Perceived ingroup entitativity and intergroup bias: an interconnection of self and others

Campbell's (1958) concept of ingroup entitativity is reformulated as a perc eived interconnection of self and others. A 2 (intergroup relations: compet itive, neutral) x 3 (intragroup interaction. low, medium, high) between-sub jects design was used to examine (I) the effects of intergroup and intragro up relations on perceived ingroup entitativity and (2) the relation between ingroup entitativity and intergroup bias. Regardless of the relations betw een groups, members who experienced intragroup interaction had stronger per ceptions of ingroup entitativity and stronger representations of the aggreg ate of ingroup and outgroup members as two separate groups than members who lacked intragroup interaction. Furthermore, perceptions of ingroup entitat ivity mediated the effect of the salience of the intergroup boundary on beh avioral intergroup bias. These results call into question the 'intergroup' nature of group based phenomena. An ingroup entitativity framework is prese nted that locates the source of group-based phenomena (e.g. intergroup bias ) in intragroup processes. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.