Entitativity

Abstract: Three studies examined perceptions of the entitativity of groups. In Study 1 (U.S.) and Study 2 (Poland), participants rated a sample of 40 groups on 8 properties of groups (e.g., size, duration, group member similarity) and perceived entitativity. Participants also completed a sorting task in which they sorted the groups according to their subjective perceptions of group similarity. Correlational and regression analyses were used to determine the group properties most strongly related to entitativity. Clustering and multidimensional scaling analyses in both studies identified 4 general types of groups (intimacy groups, task groups, social categories, and loose associations). In Study 3, participants rated the properties of groups to which they personally belonged. Study 3 replicated the results of Studies 1 and 2 and demonstrated that participants most strongly valued membership in groups that were perceived as high in entitativity.

Abstract: Merging insights from the intergroup relations literature and terror management theory, the authors conducted an experiment in which they assessed the impact of death-related thoughts on a series of ingroup measures. Participants in the mortality salience condition displayed stronger ingroup identification, perceived greater ingroup entitativily, and scored higher on ingroup bias measures. Also, perceived ingroup entitativily as well as ingroup identification mediated the effect of the mortality salience manipulation on ingroup bias. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of intergroup relations and terror management theory. A new perspective on the function of group belonging also is presented.

Abstract: Contents: C. Sedikides, J. Schopler, C.A. InskoIntroduction. Part I:Intergroup Cognition and Intergroup Behavior: Conceptual Issues. M. Schaller, M.C. Rosell, C.H. Asp, Parsimony and Pluralism in the Psychological Study of Intergroup Processes. D. Wilder, A.F. Simon, Categorical and Dynamic Groups: Implications for Social Perception and Intergroup Behavior. Part II:Interindividual Versus Intergroup Cognition and Behavior. D.L. Hamilton, S.J. Sherman, B. Lickel, Perceiving Social Groups: The Importance of the Entitativity Continuum. C.A. Insko, J. Schopler, Differential Distrust of Groups and Individuals. C.A. Insko, J. Schopler, C. Sedikides, Personal Control, Entitativity, and Evolution. Part III:Processes Affecting Intergroup Cognition and Intergroup Behavior: Perceptual and Judgmental Processes. P.W. Linville, G.W. Fischer, Group Variability and Covariation: Effects on Intergroup Judgment and Behavior. M. Biernat, T.K. Vescio, M. Manis, Judging and Behaving Toward Members of Stereotyped Groups: A Shifting Standards Perspective. B. Wittenbrink, B. Park, C.M. Judd, The Role of Stereotypic Knowledge in the Construal of Person Models. Part IV:Processes Affecting Intergroup Cognition and Behavior: Motivational and Social Processes. T. Clare, S.T. Fiske, A Systemic View of Behavioral Confirmation: Counterpoint to the Individualist View. R.M. Kramer, D.M. Messick, Getting By With a Little Help From Our Enemies: Collective Paranoia and Its Role in Intergroup Relations. B. Simon, Individuals, Groups, and Social Change: On the Relationship Between Individual and Collective Self-Interpretations and Collective Action. J.M. Levine, R.L. Moreland, C.S. Ryan, Group Socialization in Intergroup Relations. Part V:On the Reduction of Unwanted Intergroup Cognition and Behavior. G.V. Bodenhausen, C.N. Macrae, J. Garst, Stereotypes in Thought and Deed: Social-Cognitive Origins of Intergroup Discrimination. J.F. Dovidio, S.L. Gaertner, A.M. Isen, M. Rust, P. Guerra, Positive Affect, Cognition, and the Reduction of Intergroup Bias. M. Hewstone, C.G. Lord, Changing Intergroup Cognitions and Intergroup Behavior: The Role of Typicality. N. Miller, L.M. Urban, E.J. Vanman, A Theoretical Analysis of Crossed Social Categorization Effects. Part VI:Concluding Commentary. D.M. Mackie, E.R. Smith, Intergroup Cognition and Intergroup Behavior: Crossing the Boundaries.