The conflict-cooperation effect persists under intragroup payoff asymmetry
- Author(s)
- Maik M. P. Theelen, Robert Böhm
- Abstract
In real-world intergroup conflict, not all in-group members are equally threatened by the out-group. Yet, the impact of intragroup payoff asymmetry on the inclination to mutually cooperate during intergroup conflict and therefore to protect against out-group attacks, i.e., the "conflict-cooperation effect," has not been investigated so far. In Study 1, we replicate previous research by using a novel experimental game paradigm, showing increased intragroup cooperation in the presence (vs. absence) of out-group threat under intragroup payoff symmetry. In Study 2, we find a conflict-cooperation effect among group members who are threatened (victims) as well as among group members who are not threatened (helpers) by the out-group. Intragroup cohesiveness, i.e., perceived closeness among in-group members, mediates the conflict-cooperation effect, particularly among selfishly-oriented individuals. Our results support the notion that intergroup conflict may have favored the evolutionary adaption of intragroup cooperation even when the in-group members were asymmetrically threatened by intergroup conflict.
- Organisation(s)
- External organisation(s)
- University of Copenhagen, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
- Journal
- Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
- Volume
- 24
- Pages
- 815-835
- No. of pages
- 21
- ISSN
- 1368-4302
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220910795
- Publication date
- 08-2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 501021 Social psychology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies, Communication, Social Psychology, Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous), Sociology and Political Science
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/the-conflictcooperation-effect-persists-under-intragroup-payoff-asymmetry(f05e9c35-4ccc-439a-bad0-5bdad737d62a).html