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# Social Identification Structures the Effects of Perspective Taking

## Details

**Authors** Tarrant et al.

**Year** 2012

**Publisher** Psychological Science

**Discipline** Sociology

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612441221) 
10.1177/0956797612441221

## In authors' words

### Abstract

Researchers who study perspective taking are generally optimistic about the potential for interventions to improve intergroup perceptions. The current research provides new insight into the conditions that frame the intergroup outcomes of perspective taking. The results show that the effects of perspective taking are not always positive but depend on perspective takers’ degree of identification with the in-group. In two experiments, we demonstrated that adopting the perspective of an out-group member can have damaging effects on intergroup perceptions among group members who are highly identified with the in-group. Specifically, compared with less committed members, those who identified highly with the in-group used a greater number of negative traits to describe the out-group following perspective taking. Such perspective taking also led participants with high in-group identification to judge the out-group less favorably. Understanding how social identity concerns frame the outcome of perspective taking is crucial to its effective employment in intergroup-relations programs.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Exploring the idea that Perspective-taking as a conflict resolution tool isn’t always the most effective tool as it can lead to more animosity within the group.

### What they found (results)

Participants in the perspective-taking condition attributed significantly more negative traits to the out-group as in-group identification increased. When a Perspective-taking exercise is done in a group consisting of an ingroup and an outgroup, if a member of the ingroup takes another’s perspective, they can be rejected or alienated from the ingroup as a result. This is due to the level of identification one has within the ingroup, the more dedicated they are the more negatively they react to the other and the exercise, as they can perceive that their identity is being threatened.

## Commentary

### In short

A solution for this issue highlighted in the article is to include in the exercise a discussion of not only Perspectives, but also Distinctions, Systems, and Relationships.

### In more detail

Tarrant et. al. 2012 began by stating that Perspective-taking as a conflict resolution tool isn’t always the most effective tool as it can lead to more animosity within the group. This is due to the relationship between group identity and perspective-taking. They did two experiments to test their ideas. In the first experiment, a group of participants (college students) were prompted to establish their in-group status, while another group was asked to read a paragraph and determine which group the subject of the paragraph is in. “ Participants in the perspective-taking condition attributed significantly more negative traits to the out-group as in-group identification increased.” In the second experiment, the in-group/out-group status was based on nationality. The idea was that if you increase the directness and the personal level of the grouping, that it would help to test the causal and robustness of the effect discovered in the first experiment. The results were that when one is more directly connected to the in-group, the out-group can be seen more negatively. When a Perspective-taking exercise is done in a group consisting of an ingroup and an outgroup, if a member of the ingroup takes another’s perspective,

they can be rejected or alienated from the ingroup as a result. This is due to the level of identification one has within the ingroup, the more dedicated they are the more negatively they react to the other and the exercise, as they can perceive that their identity is being threatened. A solution for this is to include in the exercise a discussion of not only Perspectives, but also Distinctions, Systems, and Relationships.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R, P

**How to cite this** Tarrant et al. (2012). Social Identification Structures the Effects of Perspective Taking. Psychological Science.