The minority extremity bias

Abstract

Entities of low prevalence are evaluated as more extreme in their characteristics than those of high prevalence. We extended this idea to minorities, which by definition have fewer members than majorities, and found converging evidence for a minority extremity bias (MEB; N = 957). Participants associated the term ‘minority’ (rather than ‘majority’) with higher extremity (Study 1). Minorities were associated with higher extremity than majorities (Study 2). We added a manipulation of the minority size (Study 3, Part 1). Results indicated that the MEB is stronger for very small minorities than for small minorities. Participants assigned extreme behaviour more often to a minority than to a majority (Study 3, Part 2). We extended the MEB to more extreme ratings of minorities on evaluation scales (Study 4). Prevalence of group members correlated negatively with the extremity of group stereotyping (n = 118 groups; Study 5). Participants rated minorities on induced stereotypes more extreme than majorities (Study 6). We discuss the MEB in the context of alternative explanations such as the outgroup extremity effect. Taken together, this research demonstrates the MEB, which is a novel exploration in the realm of group evaluation that contributes to existing literature.