Nested Conflicts and Cooperation: Bridging Intragroup Processes and Intergroup Relations

Abstract: This symposium showcases conceptual and empirical work that highlight the nested nature of group conflict and cooperation—namely, how within-group processes impact between-group outcomes. The first presentation investigates the different conditions under which ingroup members serve a protective versus destructive role for individuals threatened by intergroup bias. The second presentation demonstrates how dominant group members’ (e.g., men and Whites) intergroup support stems from their different understandings of their dominant group identities through privately-held feelings of group regard. The third presentation examines how social categorization impacts presumed intragroup processes within one’s ingroup and outgroup differently. The fourth presentation shows evidence of a home-court advantage in negotiations—that joint negotiation outcomes in dyadic negotiations are shaped not only by whether negotiators share a group membership, but also by whether one or both negotiators are negotiating in a foreign country. The final presentation offers a theoretical model illuminating how proactively shaping group prototypes—the collectively agreed upon set of features characterizing membership to a group—can result in a more diverse set of individuals experiencing group prototypicality, and thus, a sense of inclusion. Through the presentation of these five papers, we aim to bridge research on intragroup processes and intergroup dynamics, revealing critical theoretical questions at the intersection of these topics.

Keywords: intergroup relations, intragroup processes