Unequal and Worth Less? Unequal Prisoner Swaps Influence Perceived Self-Value, Direct Perceptions, and Future Treatment of Outgroups

We suggest a novel route by which people make attributions about others’ worth, humanity, and treatment: the subtle cues they send about how worthy they consider themselves to be. Participants read about prisoner swaps between their own group and an outgroup, that were either equal or unequal trades in which the outgroup received a greater number of prisoners back in exchange for fewer ingroup prisoners. Across two studies, witnessing an unequal (versus equal) prisoner swap led ingroup members to perceive that the outgroup had relatively lower self-value than the ingroup (e.g., placed less value on group members’ lives). These reduced perceptions of outgroup self-value, in turn, led people to have worse direct perceptions of the outgroup (e.g., affording them less respect). Finally, peoples’ own diminished outgroup perceptions predicted endorsement of worse outgroup treatment. These effects occurred despite unequal deals being evaluated as strategically better for the outgroup than the ingroup.