A Mutualism, Affiliation and Status Seeking (MASS) Framework of Fundamental Affective Dynamics and Their Survival Benefits

Mobbs, Dean; Tashjian, Sarah M.; Silston, Brian

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-82965-0_9

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 153 publications

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“…From an early age, we are wired to seek out social connections and interactions with others (4,5). Belonging to a group confers many advantages, from social learning to emotional support and sharing in efforts to amass resources and raise one's offspring (6). Ingroup affiliation is also defined in relation to outgroup members in that a sense of 'us' is usually accompanied by a sense of 'them', which may result in ingroup favoritism and intergroup conflict (7,8).…”

Section: Main Text Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias

Nafcha¹,

Hertz²

2023

Preprint

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An individual can learn about someone else’s traits by accumulating experiences from the specific relationship and by incorporating group identity information. Here we examine how group identity affects learning about others and the social learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias. Participants played a game with four other bot-players that entailed collecting stars and could sacrifice a move to zap another player, who would then lose three turns. The bot-players' avatars were either the same or a different color than the participant's avatar. Over six experimental conditions, participants were exposed to different behavioral patterns of bot-players—either zappers or zap-avoiders. We found that participants adjusted their zapping behavior according to the bot-player's behavior and were more likely to zap zappers than avoiders. Participants were also more likely to zap outgroup players and less likely to zap ingroup players, regardless of the player’s behavior, indicating a persistent intergroup bias. Using a computational learning model, we identified the contribution of three learning mechanisms to this tendency. Prior beliefs about players' zapping behavior were higher for outgroup than for ingroup players. Learning rates were very low for outgroup players, making it very difficult to overcome prior beliefs, whereas learning rates for ingroup players were high. Finally, participants attributed the negative behavior of one outgroup player to all other outgroup players, making beliefs about outgroup players more homogeneous. Our results show how group identity shapes and confounds social learning and highlight how intergroup bias can persist despite interaction and experience.

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Section: Main Text Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias

Nafcha¹,

Hertz²

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias

Nafcha,

Hertz

2024

Commun Psychol

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Intergroup bias, the tendency to favor ingroups and be hostile towards outgroups, underlies many societal problems and persists even when intergroup members interact and share experiences. Here we study the way cognitive learning processes contribute to the persistence of intergroup bias. Participants played a game with ingroup and outgroup bot-players that entailed collecting stars and could sacrifice a move to zap another player. We found that intergroup bias persisted as participants were more likely to zap outgroup players, regardless of their zapping behavior. Using a computational model, we found that this bias was caused by asymmetries in three learning mechanisms. Participants had a greater prior bias to zap out-group players, they learned more readily about the negative behavior of out-groups and were less likely to attribute the positive behavior of one out-group player to other out-group players. Our results uncover the way cognitive social learning mechanisms shape and confound intergroup dynamics.

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A Mutualism, Affiliation and Status Seeking (MASS) Framework of Fundamental Affective Dynamics and Their Survival Benefits

Cited by 2 publications

References 153 publications

Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias

Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias

Asymmetric cognitive learning mechanisms underlying the persistence of intergroup bias

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