The effect of superordinate group, superordinate goal and identity undermining on intention of the living together

This research was designed to investigate the underlying social psychological mechanisms of different social group's intention to live together. For this purpose, quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine the effect of superordinate group, superordinate goal and identity undermining on intention of living together, perceived symbolic threat and intergroup attitude. 168 female and 85 male university students took part. Participants were randomly assigned one of the eight experimental condition. In these conditions, participants were required to read a story about two different imaginary social groups that have historical bound, but at the same time having a negative relationship. After that, participants completed Inform Consent Form, Demographic Information Form, Manipulation Check Questions, Intergroup Attitude Scale, Intention of Living Together Disposition Scale and Symbolic Threat Scale respectively. Processes were carried out with Paper-and-Pencil method. Data 2 (superordinate group/no superordinate group) X 2 (superordinate goal/no superordinate goal) X 2 (identity undermining/no identity undermining) was analyzed with Factorial Variance Analysis. Results revealed that, there are significant main effects of superordinate group, superordinate goal and identity undermining on intention of living together and symbolic threat. Superordinate group and superordinate goal increased the intention of living together, superordinate group decreased the symbolic threat perception however superordinate goal has no effect on symbolic threat. There are no significant main effect on in-group favoritism. In addition, identity undermining decreased the intention of living together and increased the symbolic threat. Furthermore, there is a significant interaction effect of three independent variables on intention of living together. It was found that, in no identity undermining condition X superordinate group X superordinate goal condition, people have the highest intention of living together. Results and limitations of the study discussed with the literature.