The onset of COVID-19, common identity, and intergroup prejudice

ABSTRACT

The research presented here examined the relationship between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social group identity, intergroup contact, and prejudice. Utilizing a common ingroup identity approach, two datasets, which were composed of data from university students collected via online questionnaires before and after the onset of COVID-19, were combined (N = 511). Participants identified as either one of two subordinate student identities: domestic (i.e. U.S. citizen or permanent resident) or international (i.e. non-U.S. citizen or foreign resident), then reported on the strength of their subordinate and superordinate identity (university identity). Participants also reported on their contact experiences with outgroup members, outgroup stereotypes, and completed a novel intergroup bias task. Results indicated that after the onset of the pandemic, participants more strongly identified with the superordinate group, which predicted greater perceived intergroup contact and lower intergroup bias. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• intergroup bias
• social identity
• intergroup contact
• prejudice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/6rpw2/

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/6rpw2/

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. For indirect effect analyses for regional identity on intergroup outcomes via contact, see Figure S1 in Supplemental Materials. Intergroup contact mediated the association between regional identity and outgroup warmth, indirect effect = −.06, [−.12, −.01], competence, indirect effect = −.05, [−.10, −.01], and intergroup bias, indirect effect = .03, [.01, .06].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Selin Toprakkiran

Selin Toprakkiran is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Rochester and an incoming graduate student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests are social identity and intergroup processes, particularly in the context of stereotypes and prejudice.

Jonathan Gordils

Jonathan Gordils is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hartford. Currently, he is working on how inequality (including racial income inequality) and intergroup competition affect downstream psychological and physiological processes.