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Anxiety Reduces Empathy Toward Outgroup Members But Not Ingroup Members

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2017

Kevin Arceneaux
Kevin Arceneaux*
Affiliation:
Professor of Political Science, Behavioral Foundations Lab Director, Institute for Public Affairs faculty affiliate, Temple University, 453 Gladfelter Hall, 1115 Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA e-mail: arceneau@temple.edu
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Abstract

Substantial research concludes that favoritism toward members of people's ingroup, or ingroup bias, motivates people to oppose public programs that assist needy outgroup individuals. I argue that a gap in the empathic capacity for ingroup and outgroup members motivates and maintains ingroup bias in helping behavior and is sensitive to contextual cues that trigger anxiety. Using a novel experimental design, Study 1 demonstrates that anxiety exacerbates the outgroup empathy gap. Study 2 replicates these findings with an explicit measure of outgroup empathy. Study 3 shows that the outgroup empathy gap causes individuals to become less supportive of helping needy outgroup members. These studies suggest that opposition to welfare programs may go beyond simple prejudice.

Keywords

Ingroup biasempathywelfare attitudesracial prejudiceevolutionary psychology
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , Spring 2017 , pp. 68 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

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