People judge a likeable member of their own group more favourably than an outsider, and an unlikeable member of their own group more harshly than an equivalent outsider.
The effect looks like an exception to in-group favouritism and is better read as an extension of it: a deviant insider threatens the group's positive identity in a way an outsider cannot, so punishing him defends the group. Marques and colleagues found the pattern across judgements of law students and others, with the direction reversing on likeability.
In practice
- A firm treats a competitor's misconduct as expected and its own employee's identical conduct as a betrayal.
- A party is harsher on its own backbencher than on the opposition member who said the same thing.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- A century and a half of measuring the mind