Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (3): 698-704.

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Is Outgroup Bound to Be Derogated: Evidence from Mongolian and Han Ethnic Groups

1,Yu-Zhu ZHANG2,3   

  1. 1. Inner Mongolia Normal University
    2. Inner Mongolian Normal University
    3. Hohhot Vocational college
  • Received:2019-12-09 Revised:2020-08-03 Online:2021-05-20 Published:2021-05-20
  • Contact: Yu-Zhu ZHANG

外群体一定贬损吗:来自蒙古族和汉族群体的证据

吴云龙1,张玉柱1,2   

  1. 1. 内蒙古师范大学
    2. 呼和浩特职业学院
  • 通讯作者: 张玉柱

Abstract: There has been a great progress in the study of intergroup attitude and behavior. The dominance of outgroup derogation has been confirmed by many researches. The Robbers Cave experiment proves that opposed group interests in obtaining scarce resources causes outgroup derogation. While Minimal-Group experiment demonstrates that conflicts of interest and a history of intergroup hostility are not the necessary conditions for outgroup derogation. The mere fact that social categorization is enough to trigger derogation behavior. In addition, outgroup derogation is found in religious groups and even among children. However, intergroup attitude and behavior can also appear in interpersonal information communication and transmission, which has been rarely discussed in previous studies. The only two studies have also confirmed the dominance of outgroup derogation. Although many studies have verified the prevalence of outgroup derogation from different perspectives, these groups have specific features. For examples, two competitive groups with resource conflict in Robbers Cave experiment, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland with sectarian conflicts, and even in the Minimal-Group experiment, resource allocation is still needed. The competitive and conflicting features of these groups may be the potential internal cause of outgroup derogation. So will the groups without such characteristics still show the effect of outgroup derogation? According to the viewpoint of the Minimal-Group experiment, mere perception of group classification will produce outgroup derogation. Based on this, the current study took non-conflicting and non-competitive Mongolian and Han ethnic groups in China as the study group, and used Single Reiteration Paradigm to answer the question “is outgroup bound to be derogated?”. On the one hand, the ethnic groups with equal and harmonious coexistence in China were taken as research objects to enrich the types of research groups; on the other hand, the study carried out the localization test on the view of the Minimal-Group experiment, and provided the localized findings. The current study conducted 2 experiments. The first experiment was a single-factor within subject design with information valence (positive vs. negative) as the independent variable. Participants (30 Mongolians and 30 Hans) were asked to transmit the information of the outgroup to a same-sex outgroup audience face to face. The second experiment employed 2 (intergroup attitude: positive vs. negative) × 2 (interpersonal sensitivity: high vs. low) × 2 (valence: positive vs. negative) mixed design with interpersonal sensitivity and intergroup attitude as between-subjects variables. Participants were divided into 4 groups by interpersonal sensitivity and intergroup attitude scores, and asked to transmit the outgroup information like in experiment one. The experimental results showed that: 1) Mongolian and Han ethnic groups both transmitted more positive information about each other. 2) In Han group, participants with positive attitude toward Mongolian transmitted more positive stereotype information than those with negative attitude. When participants had negative attitude towards Mongolian, those with high interpersonal sensitivity transmitted more positive stereotype information than those with low sensitivity. 3) In Mongolian group, participants with positive attitude toward Han transmitted more positive stereotype information and less negative stereotype information than those with negative attitude. These results suggested that Mongolian and Han ethnic groups displayed “outgroup favoritism” rather than “outgroup derogation”. The authenticity of outgroup favoritism between Mongolian and Han was verified by testing the impacts of interpersonal sensitivity and intergroup attitude, but this effect showed a beneficial artificial enhancement in the highly sensitive Han with negative intergroup attitude. Moreover, different patterns of information transmission were found in the interethnic communication between Mongolian and Han ethnic groups. Mongolian focus on both positive and negative information, while Han pay more attention to positive information. It can be seen that outgroup is not bound to be derogated, and the nature of the group matters.

Key words: outgroup favoritism, Mongolian and Han ethnic groups, interethnic information transmission, interpersonal sensitivity, intergroup attitude

摘要: 本研究采用单一复述法考察了我国非冲突性、地位平等的蒙古族和汉族群体,在面对面传递彼此不同效价的民族刻板印象信息时的群体效应。实验1证明了蒙古族和汉族间表现出的并非“外群体贬损”,而是“外群体偏爱”。实验2通过考察人际敏感性和群际态度两个变量验证了蒙汉间外群体偏爱的真实性,但这一效应在群际态度消极的高敏感汉族中表现出了人为增益性;而且发现了蒙汉族际沟通中的不同信息传递模式,蒙古族同时着眼于积极和消极信息,而汉族更偏重于积极信息。由此可知,外群体并不一定引发贬损,群体性质兹事体大。

关键词: 外群体偏爱, 蒙古族和汉族群体, 族际信息沟通, 人际敏感性, 群际态度