Threat amplifies attribution biases that exonerate ingroups and damn outgroups

Evidence

For example, threat may increase the occurrence of the ultimate attribution error (Pettigrew, 1979; Stephan, 1977), in which negative acts of the outgroup (and positive ingroup acts) are explained in terms of member characteristics, whereas positive outgroup acts (and negative ingroup acts) are attributed to the situation. — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 358

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Escalating conflict reduces in-group acknowledgment of past wrongdoings — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt: Modes…, 130; Control motivation but not implicit death cognition drives threat-based ingroup defense. — Dmitrij Agroskin and Eva Jonas, Controlling death by defending…, 143; the MOC “The Enemy-Making Machine: How Ourselves, the True, and Every Other Are Built from War” (+1 more)

Related

• Threat amplifies the ultimate attribution error in intergroup perception. (similarity 0.91)
• Threat-driven cognitive biases facilitate and justify intergroup violence (similarity 0.85)
• Control motivation but not implicit death cognition drives threat-based ingroup defense. (similarity 0.84)
• Perceived threat amplifies both in-group favoritism and out-group hostility (similarity 0.84)
• Threat amplifies preexisting intergroup responses rather than creating them (similarity 0.84)
• Threat biases memory, stereotype disconfirmation, and perceived outgroup size. (similarity 0.84)
• Escalating conflict reduces in-group acknowledgment of past wrongdoings (similarity 0.83)
• Group-defense reactions can be triggered without any conscious perception of group threat (similarity 0.82)
• Threatened groups deny outgroups distinctively human emotions (similarity 0.82)
• Groups are judged more threatening than the individuals composing them (similarity 0.81)
• Cross-group friendship and empathy reduce the threat behind intergroup bias. (similarity 0.81)
• Meta-analysis across studies quantifies how distinct intergroup threat types relate to outgroup attitudes. (similarity 0.81)
• Perceived threat from a weak outgroup triggers anger; from a powerful one, fear (similarity 0.81)
• Threats can increase ingroup identification, not merely follow from it (similarity 0.80)
• Ongoing historical harms trigger defensive denial where ended ones allow acknowledgment (similarity 0.80)