Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Deep Down My Enemy Is Good: Thinking about the True Self Reduces Intergroup Bias

By: Julian De Freitas and Mina Cikara
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Intergroup bias—preference for one's in-group relative to out-groups—is one of the most robust phenomena in all of psychology. Here we investigate whether a positive bias that operates at the individual-level, belief in a good true self, may be leveraged to reduce intergroup bias. We find that even stereotypically threatening outgroup agents are believed to have a good true self (Experiment 1). More importantly, consideration of an ingroup and out-group members' true self reduces intergroup bias, both in the form of explicit evaluative judgments (Experiment 2) and actual donation behavior (Experiment 3). Across studies, the palliative effects of thinking of an individual's true self generalize to that individual's entire group. In sum, a simple intervention—thinking about another's true self—reduces the gap in how people evaluate and treat out-group relative to ingroup members. We discuss implications of these findings for conflict reduction strategies.

Keywords

Intergroup Bias; True Self; Essentialism; Lay Theories

Citation

De Freitas, Julian, and Mina Cikara. "Deep Down My Enemy Is Good: Thinking about the True Self Reduces Intergroup Bias." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 74 (January 2018): 307–316.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Julian De Freitas

Marketing
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Unselfish Alibis Increase Choices of Selfish Autonomous Vehicles

    By: Julian De Freitas
    • January 28, 2023
    • Wall Street Journal

    Will We Blame Self-Driving Cars? A New Study Finds That People Are Likely to Hold Autonomous Vehicles Liable for Accidents Even When They’re Not at Fault

    By: Julian De Freitas
    • 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Summarizing the Mental Customer Journey

    By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp, Pechthida Kim and Tomer Ullman
More from the Authors
  • Unselfish Alibis Increase Choices of Selfish Autonomous Vehicles By: Julian De Freitas
  • Will We Blame Self-Driving Cars? A New Study Finds That People Are Likely to Hold Autonomous Vehicles Liable for Accidents Even When They’re Not at Fault By: Julian De Freitas
  • Summarizing the Mental Customer Journey By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp, Pechthida Kim and Tomer Ullman
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College