Intergroup Emotions Theory

Intergroup emotions theory, developed by Eliot Smith, Diane Mackie, and their collaborators, focuses on the role of emotions in prejudice and intergroup behavior. The fundamental idea underlying the theory, borrowed from social identity theory and self-categorization theory, is that when people identify with an important social group (an ingroup), which could be a committee, a fraternity, or a national, ethnic, or religious group, the group membership becomes part of the psychological self. Like any aspect of the self, the group therefore attains emotional significance. As a result, when people think of themselves as group members, they appraise social objects (such as competing groups) or events (such as group successes or failures) in terms of their implications for their group. Appraisals of the situation as positive ...