In-groups are seen as more entitative and out-groups as more homogeneous

Evidence

Recent research by Crump et al. (2010) empirically demonstrated that entitativity and similarity can play different roles in perceptions of groups, including those of in-groups and out-groups. In two studies, they showed those in-groups are typically perceived as more highly entitative than out-groups, whereas out-groups are perceived as more homogeneous than in-groups. In a third study, Crump et al. manipulated either the entitativity of a group (e.g., whether group members pursued common goals) or the similarity of a group’s members (e.g., whether they shared attributes and exhibited similar behaviors) and then presented a series of sentences describing behaviors performed by individual group members. Participants then rated the group on measures of entitativity and similarity. If entitativity and similarity were the same construct, then manipulations of them would have equivalent effects on ratings of the group’s entitativity and similarity. Crump et al. found, however, that the entitativity manipulation only affected ratings of group entitativity and the similarity manipulation only affected ratings of group similarity. Thus, although perceived entitativity and group homogeneity are related constructs, they are separate concepts and can make unique contributions to group perception and intergroup phenomena. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 241

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to classic intergroup perception research (out-group homogeneity effect) and to thinking on minimal group paradigms.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 241