Perceiving the World Through Group-Colored Glasses: A Perceptual Model of Intergroup Relations

ABSTRACT

Extensive research has investigated societal and behavioral consequences of social group affiliation and identification but has been relatively silent on the role of perception in intergroup relations. We propose the perceptual model of intergroup relations to conceptualize how intergroup relations are grounded in perception. We review the growing literature on how intergroup dynamics shape perception across different sensory modalities and argue that these perceptual processes mediate intergroup relations. The model provides a starting point for social psychologists to study perception as a function of social group dynamics and for perception researchers to consider social influences. We highlight several gaps in the literature and outline areas for future research. Uncovering the role of perception in intergroup relations offers novel insights into the construction of shared reality and may help devise new and unique interventions targeted at the perceptual level.

Keywords:

• Intergroup relations; perception; social identity

Acknowledgments

We thank members of the New York University Social Perception and Evaluation Lab for helpful comments on this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by an Advanced Postdoc.Mobility fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (P300P1_151174/1) to GC; this work was also supported by the National Science Foundation (#1349089).

Notes

¹ Logically, as the definition of perception becomes narrow, it becomes less susceptible to top-down influences. Although we suspect that group identification might influence very rudimentary elements of perception, our model makes no formal commitments to this extreme form of cognitive penetration. Although we suspect that certain group-level concerns can penetrate early low-level perception, future research will ultimately be required to arbitrate this issue. In any event, a more fruitful scientific question concerns which perceptual processes are influenced by these concerns and under what circumstances these biases emerge and predict behavior.

² No pun intended.

³ By contrast with orthonasal olfaction, that is, olfactory perception resulting from volatile compounds traveling through the nostrils, retronasal olfaction refers to olfaction arising from the volatile compounds present inside the mouth.