Individuating Processes in Competition: Interpersonal Versus Intergroup

Two experiments investigated why interpersonal competition facilitates individuating impressions of opponents whereas inter-group competition encourages stereotyping of opponents. Prior research has shown that interdependence conditions, including interpersonal competition, encourage individuation. But, unlike interpersonal competitors, intergroup competitors are inter-dependent with several persons (i.e., teammates and opponents). Because of phenomena such as in-group bias, it was hypothesized that intergroup competitors manage limited attentional resources by assigning higher priority to individuating teammates. Experiment I demonstrated individuating processes, as manifested by attention to and dispositional inferences about expectancy-inconsistent attributes, in interpersonal but not intergroup competition. Experiment 2 demonstrated that intergroup competitors use individuating processes when forming impressions of team mates but not opponents. Implications for real-world competition are discussed.