The ever-changing face of social groups: Psychological and behavioral responses to group-image threat

Abstract

Images of a social group are socially constructed, fluctuate across time and context, and have the power not only to inform group members about their group’s position within social hierarchies but also to shape how others perceive, relate to, and subsequently act toward members of this group. Hence, negative group images diminish a group’s social standing and promote interpersonal and intergroup discrimination against this group, which clashes with people’s basic needs to maintain a positive sense of self and gives rise to group-image threats. Across three papers, I examine group-image threats facing three different groups (East Asian people, White Americans, and Native Peoples), which emerged during three unique socio-cultural-political contexts (the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump’s presidency, and the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election night). I focus on group-image threats’ sources and psychological outcomes, and how group members respond to these threats. Paper 1 demonstrates that the image that blamed East Asian people for causing and spreading COVID-19 increased anxious expectations of discrimination among East Asian individuals and, in turn, predicted greater sleep difficulties, suggesting that negative group images have detrimental implications for group members’ mental and physical well-being. Paper 2 reveals that the image depicting White Americans as anti-egalitarian Trump supporters led liberal-leaning Whites to psychologically and behaviorally disidentify from their racial group, suggesting that high-status group members are also susceptible to group-image threats and that people have the capacity to manage their identities in response to threats to their positive sense of self. Finally, Paper 3 leverages an incident on the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election night that renders Native Peoples invisible to explore how the absence of group images shapes Native Peoples’ understandings of their group’s social standing and how they contended with this image (or lack thereof), suggesting that disadvantaged social group members are active agents who push back against negative group images. By providing insights into the antecedents and ramifications of ever-changing group images, this dissertation demonstrates that negative group images can either hinder or advance the efforts to create a more equitable and inclusive future.