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‘More than skin‐deep’: Biological essentialism in response to a distinctiveness threat in a stigmatized fan community
Author(s) -
Plante Courtney N.,
Roberts Sharon E.,
Snider Jamie S.,
Schroy Catherine,
Reysen Stephen,
Gerbasi Kathleen
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/bjso.12079
Subject(s) - optimal distinctiveness theory , essentialism , psychology , social psychology , ingroups and outgroups , outgroup , affect (linguistics) , sociology , gender studies , communication
We investigated how group distinctiveness threats affect essentialist beliefs about group membership in a stigmatized fan community. An experiment conducted on 817 members of the fan community revealed that highly identified fans who perceived significant stigmatization were the most likely to endorse essentialist beliefs about group membership when exposed to a distinctiveness threat via comparison to a highly similar (vs. dissimilar) outgroup. These results bridge essentialism research and research on distinctiveness threat by demonstrating the mutability of group essentialism beliefs as a defensive response to distinctiveness threats. Implications for future research are discussed.