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The Impact of Assimilation and Differentiation Needs on Perceived Group Importance and Judgments of Ingroup Size
Abstract
At the heart of optimal distinctiveness theory is the idea that a group’s level of inclusiveness is a significant determinant of how well that group can meet members’ needs for assimilation and differentiation. In two studies, this principle was demonstrated by experimentally manipulating both needs and examining their effects on perceptions of ingroup size and on the perceived importance of ingroups that vary in level of inclusiveness. It was predicted that assimilation need would lead to a preference for inclusive ingroups and the tendency to overestimate ingroup size, whereas differentiation need would lead to a preference for exclusive ingroups and the tendency to underestimate ingroup size. Support for these predictions was found across both studies. The results support the hypothesis that the arousal of assimilation and differentiation needs interacts with ingroup inclusiveness to determine optimal social identities.
... People often assimilate to and differentiate from the behaviors to others (Brewer 1991;Chan et al. 2012;Pickett et al. 2002), less is known about how online social network (OSN) users reconcile these conflicting tendencies for their social groups. Also, no definite answer is about how social distance and individual construal influence on "like" a brand and its buying behavior in online SNSs. ...
... People often assimilate to the behavior of aspiration groups and make choices that are consistent with positive reference groups (Chan et al. 2012;Pickett and Brewer 2001;Pickett et al. 2002). People with a need of uniqueness tend to be different from their social groups and make different choices that distinguish themselves from in-group and from out-group members (Chan et al. 2012;Pickett and Brewer 2001;Pickett et al. 2002) ...
... People often assimilate to the behavior of aspiration groups and make choices that are consistent with positive reference groups (Chan et al. 2012;Pickett and Brewer 2001;Pickett et al. 2002). People with a need of uniqueness tend to be different from their social groups and make different choices that distinguish themselves from in-group and from out-group members (Chan et al. 2012;Pickett and Brewer 2001;Pickett et al. 2002) ...
This study investigates how personal identity and self-construal influence liking and buying behavior under the moderation effects of social distance and brand uniqueness. Study 1 examines the liking and buying phenomenon in social network sites (SNSs). Study 2, 3, and 4 are experiments to test research hypotheses.
... A person's felt status is defined as a subjective psychological feeling of holding an elevated position or rank within a firm's customer 6 hierarchy (Drèze & Nunes, 2009;Lacey et al., 2007;Fombelle et al., 2015;Wagner et al., 2009). Although status has been explored quite extensively, researchers either focus on exclusivity of membership (Drèze & Nunes, 2009;Ivanic 2015), social comparison between members and non-members (Henderson, Beck & Palmatier, 2011;Gilbert, Giesler & Morris, 1995;Steinhoff & Palmatier, 2016) or the visibility of their membership status (Fombelle et al., 2015;McFerran & Argo, 2014;Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). Table 1 provides an overview of studies that have examined in status hierarchies by drawing on the notions of exclusivity, visibility and social comparison in various combinations. ...
... VIP) rather than leaving them in an overly inclusive category. Members, who are part of a small, elite or super elite group feel higher levels of exclusivity and status (Drèze & Nunes, 2009;Pickett et al., 2002;Ivanic 2015). ...
... This research also explicitly measures and models members' social comparison in SBLPs, which has never been considered jointly with exclusivity and visibility before (see Table 1). While previous research has provided evidence that the effect of exclusivity (Drèze & Nunes, 2009;Arbore & Estes, 2013;Barone & Roy, 2010a) and visibility is enhanced (for the target) by being in front of others with no status (Fombelle et al., 2015;McFerran & Argo, 2014;Pickett et al., 2002;Henderson et al., 2011), this study aims to consider lateral and upward comparisons as well. In order to gain a clearer understanding of how social comparison works in SBLPs (Henderson et al., 2011), this study aims to test a social context that should facilitate middle-tier members reinforce their status perception. ...
In the retail industry, status‐based loyalty programs (SBLP) are commonly used as an important marketing tool to award elevated status to customers who exceed certain level of spending. In contrast to previous studies that have considered “target and bystander” and “member–non‐member” differentiation, this study responds to the need to account for the dynamics in across‐tier effects in loyalty programs (LPs). By undertaking a scenario‐based experiment that focuses on a “face‐to‐face” across‐tier social event, this study examines the joint effects of exclusivity, status visibility and social comparison on LP members’ status perception and willingness to spend. Contrary to prior beliefs that the beneficial effects for targets (e.g., VIP members) in status hierarchies are offset by the negative effects on bystanders (e.g., non‐VIP members), this study concludes that situations when social comparisons occur in SBLPs are not necessarily zero‐sum games. Ultimately, this study uncovered two distinct status‐reinforcing mechanisms–“aspiring” and “boasting”–which LP members may experience in SBLPs. The outcome of this study highlights important implications for companies to pursue different strategies aimed at enhancing members’ status perceptions.
... To satisfy a fundamental human need for belongingness (defined as the desire to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships; Baumeister & Leary, 1995), individuals adopt social identities and seek acceptance into particular groups. Acceptance, along with the sense of connection it fosters, averts the isolation that can result from becoming highly individuated (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). ...
... Individuals will engage in efforts to achieve the balance that they seek when their needs for belonging and uniqueness are jeopardized, according to ODT research. Self-stereotyping, intergroup differentiation, and placing greater value on a particular social identity are all strategies for restoring the balance in situations where individuals' needs for belongingness or uniqueness are activated (Jetten, Spears, & Manstead, 1998; Pickett, Bonner, et al., 2002;Pickett, Silver, et al., 2002). These studies demonstrate how strong people's motivations are to maintain an optimal level of satisfaction with their needs on both fronts. ...
Recent Innovations in Engineering, Science and Management
... To satisfy a fundamental human need for belongingness (defined as the desire to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships; Baumeister & Leary, 1995), individuals adopt social identities and seek acceptance into particular groups. Acceptance, along with the sense of connection it fosters, averts the isolation that can result from becoming highly individuated (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). ...
... Individuals will engage in efforts to achieve the balance that they seek when their needs for belonging and uniqueness are jeopardized, according to ODT research. Self-stereotyping, intergroup differentiation, and placing greater value on a particular social identity are all strategies for restoring the balance in situations where individuals' needs for belongingness or uniqueness are activated (Jetten, Spears, & Manstead, 1998; Pickett, Bonner, et al., 2002;Pickett, Silver, et al., 2002). These studies demonstrate how strong people's motivations are to maintain an optimal level of satisfaction with their needs on both fronts. ...
