ABSTRACT
Do we really need another explanation for the minimal in-group bias effect? You might think that we would not pose this question (using this device) unless our answer was in the affirmative, but the short answer presented in this chapter is actually “No!” (bluff is another useful device). So how, you might ask, do you get a chapter of that? Our answer is that the original explanation for the effect will do perfectly well, thank you. The problem is that, in our view at least, nobody has properly tested the original explanation. Our cunning plan was to make this original explanation explicit, and to test it. An overview of the results of this quest forms a fitting tribute to Amélie Mummendey who herself has contributed so much to the understanding of intergroup relations generally, and this paradigm in particular. We return to the links between her contribution to the field and the work presented here at the end of the chapter.
