Abstract
The underpinnings of intergroup dynamics, particularly in relation to outgroup antipathy, have been systematically examined from psychological and sociocultural perspectives. In this paper, I make a case for the added consideration of imagination-based factors in our explanations of the foundations that give rise to outgroup-directed hate and discrimination. The proposal is an application of the BLINCS model, which holds that our implicit understanding of the reality-fiction distinction is rooted in the inherent features of fictional narratives, namely that they are bounded, inference-light, curated, and sparse. I propose that intergroup hate derives in part from our propensity to render the stories about our outgroups to be more akin to fiction than to reality.
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