Linguistic intergroup bias in Japan

This study examined linguistic intergroup bias in Japan. Linguistic intergroup bias is the tendency to describe positive in-group and negative out-group behaviors more abstractly than negative in-group and positive out-group behaviors. Participants were 26 Japanese high school students. Fans of the participants' favorite professional baseball team were employed as in-groups and those of their least-favorite professional baseball team as out-groups. The students described the negative behaviors of out-groups more abstractly than the negative behaviors of in-groups, but there was no intergroup bias with regard to positive behaviors. It is suggested that linguistic intergroup bias contributes to the formation and maintenance of negative our-group stereotypes in Japan.