Prejudice and Self-Categorization: The Variable Role of Authoritarianism and In-Group Stereotypes

In two experimental questionnaire studies among ethnic Dutch participants (N= 99 and N= 206), it was found that the factors predicting prejudice depend on the level of self-categorization: personal identity or national identity. In the personal-identity condition, it appeared that individual differences in authoritarianism were related to prejudice toward Turkish migrants living in the Netherlands and toward Germans, but there was no effect of in-group stereotypes. In the national-identity condition, in-group stereotypes appeared to be related to prejudice but not authoritarianism. These results suggest that individual attitudes affect evaluations of out-groups if a personal perspective is activated, whereas a representation of the typical characteristics of in-group members affects the out-group evaluations if a collective perspective is activated. These results are consistent with predictions derived from self-categorization theory and show that self-categorization affects the relative importance of individual and group factors for prejudice.

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