People who can use critical and creative thinking to solve problems as a group are in high demand today and tomorrow. The way knowledge is acquired, constructed, and communicated has undergone radical change as a result of technological advancements. It's debatable whether education can produce critical and creative thinkers who can meet the demands of today's social and economic world and those of the future. Computers and smart devices, on the other hand, put students' learning at risk by undermining the authority of teachers in the classroom. This has led to the use of terms like guide, facilitator, and coach in place of the word teacher. Schools are well-known for being children's learning environments. However, it's unclear how much they actually learn or how much of it is aided by modern technology. In an era where people are constantly exposed to technology at work, school, and elsewhere, smart devices and technological tools have advanced far too quickly. Education research and pedagogical approaches that incorporate education technologies have progressed faster than the advancements in the everyday technological devices that we use. Thus, utilizing technologies in education has the potential to ensure innovation in educational activities. The goal of this research is to demonstrate that educational innovation must be handled with care. If you'd like to create innovative learning environments, you'll need to review previous studies on innovation as a pre-requisite and revise your strategies for successfully adapting technology to the field of education. To summarize, innovation is critical in reshaping and reconstructing learning environments, curricula, the teacher's role, and teacher training.
... To satisfy a fundamental human need for belongingness (defined as the desire to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships; Baumeister & Leary, 1995), individuals adopt social identities and seek acceptance into particular groups. Acceptance, along with the sense of connection it fosters, averts the isolation that can result from becoming highly individuated (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). ...
... Individuals will engage in efforts to achieve the balance that they seek when their needs for belonging and uniqueness are jeopardized, according to ODT research. Self-stereotyping, intergroup differentiation, and placing greater value on a particular social identity are all strategies for restoring the balance in situations where individuals' needs for belongingness or uniqueness are activated (Jetten, Spears, & Manstead, 1998; Pickett, Bonner, et al., 2002;Pickett, Silver, et al., 2002). These studies demonstrate how strong people's motivations are to maintain an optimal level of satisfaction with their needs on both fronts. ...
Digital technology has had a profound and long-lasting impact on organizations. Digitalization is reshaping organizations, the workplace, and processes in the same way that movable type printing did in the 1800s, posing new problems for leaders to solve. Scholars in the social sciences have been working to unravel the complexities of this complex phenomenon, but their findings have been dispersed and fragmented across different fields, with no clear picture emerging. As a result of this gap in the literature, and in order to promote greater clarity and alignment in the academic debate, this paper examines the contributions made by studies on leadership and digitalization, identifying common themes and findings across various social science disciplines, such as management and psychology. In addition to defining key terms and concepts, it also highlights the most important theories and conclusions reached by academics. As a result, it distinguishes between categories that group papers according to the macro level of analysis (e-leadership and organization), the micro level of analysis (leadership skills in the digital age, and practices for leading virtual teams), and the macro level of analysis (ethical and social movements). Researchers found that leaders are crucial to the development of digital culture because they need to build relationships with numerous and dispersed stakeholders while also focusing on enabling collaborative processes in complex settings while also attending to pressing ethical concerns. A major contribution of this study is that it offers an extensive and systematic review of the digital transformation debate, as well as identifying important future research opportunities to advance knowledge in this field.
... Prior literature on goals establishes that externally manipulating individuals' goals brings their behaviors in line with these goals (Gollwitzer 1999). For example, prompting an assimilation goal leads individuals to exhibit behaviors that assimilate them to their social environment (Pickett, Silver, and Brewer 2002). Extending this logic to the effect of political ideology on consumers' differentiation goals in the hierarchy, we expect that the effect of ideology on consumers' distinct differentiation preferences will disappear when vertical or horizontal differentiation goals in the hierarchy are externally prompted. ...
... uniqueness and identity)." These instructions were adapted from widely used goal induction methods (e.g., Pickett et al. 2002). To ensure that the task, mood, and self-esteem were similar across conditions, in the neutral goal -control condition participants recalled times when they felt uncomfortable around other people. ...
... Prior literature on goals establishes that externally manipulating individuals' goals brings their behaviors in line with these goals (Gollwitzer 1999). For example, prompting an assimilation goal leads individuals to exhibit behaviors that assimilate them to their social environment (Pickett, Silver, and Brewer 2002). Extending this logic to the effect of political ideology on consumers' differentiation goals in the hierarchy, we expect that the effect of ideology on consumers' distinct differentiation preferences will disappear when vertical or horizontal differentiation goals in the hierarchy are externally prompted. ...
... uniqueness and identity)." These instructions were adapted from widely used goal induction methods (e.g., Pickett et al. 2002). To ensure that the task, mood, and self-esteem were similar across conditions, in the neutral goal -control condition participants recalled times when they felt uncomfortable around other people. ...
... Prior literature on goals establishes that externally manipulating individuals' goals brings their behaviors in line with these goals (Gollwitzer 1999). For example, prompting an assimilation goal leads individuals to exhibit behaviors that assimilate them to their social environment (Pickett, Silver, and Brewer 2002). Extending this logic to the effect of political ideology on consumers' differentiation goals in the hierarchy, we expect that the effect of ideology on consumers' distinct differentiation preferences will disappear when vertical or horizontal differentiation goals in the hierarchy are externally prompted. ...
... uniqueness and identity)." These instructions were adapted from widely used goal induction methods (e.g., Pickett et al. 2002). To ensure that the task, mood, and self-esteem were similar across conditions, in the neutral goal -control condition participants recalled times when they felt uncomfortable around other people. ...
As consumers’ political opinions become more divided and more central to their identities, it is important to understand how political ideology shapes consumers’ attempts to differentiate from others in the marketplace. Seven studies demonstrate that political ideology systematically influences consumers’ preferences for differentiation. Conservative ideology leads consumers to differentiate from others vertically in the social hierarchy through products that signal that they are better than others, and liberal ideology leads consumers to differentiate from others horizontally in the social hierarchy through products that signal that they are unique from others. This happens because conservatism endorses, and liberalism opposes, the belief that the dominance-based hierarchical social structure is a legitimate mechanism to distinguish individual qualities. The effect is robust across measured and manipulated ideology, hypothetical and real product choices, and online searches in conservative and liberal U.S. states. Manipulating consumers’ differentiation goals and perceptions of hierarchy legitimacy mitigates the effect. The findings advance existing research on political ideology, social hierarchy, and consumer divergence, and they contribute to marketing practice.
... Henderson et al. (2011) also note that consumers prefer being conferred high status when the elite group is small. This is because smaller groups are associated with higher exclusiveness and distinctiveness, and hence more desirable (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). Consequently, these arguments suggest that exposure to a very large number of elite status members would have a detrimental effect on non-members' decision to join the loyalty program. ...
... Another important aspect to consider, while designing a tier structure for the loyalty program, is that the attractiveness of the top-tier group decreases when its relative size increases beyond a certain point (Drèze & Nunes, 2009): smaller groups are associated with higher exclusiveness and distinctiveness, and hence are more desirable (Pickett et al., 2002). Thus, the results of our study imply that while the most valuable benefits provided by HLPs, especially soft benefits associated with status, should be reserved for the highest tier, firms should also limit the size of the top-tier status group and keep it exclusive. ...
