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Intergroup evaluations and social context: a multilevel approach
Author(s) -
Kinket Barbara,
Verkuyten Maykel
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199903/05)29:2/3<219::aid-ejsp925>3.0.co;2-x
Subject(s) - psychology , ingroups and outgroups , social psychology , ethnic group , in group favoritism , turkish , context (archaeology) , social identity theory , social environment , developmental psychology , affect (linguistics) , social group , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , sociology , anthropology , law , political science , biology , communication
Social psychologists studying intergroup relations acknowledge the importance of social context but remain strongly focused on the individual in both theoretical and methodological respects. The present study tries to go beyond this ‘individualistic’ perspective by using multilevel analysis to address the effects of both individual and contextual variables and their interactions. Ethnic group evaluations among Dutch and Turkish children (10–13 years of age) were examined. First, the results showed that intergroup evaluations are determined not only by characteristics of the child but also by the context in which the child is situated. Second, contextual variables not only affected ingroup favouritism directly but also moderated the relationship between identification and ingroup favouritism. Third, children in classes in which the teacher pays attention to ethnic discrimination and cultural differences indicated less ingroup favouritism. Furthermore, relative group size did not affect ingroup favouritism directly, rather it was found that only children who constituted a numerical minority revealed a positive association between identification and ingroup favouritism. Additionally, at the individual level ingroup favouritism was explained by identification, the perception of the teacher's reaction to ethnic harassment among classmates and subject ethnicity. It is concluded that a multi‐level approach can make a contribution to the existing literature on intergroup evaluation and towards a more contextual social psychology. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.