https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022119883699 Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1–24 © The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0022022119883699 journals.sagepub.com/home/jcc Article In Two Minds: Similarity, Threat, and Prejudice Contribute to Worse Mindreading of Outgroups Compared With an Ingroup Müge Ekerim-Akbulut 1 , Bilge Selçuk 1 , Virginia Slaughter 2 , John A. Hunter 3 , and Ted Ruffman 3 Abstract We examined Turkish participants’ mindreading accuracy toward ingroup versus outgroup targets. Three hundred and fifty-four Turkish participants were randomly assigned to one of three target groups: Turkish, Syrian, or Norwegian. The mindreading accuracy for these targets was measured along with the perceived cultural similarity of the target to the ingroup, as well as prejudice and threat perception. Participants evidenced higher mindreading accuracy toward Turkish targets compared with Syrian and Norwegian targets. Mindreading accuracy for the Syrian and Norwegian targets did not differ, but lower perceived similarity to the Turkish ingroup significantly predicted lower mentalizing for Syrian and Norwegians. In the Syrian target group, lower perceived similarity interacted with lower education and higher prejudice, resulting in a further reduction in mindreading. For Norwegian targets, lower similarity impaired mindreading through an interaction with higher threat perception. Results indicate that even when mentalizing capacity is mature, intergroup factors are linked with the deployment of mindreading. Keywords theory of mind, mindreading, prejudice, threat, perceived similarity Lack of tolerance to outgroups is one of the most prominent social problems of our time. Europe and America, as the center of Western modern societies, have encountered increasingly negative attitudes and widespread discriminatory behavior toward outgroups (Schemer, 2012), particu- larly toward immigrants (e.g., Mexicans, Syrians, Ethiopians) whose numbers rise due to ongo- ing political conflicts and civil wars in their homelands (Gorodzeisky & Semyonov, 2015). For instance, Turkey is one of the main countries influenced by the recent influx of immigrants flee- ing from Syria. According to official reports released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 3 million Syrian immigrants live in Turkey as of 2018 (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2018). 1 Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 3 University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand Corresponding Author: Müge Ekerim-Akbulut, Department of Psychology, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sarıyer, 34450 Istanbul, Turkey. Email: mekerim14@ku.edu.tr 883699JCC XX X 10.1177/0022022119883699Journal of Cross-Cultural PsychologyEkerim-Akbulut et al. research-article 2019