Effects of perspective taking on attitudes towards outgroups: the moderating role of group identification

Previous research has demonstrated that positive attitudes towards other social groups can be encouraged by instructing people to adopt the perspective of individual members of those (out)groups. The current research develops the idea that perspective taking can sometimes undermine people's need to form a positive image of their own groups, often achieved by portraying other groups less favourably than their own. Four experiments are planned which test the hypothesis that people who are most motivated to portray their group positively namely, strongly identified group members will employ strategies which enable them to avoid adopting the perspective of outgroup members.
The research also tests the suggestion that under certain circumstances, such as when the outgroup is of higher status than the ingroup, perspective taking will have the ironic consequence of promoting the formation of more negative outgroup attitudes. A fifth experiment examines a procedure by which perspective taking can be employed to bring about more positive attitudes amongst strongly and weakly identified group members alike. Collectively, the studies comprising this research will provide new and important insight into the perspective taking process and, as such, they stand to make a significant contribution to the intergroup relations and prejudice reduction literature.