A GOAL SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE TO THIRD-PARTY HOSTILITY AGAINST OUTGROUPS

Conflicts between groups are rarely kept private between disputants as lay third parties are typically present to observe the dispute. They are not directly affected by the conflict, however, choose to pick sides and/or participate in the conflict. Furthermore, they pursue multiple concurrent goals, and have diverse options (e.g., posting on Facebook vs. armed violence) to choose from. Yet, these third parties receive little attention in intergroup research. The present research applies a goal systemic perspective in understanding how and why third parties participate in intergroup conflicts. Potentiation maps of social and moral goals were used to predict third parties' costly participation in intergroup conflict across multiple concurrent means. We demonstrate that hostile behavior by third parties against the outgroup can be explained as a function of ingroup love and moral concerns, rather than outgroup hate. The findings underscore the importance of a multi-goal, multi-mean perspective in understanding intergroup behavior.

Author dc:creator

• ISMAHARIF BIN ISMAIL

• intergroup conflict, third parties, motivation, goal systems theory