This study investigates the role of elite loyalty program members in influencing other customers to adopt a hierarchical loyalty program (or HLP) in a business market. Drawing from the social psychology literature, the theoretical framework proposes that elite status members exert a disproportionate positive influence on neighboring non-members to adopt the HLP, and that this social influence has an inverse U-shaped effect. A unique dataset from a B2B loyalty program of a firm in the agribusiness industry with detailed information on members and marketing efforts from 1,378 zip codes in Germany from 2008 to 2012 is used for the analysis. The study finds that, compared to members in lower status, elite status members have a stronger social influence on non-members. Importantly, as the proportion of elite status members increases, the adoption probability of non-members increases. However, as the fraction of elite status members increases beyond a certain point, the adoption probability of non-members decreases. Overall, the results of this study advances our understanding of loyalty programs in B2B markets, particularly with regard to the drivers of loyalty program adoption and the role played by social influence in driving new member enrollment.
... Because participants had transitioned to so many different high schools, it was not possible for us to assemble their class schedules and objectively determine how many students of their racial/ethnic group were present in any specific course. Although there may be instances of overestimation or underestimation of group size compared to actual size (e.g., Pickett et al., 2002), subjective perceptions of group size are important in their own right and have explanatory power because they tell us how each person uniquely perceives their context (Syed et al., 2018). Thus, subjectively perceived group size is likely to be more related to feelings of belonging than objective measures. ...
The desire to belong has been conceptualized by motivational psychologists as a fundamental human motive (need to belong), which means that it can guide thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Indeed, a growing literature has documented that students who perceive a sense of belonging in school generally fare well—academically, socially, and emotionally. In this article, we bring the racial/ethnic context to the study of school belonging. We review a number of studies from our program of research—both cross-sectional and longitudinal—that describe how feelings of belonging are shaped by important racial/ethnic context variables such as the size of one’s racial/ethnic group in school across critical school transitions, perceived representation of one’s group in critical STEM courses (e.g., 9th-grade math), and how the differences between school-level and course-level representation affect both schools belonging and academic achievement. We make an argument for studying racial/ethnic diversity as a fluid and dynamic construct that impacts motivation and achievement in previously understudied ways.
... However, when team diversity is moderate, on the one hand, the differences between individuals are substantial enough to maintain a sense of individuation for each team member (Huettermann et al., 2017;Shore et al., 2011). On the other hand, a moderate level of diversity provides team members with a sufficient level of commonality upon which to build a team identity and integrate it into their self-concept (Lin et al., 2017), satisfying the need for belongingness (Pickett et al, 2002;Shore et al., 2011;Randel et al., 2018). ...
While prior research has shown a relationship between age diversity and outcomes in teams, little knowledge exists regarding the theoretical mechanisms driving these outcomes. Furthermore, mixed findings from prior research indicate that these relationships differ depending upon contextual factors. Our field study tests two potential mediators and one possible moderator of the relationship between age diversity and team performance. Multi-source data collected from 71 Chinese township government leadership groups showed that team age diversity is positively associated with survey measures of two emergent states, specifically, perceived team effectiveness and collective team identification, which in turn positively predict an objective measure of team performance. The fully mediated model was moderated by leader moral identity, which strengthened the relationships between age diversity and both team emergent states. Results also showed a curvilinear relationship between age diversity and the two team emergent states which was not significantly moderated by leader moral identity. These findings contribute to extant knowledge from an integrative approach within a non-Western cultural context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... Achieving a sense of belonging at work, however, may not be equally attainable for all social groups in organizations. Due to their chronic underrepresentation in organizations and certain industries, members of underrepresented groups and women experience a chronic sense of uniqueness (Brewer, 1991;Tsui et al., 1991)-thereby making sense of belonging a more pressing, yet often unsatisfied need for these groups (Pickett et al., 2002;Shore et al., 2011). When underrepresented group members and women lack sense of belonging, they exhibit lower engagement and performance (G. ...
Many organizations offer justifications for why diversity matters, that is, organizational diversity cases. We investigated their content, prevalence, and consequences for underrepresented groups. We identified the business case, an instrumental rhetoric claiming that diversity is valuable for organizational performance, and the fairness case, a noninstrumental rhetoric justifying diversity as the right thing to do. Using an algorithmic classification, Study 1 (N = 410) found that the business case is far more prevalent than the fairness case among the Fortune 500. Extending theories of social identity threat, we next predicted that the business case (vs. fairness case, or control) undermines underrepresented groups' anticipated sense of belonging to, and thus interest in joining organizations-an effect driven by social identity threat. Study 2 (N = 151) found that LGBTQ+ professionals randomly assigned to read an organization's business (vs. fairness) case anticipated lower belonging, and in turn, less attraction to said organization. Study 3 (N = 371) conceptually replicated this experiment among female (but not male) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) job seekers. Study 4 (N = 509) replicated these findings among STEM women, and documented the hypothesized process of social identity threat. Study 5 (N = 480) found that the business (vs. fairness and control) case similarly undermines African American students' belonging. Study 6 (N = 1,019) replicated Study 5 using a minimal manipulation, and tested these effects' generalizability to Whites. Together, these findings suggest that despite its seeming positivity, the most prevalent organizational diversity case functions as a cue of social identity threat that paradoxically undermines belonging across LGBTQ+ individuals, STEM women, and African Americans, thus hindering organizations' diversity goals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... The role played by social exclusion here is consistent with findings that individuals who experience social exclusion tend to identify themselves with broader groups (e.g., the people instead of a specific social class; Knowles & Gardner, 2008) and overestimate the dimensions of their ingroup (Pickett et al., 2002). This finding could also be related to the strategy to redefine ingroup borders (Blanz et al., 1998). ...
Populism has been a major political phenomenon in liberal democracies throughout the last decade. Focusing on economic distress as one of the basic triggers of populism, we proposed a model integrating individual‐level indices of economic distress and status‐based identity threat (i.e., frustration of identity motives) as predictors of populism. We conducted two survey studies operationalizing populism as an individual‐level thin ideology among members of the general French population (Study 1: N = 458; Study 2: N = 1,050). Structural equation models supported status‐based identity threat as a partial mediator in the links between indices of relative deprivation and populism (Study 1). Additional analyses revealed frustrated belonging (i.e., feelings of social exclusion) as the central identity motive in this pattern. Reproducing the same model with belonging frustration instead of global‐identity motive frustration gave similar results (Studies 1 and 2). These findings provide the first evidence implicating identity threat—and belonging threat in particular—in the development of populist thin ideology and showed how identity motives are related to the economic distress pattern that predicts populism.
... Due to the fact that there is no standardized scale to assess optimal distinctiveness and intergroup threat, this study adapts the scales of Pickett et al. (2002) and Stephan and Stephan (1999) (see Table 1 for reliability indices). The first, made up of 10 items, measures two constructs. ...
In Cameroon, a country which has undergone a double French/British administration (1916-1961), the cohabitation between Francophones and Anglophones since 1961 is far from having erased the intergroup differences linked to their respective colonial pasts. On the contrary, over time, it has generated what has been called the Anglophone problem. In this context, is the strong tendency towards the schooling of students from francophone families in schools of the anglophone sub-system of education likely to attenuate intergroups cleavages? From the theoretical perspective of social identity, this research suggests that the perceived similarity between Anglophones and anglophonized francophones generates a threat to the specific Anglophones' linguistic identity. To test this hypothesis, the optimal distinctiveness and intergroup threat scales were administered to 462 Anglophones participants of both sexes. The correlation and linear regression analyzes provide empirical support for the hypothesis of the study. An adjusted R2 index validates the existence of a causal relationship between perceived similarity and intergroup threat.
