Determinants of in-group bias: group affiliation or guilt-aversion?

Arbeitspapier

In-group favoritism in social dilemma situations is one of the main findings of studies in Social Identity Theory. We investigate what causes the in-group bias: is it due to mere group affiliation or, alternatively, is guilt-aversion a possible explanation? We induce group membership in a minimal group setting, observe in-/out-group transfers and elicit re- spective beliefs. We find that mere group affiliation affects beliefs and explains a substantial part of the bias, but we also find evidence in favor of guilt-aversion as a source of motivation.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Jena Economic Research Papers ; No. 2008,046

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Noncooperative Games ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Group Behavior ; Expectations; Speculations
• Subject: Social preferences ; experiments ; social dilemma ; group identity ; guilt aversion ; Soziale Gruppe ; Persönlichkeitspsychologie ; Bias ; Soziale Wohlfahrtsfunktion ; Gefangenendilemma ; Test

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Güth, Werner ; Ploner, Matteo ; Regner, Tobias
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Max Planck Institute of Economics
• (where): Jena
• (when): 2008

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/25731
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET