Multiple Categorization and Intergroup Bias:Examining the Generalizability of Three Theories of Intergroup Relations

Research on intergroup bias usually focuses on a single dimension of social categorization. In real life, however, people are aware of others’ multiple group memberships and use this information to form attitudesabout them. The present research tests the predictive power of identification, perceived conflict, and perceivedsymbolic threat in explaining the strength of intergroup bias on various dimensions of social categorization inmultiple categorization settings. We conduct a factorial survey experiment, manipulating 9 dimensions ofsocial categorization in diverse samples from 4 countries (n = 12,810 observations, 1,281 participantsrepresenting 103 social groups). The dimensions studied are age, gender, ethnicity, religion, place of residence,education, occupation, income, and 1 country-specific dimension. This approach allows exploring thegeneralizability of established determinants of bias across dimensions of categorization, contexts, and targetgroups. Identification and symbolic threat showed good generalizability across countries and categorizationdimensions, but their effects varied as a function of participant and target groups’ status. Identificationpredicted stronger bias mainly when the participant belonged to a higher status and the target belonged to alower status group. Symbolic threat predicted stronger bias mainly when the target was a minority groupmember. Conflict predicted bias only in few cases, and not only the strength but also the direction of the effectsvaried across countries, dimensions, and target and participant groups.