... Such behaviors range from compensatory convictions (e.g., the bolstering of one's attitude on social issues [18]) to compensatory purchasing behavior (e.g., the purchase of self-expressive products [19]). According to the distinctive principle, people base the identity of themselves and others less on attributes that are common, and more on attributes that are different [20,21], so these tendencies reflect individuals' attempts to maximize self-other differences. Another way in which individuals can boost their self-concept clarity is to identify with groups with clear attributes, which will be discussed in detail in the next section. ...
The past research on radicalism is equivocal regarding the ways in which self-concept clarity shapes intentions to engage in radical behavior. Seeking to address the previous mixed findings in the literature, the present research examines how an individual’s agency-communion orientation moderates the effect of self-concept clarity on behavioral intentions for radical groups. Specifically, we propose that agency-oriented individuals show greater intentions to participate in radical groups when they experience low (vs. high) self-concept clarity, whereas communion-oriented individuals show no significant differences in their intentions to participate in radical groups across levels of self-concept clarity. A 2 (agency-communion orientation: low vs. high) × 2 (self-concept clarity: low vs. high) experimental design was used to test the hypotheses. Using gender as a proxy variable for agency-communion orientation, Study 1 shows that agency-communion orientation moderates the effect of self-concept clarity on intentions to participate in radical groups. Using chronic individual differences in agency-communion orientation, Study 2 shows that psychological entitlement mediates the interactive effect of self-concept clarity and agency-communion orientation on behavioral intentions for radical groups. Taken together, these findings support the role of agency-communion orientation and self-concept clarity in radicalism.
... According to OTD the needs for assimilation and differentiation motivate social identification and depend on external factors as well as on internal factors. Thus, the given social context, e.g. group size, and intraindividual well-being, including personality or personal appraisals, have an impact on the social identity perspective (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). Individuals are confronted with the negotiation between these motives. ...
Two human needs, the need for differentiation and its countervailing need for assimilation, are part of the optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT; Brewer, 1991). According to this theory, individuals are situated on a continuum between individuation and inclusion. The ODT provides that a feeling of optimal distinctiveness occurs, if both needs are balanced. The optimal distinctiveness theory and its belief of both, the need for similarity to and differentiation from others, is connected to the uniqueness theory, postulated by Snyder and Fromkin (1980). The present study focuses on the influence of individual needs for uniqueness on the feeling of optimal distinctiveness and investigates, whether or not both needs have to be in balance to make an individual feel optimal distinctive. The expressed need for uniqueness moderates between the social identity and the self-describing trait adjectives. The social identity is either manipulated with the induction of the need for differentiation or manipulated with an induced need for assimilation. Half of the self-describing trait adjectives is related to uniqueness, whereas the other half is related to similarity. Results indicate that the feeling of optimal distinctiveness rather varies on a dimension between inclusion and individuation depending on the individual need for uniqueness and does not have to be perfectly balanced. To eliminate bias, social desirability of trait adjectives and time-related stress should be considered in future studies.
Kurzzusammenfassung
Die konträren Bedürfnisse nach Assimilation und Differenzierung sind Teil der Theorie der optimalen Distinktheit (Brewer, 1991). Nach der Theorie, finden sich Menschen auf einem Kontinuum zwischen Individuation und Inklusion wieder und fühlen sich dann wohl, wenn beide Bedürfnisse im Einklang sind (=optimal distinkt). Die Theorie der optimalen Distinktheit und die Annahme des gleichzeitigen Strebens nach Abgrenzung von anderen und Ähnlichkeit zu anderen, stehen in Zusammenhang mit der Einzigartigkeitstheorie (Synder & Fromkin, 1980). Die vorliegende Studie beschäftigt sich mit dem Einfluss der Ausprägung des Einzigartigkeitsbedürfnisses als Moderator der Beziehung zwischen der sozialen Identität und der Selbstbeschreibung anhand von selbstbeschreibenden Adjektiven. Die eine Hälfte der Adjektive bezieht sich auf Einzigartigkeit, wohingegen die andere Hälfte sich auf Ähnlichkeit bezieht. Die Ergebnisse der Studie deuten darauf hin, dass das Gefühl der optimale Distinktheit interindividuell und abhängig von der Ausprägung des Bedürfnisses nach Einzigartigkeit zwischen Individuation und Inklusion variiert. Um Verzerrungen zu eliminieren, sollten in zukünftige Studien sowohl die soziale Erwünschtheit der selbstbeschreibenden Adjektive als auch Zeitstress der Probanden ausgeschlossen werden.
... When one motive is threatened (i.e., when people are made to feel as though they do not fit in with others [a threat to belonging] or are overly similar to others [a threat to distinctiveness]), people often engage in behaviors to try to fulfill the threatened motive. For instance, threats to belonging lead people to overestimate, and threats to distinctiveness lead people to underestimate, the size of their groups (Pickett et al., 2002). Particularly relevant to the current work, previous research has also found that mathematically gifted adolescent girls may be partially motivated by optimal distinctiveness drives to downplay the degree to which their behavior accords with gender stereotypes. ...
Interventions designed to increase women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines sometimes emphasize the STEM gender gap. Drawing upon optimal distinctiveness theory, we hypothesized that interventions overtly emphasizing women’s minority status in STEM might lead to less interest in STEM relative to interventions with subtler references to women’s minority status. In Study 1, women who viewed a STEM recruitment presentation drawing direct attention to the STEM gender gap showed lower implicit identification with STEM compared to those who viewed a presentation referencing gender through images alone. In Study 2, women’s greater feelings of unwanted distinctiveness in STEM following a presentation emphasizing the enduring gender gap (relative to one emphasizing the closing gender gap) had a significant indirect effect on their interest in STEM. In Study 3, women who viewed information about the gender distribution of a STEM company expressed less interest in the job when the same information was framed in terms of a continuing gender gap (vs. women’s growing representation), due to reduced feelings of belonging and increased feelings of unwanted distinctiveness. The present findings indicate that those designing STEM interventions targeting women should do so in ways that not only make women feel welcomed into the discipline but also do not place undue emphasis on women’s underrepresentation.
... In teams split into subgroups by a strong faultline, when the whole team has a task to perform, in-group favoritism may lead some team members to conform to the opinions of their own subgroup about the team task, whereas they may be less willing to accept different opinions about the same task coming from other subgroups within the team (e.g., van Dick, van Knippenberg, H€ agele, Guillaume, & Brodbeck, 2008). In addition, the psychological support found within their subgroups encourages them to state their shared view, even when it is contrary to the view held by members of other subgroups (Pickett, Silver, & y Brewer, 2002). Therefore, in teams with a strong faultline, task conflicts are likely to emerge. ...
