Participants were more likely to perceive an act of violence as senseless and to identify with the victim when there was no opportunity to blame the victim and when the victim was uninvolved with the perpetrator. These findings suggest that acts of violence are perceived as senseless when attributional strategies fail to uphold observers' belief in a just world.

In their research on individual-group discontinuity using Prisoner’s Dilemma Game (PDG), Schopler, Insko, and associates observed that groups were more competitive than individuals. Alternatively, we propose that this effect can be interpreted as a group-adaptiveness phenomenon. In a 2 (individuals vs. groups)× 2 (low vs. high incentives to cooperate) PDG study, individuals groups played against a cooperative opponent. Individual-group discontiunity was found when incentives to cooperate were low, but not when incentives were high. Results further suggest that the stronger intergroup competition observed in past discontinuity research may have been triggered and perpetuated by between-group violations of cooperative proposals. These findings are consistent with our group adaptiveness perspective, which proposes that groups are not invariably more competitive than individuals, but that they are more likely to adapt their behaviors to variations in the task and/or social environment in an attempt to attain important group goals.

Two experiments compared task persistence and productivity for brainstorming individuals and groups of various sizes under conditions without a time limit. We expected that the stop rules people employ in deciding to end a session would have important consequences for the relation between group size, persistence, and productivity. In Experiment I, conducted with individuals, dyads, and four- and six-person groups, it was found that persistence increased linearly with group size. As a result, the productivity loss usual in brainstorming groups was substantially reduced. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2, but only under conditions without time pressure. The degree to which a brainstorming topic was perceived as enjoyable did not affect persistence. Findings were consistent with the hypothesis that people stop neither when they are satisfied with their performance nor when they no longer enjoy the task, but when the expected relation between effort and performance falls below a certain cut-off point. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (C) 1999 Academic Press.

In the Netherlands, two longitudinal fieldstudies (N=202 and N=46) were conducted on the relationship between severity of initiation and group attractiveness. Study 1 represents a severe initiation, Study 2 a more mild one. In these two different field ‘conditions’ we aimed to test the dissonance interpretation of the effects of a severe initiation (Aronson & Mills, 1959) and a positive correlation between severity of treatment of the initiated novices and group attractiveness was expected (hypothesis 1). Further, we expected that feelings of frustration and anger would mediate this relationship (hypothesis 2). On the other hand, our affiliation‐attraction hypothesis either predicted a positive correlation between companionship (Rook, 1987) and group attractiveness, irrespective of severity (hypothesis 3), or that companionship would mediate the severity‐attraction relationship (hypothesis 4). In both studies, LISREL path analyses only supported hypothesis 3. Contrary to hypothesis 1, severity experienced during the early stages of the initiation correlated with feelings of frustration and loneliness (Study 1), or depressive mood (Study 2). These feelings lasted throughout the initiation and lowered the liking for the group. Results are discussed in terms of newcomers’ decisions to leave or to join the group, determined by (i) the exchange and fate control relationship between the leadership and the newcomers; (ii) the severe treatment of newcomers as a selection device and (iii)

Lance Armstrong’s Era of Performance - Part I: Are his Time Trial Performances Much Different from Other Winners? The synthetic glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin - best known as recombinant human erythropoietin (rHu–EPO) or epo - became widespread in endurance sports such as professional cycling in the beginning of the 1990s. In 2000, the World Anti–Doping Agency (WADA) implemented a test for epo, after which cyclists are said to have resorted to blood doping as an alternative for epo to boost their performances.

Two conflicting approaches to the study of group aggression are compared: the deindividuation theory of Zimbardo (1970) and the emergent norm theory of Turner and Killian (1972). To test these two conflicting hypotheses, the frustration-aggression theory of Brown (1986) is used which assumes that individuals and groups, male or female, will react with angry aggression when important social justice norms are violated. It was hypothesized (i) that groups will be more aggressive than single individuals; (ii) males will be more aggressive than females; and (iii) that more aggression will occur when people can be easily identified than when they remain anonymous to each other. These hypotheses received some support. Unexpected interactions between these variables are discussed in some detail. Generally, more support is found for the emergent norm theory than for deindividuation theory.

