Allocating negative outcomes dampens the mere categorization effect on in-group favoritism

Evidence

Mummendey et al. (1992) showed that the mere categorization effect could be mitigated when the allocation task involved negative outcomes (e.g., allocating the amount of time another must spend in an uncomfortably noisy room). She posited an “aggravation hypothesis” to account for her findings, speculating that “negative stimuli may lead to a more analytic, more careful, more accurate way of processing the information in the social situation provided” (Mummendey, 1995, p. 667). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1382

Categorization

• QUESTION: The suggestion that negative allocations trigger more careful processing is counter to most intuition that negative contexts amplify bias — worth chasing the boundary conditions of when categorization-driven favoritism weakens.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1382