Marriage and the maintenance of ethnic group boundaries: the case of Mauritius

Ari Nave

doi:10.1080/014198700329079

Seeing and treating the out-group like family: Transference effects in an ethnic context

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430219897117 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 136843021989711

Author(s):

Lukas J. Wolf ◽

Johan Karremans ◽

Gregory R. Maio

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Group ◽

Mental Representations ◽

Significant Others ◽

Significant Other ◽

Group Boundaries ◽

And Behavior ◽

Attitudes And Behavior

Transference effects occur when our impressions are guided by our mental representations of significant others. For instance, if a target resembles an individual’s significant other, then that person’s feelings toward their significant other will be transferred onto the target. The present research examines whether transference effects emerge even when the target belongs to an ethnic out-group. In two experiments, participants received descriptions of in-group and out-group targets who partly resembled their own (or another’s) positive significant other. The findings showed that resemblance to one’s own significant other improves attitudes and behavior toward both in-group and ethnic out-group targets, as found across 2 nations and 3 different ethnic out-groups. The present research hence provides evidence of robust transference effects across ethnic group boundaries.

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JUDICIAL PRESERVATION OF ETHNIC GROUP BOUNDARIES:

Proceedings of the first congress, Canadian Ethnology Society ◽

10.2307/j.ctt22zmf09.7 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 48-66

Author(s):

Sally M. Weaver

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Group ◽

Group Boundaries

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The Effect of Recent Ethnogenesis and Migration Histories on Perceptions of Ethnic Group Stability

Journal of Cognition and Culture ◽

10.1163/15685373-12342144 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (1-2) ◽

pp. 131-173 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Cristina Moya ◽

Brooke Scelza

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Group ◽

Cultural Distance ◽

Group Boundaries ◽

Folk Beliefs ◽

Group Stability ◽

Age At Migration ◽

Original Group ◽

Cultural Traits ◽

And Migration ◽

Vignette Experiment

Several researchers have proposed that humans are predisposed to treat ethnic identities as stable and inherent. However, the ethnographic, historical, and genetic records attest to the ubiquity of inter-ethnic migrations across human history. These two claims seem to be at odds. In this article we compare three evolutionary accounts of how people reason about identity stability, and the effect that the cultural evolution of ethnic group boundaries may have on these beliefs. We test our hypotheses among Himba pastoralists in Namibia, whose recent fission from the neighboring Herero makes them ideal for studying the effect of cultural distance on folk beliefs about identity stability. In a vignette experiment, we asked participants whether an individual born in one group who moved to another group would retain their original group membership and cultural characteristics or acquire those of the new group. Across vignette conditions we examine the importance of the direction of migration, parental social influence, and age at migration on perceptions of identity stability. We also compare participant responses to two out-groups, the Herero, and the more distantly related Damara. We find that participants seldom thought of identity as stable or fixed at birth. Furthermore, we show that cultural distance and endogamous preferences are independent of beliefs of identity stability. Himba believed the Damara character was more likely to change identity and cultural traits than was the Herero character, despite their greater cultural distance from the former group, and despite the fact that all participants expressed more anti-Damara than anti-Herero sentiment.

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