The assumption that people favor ingroups and disfavor outgroups is based largely on theory and research from Western countries. However, groups subjected to economic exploitation and inequality might come to favor more advantaged outgroups. The present large-scale study (N = 12,339) involving 45 non-Western countries explored ingroup stereotypes and stereotypes of relatively advantaged and disadvantaged outgroups (Western Europeans and Western Africans, respectively) and their relation to macroeconomic conditions. Compared with their national ingroup, participants stereotyped advantaged outgroups as more competent (exhibiting outgroup favoritism) but less warm; they stereotyped disadvantaged outgroups as less competent but neither more nor less warm. Nationals of poorer and more exploited countries exhibited stronger outgroup favoritism on competence and stronger ingroup favoritism on warmth. This work provides preliminary evidence for the structural origins of national stereotypes: macroeconomic inequalities can override habitual ingroup favoritism and lead national groups to exhibit outgroup favoritism.
AbeleA. E.EllemersN.FiskeS. T.KochA.YzerbytV. (2021). Navigating the social world: Toward an integrated framework for evaluating self, individuals, and groups. Psychological Review, 128(2), 290–314. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000262
2.
AbeleA. E.HaukeN.PetersK.LouvetE.SzymkowA.DuanY. (2016). Facets of the fundamental content dimensions: Agency with competence and assertiveness—Communion with warmth and morality. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1810. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01810
3.
AdamsG.DoblesI.GómezL. H.KurtişT.MolinaL. E. (2015). Decolonizing psychological science: Introduction to the special thematic section. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.564
4.
AllportG. W. (1979). The nature of prejudice: 25th anniversary edition. Basic Books.
5.
AminS. (2014). Capitalism in the age of globalization: The management of contemporary society. Bloomsbury Publishing.
6.
AschS. E. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41(3), 258–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0055756
7.
Ashburn-NardoL.KnowlesM. L.MonteithM. J. (2003). Black Americans’ implicit racial associations and their implications for intergroup judgment. Social Cognition, 21(1), 61–87. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.21.1.61.21192
8.
AtariM.HaidtJ.GrahamJ.KolevaS.StevensS. T.DehghaniM. (2023). Morality beyond the WEIRD: How the nomological network of morality varies across cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125(5), 1157–1188. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000470
9.
AxtJ. R.MoranT.Bar-AnanY. (2018). Simultaneous ingroup and outgroup favoritism in implicit social cognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 79, 275–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.08.007
10.
BikoS. (1996). I write what I like: A selection of his writings. Bowerdean Press.
11.
BlayY. A. (2011). Skin bleaching and global white supremacy: By way of introduction. Journal of Pan African Studies, 4(4), 4–46.
12.
Bou ZeineddineF.SaabR.LášticováB.KendeA.AyanianA. H. (2022). “Some uninteresting data from a faraway country”: Inequity and coloniality in international social psychological publications. Journal of Social Issues, 78(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12481
13.
CalanchiniJ.SchmidtK.ShermanJ. W.KleinS. A. W. (2022). The contributions of positive outgroup and negative ingroup evaluation to implicit bias favoring outgroups. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(40), Article e2116924119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116924119
14.
CameronC. D.LindquistK. A.GrayK. (2015). A constructionist review of morality and emotions: No evidence for specific links between moral content and discrete emotions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 19(4), 371–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868314566683
15.
Capielo RosarioC.SchaeferA.BallesterosJ.RenteríaR.DavidE. J. R. (2019). A caballo regalao no se le mira el colmillo: Colonial mentality and Puerto Rican depression. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 66(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000347
16.
ChanW.McCraeR. R.De FruytF.JussimL.LöckenhoffC. E.De BolleM.CostaP. T.SutinA. R.RealoA.AllikJ.NakazatoK.ShimonakaY.HřebíčkováM.GrafS.YikM.Brunner-SciarraM.De FigueroaN. L.SchmidtV.AhnC.. . . TerraccianoA. (2012). Stereotypes of age differences in personality traits: Universal and accurate?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(6), 1050–1066. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029712
17.
ChomaB. L.PrusaczykE. (2018). The effects of system justifying beliefs on skin-tone surveillance, skin-color dissatisfaction, and skin-bleaching behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 42(2), 162–177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684317747845
18.
ClarkK. B.ClarkM. P. (1950). Emotional factors in racial identification and preference in Negro children. The Journal of Negro Education, 19(3), 341–350. https://doi.org/10.2307/2966491
19.
