Who Is to Blame?
The Relationship Between Ingroup Identification and Relative Deprivation Is Moderated by Ingroup Attributions
Abstract
Contradictory evidence can be found in the literature about whether ingroup identification and perceived relative deprivation are positively or negatively related. Indeed, theoretical arguments can be made for both effects. It was proposed that the contradictory findings can be explained by considering a hitherto unstudied moderator: the extent to which deprivation is attributed to the ingroup. It was hypothesized that identification would only have a negative impact on deprivation, and that deprivation would only have a negative impact on identification, if ingroup attributions are high. To test this, we experimentally manipulated attributions to the ingroup among British student participants (N = 189), who were asked about their perceived deprivation vis-à-vis German students, yielding support for the hypotheses.
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