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Helping to Improve the Group Stereotype: On the Strategic Dimension of Prosocial Behavior

University of Dundee, Scotland

Steve Reicher

University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Kate Harrison

University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Clare Cassidy

University of St. Andrews, Scotland

Rebecca Bull

University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Mark Levine

University of Lancaster, England

Three studies consider a basis for intergroup helping. Specifically, they show that group members may help others to disconfirm a stereotype of their own group as mean. Study 1 shows that Scots believe they are seen as mean by the English, resent this stereotype, are motivated to refute it, and believe out-group helping is a particularly effective way of doing so. Study 2 shows that increasing the salience of the English stereotype of the Scottish as mean leads Scots to accentuate the extent to which Scots are depicted as generous. Study 3 shows that increasing the salience of the stereotype of the Scots as mean results in an increase in the help volunteered to out-group members. These results highlight how strategic concerns may result in out-group helping. In turn, they underscore the point that helping others may be a means to advance a group's interest.

Key Words: metastereotypes • prosocial behavior • out-group helping

This version was published on June 1, 2007

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 33, No. 6, 776-788 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167207301023


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