Seeking help from an outgroup can be difficult, especially when the outgroup is known to stereotype the ingroup negatively and the potential recipient cares strongly about its social image. However, we ask whether even highly identified ingroup members may seek help from a judgmental outgroup if doing so allows them to disconfirm the outgroup’s negative stereotype of the ingroup. We presented participants with one of two negative outgroup stereotypes of their ingroup. One could be disconfirmed through seeking help, the other could not. Study 1 (n = 43) showed group members were aware of the strategic implications of seeking help for disconfirming these stereotypes. Study 2 (n = 43) showed high identifiers acted on such strategic knowledge by seeking more help from the outgroup when help-seeking could disconfirm a negative stereotype of their group (than when it could not). Implications for the seeking and acceptance of help are discussed.
CarrS. C.McAuliffeE.MacLachlanM. (1998). Psychology of aid. New York, NY: Routledge.
2.
DePauloB. M.NadlerA.FisherJ. D. (Eds.). (1983). New directions in helping Volume 2: Help-seeking. New York, NY: Academic Press.
3.
DoosjeB.EllemersN.SpearsR. (1995). Perceived intragroup variability as a function of group status and identification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31, 410-436. doi:10.1006/jesp.1995.1018
4.
DruryJ.ReicherS. (2005). Explaining enduring empowerment: A comparative study of collective action and psychological outcomes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35, 35-58. doi:10.1002/ejsp.231
5.
EllemersN.SpearsR.DoosjeB. (1999). Social identity: Context, commitment and content. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
6.
FieldA. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
FisherJ. D.NadlerA.Whitcher-AlagnaS. (1978). Toward a model for conceptualizing recipient reactions to aid. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, 353.
8.
GordijnE. H. (2010). When thinking that you are fat makes you feel worthless: Activation and application of meta-stereotypes when appearance matters. Social Cognition, 28, 20-39. doi:10.1521/soco.2010.28.1.20
9.
HopkinsN.GreenwoodR. M. (2013). Hijab, visibility and the performance of identity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 438-447. doi:10.1002/ejsp.1955
10.
HopkinsN.ReicherS.HarrisonK.CassidyC.BullR.LevineM. (2007). Helping to improve the group stereotype: On the strategic dimension of prosocial behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 776-788. doi:10.1177/0146167207301023
11.
KleinO.AzziA. E. (2001). The strategic confirmation of meta-stereotypes: How group members attempt to tailor an out-group’s representation of themselves. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 279-293. doi:10.1348/014466601164759
12.
KleinO.SnyderM. (2003). Stereotypes and behavioral confirmation: From interpersonal to intergroup perspectives. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 153-234). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
13.
LammersJ.GordijnE. H.OttenS. (2008). Looking through the eyes of the powerful. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1229-1238. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.03.015
14.
LeeF. (2002). The social costs of seeking help. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 38, 17-35. doi:10.1177/0021886302381002
15.
LevineM.ProsserA.EvansD.ReicherS. (2005). Identity and emergency intervention: How social group membership and inclusiveness of group boundaries shape helping behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 443-453. doi:10.1177/0146167204271651
16.
MaussM. (1990). The gift: Forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies. London, England: Routledge.
17.
NadlerA. (2002). Inter-group helping relations as power relations: Maintaining or challenging social dominance between groups though helping. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 487-502. doi:10.1111/1540-4560.00272
18.
NadlerA. A.HalabiS. (2006). Intergroup helping as status relations: Effects of status stability, identification, and type of help on receptivity to high-status group’s help. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 97-110. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.1.97
19.
OwuamalamC. K.ZagefkaH. (2011). Downplaying a compromised social image: The effect of meta-stereotype valence on social identification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 528-537.doi:10.1002/ejsp.805
20.
PandeyK.StevensonC.ShankarS.HopkinsN.ReicherS. (2014). Cold comfort at the Magh Mela: Social identity processes and physical hardship. British Journal of Social Psychology. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12054
21.
ReicherS. D.HaslamS. A. (2010). Beyond help: A social psychology of collective solidarity and social cohesion. In SturmerS.SnyderM. (Eds.), Psychology of prosocial behavior (pp. 289-310). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
22.
RiekB. M.ManiaE. W.GaertnerS. L. (2006). Intergroup threat and outgroup attitudes: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 336-353. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1004_4
23.
RochlenA. B.WhildeM. R.HoyerW. D. (2005). The real men. Real depression campaign: Overview, theoretical implications, and research considerations. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 6, 186-194. doi:10.1037/1524-9220.6.3.186
24.
TajfelH. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. London, England: Academic Press.
25.
TäuberS.van ZomerenM. (2012). Refusing intergroup help from the morally superior: How one group’s moral superiority leads to another group’s reluctance to seek their help. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 420-423. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.08.014
26.
van LeeuwenE.TäuberS. (2011). Demonstrating knowledge: The effects of group status on outgroup helping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 147-156. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.09.008
27.
VorauerJ. D.HunterA. J.MainK. J.RoyS. A. (2000). Meta-stereotype activation: Evidence from indirect measures for specific evaluative concerns experienced by members of dominant groups in intergroup interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 690-707. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.4.690
28.
VorauerJ. D.MainK. J.O’ConnellG. B. (1998). How do individuals expect to be viewed by members of lower status groups? Content and implications of meta-stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 917-937. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.917
29.
WakefieldJ. R. H.HopkinsN.CockburnC.ShekK. M.MuirheadA.ReicherS.RijswijkW. V. (2011). The impact of adopting ethnic or civic conceptions of national belonging for others’ treatment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1599-1610. doi:10.1177/0146167211416131
30.
WakefieldJ. R. H.HopkinsN.GreenwoodR. M. (2012). Thanks but no thanks: Women’s avoidance of help-seeking in the context of a dependency-related stereotype. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36, 425-433. doi:10.1177/0361684312457659
31.
WakefieldJ. R. H.HopkinsN.GreenwoodR. M. (2013). Meta-stereotypes, social image and help-seeking: Dependency-related meta-stereotypes reduce help-seeking behavior. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 23, 363-372. doi:10.1002/casp.2126
