The analytic utility of distinguishing fighting from dying.

Fighting and dying, or what Whitehouse calls "out-group hostility" and "extreme self-sacrifice," are not conceptually overlapping, but in fact are highly distinguishable, both theoretically and empirically. I present empirical evidence from a reanalysis of Ginges et al. (2009, Study 4), demonstrating the potentially inverse relationship between "parochial hostility" - fighting and "sacrificial altruism" - "and" dying.

Belief in supernatural agents in the face of death.

Four studies examined whether awareness of mortality intensifies belief in supernatural agents among North Americans. In Studies 1 and 2, mortality salience led to more religiosity, stronger belief in God, and in divine intervention. In Studies 3 and 4, mortality salience increased supernatural agent beliefs even when supernatural agency was presented in a culturally alien context (divine Buddha in Study 3, Shamanic spirits in Study 4).

Predicting intergroup bias: the interactive effects of implicit theory and social identity.

This research sought to integrate the implicit theory approach and the social identity approach to understanding biases in intergroup judgment. The authors hypothesized that a belief in fixed human character would be associated with negative bias and prejudice against a maligned group regardless of the perceiver's social identity. By contrast, a belief in malleable human character would allow the perceiver's social identity to guide intergroup perception, such that a common ingroup identity that includes the maligned group would be associated with less negative bias and prejudice against the maligned group than would an exclusive identity.

How are social identities linked to self-conception and intergroup orientation? The moderating effect of implicit theories.

Social identity approaches assume that social identification affects both self-conception and intergroup orientation. The authors contend that such social identification effects are accentuated when people hold a fixed view of human character and attribute immutable dispositions to social groups. To these individuals, social identities are immutable, concrete entities capable of guiding self-conception and intergroup orientation.