CoglianoJ. F.VenezianiR.YoshiharaN. (2024). The dynamics of international exploitation. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 56(5), 1420–1446. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231224618
20.
DavidE. J. R. (2013). Internalized oppression: The psychology of marginalized groups. Springer Publishing Company.
21.
DavidE. J. R.OkazakiS. (2006). The Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) for Filipino Americans: Scale construction and psychological implications. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.2.241
DuranteF.FiskeS. T.GelfandM. J.CrippaF.SuttoraC.StillwellA.AsbrockF.AycanZ.ByeH. H.CarlssonR.BjörklundF.DagherM.GellerA.LarsenC. A.LatifA.-H. A.MähönenT. A.Jasinskaja-LahtiI.TeymooriA. (2017). Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(4), 669–674. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611874114
24.
EaglyA. H.KoenigA. M. (2021). The vicious cycle linking stereotypes and social roles. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(4), 343–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214211013775
25.
EliasN. (2000). The civilizing process: Sociogenetic and psychogenetic investigations (Revised ed.). Blackwell. (Original work published 1939)
26.
EssienI.CalanchiniJ.DegnerJ. (2021). Moderators of intergroup evaluation in disadvantaged groups: A comprehensive test of predictions from system justification theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(5), 1204–1230. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000302
27.
FanonF. (1963). The wretched of the earth (FarringtonC., Trans.). Grove Press.
28.
FiskeS. T. (2012). Managing ambivalent prejudices: Smart-but-cold and warm-but-dumb stereotypes. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 639(1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716211418444
29.
FiskeS. T. (2018). Stereotype content: Warmth and competence endure. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(2), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417738825
30.
FiskeS. T.CuddyA. J. C.GlickP. (2007). Universal dimensions of social cognition: Warmth and competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(2), 77–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.005
31.
FiskeS. T.CuddyA. J. C.GlickP.XuJ. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878–902. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.878
32.
GarciaG. M.DavidE. J. R.MapayeJ. C. (2019). Internalized racial oppression as a moderator of the relationship between experiences of racial discrimination and mental distress among Asians and Pacific Islanders. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 10(2), 103–112. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000124
33.
GligorićV.ObradovićS. (2024). Active rejection or passive indifference? Mixed-methods evidence on national (dis)identification. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 27(7), 1519–1540. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302241229981
34.
GrahamJ. R.WestL. M.MartinezJ.RoemerL. (2016). The mediating role of internalized racism in the relationship between racist experiences and anxiety symptoms in a Black American sample. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 22(3), 369–376. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000073
35.
HammondR. A.AxelrodR. (2006). The evolution of ethnocentrism. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 50(6), 926–936.
36.
HenrichJ.HeineS. J.NorenzayanA. (2010). The weirdest people in the world?Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2-3), 61–83.
37.
HickelJ.SullivanD.ZoomkawalaH. (2021). Plunder in the post-colonial era: Quantifying drain from the Global South Through Unequal Exchange, 1960–2018. New Political Economy, 26(6), 1030–1047. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2021.1899153
38.
JostJ. T. (2001). Outgroup favoritism and the theory of system justification: An experimental paradigm for investigating the effects of socio-economic success on stereotype content. In MoskowitzG. (Ed.), Cognitive social psychology: The Princeton symposium on the legacy and future of social cognition (pp. 89–102). Erlbaum.
JostJ. T.BanajiM. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33(1), 1–27.
41.
JostJ. T.BanajiM. R.NosekB. A. (2004). A decade of system justification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25(6), 881–919.
42.
JostJ. T.PelhamB. W.CarvalloM. R. (2002). Non-conscious forms of system justification: Implicit and behavioral preferences for higher status groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(6), 586–602. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1031(02)00505-X
43.
JostJ. T.Rivera PichardoE. J.BertinJ. A.ArmangeR.KerberI. (2025). Internalization of prejudice and racialized social systems from Frantz Fanon to system justification theory [Manuscript submitted for publication].
44.
KoenigA. M.EaglyA. H. (2014). Evidence for the social role theory of stereotype content: Observations of groups’ roles shape stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(3), 371–392. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037215
45.
KoenigA. M.EaglyA. H. (2019). Typical roles and intergroup relations shape stereotypes: How understanding social structure clarifies the origins of stereotype content. Social Psychology Quarterly, 82(2), 205–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272519850766
46.
