Us vs. them: Symmetries and asymmetries in mutual perception of conflicted cities

Mutual perceptions among members of different, often conflicted, groups have been a focus of research attention for many years. However, studies on mutual perceptions among residents of different places—e.g., cities—are much less common. In this paper, we present a study of mutual perceptions among city residents, conducted in four pairs of Polish cities that differ in size and geographical location and are known for having strained mutual relationships, either historically or currently. In each pair, one city had a strong historical identity (characterized by essentialist, conservative features), while the other was modern and rapidly developing (characterized by anti-essentialist, progressive features). Participants evaluated both their own city and the neighboring city on several dimensions corresponding to either essentialist or anti-essentialist characteristics. Drawing on the concepts of affective vs. descriptive dimensions of social perception, Social Identity Theory, and theories of place meaning, we hypothesized that cities perceived as possessing essentialist features would exhibit a stronger ingroup bias than cities perceived in terms of anti-essentialist features. We also expected the ingroup bias to be stronger for essentialist features than for anti-essentialist ones. Furthermore, we predicted that essentialist features would be perceived more consistently than anti-essentialist features by both residents of a given city and those of its neighboring city. The results largely confirmed our hypotheses. Inhabitants of essentialist cities exhibited a stronger overall ingroup bias and overestimated their city's essentialist features more than inhabitants of anti-essentialist cities overestimated their anti-essentialist features. Additionally, essentialist features were generally perceived more consistently than anti-essentialist features. Ratings of affect associated with own and other city revealed strong asymmetrical effects, similar for high- and low-arousal emotions, with anti-essentialist cities being subject to more divergent judgments depending on the evaluating subject, than essentialist cities.