Kenworthy, J. B., Myers, E., Coursey, L. E., Popan, J. R., & Hewstone, M.
The effects of extending trust and distrust to the outgroup in Northern Ireland: Intergroup emotions and anticipated intergroup relations
Two studies examined perceptions of risk, threat, and emotions experienced once a community leader has made the decision to extend trust or distrust to the outgroup, in the context of Northern Ireland. Study 1 examined the impact of three factors — the extension of trust or distrust, a social climate of threat or reduced threat, and high/low group identification — on perceived risk and group-level emotion. Study 2 examined the impact of these factors on expected negative intergroup relations and symbolic and realistic outcomes. Results from both studies demonstrated that: (1) evaluation of a community leader’s extension of trust or distrust toward the outgroup under threat/reduced threat was moderated by group identification, and (2) the leader’s extension of distrust toward the outgroup elicited greater anger and less positive emotion, and was seen as more damaging to intergroup relations than was the extension of trust.
