Speaker: Jasmine Tan

Title: Factors influencing responses to group-directed criticism: The moderating role of social exclusion, power, and category differentiation

Date: Friday 26 August, 1-2 pm 

Venue: AS4/02-08 (Psychology Department Meeting Room) 

Abstract:

When faced with criticisms directed at the groups to which people belong, one factor that influences the recipient’s response to the criticism is the group membership of the critic. Known as the Intergroup Sensitivity Effect (ISE), past research has demonstrated that people are more receptive to criticisms made by an ingroup member than the same criticism made by an outgroup member. In this talk, I will present two studies that examined how the combination of motivational factors (social exclusion, lack of power) and social-cognitive factors (perceptions of ingroup-outgroup boundaries) moderate responses towards ingroup versus outgroup critics. Under control conditions, critic group membership determines responses towards criticism, thus replicating the ISE. However, following the recall of social exclusion (Experiment 1) and lack of power (Experiment 2), critic group membership and perceived category boundaries interact, such that people who do not perceive much differentiation between their ingroup and their outgroup respond similarly to ingroup and outgroup critics. Put differently, the ISE disappears only when the recipient’s situation is one of low social inclusion/power and low category differentiation. Implications of these findings for the communication of group-directed criticisms are discussed.

About the Speaker:

Jasmine received her B.Soc.Sci.(Hons.) degree in Psychology from NUS. She is currently a M.Soc.Sci. candidate in the department, working under the supervision of A/P Michelle See. Her current research is on group-directed criticism and seeks to identify factors influencing how people respond to critics and criticisms.