Soldiers' In-Group and Out-Group Peer Perception: Contact and Ethnic Identity

Abstract

The role of intergroup contact and ethnic identity in forming stereotypes was investigated in a military setting. The samples included 535 immigrant soldiers, serving in immigrant-only, combat, and administrative units. Participants rated their ethnic identity and their perception of in-group and out-group soldiers. Significant effects were found for unit type, ethnic identity (low vs. high), and the interaction between these variables. In-group perceptions were more positive than out-group perceptions. Interdependence is important for enhancing out-group perception and, unlike contact, buffers the negative effect of ethnic identity on out-group perception.

The Challenges of Military Veterans in Their Transition to the Workplace: A Call for Integrating Basic and Applied Psychological Science

“…Within the very large body of military research, several issues and topics are frequently covered that share conceptual overlap with organizational behavior and social, clinical, and cognitive psychology theories not focused on the military. The military journals more focused on social science frequently publish research on leadership (e.g., Fallesen, Keller-Glaze, & Curnow, 2011), mental health (e.g., Bergman, Przeworski, & Feeny, 2017;Galovski & Lyons, 2004), gender and race (Armor, 1996;Ben-Shalom, 2012; see special issue on gender in Armed Forces & Society, B. L. , well-being (Burrell, Adams, Durand, & Castro, 2006), and the intersection of these topics (e.g., gender, performance, and belonging in the military: Archer, 2013; minority representation and well-being: Perez & Strizhko, 2018). Much of this research was conducted within the context of the military itself, but there is also a large body of research on employment and mental-health issues among veterans (e.g., Dickstein et al, 2010).…”