The Group-Serving Bias in Evaluating and Explaining Harmful Behavior

• Published in: The Journal of social psychology Vol. 134; no. 1; pp. 47 - 53
• Main Authors: Schruijer, Sandra, Blanz, Mathias, Mummendey, Amélie, Tedeschi, Jim, Banfai, Beata, Dittmar, Helga, Kleibaumhüter, Petra, Mahjoub, Abdelwahab, Mandrosz-Wroblewska, Joanna, Molinari, Luisa, Petillon, Xavier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Taylor & Francis Group 01.02.1994; Heldref; Clark University Press; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Aggression; Aggressiveness; Behavior; Bias; Biological and medical sciences; Collective Behavior; Communist Parties; Explanations; Fascism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Group Dynamics; Group Membership; Harm; Hypotheses; Ingroup bias; Interpersonal Relationship; Italy; Measurement Techniques; Modeling (Psychology); Multivariate Analysis; Perceptions; Personality; Political parties; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Questionnaires; Reconciliation; Research Design; Self Evaluation; Social attribution, perception and cognition; Social psychology; Social research; Statistical Analysis; Vignettes; Italy; Human; Social perception; Social group; Violence; Social attribution; Social belonging; Social cognition; Social interaction; Adult; Intention; Causality; Intergroup relation; Social identity; Aggressiveness; Cognitive bias
• ISSN: 0022-4545; 1940-1183
• DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1994.9710882

Group-serving biases in evaluating and explaining harmful behavior were investigated. Members of the Italian Communist party judged and explained an in-group or an out-group actor's harmful behavior toward an in-group or an out-group victim. The results support the notion of an in-group bias: Out-group actors were perceived as more aggressive and intentional in their actions than in-group actors. An in-group bias was also observed with regard to predictions about whether the victim would attempt retaliation. Group-based explanations were used more often when the group identities of actor and victim were different than when they were the same.