Credibility assessment in context: the influence of intergroup bias and the context of the crime

The current study examined how the context of the crime and the ethnic affiliations of the suspects and participants influenced credibility assessments with respect to in- and out-group suspects. The 200 participants, half Israeli-Jewish and half Israeli-Arab, assessed the credibility of an alibi statement provided be either an Israeli-Jewish or an Israeli-Arab suspect accused of vandalism in either an ethnic-based or neutral-based context. The results indicate that the context of the crime moderated the effect of intergroup bias on credibility assessment among Israeli-Arab participants (out-group members). Under both crime contexts, Israeli-Jewish suspects were perceived as less credible than Israeli-Arab suspects. However, for Israeli-Arab, the effect of intergroup bias was stronger in the ethnic-based context than in the neutral-based context. Overall, the results suggest that Israeli-Arab group might have felt threatened by the ethnic-based context, which could have increased the group bias in their judgments, as compared to the Israeli-Jewish group.