"Me and us" or "us and them"? The self as a heuristic for defining minimal ingroups

Abstract

The question of why even a minimal ingroup is typically evaluated more positively than the respective outgroup has stimulated extensive theoretical and empirical work in social psychology. Integrating findings from various domains of research, this chapter summarises a comprehensive research programme that focuses on cognitive rather than motivational factors that contribute to positive ingroup distinctiveness. More specifically, evidence is presented showing that (a) there is a positive ingroup default, such that novel ingroups are immediately associated with positive affect; (b) people make inferences from the self in order to define their novel groups; and (c) this process of using the self as a means of cognitive structuring is based on heuristic rather than systematic information processing. Implications for our understanding of the role of self in intergroup evaluations and of factors determining ingroup favouritism in both minimal and real groups are discussed.