1-217 - Intergroup Friendships in Cultural Context: Harnessing the Power of Social Network Approaches

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Intergroup phenomena are inherently network phenomena, characterized by more numerous and stronger connections within as compared to between groups. Yet efforts to directly explore these dynamics remain relatively rare. We bring together talks investigating predictors of intergroup friendships in social networks that are in turn embedded in cultural contexts. The first talk explores the links between group attitudes, social norms, and friendship diversity in a religiously mixed Hindu and Muslim school in Gujarat, India, a site of recent interreligious conflict. Exploring positive ties (friendships) and negative ties (disliked peers), they find that attitudes and the perception of inclusive norms powerfully predict social ties. The second talk reports on a longitudinal investigation of friendship in economically and caste-diverse adolescents in Nepal, asking about the influence of caste, SES, and academic achievement on friendships. They find that SES and caste exert some effects but friendship selections were most powerfully influenced by similar academic achievement. They also find that those with more low-SES friends become more positive towards that group over time. The third talk asks how personality influences cross-ethnic friendships in college students via the construct openness to other (O2), a facet of openness to experience. They find that O2 predicts cross-ethnic friendships even over and above other personality factors, especially in more diverse contexts. They suggest that those high in O2 are more prepared to take advantage of the opportunities presented by diversity. Taken together these talks demonstrate the promise of network approaches to understanding intergroup interactions.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chairs

• Yarrow Dunham, Yale

• Mahesh Srinivasan, UC Berkeley

Individual Presentations

• Mapping the gender and religious dynamics of social ties in a diverse school in India - Presenting Author: Yarrow Dunham, Yale; Non-Presenting Author: Mahesh Srinivasan, UC Berkeley

• Adolescents’ Friendship Selection Based on Caste, SES and Academic Achievement: The Role of School Diversity - Presenting Author: Jeanine Grütter, University of Zurich / University of Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: Sandesh Dhakal, Tribhuvan University; Non-Presenting Author: Melanie Killen, University of Maryland

• Personality and Social Network Composition: The Case of Openness to Other - Presenting Author: Stephen Antonoplis, UC Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Oliver P John, UC Berkeley