Date of Award

Winter 1-21-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Victor Ottati

Abstract

Prior research provides evidence of an Ingroup-Outgroup effect on open-mindedness, specifically, that group membership (ingroup or outgroup) influences Situation-Specific Open-Minded Cognition (SOMC), the intention to be open-minded. Researchers have found that group members were more open-minded towards critics of their ingroup when criticism came from ingroup, as opposed to outgroup members, and that this effect was mediated by normative entitlement (SNORM), that is, how open-minded participants feel they “should be”. The present study aimed to extend these findings, examining actual manifestations of open-minded cognition, as opposed to how open-minded participants say they would be. The present study tested whether political party group membership (ingroup versus outgroup) affected how open-minded participants were towards groups criticizing their party ingroup, using open-minded information selection and open-minded information sharing as actual manifestations of open-minded cognition. Participants read criticism of their political party from two groups of voters, Group A and Group B. Group A, whose party was not mentioned, remained constant and served as a standard of comparison. Group B was comprised of voters from the participant’s own party (ingroup condition) or the opposing party (outgroup condition). Then, participants completed the Situation Specific Open-minded cognition scale (SOMCB), which assessed participants’ intention to be open-minded toward Group B. Next, participants had the opportunity to select statements from Group A or Group B about various political topics to read themselves and share with the next participant in the study, which served as manifestations of open-mindedness. It was predicted that participants would be more open-minded towards the critics belonging to the ingroup as opposed to the outgroup, thereby selecting and sharing more statements from Group B when Group B contained ingroup members, and fewer statements from Group B when Group B was comprised of outgroup political party voters. Furthermore, it was expected that the intention to be open-minded (SOMC) would mediate this effect. The results supported the Ingroup-Outgroup effect. Participants who read about the ingroup Group B scored higher on SOMC and selected more Group B statements to read and share than participants who read about the outgroup Group B. Additionally, SOMC mediated the effect of condition on Information Selection and Information Sharing. Furthermore, participant political party moderated the relationship between condition and SOMC, and condition and Information Selection and Information Sharing. In all cases, participants of both parties exhibited an ingroup-outgroup effect, with one party exhibiting a larger ingroup-outgroup effect than the other party. However, the pattern of moderation was not consistent when predicting these three measures. Further research is needed to understand this lack of consistency. Overall, these findings speak to the importance of group membership in U.S. politics. Simply manipulating whether groups are part of the political ingroup or outgroup affects how people respond to them, eliciting open or close-mindedness.

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