Colin Wayne Leach

Group virtue: The importance of morality (vs. competence and sociability) in the positive evaluation of in-groups.

Although previous research has focused on competence and sociability as the characteristics most important to positive group evaluation, the authors suggest that morality is more important. Studies with preexisting and experimentally created in-groups showed that a set of positive traits constituted distinct factors of morality, competence, and sociability. When asked directly, Study 1 participants reported that their in-groups morality was more important than its competence or sociability. An unobtrusive factor analytic method also showed morality to be a more important explanation of positive in-group evaluation than competence or sociability. Experimental manipulations of morality and competence (Study 4) and morality and sociability (Study 5) showed that only in-group morality affected aspects of the group-level self-concept related to positive evaluation (i.e., pride in, or distancing from, the in-group). Consistent with this finding, identification with experimentally created (Study 2b) and preexisting (Studies 4 and 5) in-groups predicted the ascription of morality, but not competence or sociability, to the in-group.

White Guilt and Racial Compensation: The Benefits and Limits of Self-Focus

In two studies, the authors investigated guilt as a response to group-based advantage. Consistent with its conceptualization as a self-focused emotion, White guilt was based in self-focused beliefs in racial inequality. Thus, guilt was associated with belief in White privilege (Study 1) and resulted from seeing European Americans as perpetrators of racial discrimination (Study 2). Just as personal guilt is associated with efforts at restitution, White guilt was predictive of support for affirmative action programs aimed at compensating African Americans. White guilt was not, however, predictive of support for noncompensatory efforts at promoting equality, such as affirmative action programs that increase opportunities (Study 2). In contrast, the other-focused emotion of group-based sympathy was a more general predictor of support for different affirmative action policies. Our findings demonstrate the benefits and limits of group-based guilt as a basis of support for social equality and highlight the value of understanding the specific emotions elicited in intergroup contexts.

Anger and Guilt About Ingroup Advantage Explain the Willingness for Political Action

Three studies examined non-Aboriginal Australians’ guilt and anger about their ingroup’s advantage over structurally disadvantaged Aborigines. Study 1 showed that participants who perceived their ingroup as relatively advantaged perceived this inequality as unfair and felt guilt and anger about it. Anger, and to a lesser degree guilt, predicted the willingness to engage in political action regarding ingroup advantage. Study 2 showed both guilt and anger to be relatively self-focused because both were associated with appraising the ingroup’s (rather than the government’s) discrimination as responsible for ingroup advantage. Study 3 examined on participants especially willing to engage in political action to bring about systemic compensation to Aborigines. Anger about ingroup advantage was a potent predictor. Although guilt was associated with the abstract goal of systemic compensation, guilt did not explain willingness for political action. Results underline the importance of examining specific group-based emotions in intergroup relations.

Malicious pleasure: Schadenfreude at the suffering of another group

Two studies examined intergroup schadenfreude--malicious pleasure at an out-groups misfortune. Study 1 showed that schadenfreude regarding a German loss in soccer was increased by interest in soccer and threats of Dutch inferiority. The effect of inferiority threat was especially strong for participants less interested in soccer; the more interested showed relatively high schadenfreude. Study 2 replicated these effects by showing a similar pattern of schadenfreude regarding losses by Germany and Italy in another setting. However, schadenfreude toward legitimately superior Italy was lower when a norm of honest and direct expression was made salient to participants lower in soccer interest. These results establish schadenfreude as an emotion that is moderated by the salient dimensions of particular intergroup relations.

Emotion in inter-group relations

The study of inter-group relations has seen a renewed emphasis on emotion. Various frameworks converge on the general conceptualisation of group-level emotions, with respect to their antecedent appraisals and implications for inter-group relations. However, specific points of divergence remain unresolved regarding terminology and operationalisation, as well as the role of self-relevance (e.g., self-categorisation, in-group identification) in moderating the strength of emotion that individuals feel about groups and their inter-relations. In this chapter we first present a typology of group-level emotions in order to classify current conceptual and empirical approaches, differentiating them along the dimensions of the (individual or group) subject and object of emotion. The second section reviews evidence for the claim that individuals feel stronger group-level emotions about things that are relevant to their self-concept, with emphasis on three indicators of self-relevance: domain relevance, self-categorisation as an in-group member, and in-group identification. Implications for, and future directions in, the study of emotion in inter-group relations are discussed.

Group-based guilt as a predictor of commitment to apology

Whether the Australian government should officially apologize to Indigenous Australians for past wrongs is hotly debated in Australia. The predictors of support amongst non-Indigenous Australians for such an apology were examined in two studies. The first study (N=164) showed that group-based guilt was a good predictor of support for a government apology, as was the perception that non-Indigenous Australians were relatively advantaged. In the second study (N=116) it was found that group-based guilt was an excellent predictor of support for apology and was itself predicted by perceived non-Indigenous responsibility for harsh treatment of Indigenous people, and an absence of doubts about the legitimacy of group-based guilt. National identification was not a predictor of group-based guilt. The results of the two studies suggest that, just as individual emotions predict individual action tendencies, so group-based guilt predicts support for actions or decisions to be taken at the collective level.

