Stretching the boundaries: Strategic perceptions of intragroup variability

We hypothesised that people would strategically alter their perceived intra group variability on ingroup-threatening traits in order to maintain positi ve perceptions of their self and their ingroup. Specifically, we predicted that people would perceive (1) greater relative outgroup homogeneity and (2 ) greater general intragroup variability on ingroup negative and outgroup p ositive traits. We confirmed the outgroup homogeneity prediction in a minim al group experiment (N = 80) and a gender group experiment (N = 164). In a second gender group experiment (N = 137), we found that ingroup size modera ted this effect: only minority group members showed the predicted pattern o f outgroup homogeneity. Evidence for the general intragroup variability pre diction was less conclusive. We discuss the results in terms of variability , strategies. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.