LášticováB.KendeA. (2023). The psychology of politically unstable societies: An introduction. In KendeA.LášticováB. (Eds.), The psychology of politically unstable societies (pp. 1–14). Routledge.
47.
LewinK. (1948). Self-hatred among jews. In LewinG. W. (Ed.), Resolving social conflicts and field theory in social science (pp. 186–200). Harper & Brothers.
48.
LöckenhoffC. E.ChanW.McCraeR. R.De FruytF.JussimL.De BolleM.CostaP. T.SutinA. R.RealoA.AllikJ.NakazatoK.ShimonakaY.HřebíčkováM.GrafS.YikM.FickováE.Brunner-SciarraM.LeibovichDeFigueoraN.SchmidtV.. . . TerraccianoA. (2014). Gender Stereotypes of Personality: Universal and Accurate?Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(5), 675–694. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022113520075
49.
MarcL. (2010). What’s so eastern about eastern Europe?Oldcastle Books.
50.
McCraeR. R.ChanW.JussimL.De FruytF.LöckenhoffC. E.De BolleM.CostaP. T.HřebíčkováM.GrafS.RealoA.AllikJ.NakazatoK.ShimonakaY.YikM.FickováE.Brunner-SciarraM.ReátiguiN.LeibovichDeFigueoraN.SchmidtV.. . . TerraccianoA. (2013). The inaccuracy of national character stereotypes. Journal of Research in Personality, 47(6), 831–842. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.08.006
51.
MemmiA. (2021). The colonizer and the colonized. Profile Books. (Original work published 1957)
52.
NikaljeA.ÇiftçiA. (2023). Colonial mentality, racism, and depressive symptoms: Asian Indians in the United States. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000262
Readsura Decolonial Editorial Collective. (2022). Decoloniality as a social issue for psychological study. Journal of Social Issues, 78(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12502
55.
Rivera PichardoE. J.JostJ. T.Benet-MartínezV. (2022). Internalization of inferiority and colonial system justification: The case of Puerto Rico. Journal of Social Issues, 78(1), Article1. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12437
56.
RomanoA.SutterM.LiuJ. H.YamagishiT.BallietD. (2021). National parochialism is ubiquitous across 42 nations around the world. Nature Communications, 12(1), 4456.
57.
RudmanL. A.FeinbergJ.FairchildK. (2002). Minority members’ implicit attitudes: Automatic ingroup bias as a function of group status. Social Cognition, 20(4), 294–320.
58.
Russell-OmaljevA. (2016). Divided we stand: Discourses on identity in “first” and “other” Serbia. Ibidem-Verlag
59.
SantosM. F. D.PereiraC. R. (2021). The social psychology of a selective national inferiority complex: Reconciling positive distinctiveness and system justification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 95, 104118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104118
60.
SidaniusJ.PrattoF. (2001). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press.
61.
StanciuA.CohrsJ. C.HankeK.GavreliucA. (2017). Within-culture variation in the content of stereotypes: Application and development of the stereotype content model in an Eastern European culture. The Journal of Social Psychology, 157(5), 611–628. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2016.1262812
62.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds.), Organizational identity: A reader (Vol. 56, pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.
63.
TerraccianoA.Abdel-KhalekA. M.ÁdámN.AdamovováL.AhnC. -k.AhnH. -n.AlansariB. M.AlcalayL.AllikJ.AngleitnerA.AviaM. D.AyearstL. E.BarbaranelliC.BeerA.Borg-CunenM. A.BratkoD.Brunner-SciarraM.BudzinskiL.CamartN.. . . McCraeR. R. (2005). National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures. Science, 310(5745), 96–100. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1117199
64.
TodorovaM. (2009). Imagining the Balkans. Oxford University Press.
65.
UtseyS. O.AbramsJ. A.Opare-HenakuA.BoldenM. A.WilliamsO. (2015). Assessing the psychological consequences of internalized colonialism on the psychological well-being of young adults in Ghana. Journal of Black Psychology, 41(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798414537935
66.
Van BezouwM. J.Van Der ToornJ.BeckerJ. C. (2021). Social creativity: Reviving a social identity approach to social stability. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(2), 409–422. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2732
67.
Varas-DíazN.Serrano-GarcíaI. (2003). The challenge of a positive self-image in a colonial context: A psychology of liberation for the Puerto Rican experience. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023078721414
WallersteinI. (1979). The capitalist world-economy. Cambridge University Press.
70.
WallersteinI. (2004). World-systems analysis: An introduction. Duke University Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
