In-Group and Out-Group Meta-Perceptions of Political Deviants
Disciplines
Cognition and Perception | Social Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
According to the Subjective Group Dynamics model, political extremists constitute pro-norm deviants and political moderates constitute anti-norm deviants. Past research has determined that people tend to think political moderates are viewed more negatively than extreme members. We wanted to expand on this by understanding how much these perceptions differ between ingroup and outgroup members. In this study, we examined people’s meta-perceptions (i.e., beliefs about how Republican/Democrat party members perceive another Republican/Democrat) of political extremists and political moderates within both the Republican and Democrat parties. Democrats and Republicans were randomly assigned to read about their political ingroup or their political outgroup. Next, they were given information about a political candidate and were told the candidate was either more extreme than the party, more moderate than the party, or similar to the average member of the party. Overall, we determined that people believe political members dislike moderate members more than extreme members, and this difference is similar for both ingroup members and outgroup member.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Danica Kulibert
In-Group and Out-Group Meta-Perceptions of Political Deviants
According to the Subjective Group Dynamics model, political extremists constitute pro-norm deviants and political moderates constitute anti-norm deviants. Past research has determined that people tend to think political moderates are viewed more negatively than extreme members. We wanted to expand on this by understanding how much these perceptions differ between ingroup and outgroup members. In this study, we examined people’s meta-perceptions (i.e., beliefs about how Republican/Democrat party members perceive another Republican/Democrat) of political extremists and political moderates within both the Republican and Democrat parties. Democrats and Republicans were randomly assigned to read about their political ingroup or their political outgroup. Next, they were given information about a political candidate and were told the candidate was either more extreme than the party, more moderate than the party, or similar to the average member of the party. Overall, we determined that people believe political members dislike moderate members more than extreme members, and this difference is similar for both ingroup members and outgroup member.