The 1990–2010 period in professional cycling is labeled by some as the epo epidemic. Surprisingly, performance enhancement by epo and blood doping is not that clear-cut for endurance athletes, leading to the question whether doping indeed strongly influenced cyclists' performances from the 1990s onwards. We examined the records (1947–2008) of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a Espana (N = 181) and assessed the time it took riders to win the race. The findings revealed normally distributed performances and linear and quartic relationships in victors' performances over time that correspond with Brewer's (2002) sociohistorical analysis of professional cycling, suggesting that effects of the epo epidemic on professional cyclists' achievements may be overestimated.

Referent Cognitions Theory (RCT) predicts that resentment is highest among persons who combine high referent outcomes (i) with low likelihood of amelioration and (ii) with perceived unfairness of the procedures leading to their actual outcomes. In organizations, resentment can be expressed in decreased commitment and decreased satisfaction with the organization, and with one's work and work situation. Predictions derived from RCT were tested in a field study among employees who, due to the retrenchment strategy adopted by their company, were put into an outplacement and transfer procedure. Results were only partly consistent with RCT predictions. Support for all predictions was found only among employees who successfully went through the transfer program. None of the predictions were supported by the results obtained from employees still in the program. Results suggest some limitations with respect to the validity of RCT.

Emotional and helping responses among bystanders of victims of mobbing: the role of perceived responsibility and threat of contagion Emotional and helping responses among bystanders of victims of mobbing: the role of perceived responsibility and threat of contagion R. Mulder, M. Pouwelse, H. Lodewijkx & C. Bolman, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 21, March 2008, pp. 19-34 Building upon Weiner's (1995, 1996) attributional model of social behavior, we examined the effects of perceived responsibility and threat of contagion upon bystanders' emotional and helping responses towards the victim (an executive) in a mobbing situation. Hypotheses were examined in a 2 (perceived responsibility: weak/strong) x 2 (perceived threat of contagion): weak/strong) vignette study among government workers (N = 161). SEM path analyses (using Amos 5.0) revealed that weak (versus strong) perceived responsibility led to stronger pity and less anger, which both led to stronger helping intentions. Intriguingly, bystanders further showed stronger helping intentions, when the victim of mobbing was held more responsible for his situation. The perceived threat conditions did not directly influence helping intentions, but weak versus strong perceived threat was related to less anger and anxiety, and less anxiety, in turn, was associated with stronger helping intentions. Discussed are the potential consequences of the power differential between victims (as executives) and bystanders, and the validity of Weiner's model in explaining mobbing at work.

This survey examined the relationship between perceived stigma and psychological well-being among people with epilepsy (N = 103) and examined the moderating role of perceived social support. Visitors of the website www.epilepsie.net filled out a questionnaire which included background variables, the Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire (CESQ); Rosenberg self-esteem scale, Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Social Support List 12-Interactions (SSL12-I). Perceived stigma was negatively related to self-esteem and positively related to depressive symptoms. The relationship between stigmatization and depressive symptoms was not mediated by self-esteem. Contrary to our expectations, social support did not moderate the relationships between perceived stigma and self-esteem or between perceived stigma and depressive symptoms. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

