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“It's OK if we say it, but you can't”: responses to intergroup and intragroup criticism
Author(s) -
Hornsey Matthew J.,
Oppes Tina,
Svensson Alicia
Publication year - 2002
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/ejsp.90
Subject(s) - outgroup , ingroups and outgroups , psychology , social psychology , in group favoritism , criticism , perception , social identity theory , identity (music) , constructive , social group , art , physics , literature , process (computing) , neuroscience , computer science , acoustics , operating system
Three experiments were conducted examining group members' responses to criticism from ingroup and outgroup members. In Experiment 1a, Australians read scripts of a person making either negative or positive comments about Australia. The speaker was identified as coming from either Australia (ingroup member) or another country (outgroup member). Responses indicated an intergroup sensitivity effect; that is, while ingroup criticisms were tolerated surprisingly well, outgroup criticisms were met with sensitivity and defensiveness. This pattern was replicated using the identity of ‘university student’ (Experiment 1b). Experiment 2 demonstrated that the intergroup sensitivity effect is driven by perceptions that ingroup criticisms are seen to be more legitimate and more constructive than are outgroup criticisms. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for intragroup and intergroup relations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.