Abstract:

Fairness plays an important role in the moral cognitive development of human being, which is of great significance in maintaining social order and promoting relationships among different groups. The present study used two experiments to explore the influence of imaging intergroup contact on distributive justice among college students of different groups. In experiment 1, we adopted a single-factor design between subjects which contains two levels (group types: majority group vs. minority group). In experiment 2, we added imaging intergroup contact and used a 2(group types: majority group vs. minority group)×3(imaging types: deep imaging intergroup contact vs. low imaging intergroup contact vs. imaging control) between-subject design. The results turned out that when we added imaging intergroup contact, the participants in imaging intergroup contact groups will more likely to choose fair distribution scheme, while the non-contact group still allocated more resources to their own groups. The difference between group types wasn’t significant. In sum, imaging intergroup contact is an effective way to influence the unbalanced resources allocation. It can effectively promote positive intergroup attitudes and adjust the dynamic equilibrium of resources.

Key words: distributive justice, imaging intergroup contact, group differences, the first party assigned tasks, resource balancing