Why do we treat our in-group better than we do our out-group?

In-group Bias

, explained.
Bias

What is In-group Bias?

In-group bias (also known as in-group favoritism) is the tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others who belong to the same group that they do. This bias shows up even when people are put into groups randomly, making group membership effectively meaningless.

An illustration showing two groups of stick figures walking abstract creatures. One figure in the first group says, 'I don't trust this guy,' while pointing at the second group, illustrating in-group bias.

Where this bias occurs

Let’s say you’re a football fan, and you root for the New England Patriots. At work, you have a couple of coworkers who are also into football: John, who is also a Patriots fan, and Julie, who supports the Philadelphia Eagles. You’re much closer with John than you are with Julie, even though you and Julie actually have more in common (beyond sports preferences) than you do with John. Your work friendships are an example of the in-group bias at work.

Related Biases

Sources

  1. Cadsby, C. B., Du, N., & Song, F. (2016). In-group favoritism and moral decision-making. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 128, 59-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2016.05.008
  2. Gazal-Ayal, O., & Sulitzeanu-Kenan, R. (2010). Let my people go: Ethnic in-group bias in judicial decisions-evidence from a randomized natural experiment. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 7(3), 403-428. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2010.01183.x
  3. Billig, M., & Tajfel, H. (1973). Social categorization and similarity in intergroup behaviour. European journal of social psychology, 3(1), 27-52.
  4. Tajfel, H. (1982). Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annual review of psychology, 33(1), 1-39.
  5. Kaufman, S. B. (2019, June 7). In-group favoritism is difficult to change, even when the social groups are meaningless. Scientific American Blog Network. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/in-group-favoritism-is-difficult-to-change-even-when-the-social-groups-are-meaningless/
  6. Hogg, M. A., Terry, D. J., & White, K. M. (1995). A tale of two theories: A critical comparison of identity theory with social identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58(4), 255. https://doi.org/10.2307/2787127
  7. Golec de Zavala, A., Federico, C. M., Sedikides, C., Guerra, R., Lantos, D., Mroziński, B., … & Baran, T. (2019). Low self-esteem predicts out-group derogation via collective narcissism, but this relationship is obscured by in-group satisfaction. Journal of personality and social psychology.
  8. Yamagishi, T., Jin, N., & Miller, A. S. (1998). In-group bias and culture of collectivism. Asian Journal Of Social Psychology, 1(3), 315-328. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-839x.00020
  9. Konnikova, M. (2012, September 5). Revisiting robbers cave: The easy spontaneity of intergroup conflict. Scientific American Blog Network. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/revisiting-the-robbers-cave-the-easy-spontaneity-of-intergroup-conflict/
  10. Perry, G. (2014, November). The view from the boys. The Psychologist. https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-11/view-boys
  11. Schnake, S., Beal, D., & Ruscher, J. (2006). Modern Racism and Intergroup Bias in Causal Explanation. Race, Gender & Class, 13(1/2), 133-143. Retrieved August 24, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41675227
  12. Stagnaro, M., Dunham, Y., & Rand, D. G. (2018). Profit versus prejudice: Harnessing self-interest to reduce in-group bias. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(1), 50-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617699254
  13. Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Rust, M. C., Nier, J. A., Banker, B. S., Ward, C. M., … & Houlette, M. (1999). Reducing intergroup bias: Elements of intergroup cooperation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 76(3), 388.
  14. Rand, D. G., Pfeiffer, T., Dreber, A., Sheketoff, R. W., Wernerfelt, N. C., & Benkler, Y. (2009). Dynamic remodeling of in-group bias during the 2008 presidential election. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(15), 6187-6191. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811552106
  15. Wann, D. L., & Grieve, F. G. (2005). Biased evaluations of in-group and out-group spectator behavior at sporting events: The importance of team identification and threats to social identity. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(5), 531-546. https://doi.org/10.3200/socp.145.5.531-546
  16. Shariatmadari, D. (2018, April 16). A real-life Lord of the Flies: the troubling legacy of the Robbers Cave experiment. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/16/a-real-life-lord-of-the-flies-the-troubling-legacy-of-the-robbers-cave-experiment

About the Authors

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Dan Pilat

Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.

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Dr. Sekoul Krastev

Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.

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