Placing the phenomenon of ego-depletion into the intergroup context: An examination the effects of ingroup identification and social dominance orientation in the minimal group paradigm

Minimal group paradigm research, which forms the basis of the Social Identity Approach, shows that individuals favor their groups. The concept of ego-depletion based on the Strength Model of Self control, refers to indiviuals' decreased levels of self-control after previous self-control attempts. This study mainly investigated the effect of ego- depletion on the intergroup resource allocations within minimal group paradigm conditions. The hypotheses based on the Social Identity Approach, Social Dominance Theory and Strength Model of Self-Control have been tested in a pilot study and a main study, each consisting of two stages. At the first stage of the studies, participants' painting preferences, social dominance orientations and values were measured. Approximately three weeks later, participants with high and low social dominance orientations were invited to the second stage. In the second phase, all participants were first asked to complete 240 Stroop trials (all incongruent trials for depleted groups, only 1/3 of the trials were incongruent for control groups). Then participants were informed that they had been divided into two groups based on their painting preferences and asked to distribute some credits to the participants in the groups using Tajfel matrices. The results showed that, in line with the hypotheses, individuals favored their groups in resource allocations and that these biased distributions were related to their ingroup identificationlevels. However, the expected effect of social dominance orientations was not observed. Also, no significant difference was found between the depleted and control groups' point distrubitions. On the other hand, regression analysis showed that individuals' fatigue and frustration levels negatively predicted equal and unbiased allocation strategies. The findings were discussed within the framework of relevant hypotheses and theories.