Out-group Similarity and Intergroup Bias

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Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to illuminate the role of out-group similarity in intergroup behavior. A pilot study provided a “trivial” and an “important” basis of similarity for the subject population. In Experiment 1, British students (N = 36) whose in-group was formed on a “chance” basis were positively biased toward an out-group that was similar on both an important and a trivial criterion, demonstrating that similarity can have a more powerful effect on intergroup bias than social categorization. In Experiment 2, the effect of similarity promoted repulsion rather than attraction, when subjects (N = 36) were similar to both the in-group and the out-group on an important criterion. Findings suggest that the differentiation-provoking effect of similarity may come into play after identification has taken place with an in-group when the in-group is subjectively defined on the basis of similarity or “objectively” established on the basis of social categorization.

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