Social and Intergroup Psychology

Intergroup and social psychology examines how people's sense of self becomes bound up with the groups they belong to—whether defined by race, class, nation, or political affiliation—and how those group memberships shape perception, judgment, and behavior toward outsiders. Researchers in this area investigate phenomena ranging from the subtle cognitive shortcuts that produce implicit bias and stereotype threat to the broader structural forces that lead disadvantaged groups to sometimes endorse the very systems that limit them, a pattern known as system justification. Central open questions include how lasting attitude change actually occurs across group lines—particularly whether intergroup contact reduces prejudice in real-world conditions or mainly in controlled settings—and how power asymmetries between groups complicate moral reasoning and judgments about fairness. Work in this area draws on experimental social psychology, survey-based sociology, and political science to understand both the psychological roots of discrimination and the conditions under which it can be meaningfully reduced.

Works

72,152

Total citations

2,698,680

Keywords

Intergroup ContactSocial IdentityImplicit BiasStereotype ThreatPrejudice ReductionPower Dynamics