How sport participation influences intergroup bias: A social mindfulness perspective

Abstract

Social mindfulness (SoMi), defined as demonstrating goodwill with minimal resources, is a central component of prosociality. Although sport participation has been associated with changes in prosocial behavior, its influence on intergroup bias in SoMi remains unclear. This research used four studies (N = 463) with adapted SoMi and minimal group paradigms to explore this issue in adolescents. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that sport participation significantly reduced intergroup bias, particularly by increasing SoMi behaviors toward outgroup members, with variations across different sport contexts. In Study 3, the roles of cooperation and competition within sport participation were examined separately, revealing that cooperation heightened ingroup favoritism while competition increased outgroup derogation. Study 4 examined these effects in non-sport contexts, revealing that competition fostered both ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation, whereas cooperation did not significantly affect overall bias but alleviated outgroup derogation. These findings suggest that sport participation can substantially influence intergroup bias in SoMi through sport-specific mechanisms of cooperation and competition.