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GrouPsy-Lab

A Sabanci University based social psychology lab.

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About Us

The GrouPsy Lab, led by Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Bağcı, is a social psychology research lab at Sabancı University. Our research interests include but are not limited to phenomena within intergroup relationships, such as stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, intergroup contact, and collective action.


Many of our research focuses on the intersection of 'hot topics' with social psychology and political psychology.

Through cutting-edge research, our lab aims to deepen understanding of these critical social issues and contribute to the development of interventions that promote healthy cross-group communication and foster intergroup harmony.

Ongoing Projects

TUBITAK Project # 3501 

The longitudinal study of direct and indirect contact with Syrian children, psychological and academic well-being and outgroup attitudes

Latest Publications

The notion of tolerance is widely embraced in plural contexts, but little is known about how majority members interpret the toleration of minorities. With four studies, we investigated majority group members' interpretations of a minority toleration situation (compared to full acceptance and discrimination situations) as a function of outgroup threat. Study 1 (N = 214) showed that higher perception of threat from Syrian refugees was associated with Turkish natives' stronger likelihood of interpreting a refugee toleration situation as ‘acceptance’. Studies 2 (N = 161, threatening context: Syrian refugees-Turkish natives) and 3 (N = 206, non-threatening context: homosexuals-liberal heterosexual students) demonstrated that toleration was interpreted more as a form of acceptance in a high-threat context, whereas it was perceived more like discrimination in the non-threatening context. Experimental Study 4 (N = 150, pre-registered, Muslims-Christians in the UK) indicated that increasing outgroup threat led to higher legitimization of toleration, which, in turn, related to lower support of minority rights. It is concluded that outgroup threat affects how people interpret the way in which minorities are treated, which has implications for initiatives and policies that try to stimulate tolerance towards minority groups.

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