LINGUISTIC INTERGROUP BIAS - DIFFERENTIAL EXPECTANCIES OR IN-GROUP PROTECTION

The linguistic intergroup bias describes the tendency to communicate p ositive in-group and negative out-group behaviors more abstractly than negative in-group and positive out-group behaviors. This article inve stigated whether this bias is driven by differential expectancies or b y in-group protective motives. In Experiment 1, northern and southern Italian participants (N = 151) described positive and negative behavio rs of northern or southern protagonists that were either congruent or incongruent with stereotypic expectancies. Regardless of valence, expe ctancy-congruent behaviors were described more abstractly than incongr uent ones. Experiment 2 (N = 40) showed that language is used in an eq ually biased fashion for individuals as previously demonstrated for gr oups. Experiment 3 (N = 192) induced expectancies experimentally and f ound greater abstraction for expectancy-congruent behaviors regardless of valence. All experiments confirmed the differential expectancy app roach.