Protesters as “Passionate Economists” A Dynamic Dual Pathway Model of Approach Coping With Collective Disadvantage

To explain the psychology behind individuals’ motivation to participate in collective action against collective disadvantage (e.g., protest marches), the authors introduce a dynamic dual pathway model of approach coping that integrates many common explanations of collective action (i.e., group identity, unfairness, anger, social support, and efficacy). It conceptualizes collective action as the outcome of two distinct processes: emotion-focused and problem-focused approach coping. The former revolves around the experience of group-based anger (based in appraised external blame for unfair collective disadvantage). The latter revolves around beliefs in the group’s efficacy (based in appraised instrumental coping potential for social change). The model is the first to make explicit the dynamic nature of collective action by explaining how undertaking collective action leads to the reappraisal of collective disadvantage, thus inspiring future collective action. The authors review empirical support for the model, discuss its theoretical and practical implications, and identify directions for future research and application.

The Social Life of Emotions

Introduction: a world of emotion Part I. The Interpersonal Context: 1. Empathy: negotiating the border between self and other Mark Davis 2. Envy and its transmutations Richard H. Smith 3. The bond threat sequence: discourse evidence for the systematic interdependence of shame and social relationships David S. Fearon Jr. 4. Emotion as adaptive interpersonal communication: the case of embarrassment Rowland S. Miller 5. Does expressing emotion promote well-being? It depends on relationship context Margaret S. Clark and Eli J. Finkel Part II. The Intra-Group Context: 6. Emotional contagion: religious and ethnic hatreds and global terrorism Elaine Hatfield and Richard L. Rapson 7. The emotional convergence hypothesis: implications for individuals, relationships, and cultures Cameron Anderson and Dacher Keltner 8. Emotional variation within work groups: causes and performance sequences Larissa Z. Tiedens, Robert I. Sutton and Christina T. Fong 9. Inside the heart of emotion: on culture and relational concerns Patricia M. Rodriguez Mosquera, Agneta H. Fischer and Antony S. R. Manstead 10. Objectification theory and emotions: a feminist psychological perspective on gendered affect Laura B. Citrin, Tomi-Ann Roberts and Barbara Fredrickson Part III. The Inter-Group Context: 11. Intergroup emotions: emotions as an intergroup phenomenon Diane M. Mackie, Lisa A. Silver and Eliot R. Smith 12. Intergroup contact and the central role of affect in intergroup prejudice Linda R. Tropp and Thomas F. Pettigrew 13. Judgements of deserving and the emotional consequences of stigmatization Cheryl R. Kaiser and Brenda Major 14. Group based emotions and intergroup behavior: the case of relative deprivation Heather J. Smith and Thomas Kessler 15. Interpreting ingroups negative actions toward another group: emotional reactions to appraised harm Nyla R. Branscombe and Anca M. Miron 16. Intergroup schadenfreude: conditions and consequences Russel Spears and Colin Wayne Leach.

When is shame linked to constructive approach orientation? A meta-analysis.

Despite recent evidence that episodic shame can be linked to the constructive approach of failure (i.e., prosociality, self-improvement), the prevailing view is that shame is neither constructive nor approach-oriented. To integrate these opposing views, we conducted a theory-driven meta-analysis of 90 samples from the published literature (N = 12,364). As expected, shame had a positive link to constructive approach when failure (g = .47, 95% confidence interval [CI] [.37, .55]) or social image (g = .37, 95% CI [.06, .68]) was more reparable. In contrast, shame had a negative link to constructive approach when failure was less reparable (g = -.34, 95% CI [-.53, -.14]). A supplemental meta-analysis of 42 samples showed shame and guilt to have a similar positive link to constructive approach orientation when failure was more reparable (g = .44 and .43), but not when it was less reparable (g = -.08 and .27).

Democracy's Dilemma: Explaining Racial Inequality in Egalitarian Societies'

While contemporary criticisms of Gunnar Myrdals liberal reformism provide an important perspective on racial ideology (G. Myrdal (1944) An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Democracy. New York: Harper & Row), most people miss Myrdals most provocative point. Rather than assuming that egalitarianism could only oppose racial inequality, Myrdal argued that commitment to egalitarianism led Euro-Americans to avoid the dilemma presented by racial inequality in an egalitarian society. Rather than predicting the disappearance of racism, this analysis can be used to predict an increasing demand for racism in the wake of de jure attempts to eliminate racial inequality.