In or out : ethnicity and personality in in-group out-group appraisal

Abstract

Upon first meeting an individual, a number of social cognitive processes occur quickly, and the individual is then given a mental label as an in-group (IG) or out-group (OG) member. This may be done consciously or sub-consciously and various physical characteristics play a part in this, along with the appraiser’s cultural context and personality. This study focuses on ethnicity as an IG OG categorisation factor in the multiracial context of Singapore, looking at how majority’s appraisal may be different form the minority’s appraisal and how personality affects this categorisation process. Using Near Infrared-Spectroscopy (NIRS), brain activation patterns were assessed when participants underwent three tasks, (a) face task, (b) read task, and (c) rate task. The face task involved passive viewing of black and white face stimuli. The read and rate task involved active appraisal of an individual via reading and rating the emotionality of a situational vignette. All three tasks involved stimulus of the same ethnicity as the participant, and stimulus of a different ethnicity. Results disagree with the hypothesis that Singaporeans characterise IG OG via ethnicity. Personality however, does affect the IG OG characterisation process, with participants higher on openness and agreeableness exhibiting an enlarged IG effect, as compared to less open and agreeable people, exhibiting a different brain activation pattern across Chinese ethnicity stimulus and Indian ethnicity stimulus. Therefore, this study lends strength to the argument that cultural context can make a difference to the IG OG categorisation process, however individual personality outplays the cultural influence.