In a sample of 60 branches of a bank, we examine the influence of age-based faultlines on team performance. Specifically, we propose a model with four mediational paths in the age-based faultline-team performance link. Using a time-lagged design with three data-collection points, we found that task conflict, team reflexivity, and negative team mood mediated the negative relationship between age based faultline strength and team performance. The results reveal the value of examining different mediational paths to explain the negative impact of teams’ demographic faultlines on team performance, and the need to integrate both task-related and affective aspects of team work in order to improve our understanding about how the influence of team faultlines develops. Furthermore, our findings offer managers practical guidance for reducing faultline effects on team performance.
... To fulfil a fundamental human need for belongingness (defined as the need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships; (Leary, Schreindorfer, & Haupt, 1995), The individuals seeks social identification through the groups which they belong by proving themselves that they are the part of this group, and the sense of connection with others that it creates, prevents the isolation that may happen if one becomes highly individuated. (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). Being an accepted member of a group give feeling of belongingness, strength and a feeling of achievement which is a result of the psychological thinking of loyalty, cooperation and trust upon each other. ...
... Salient status pursuit could reduce concerns of disease, which could be tested by priming status motives before tasking participants with a vigilance task to identify pathogenic cues (e.g., facial disfigurement; Ackerman et al., 2009;Griskevicius, Tybur, & Van den Bergh, 2010). Prioritizing distinctiveness elicits perceptions of social groups as unimposing, which could serve as a corollary to perceiving a group as less pathogenically threatening (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). ...
To reduce disease transmission through interpersonal contact, humans have evolved a behavioral immune system that facilitates identification and avoidance of pathogens. One behavioral strategy in response to pathogenic threat is the adoption of interpersonal reticence. However, reticence may impede status acquisition. This program of research tested whether activating pathogen-avoidant motives through priming fosters reticence related to status, namely disinterest in pursuing a group leadership position (Study 1) or disinterest in accepting a group leadership position bestowed onto them (Study 2). Individuals high in germ aversion were particularly interested in pursuing leadership as a form of status, with disease salience unexpectedly heightening status motives among those low in germ aversion. Furthermore, those high in perceived infectability reported reluctance for high-status positions, although disease salience heightened interest in accepting such positions. We contextualize findings by identifying dispositional and situational factors that foster individuals to invoke motivational tradeoffs.
... Accordingly, social identity researchers working on ODT have shown increases in identification with distinctive groups under distinctiveness threat as well as increased identification to inclusive groups under inclusion threat (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). ...
Common ingroup categorization reduces outgroup prejudice. This link is moderated by distinctiveness motives (i.e., individuals perceiving this identity as too inclusive). Yet, Optimal Distinctiveness Theory states that both distinctiveness and belonging motives shape intergroup attitudes. For the first time we tested the hypothesis that belonging and distinctiveness motives jointly moderate common ingroup categorization effects. Using a flag-priming paradigm, two studies showed that, when national ingroup identity was salient, only belonging motives predicted positive attitudes towards outgroups (Study1: Syrians in Turkey, N = 184; Study 2: Maghrebis in France N = 151). This was corroborated by sensitivity analyses on aggregated data (N = 335). These results suggest that national identification may lead to positive outgroup attitudes for individuals who derive belonging from it.
... In fact, clique norms may have bigger impact on attitudes and behavior than perceived norms of the whole social network. Membership in a small clique should satisfy adolescents' need for uniqueness and distinctiveness more than belonging to a big group (Blanton & Christie, 2003;Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). Consequently, clique membership may be valued more than belonging to a big group, which should motivate an adolescent to abide clique norms to avoid exclusion (Juvonen & Galván, 2008). ...
Research has shown that adolescents’ intergroup attitudes are subject to friends’ influence, but it remains unknown if certain friends are more influential than others. Popular adolescents may be especially influential of their friends’ intergroup attitudes because they can set peer norms. We examined several indicators of popularity in social networks as possible determinants of social influence: sociometric popularity, prestige popularity, being a clique leader, and frequency of contact with friends. Longitudinal analysis of adolescents’ friendship networks (12–13 years, N = 837) allowed estimating influence of friends on adolescents’ intergroup attitudes, while controlling for the tendency of adolescents to befriend peers with similar intergroup attitudes. Results showed that adolescents’ intergroup attitudes changed in the direction of friends’ intergroup attitudes. Only peers who are popular in terms of having many friends (sociometric popular) were especially influential of their friends’ intergroup attitudes. These findings may inform future interventions aiming to reduce prejudice.
... Achieving a sense of belonging at work, however, may not be equally attainable for all social groups in organizations. Due to their chronic underrepresentation in organizations and certain industries, members of underrepresented groups and women experience a chronic sense of uniqueness (Brewer, 1991;Tsui et al., 1991)-thereby making sense of belonging a more pressing, yet often unsatisfied need for these groups (Pickett et al., 2002;Shore et al., 2011). When underrepresented group members and women lack sense of belonging, they exhibit lower engagement and performance (G. ...
... For example, studies have reported higher levels of group cohesion (Bird, 2003) and overlap in values and norms (Lau & Murnighan, 1998) for all male groups compared to mixed groups. Lower levels of interpersonal attraction, shared values, and shared norms suggest reduced communication and trust (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002;Stevenson, Pearce, & Porter, 1985). ...
... We tested these hypotheses through three experimental studies in which we adopted the TPUG. We manipulated the receiver membership (ingroup vs outgroup) using bogus feedback on a fake personality test and the t-shirt color (for example, refer to Gaertner, Mann, Murrell, & Dovidio, 1989;Homan, van Knippenberg, Van Kleef, & De Dreu, 2007;Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002) and we tested the effect of this manipulation on an individual's decision-making. Moreover, in the third study, we explicitly investigated the moderator role of perceived intergroup competition. ...
A substantial body of literature on economic games (e.g., the Ultimatum Game) has consistently demonstrated that individuals strongly reject unfairness even at the price of personal utility. In four experiments we investigated the influence of social categorization and membership on economic decision-making and inequality aversion. Specifically, we used a modified version of the Third Party Ultimatum Game, in which participants played the role of responder and were instructed to make decisions for themselves or another individual (i.e. the receiver of the economic offer) who was an ingroup or outgroup member. Experiments 1 – 2(N=173) showed that the participants were more likely to accept unequal-advantageous offers when the receivers were ingroup rather than outgroup members. Experiment 3 (N=121) supported previous findings and suggested the intervening role played by perceived intergroup competition. Experiment 4 (N=61) explored the effect boundary conditions. Findings revealed that, even when responder's utility is linked to the receiver's utility, the receiver's membership exerted its influence when the responders were highly identified with the ingroup. A final small-scale meta-analysis confirmed the robustness of our findings. Taken together, these results integrate research on economic decision-making and intergroup bias and suggest that the utility target's membership can resolve the conflict between inequality aversion and utility maximization.
