{"id":59651,"date":"2022-02-03T12:55:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T16:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=59651"},"modified":"2022-02-14T11:17:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T15:17:09","slug":"in-group-out-group-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of In-Group, Out-Group Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the in-group, out-group bias? Why do we prioritize people who belong to our in-group?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In-group, out-group bias is the tendency to favor and give preferential treatment to members of the same group. By categorizing yourself as a member of a group, you make that membership part of your identity and thus focus on its positive traits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s why people tend to prioritize their in-group, according to Rolf Dobelli, the author of <em>The Art of Thinking Clearly<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-in-group-out-group-bias\"><strong>In-Group, Out-Group Bias<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of humanity\u2019s desire to be in a group is prioritizing your own group above others. As Dobelli explains,<strong> <\/strong>this means you magnify your group\u2019s positive traits and minimize those of other groups: a phenomenon called in-group, out-group bias. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dobelli notes that there are three components to believing your group is better than others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Groups frequently form around unimportant things, but <strong>your brain locks onto those similarities and prioritizes them above any differences.<\/strong> (Shortform note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/fulfillment-any-age\/201012\/in-groups-out-groups-and-the-psychology-crowds\">These prioritized in-groups can change depending on the situation<\/a>. If you\u2019re driving and a pedestrian blocks the road, you\u2019ll be annoyed at pedestrians. Your in-group is \u201cdrivers,\u201d while \u201cpedestrians\u201d is an out-group. However, if you\u2019re later a pedestrian and a car honks at you, you\u2019ll be annoyed at drivers. Your in-group shifted to \u201cpedestrians&#8221; according to the situation, and your feelings likewise shifted.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. When you\u2019re in a group, your brain views the members of other groups as more similar than they are. <strong>Your brain wants others to fit neatly into their opposing box, so it ignores any conflicting information.<\/strong> (Shortform note: Research confirms that people can identify minor differences between in-group faces while missing differences between out-group faces. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/116\/29\/14532\">Your brain recognizes when individuals aren\u2019t in your in-group and puts less effort into processing or remembering their faces,<\/a> meaning it doesn\u2019t register differences between these faces.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Groups usually form around people\u2019s opinions, which means you spend a lot of time with other people who hold the same opinions as you. <strong>Because everyone around you agrees, you believe your group must be right.<\/strong> (Shortform note: On social media, this kind of group <a href=\"https:\/\/edu.gcfglobal.org\/en\/digital-media-literacy\/what-is-an-echo-chamber\/1\/\">is called an echo chamber<\/a>. Social media algorithms direct you to people with similar beliefs, which reinforces your underlying beliefs. In turn, interacting with those people reinforces the algorithm.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the modern day, Dobelli argues, group bias is a dangerous phenomenon that blinds you to the facts of a situation and enforces prejudice. (Shortform note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/fulfillment-any-age\/201012\/in-groups-out-groups-and-the-psychology-crowds#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20suggestions%20for%20tearing%20down%20some%20of%20those%20real%20and%20virtual%20fences%3A\">To counter this bias,<\/a> spend time with members of out-groups. Focus on points of connection, rather than differences, and recognize when your groups are formed around arbitrary means.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the in-group, out-group bias? Why do we prioritize people who belong to our in-group? In-group, out-group bias is the tendency to favor and give preferential treatment to members of the same group. By categorizing yourself as a member of a group, you make that membership part of your identity and thus focus on its positive traits. Here&#8217;s why people tend to prioritize their in-group, according to Rolf Dobelli, the author of The Art of Thinking Clearly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9,24],"tags":[576],"class_list":["post-59651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","category-society","tag-the-art-of-thinking-clearly","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Psychology of In-Group, Out-Group Bias - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In-group, out-group bias is the tendency to favor members of the same group. 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There are three components to believing your group is superior.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-03T16:55:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-14T15:17:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/group-of-people-pointing.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1061\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"638\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Psychology of In-Group, Out-Group Bias\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-03T16:55:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-14T15:17:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/group-of-people-pointing.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Art of Thinking Clearly\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/\",\"name\":\"The Psychology of In-Group, Out-Group Bias - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/in-group-out-group-bias\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/group-of-people-pointing.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-03T16:55:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-14T15:17:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"In-group, out-group bias is the tendency to favor members of the same group. 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