Identification with all Humanity – a Means to Bridge Diversity?

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Theoretical background In Identification With All Humanity (IWAH), McFarland, Webb, and Brown (2012) presented a new construct as well as a measure for global concern and supportive behaviour toward the disadvantaged, predicting concern for global human rights and humanitarian needs. Reese, Proch, & Finn (2015) suggested that IWAH consists of two dimensions, namely self-definition and self-investment, with the latter being the stronger predictor for behaviour. In relation to this, the stereotype content model (SCM, Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) argues that warmth and competence are fundamental dimensions of social judgment. Since McFarland et al.’s research has shown that persons high in IWAH value the lives of in- and outgroup members equally, we hypothesized that IWAH would also influence the social judgement of groups. Method Sample. We conducted an online survey among young German adults (N= 364) with a mean age of 27.1 years (SD = 9.4). Female participants were in the majority (76%), and the level of education was high (completion of secondary education or above) reflecting recruitment within a university environment. Participation was voluntary and anonymous with the option to be included in a lottery for 2 x €25 and 2 x €10 vouchers. Measures. The survey included the IWAH scale, the Behavioural intentions to reduce global inequality scale (Reese, Bertholt, Steffens, 2012) and actual behaviour (donations and voluntary work) in the past year. As a criterion measure, relevant social groups in Germany were identified in a Pilot study (N=27). We randomly assigned participants to two conditions: In line with SCM we asked participants to judge the social groups identified in the pilot study as a typical German would (stereotypical judgment; control condition) and under the experimental condition to rate the groups as they personally would. This instruction was the only difference between the two groups. Results The results indicate significant differences in the social group ratings between the two conditions with respect to perceived warmth and competence. IWAH did not affect the stereotypical judgements in the control condition, confirming that stereotypes are indeed shared by members of society. Significant differences were found, however, for the personal judgements, especially for warmth ratings of disadvantaged groups. Higher warmth ratings also mean higher willingness to engage with others, thus allowing for a virtuous cycle. The component self-definition played a key role in this process. When viewing others, self-referencing becomes important. Those who perceive themselves as being part of one human family (greater in-group homogeneity) and those who enhance mutual similarity (prototypicality) also perceive stigmatized groups as being closer to themselves.

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