... For example, if I am a Socialist Muslim, then I might identify more strongly as a Socialist when Socialists are rare and Muslims common, and as a Muslim in the opposite case. Though unable to test directly for internal self-concept, experiments have shown that Western college students do alter their expression of social identity based on the relative distinctiveness of those components in at least some settings (Pickett et al., 2002). ...
I discuss the function of social identity signaling in facilitating cooperative group formation, and how the nature of that function changes with the structure of social organization. I propose that signals of social identity facilitate assortment for successful coordination in large-scale societies, and that the multidimensional, context-dependent nature of social identity is crucial for successful coordination when individuals have to cooperate in different contexts. Furthermore, the structure of social identity is tied to the structure of society, so that as societies grow larger and more interconnected, the landscape of social identities grows more heterogeneous. This discussion bears directly on the need to articulate the dynamics of emergent, ephemeral groups as a major factor in human cultural evolution.
... In the context of intergroup relations, people may project more on some values than on others because they are motivated to achieve or maintain optimal distinctiveness with the outgroup (Brewer, 1991). In social interactions people balance their need for assimilation and their need for differentiation (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002). Relying on Brewer's theory, one may expect that individuals would be less willing to project on values and traits that distinguish their ingroup from the outgroup-their core cultural values. ...
The present research examines intercultural accuracy—people’s ability to make accurate judgments about outgroup values—and the role of social projection processes. Across four studies, US and British participants showed overall low levels of intercultural accuracy but were slightly more accurate in predicting collectivistic than individualistic values of the Chinese. In parallel to the observed effects on accuracy, US/British participants (ABP) projected their values on the outgroup. This tendency was associated with greater accuracy and the relationship between projection and accuracy depended on the shifts in values of Chinese at two different moments (in 2001 and 2015). In Study 4 we examined the causal direction of this process by manipulating projection and found that projection facilitated accuracy. Important for the study of intergroup relations, accuracy was positively associated with interest in future relationships with the Chinese.
... Given that effective mobilization of a group to some degree necessitates following rank and conforming to the goals and attitudes that others espouse, liberals' motivations to heavily deliberate on judgments and construct a sense of uniqueness could undermine generating an effective social movement. Additionally, because motivations to individuate oneself become stronger as the size of a group increases (Pickett, Silver, & Brewer, 2002), effectively developing solidary in social movements could be especially challenging for liberals as the size of the group increases. This possibility could help account for the fact that members of the largest politically liberal organizations (e.g., the American Civil Liberties Union) tend to be relatively unconnected with one another (Putnam, 2000). ...
Do liberals or conservatives have more agreement in their political attitudes? Recent research indicates that conservatives may have more like-minded social groups than do liberals, but whether conservatives have more consensus on a broad, national level remains an open question. Using two nationally representative data sets (the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies), we examined the attitudes of over 80,000 people on more than 400 political issues (e.g., attitudes toward welfare, gun control, same-sex marriage) across approximately 40 years. In both data sets, we found that liberals possessed a larger degree of agreement in their political attitudes than did conservatives. Additionally, both liberals and conservatives possessed more consensus than did political moderates. These results indicate that social–cognitive motivations for building similarity and consensus within one’s self-created social groups may also yield less consensus on a broad, national level. We discuss implications for effective political mobilization and social change.
The investigation of how social distance affects psychological phenomena has relied mostly on comparisons between strangers and acquaintances. Such an operationalization suffers from a confound between social distance and acquaintance. We propose an experimental paradigm that manipulates social distance while avoiding the aforementioned confound. By relying on reciprocity and known social tie formation mechanisms, the Interaction Game provides researchers with a powerful tool for the investigation of social distance effects without inducing negative affective or emotional states. Four preregistered experiments demonstrate the internal and external validity of the paradigm. The capability of manipulating social distance in a targeted manner constitutes a critical step towards advancing our knowledge of the impact of such metrics on human cognition and behavior. Moreover, Experiment 4 demonstrates that the Interaction Game can induce social distance that is free of acquaintanceship, and that such a minimal manipulation is sufficient for inducing close‐other favoritism in a social discounting task. These findings expand our understanding of social distance as a powerful mechanism underlying social judgments and behaviors.
Culture is a central concept in the social sciences. It is also difficult to examine rigorously. I study the oldest university in East Africa and a cradle of political elites, Makerere University, where halls of residence developed distinct cultures in the 1970s such that some hall cultures are activist (e.g. Lumumba Hall) while others are respectful to authorities (e.g. Livingstone Hall) even though assignment to halls has been random since 1970. I leverage this unique setting to understand how culture forms and affects the values and behaviours of young adults. Participant observation, interviews and archives suggest that cultural differences arose from critical junctures that biased group (hall) composition and from intergroup (inter-hall) competition. Hall governments promote cultural and institutional persistence through the intergenerational transmission of norms and practices, thereby highlighting the role of political hierarchy in reproducing culture.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
The extent to which we see ourselves as similar or different from others in our lives plays a key role in getting along and participating in social life. This volume identifies research relevant to such communal functions of social comparisons and summarizes and organizes this research within a single, coherent conceptual framework. The volume provides an important addition to current thinking about social comparison, which has often neglected communal and affiliative functions. Whereas human desire to compare with others has traditionally been viewed as motivated by self-centered needs such as self-evaluation, self-enhancement, and self-improvement, this book presents an eclectic cross-section of research that illuminates connective, cooperative, and participatory functions of social comparisons. In this vein, the book aims both to expose research on currently neglected functions of social comparisons and to motivate a broader theoretical integration of social comparison processes.
This article examines how geographical distance affects how political parties articulate regional identities at the subnational level. This is done by applying construal-level theory, hypothesizing that the further away a region is from the center, the more distinct and unique peripheral identities will tend to be framed by these political actors. Qualitatively analyzing regional party manifestos issued for the regional elections held during 1999–2015 in the Spanish regions of Castilla–La Mancha, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands, the results show that regional identities are formulated in a more distinct and unique way as distance from the center increases.
Purpose
The study integrates organizational demography theory into person-environment fit theories to question the assumption that all employees can afford to strive for person-environment fit. The ethnic/racial diversity in organizations is investigated as a boundary condition in order to develop implications to mitigate the challenges of employees with precarious jobs, especially persons of color (POCs), in the society.
Design/methodology/approach
Publicly accessible and objective data from organizations in the S&P 1500 index were collected through Compustat, ExecuComp, the Bloomberg Terminal and the websites of Fortune, the United States Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Labor. A path analysis of time-lagged data was performed to support causal relationships between the examined constructs while controlling for alternative explanations.
Findings
Unsafe working conditions moderate the U-shaped relationship between ethnic/racial diversity and turnover and turn it into an inverted U-shaped relationship because employees in precarious jobs, especially POCs, cannot afford to leave unsafe working conditions. Organizations with unsafe working conditions are more likely to invest in sustainability initiatives. However, organizations' financial performance does not benefit from this investment.
Originality/value
The circumstance that not all employees can afford person-environment fit and its organizational outcomes are identified and empirically tested. Scholars can integrate this boundary condition in future research. Implications for practice and policy are also derived.