In dit experimentele onderzoek naar de rol van stigmatisering van depressieve werknemers bij hun arbeidsreintegratie kregen medewerkers (n = 320) uit de gezondheidszorg een vignet voorgelegd, waarbij zij zich moesten voorstellen dat zij zouden gaan samenwerken met een reintegrerende collega. Informatie over de persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid voor het ontstaan van de klachten (hoog vs. laag), de ernst van de psychische klachten (hoog vs. laag) en de openheid over de klachten (open vs. gesloten) werden gemanipuleerd, ten einde de invloed van deze variabelen na te gaan op de mate van stigmatisering. Vervolgens moesten de deelnemers aan het onderzoek aangeven in hoeverre bepaalde persoonseigenschappen op de reintegrerende collega van toepassing waren en in hoeverre zij bepaalde emoties zouden ervaren als zij weer met hem zouden samenwerken. In de conditie hoge persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid bleken meer positieve eigenschappen toegeschreven te worden dan in de conditie lage persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid. Voorts werd gevonden dat er in de conditie hoge ernst meer angst opgeroepen werd en er meer negatieve persoonlijkheidseigenschappen toegeschreven werden dan in de conditie lage ernst. In de open conditie werden meer angst, meer boosheid en meer medelijden opgeroepen bij de werkomgeving dan in de gesloten conditie. Ook werden in de open conditie meer positieve eigenschappen toegeschreven. Theoretische en praktische implicaties van het onderzoek worden besproken.

It has consistently been found that people produce more ideas when working alone as compared to when working in a group. Yet, people generally believe that group brainstorming is more effective than individual brainstorming. Further group members are more satisfied with their performance than individuals, whereas they have generated fewer ideas. We argue that this 'illusion of group productivity' is partly due to a reduction of cognitive failures (instances in which someone is unable to generate ideas) in a group setting. Three studies support that explanation, showing that: (1) group interaction leads to a reduction of experienced failures and that failures mediate the effect of setting on satisfaction; and (2) manipulations that affect failures also affect satisfaction ratings. Implications for group work are discussed. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley, & Sons, Ltd.

Predictions from the bounded and unbounded reciprocity hypotheses and from social identity theory (SIT) were examined in a minimal group experiment in which ingroup outcome dependence, outgroup outcome dependence, and the strength of social identity were orthogonally manipulated. Both ingroup and outgroup outcome dependence affected reward allocations. Participants made more ingroup-favoring reward allocations across all conditions. The identification manipulation produced hypothesized effects on social identification measures and marginal effects of identification on reward allocations in the no-dependence condition. Support was found for both an unbounded and bounded version of the reciprocity hypothesis and marginal support for a SIT approach to intergroup discrimination. The study highlights insufficiencies of both theoretical approaches and suggests possibilities for integration and elaboration.

Lerners rechtvaardige-wereldtheorie (rwt; 1980) veronderstelt dat mensen sterk geneigd zijn hun beeld van een rechtvaardige wereld te beschermen tegen bedreiging, die bijvoorbeeld opgeroepen kan worden wanneer onschuldige slachtoffers getroffen worden door een gewelddadig en willekeurig lot. Door toepassing van cognitieve, attributionele vertekeningen – de geweldslachtoffers hebben gekregen wat ze verdienden (‘deservingness’ of ‘verdiendheid’) – wordt dan op een nogal cynische, defensieve manier getracht het beeld van een rechtvaardige wereld in stand te houden (de rw-beschermingshypothese). De resultaten van studie 1 en 2 tonen aan dat dergelijke beschermingsprocessen een rol vervullen in de benoeming van geweld als zinvol en verdiend. Aanvullende resultaten duiden er verder op dat empathische persoonsidentificatie in gevallen van extreem geweld kan leiden tot een distantiering van het slachtoffer, terwijl dezelfde extreemheid kan leiden tot een sterkere positie-identificatie met het slachtoffer. Kennelijk beseffen de onderzochten dan sterker dat eenzelfde willekeurig lot hen ook had kunnen treffen. Studie 3 toont aan dat een sterkere empathische persoonsidentificatie samenhangt met sterkere rw-overtuigingen, maar alleen onder deelnemers aan ‘stille tochten’ tegen zinloos geweld. Dit soort initiatieven vormen mogelijk een alternatieve manier ter bescherming van een rechtvaardig wereldbeeld.