yTitlez
The escalation of personal altercations into intergroup conflict:
Initiating intergroup vicarious retribution in an ad hoc laboratory
experiment group
yAbstractz
When an outgroup member engages in conflictive behavior toward an
ingroup member, other ingroup members may resort to retaliation toward
outgroup members. This phenomenon is called intergroup vicarious
retribution. Using a laboratory experiment, this study examined whether
this retribution occurs in an ad hoc group. We allotted the winner of a
one-on-one match to impose a fine on the loser, in order to manipulate
and measure aggression. In the intergroup condition, the participants
were informed that an outgroup member had imposed a fine on an ingroup
member during the previous game, while in the control group condition,
participants were not informed about any group membership. The results
demonstrated that the participants imposed a larger fine on the loser
(an outgroup member who did not induce any fines during the previous
game) in the intergroup condition than in the control condition for both
Study 1 and 2. In Study 2, this fine was found to be predicted by
retaliatory motivation, but the average retaliatory motivation was not
high. We concluded that intergroup vicarious retribution can be
initiated even in an ad hoc laboratory experiment group.
yKeywordz
Intergroup vicarious retribution, intergroup conflict, outgroup
aggression, ad hoc group |