Intergroup helping during the COVID-19 crisis: A moderated mediation with effects of ingroup identification, ingroup blame, and perceived global common fate

Abstract

Strong identification with the national ingroup encourages acts of ingroup solidarity and helping of ingroup members, but it is less well understood how ingroup identification affects willingness to help outgroup members in need. This was tested in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, asking British nationals about their willingness to donate money to help those suffering from the coronavirus crisis in China. It was hypothesized that ingroup identification would have an indirect negative effect on willingness to help outgroup members, mediated by ingroup blame, i.e. preparedness to attribute blame for the worldwide problems caused by the coronavirus crisis to the British national ingroup. Identification was expected to be negatively associated with ingroup blame, and ingroup blame was expected to be positively associated with outgroup helping. Moreover, it was hypothesized that the link between ingroup blame and outgroup helping would be attenuated if perceived global common fate in terms of managing the pandemic was high. Support for these predictions was found in a survey of British participants (N = 210).

An epidemic context elicits more prosocial decision-making in an intergroup social dilemma

“…These results are also consistent with evidence that higher levels of globalization are associated with stronger tendencies to cooperate with distal others 12 , and that perceptions of common fate attenuate the association between ingroup identification and outgroup helping 24 . Epidemics or pandemics may increase such www.nature.com/scientificreports/ connectedness or shared fate.…”

“I knew I needed to live what I realised was faith in me”: Enacting and transcending religious identity through food aid volunteering

“…It could be argued that these observations are consistent with the concept of identification with all humanity (IWAH; McFarland et al., 2012), which has been shown to positively predict participants’ willingness to donate money to general international humanitarian causes (McFarland et al., 2012), and to volunteer/help during specific crises, such as the Ebola epidemic (Stürmer et al., 2016) and the COVID‐19 pandemic (e.g., Barragan et al., 2021; Zagefka, 2022a, 2022b). It could also be argued that Samir is displaying a moral identity (e.g., Aquino & Reed, 2002), which involves perceiving one's own morality (e.g., showing kindness to others) as an important personal and/or human trait.…”

“…The social identity approach (SIA; Tajfel, 1978; Turner et al., 1987) focuses on the implications of group dynamics for people's thinking and behaviour. Although the SIA has been applied to understand the role of group‐related processes in relatively short‐term acts of helping such as emergency intervention and charitable giving (e.g., Albayrak‐Aydemir & Gleibs, 2021; Levine & Manning, 2013; Ntontis et al., 2018; Zagefka, 2022a, 2022b), there is less literature applying the SIA to volunteering. However, research which has been conducted highlights the important role played by social group membership in predicting volunteering intentions (e.g., Simon et al., 2000; Thoits et al., 2021; Thomas et al., 2017).…”

Using Behavioural Science to Help Understand Vaccine Hesitancy

“…10,11 Identity and being part of a group are extremely important, 10,31 and leveraging tribal beliefs and pride is incredibly powerful. 32,33 It is essential to include the principles of the group in health communications surrounding vaccination. 17,34 Messages about vaccination clearly cannot be generic, as a patient's or caregiver's world view is tied to their behaviour regarding vaccines.…”