Ingroup bias is a cognitive bias where preferential treatment is given to members of a group one belongs to. It can be harmless or dangerous and is exhibited in randomly assigned and organized groups. Smaller groups tend to have stronger ingroup bias. It can be difficult to avoid, but being aware of general statements about “them” and discussions where “we” is automatically assumed to be better can help.
Ingroup bias is one among a group of cognitive biases known as group biases. In essence, he performs whenever someone gives preferential treatment to members of a group he belongs to. One of the interesting things about this bias is that it has been demonstrated in randomly assigned groups as well as more organized ones; for example, ingroup bias will be exhibited by members of groups that were created through the toss of a coin, and also by members of the same sports team or people of the same religion.
A cognitive bias is a trick of the mind that is supposed to help the brain process situations and other people. There are a large number of cognitive biases; they are collectively studied by social psychologists, interested in how humans interact with each other. Service-group biases are cognitive biases designed to promote the well-being of a group, often at the expense of strangers.
Several factors go into ingroup bias. The first is the group attribution error, in which group members attribute successes to their personalities and failures to situational factors. For people outside the group, in-group members tend to attribute failures to personality defects and successes to chance circumstances. Members of an ingroup also tend to think of their ingroup members as better than strangers and tend to group strangers together, whereas they view ingroup members as different and unique individuals.
Studies of ingroup bias have shown that smaller groups tend to exhibit stronger ingroup bias, perhaps in an effort to protect themselves from outsiders. This bias has also played a historical role in situations where there is an imbalance of power; for example, many white Americans sincerely believed that African Americans were inherently inferior in the 19th century.
An ingroup bias can be harmless or very dangerous, depending on the circumstances. Ingroup bias is certainly responsible for the suffering on elementary and middle school playgrounds caused by clique formation, and ingroup bias is also behind religious, ethnic, and culture wars around the world. It can be difficult to avoid this bias, although there are some things to watch out for. If you find yourself in an us-vs-them situation, look for general statements about “them” and be wary of discussions where “we” is automatically assumed to be better.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
