Physical segregation impedes psychological integration: scene inconsistency increases prejudice against minority groups
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Physical segregation impedes psychological integration: scene inconsistency increases prejudice against minority groups Xiaoxiao Zhang 1 & Xian Zhao 2 & Jianning Dang 3,4
&
Li Liu 3
Accepted: 23 September 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Scene inconsistency is known to impair cognitive performance. We extended this line of inquiry to the field of intergroup relations, and examined the effect of scene inconsistency on prejudice. We conceptualized members of a subordinate ethnic group in their original sociocultural context as a consistent scene, and their appearance in a dominant ethnic group’s host sociocultural context as an inconsistent scene. Under the context of the intergroup dynamic between Han Chinese and Tibetan Chinese, four experiments were conducted to confirm that scene inconsistency increases prejudice, Specifically, when Tibetan Chinese were associated with the context of Han (versus Tibetan) Chinese, Han Chinese participants were less willing to interact with (Experiment 1), expressed greater social distance from (Experiment 2), and less willingness to hire Tibetan Chinese (Experiment 3). Furthermore, Experiment 4 provided a cognitive strategy to buffer the negative influence of scene inconsistency on intergroup relations, revealing the moderating role of comparative thinking. Keywords Scene inconsistency . Prejudice . Han Chinese . Tibetan Chinese . Comparative thinking
Prejudice against subordinate racial/ethnic groups is a longstanding but ongoing issue worldwide, and it often accompanies the occurrence of residential segeration. This is also the case in China. In terms of population size, Han is the dominant ethnic group, accounting for 91.51% of the Chinese population (National Bureau of Statistics 2011). Tibetan is one of the biggest subordinate ethnic groups in China. Dominant groups have negative attitudes toward subordinate groups, which is also applicable to the relationship between Han Chinese and Tibetan Chinese. Tibetan Chinese are perceived as violent, aggressive, and rustic by Han Chinese (Hillman and Henfry 2006).
* Jianning Dang [email protected] 1
School of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
2
Department of Management, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
3
Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
4
Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Residential segregation also exists among Han Chinese and Tibetan Chinese, with most Tibetan Chinese living in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, where 90.48% of the residents are Tibetan Chinese (National Bureau of Statistics 2012). In the context of globalization, residential mobility between racial/ethnic groups has increased significantly, and an increasing number of Tibetans would lik
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