Selective attribution of cultural knowledge contributes to the different mentalization of ingroups and outgroups

Abstract Social categorization alters mental state inferences. Three experiments (n = 216) investigated how social categorization is related to the way people can access the cultural knowledge of others. We administered a modified Faux-Pas Task, where a protagonist, either a cultural ingroup or outgroup, indicated by a native or foreign name, violates a norm. In the test phase, participants answered questions about the protagonist's various types of mental states (knowledge, intention, etc.). Findings indicated that people consider their community-specific knowledge more likely to be accessible by cultural ingroups and use it as an inferential base to interpret their behavior.