Recategorization into a common identity, not cooperation itself, reduces intergroup bias

Evidence

In one test of our hypothesis, we conducted an experiment that brought two three-person laboratory groups together under conditions designed to foster or reduce intergroup cooperative interaction (Gaertner et al., 1990). As expected, cooperative interaction increased one-group representations (and reduced separate-group representations) and produced more favorable attitudes toward original outgroup members and lower levels of bias. Furthermore, consistent with the Common Ingroup Identity Model, more inclusive, one-group representations mediated (i.e., accounted for) the relationship between the interventions and the reduction of bias. This basic finding has been conceptually replicated in a number of laboratory experiments and field studies involving, for example, banking executives who experienced a merger or college students in blended families (see Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). Thus, developing a common group identity is a key step in the process by which intergroup contact reduces bias, not simply a facilitating factor as suggested by Allport. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 572

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the vault’s contact-theory claims — this refines Allport’s original contact hypothesis, claiming recategorization is a necessary mechanism rather than mere facilitation. — connects to: Recategorization into a common identity can backfire and increase subgroup bias via distinctiveness loss. — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 176; Ingroup-outgroup pairing, not either alone, drives identity shifts — Brandon Randolph-Seng, Darcy A. Reich, and Kenneth G. DeMarree, On the Nonconscious Antecedents of…, 50; Shared superordinate identity is neither necessary nor sufficient for intergroup tolerance — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 800 (+6 more)
• QUESTION: The claim that one-group representations ‘mediated’ the relationship raises the question of how durable this recategorization is once the common goal/identity is removed — a potential boundary condition worth chasing.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 572