Book contents
- Seeing Us in Them
- Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology
- Seeing Us in Them
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Prologue
- 1 The Puzzle
- 2 Group Empathy Theory
- 3 Measuring Group Empathy
- 4 An Origin Story
- 5 Group Empathy and Homeland Security
- 6 Group Empathy and the Politics of Immigration
- 7 Group Empathy and Foreign Policy
- 8 Group Empathy in the Era of Trump
- 9 Group Empathy, Brexit, and Public Opinion in the United Kingdom
- 10 Cultivating Group Empathy and Challenging Ethnonationalist Politics
- Epilogue Group Empathy in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
- References
- Index
- Books in the series
4 - An Origin Story
Socializing Group Empathy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 March 2021
- Seeing Us in Them
- Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology
- Seeing Us in Them
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Prologue
- 1 The Puzzle
- 2 Group Empathy Theory
- 3 Measuring Group Empathy
- 4 An Origin Story
- 5 Group Empathy and Homeland Security
- 6 Group Empathy and the Politics of Immigration
- 7 Group Empathy and Foreign Policy
- 8 Group Empathy in the Era of Trump
- 9 Group Empathy, Brexit, and Public Opinion in the United Kingdom
- 10 Cultivating Group Empathy and Challenging Ethnonationalist Politics
- Epilogue Group Empathy in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
- References
- Index
- Books in the series
Summary
Chapter 4 explores the origins of group empathy. We investigate the association of group empathy with key socio-demographic factors and the ensuing life experiences. Specifically, we find that minorities, females, the educated, and older generations display higher levels of group empathy. The life experiences that spring from these socio-demographic contexts – particularly, exposure to discrimination, the quality and quantity of contact with other groups, and perceptions of intergroup economic competition – also predict group empathy and help explain socio-demographic differences on group empathy levels. The chapter also empirically tests predictions about the link between ingroup identification and outgroup empathy among whites, blacks, and Latinos. Social Identity Theory would predict ingroup attachment to be negatively linked to outgroup empathy across all groups. However, Group Empathy Theory predicts outgroup empathy should be positively linked with ingroup identity among nonwhites. This is exactly what we find. This finding challenges one of the basic assumptions of SIT given that the underlying mechanism of ingroup–outgroup bias is different for whites than it is for minorities.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Seeing Us in ThemSocial Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy, pp. 67 - 86Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021