Needs for cognitive economy and self‐enhancement as unique predictors of intergroup attitudes

This research tested the extent to which two motivations commonly assumed to predict prejudice—needs for cognitive economy and needs for self-enhancement—were simultaneously able to predict two underlying components of prejudice—social categorization and ingroup favoritism. Across three studies, diverse measures of the two motivations showed them to be consistently differentiated. Furthermore, both motivations were found to be independently predictive of both ingroup favoritism and social categorization in each of the three studies. The research adds to existing knowledge about the personality correlates of prejudice by demonstrating the conceptual independence of these two underlying motivations as well as their relationships to components of intergroup attitudes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.