The present research introduces the possibility that Whiteness can threaten majority group members’ sense of uniqueness and reduce their support for multiculturalism, an ideology that emphasizes recognition of distinctive cultural identities and is seen as primarily relevant to racial/ethnic minorities. Across three studies, being induced to self-identify as “White” (versus “European American”) led majority group members high, but not low, in Need for Uniqueness (measured in Study 1, manipulated in Studies 2-3) to express less positivity toward multiculturalism. Further, the effect of uniqueness motives on reduced support for multiculturalism among participants self-identifying as “White” was mediated by reduced personal feelings of diversity (Study 3). Implications for Optimal Distinctiveness Theory and the functions of White identity are discussed.
Belongingness is a basic human need. The violation of this need has been described in numerous studies on intimate partner violence (IPV). However, it has not been conceptually defined. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and analyze the concept of social abuse in intimate partner relationships. A hybrid model of concept analysis was used for this study consisting of three phases: theoretical, fieldwork, and analytic. In the theoretical phase, a systematic literature review was performed to obtain a working definition of social abuse. In total, 20 articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. The findings from the theoretical phase were refined and confirmed by qualitative data collected from the fieldwork phase. In the analytical phase, four attributes of social abuse emerged: cutting off the victim’s social relations, limiting the victim’s social engagement, interfering with the victim’s social relations, and closely watching the victim’s social interactions. Possessiveness, escalating suspicion, allegations of infidelity, and fear that the victim will leave were identified as antecedents of social abuse in perpetrators. Additionally, the experience of social abuse had negative consequences on victims’ social relationships, mental health, and help-seeking behaviors. This study extends the theoretical framework of IPV and implies a strong need to educate victims and their social acquaintances on social abuse.
Self-regulation is an essential factor in school well-being and plays a significant role in peer rejection. The connection between peer rejection and self-regulation varies according to the type and quality of peer interaction (e.g., rejection or acceptance). The nature of interactions with peers influences different self-regulatory mechanisms; therefore, it can be assumed that there will be differences in the mechanisms of self-regulation among peer-rejected students. This study analyzes a group of peer-rejected students from the perspective of self-regulatory mechanisms. The participants consisted of 219 students deemed as peer-rejected. The respondent set was obtained from a randomly selected sample of 1,625 lower secondary students in the Czech Republic. Results based on a cluster analysis enabled the identification of five groups of peer-rejected students, each of which differed in terms of self-regulation skills, emotional regulation, self-regulatory failure, and perceived level of peer rejection. Thus, the respondents were characterized in the following five categories: “the Outsiders,” “the Misfits,” “the Overthinkers,” “the Poker Players,” and “the Trapped Despite the Odds.” Intergroup differences in terms of self-regulatory mechanisms were identified and discussed.
Informational diversity is perceived as the key to improving team creativity. However, alignment along multiple informational diversity attributes, known as information-based faultlines, can both provide diverse knowledge and form subgroup bias. The key to reaping the benefits of information-based faultlines is to understand how to utilize the diversified knowledge and, meanwhile, reduce subgroup bias. This study aims to examine how team leaders’ cognitive reappraisal can play a such role. Based on data from 68 teams, we found that (1) information-based faultlines had a positive effect on knowledge utilization when team leaders’ cognitive reappraisal was high, (2) knowledge utilization had a positive effect on team creativity, and (3) team leaders’ cognitive reappraisal moderated the indirect relationship between information-based faultlines and team creativity through knowledge utilization.
For many men and women across the world, distance education has improved access to higher education. Distance education could potentially help bridge the gap that divides the East and the West. A group of highly motivated young men and women from the Middle-East with undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science students were given an opportunity to earn a Ph.D. degree from a high ranking American university. These highly motivated men and women then were asked to participate in an online survey that aimed at comparing their perception of online education versus face-to-face education. The result indicated that there was no association between the students' degree of self-efficacy and feeling of inclusion in online versus face-to-face courses. Moreover, the result indicated that there was no association between gender and self-efficacy regardless of the medium of the choice.
Researchers have used social dominance, system justification, authoritarianism, and social identity theories to understand how monoracial perceivers’ sociopolitical motives influence their categorization of multiracial people. The result has been a growing understanding of how particular sociopolitical motives and contexts affect categorization, without a unifying perspective to integrate these insights. We review evidence supporting each theory’s predictions concerning how monoracial perceivers categorize multiracial people who combine their ingroup with an outgroup, with attention to the moderating role of perceiver group status. We find most studies cannot arbitrate between theories of categorization and reveal additional gaps in the literature. To advance this research area, we introduce the sociopolitical motive × intergroup threat model of racial categorization that (a) clarifies which sociopolitical motives interact with which intergroup threats to predict categorization and (b) highlights the role of perceiver group status. Furthermore, we consider how our model can help understand phenomena beyond multiracial categorization.
Social affiliation in humans is ubiquitous and adaptive, albeit bounded. For example, crowding is experienced as aversive, and fosters reticent and avoidant behaviors in the service of mitigating contact with potentially threatening conspecifics. Given the integral role of physical proximity in disease transmission, this suggests that crowd salience could activate pathogen-avoidant motives in response to personal space violations from others. Three preliminary studies initially investigated how crowd salience heightens pathogen-avoidant motives and shapes interpersonal perceptions. Crowd salience (compared to a control experience) heightened preferences for good genes cues (facial symmetry; Study 2), but not aversion to a bad genes cue (obesity; Study 1); crowd salience was additionally unrelated to anti-immigration attitudes (Study 3). Crowd salience heightened state levels of pathogen-avoidant motives descriptively (Studies 1 and 2) and significantly heightened perceived infectability (Study 3). A fourth pre-registered, high-powered replication demonstrated that crowd salience heightened state levels of perceived infectability and germ aversion. We discuss potential bases for inconsistencies in the findings while offering recommendations for future crowding research.
The inequality of wealth in the United States has reached record high levels in recent years. Although many people agree that the current level of inequality is extreme, public support for redistributive measures designed to reduce inequality is divided. Prior work predicts that perceiving high similarity can potentially boost individuals' support for redistribution. However, the present research proposes that the effect of social similarity on redistribution support may be more complex. Whereas high (vs. low) perceived social similarity increases support for redistribution among liberals, contrary to prior predictions, it may actually decrease redistribution support among conservatives. This happens because high (vs. low) perceived social similarity weakens liberals', but strengthens conservatives', beliefs that people deserve their unequal outcomes. The findings generate useful insights for researchers and policymakers by suggesting that strategies that aim to garner public support for redistribution by changing perceptions of social similarity should be tailored to the audience.
For many men and women across the world, distance education has improved access to higher education. Distance education could potentially help bridge the gap that divides the East and the West. A group of highly motivated young men and women from the Middle-East with undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science students were given an opportunity to earn a Ph.D. degree from a high ranking American university. These highly motivated men and women then were asked to participate in an online survey that aimed at comparing their perception of online education versus face-to-face education. The result indicated that there was no association between the students’ degree of self-efficacy and feeling of inclusion in online versus face-to-face courses. Moreover, the result indicated that there was no association between gender and self-efficacy regardless of the medium of the choice.
