Summary of Findings: Sports Funding/ The Impact of Outgroup Prejudice Towards a Third-Party on Discrimination towards the Outgroup
Investigators: Dr Lucy Zinkiewicz (lucyz@deakin.edu.au) and Dane Barclay
The study aimed to investigate whether the expression of prejudice from a member of a group you do not belong to (an discriminatory outgroup), towards another outgroup (the targeted outgroup), led respondents from a different group to respond with punitive action towards the discriminatory outgroup. This was completed under the guise of a questionnaire which allowed Australian respondents to allocate sports funding between pairs of sporting teams from different countries, including Australia (the ingroup), the US (discriminatory outgroup) and Brazil (the targeted outgroup, which is also in general a weaker sporting country than either Australia or the US). Respondents could allocate equal funding to the two countries, or give less funding to one country’s team than the other (which was considered as punitive action towards the disfavoured group.
Here's some information about respondents to the questionnaire and what was found.
Who completed the questionnaire?
The online questionnaire was completed by 90 Australian citizens/residents, consisting of 40 men and 49 women and 1 gender unidentified person. Respondents ranged from 18 to 65 years of age, with an average age of 33.99 years, and were employed in a wide range of occupations.
What were the results?
Australian respondents showed stronger punitive action against the US outgroup as a whole (US sporting teams) in conditions where a US sportsperson made a negative rather than a neutral comment about Brazilians, but only in situations where participants allocated points between the discriminatory US and the targeted Brazil. No such effect emerged where participants allocated points between the Australian ingroup and the discriminatory US outgroup. This suggests that a group’s allocation of resources towards other groups can be sensitive to the lack of ‘fair play’ of the group’s members.
There was no support for our prediction that, where a US sportsperson’s comment was discriminatory, stronger punitive action against US sporting teams as a whole would occur if the comment was directed towards an ingroup member (Australian sportsperson) than if it were directed towards an outgroup member (Brazilian sportsperson).
In fact, where participants allocated points between US and Brazil teams, there was greater punitive action towards the US outgroup when the targeted outgroup (Brazil) was discriminated against, rather than when the ingroup (Australia) was discriminated against. This finding suggests that Australian participants’ allocation of resources towards other groups is sensitive to the lack of fair play of outgroup members towards other outgroups, but not affected by lack of fair play towards the ingroup (Australia themselves).
Finally, as strength of identification with the ingroup (Australian sporting teams) increased, stronger punitive action against a discriminatory outgroup occurred. This is an unusual finding in intergroup research, as in most other studies strong identification with a group usually fosters increased discrimination towards all outgroups which threaten or challenge the ingroup. Instead, in the present study, it seemed to protect respondents from the insult to the ingroup offered by the outgroup, and led them instead to defend the more vulnerable group when targeted by the US outgroup.
Overall the study provides preliminary evidence that ingroup members can at times implement punitive actions towards an outgroup that offends against a third-party (targeted) outgroup, and may even react with greater punitive action than if the ingroup were offended against. This intergroup behaviour extends to an intrinsically competitive context such as the sporting environment, whereby any perceived discrimination from one individual or group can result in punitive reactions. Hence, sanctions against offending groups may be used in response to the violation of the fair play norm so valued in the sporting field.
In conclusion...
We'd like to thank all our respondents for their responses to the questionnaire – they were very much appreciated.
We're hoping to present some of these findings at the Society for Australasian Social Psychologists 39th Annual Conference, in April 2009, and to submit the complete study for publication in a internationally refereed journal.
If you have any other questions regarding this research, please do not hesitate in contacting Dr Lucy Zinkiewicz on 03 5227 8497 (email lucyz@deakin.edu.au)