The relationship between the self and the collective is discussed from the perspective of self-categorization theory. Self-categorization theory makes a basic distinction between personal and social identity as different levels of self-categorization. It shows how the emergent properties of group processes can be explained in terms of a shift in self perception from personal to social identity. It also elucidates how self-categorization varies with the social context. It argues that self-categorizing is inherently variable, fluid, and context dependent, as sedf-categories are social comparative and are always relative to a frame of reference. This notion has major implications for accepted ways of thinking about the self: The variability of self-categorizing provides the perceiver with behavioral and cognitive flexibility and ensures that cognition is always shaped by the social context in which it takes place.
In the present chapter, we move away from the traditional focus on the outgroup encountered in the literature on intergroup relations and argue that the ingroup is psychologically primary. We build upon the notion of entitativity first proposed by Campbell (1958) and suggest that entitative ingroups meet basic needs related to group membership better than less coherent ingroups. We provide initial support for the privileged status of entitative ingroups by reviewing contemporary research on group homogeneity. Next, we report on a research program showing that social identification and ingroup entitativity go hand in hand. First, we address the influence of ingroup identification on group entitativity in such phenomena as the “black sheep” effect and ingroup overexclusion. Second, we examine the impact of ingroup entitativity on social identification. We conclude by proposing that ingroup entitativity may also be related to a feeling of efficacy which need not produce conflict and discrimination toward outgroups. Globally, the accumulated evidence strongly suggests that the perception of ingroup entitativity plays a key role in intra- and intergroup relations.One's own family is an ingroup; and by definition all other families on the street are outgroups; but seldom d o they clash… One knows that one's lodge has distinctive characteristics that mark it off from all others, but one does not necessarily despise the others. The situation it seems can best be stated as follows: although we could not perceive our own ingroups excepting as they contrast to outgroups, still the ingroups are psychologically primary. We live in them, by them, and sometimes, for them. Hostility toward outgroups helps strengthen our sense of belonging, but it is not required (Allport, 1954, pp. 40–41).
This research examined reasons for the frequently obtained finding that members of numerically minority groups exhibit greater intergroup discrimination than members of majority groups and also sought to determine the conditions under which members of both majority and minority groups exhibit intergroup discrimination. Experiment 1 examined the role of group identification and found that discrimination by members of a majority group was equivalent to that of minority group members when identification was experimentally induced. Experiments 2 and 3 examined further the underlying bases for minority and majority discrimination. Consistent with predictions derived from optimal distinctiveness theory (12), identification with the in-group was found to be a necessary condition underlying intergroup discrimination, but motivations for discrimination varied as a function of satisfaction with in-group size and distinctiveness.
Three factors were identified that uniquely contribute to people's global self-esteem: (a) people's tendencies to experience positive and negative affective states, (b) people's specific self-views (i.e., their conceptions of their strengths and weaknesses), and (c) the way people frame their self-views. Framing factors included the relative certainty and importance of people's positive versus negative self-views and the discrepancy between people's actual and ideal self-views. The contribution of importance to people's self-esteem, however, was qualified in 2 ways. First, importance contributed only to the self-esteem of those who perceived that they had relatively few talents. Second, individuals who saw their positive self-views as important were especially likely to be high in self-esteem when they were also highly certain of these positive self-views. The theoretical and therapeutic implications of these findings are discussed.
A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
Three studies examined perceptions of the entitativity of groups. In Study 1 (U.S.) and Study 2 (Poland), participants rated a sample of 40 groups on 8 properties of groups (e.g., size, duration, group member similarity) and perceived entitativity. Participants also completed a sorting task in which they sorted the groups according to their subjective perceptions of group similarity. Correlational and regression analyses were used to determine the group properties most strongly related to entitativity. Clustering and multidimensional scaling analyses in both studies identified 4 general types of groups (intimacy groups, task groups, social categories, and loose associations). In Study 3, participants rated the properties of groups to which they personally belonged. Study 3 replicated the results of Studies 1 and 2 and demonstrated that participants most strongly valued membership in groups that were perceived as high in entitativity.
Optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT; Brewer, 1991, 1993a,b) argues that people can respond to membership of an overly inclusive group by engaging in a drive for subgroup distinctiveness. To test this, 280 subgroup members (humanities and maths-science students) rated the extent to which they perceived their superordinate group (University of Queensland) to be inclusive. After performing a task designed to activate their superordinate category membership, participants completed a questionnaire assessing inter-subgroup attitudes. Consistent with ODT, ratings of superordinate inclusiveness explained a moderate amount of variance in subgroup bias (5–8 per cent), such that the more inclusive the superordinate category was seen to be, the more bias was demonstrated. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for ODT and their implications for promoting subgroup harmony. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Artificial social categories were created in a laboratory context in order to test predictions regarding the relative importance of group size and status as determinants of in-group favoritism. Subjects were assigned to categories of “overestimator” or “under estimator” and were told that one category included a majority of college students while the other represented a minority. Prior to category assignment, half of the subjects had been given confidentiality instructions designed to make them feel highly depersonalized. Based on feedback about test performance, status differentials between the two estimation categories were introduced.
Consistent with predictions, there was a three-way interaction between depersonalization, in-group size, and in-group status as determinants of evaluative in-group bias on social trait ratings. Under control conditions (no depersonalization), group status and majority size both contributed to positive valuations of the in-group. Under the depersonalization condition, however, subjects valued minority group membership more than majority categorization, and the effect of status was eliminated.
Extending theories of distinctiveness motivation in identity (Breakwell, 1987; Brewer, 1991; Snyder & Fromkin, 1980), we discuss the precise role of distinctiveness in identity processes and the cross-cultural generality of the distinctiveness principle. We argue that (a) within Western cultures, distinctiveness is necessaryfor the construction of meaning within identity, and (b) the distinctiveness principle is not incompatible with non-Western cultural systems. We propose a distinction among three sources of distinctiveness: position, difference, and separateness, with different implications for identity and behavior. These sources coexist within cultures, on both individual and group levels of selfrepresentation, but they may be emphasized differently according to culture and context.
An experiment assessed the proposition that competing motives for inclusion and individuation both function to control concerns about mortality. Combining ideas from terror management theory and optimal distinctiveness theory, the authors hypothesized that mortality salience would increase the tendency of participants given feedback that they had strong conformist tendencies to underestimate social consensus for their attitudes and the tendency of participants given feedback that they were deviant to exaggerate social consensus for their attitudes. Participants were given either one or the other type of feedback, responded to open-ended questions about either their own death or their next important exam, completed a measure of social projection in which they indicated their own attitudes, and then estimated the percentage of the general population that shared their opinions. Results on a social projection measure consisting of the partial correlation between own and others' attitudes, controlling for social desirability, provided strong support for the hypotheses.
Investigates an old controversy in ethnic identification from the perspective of information-gathering strategies. It was hypothesized that people would request a lot of positive information before deciding that someone is a member of the ingroup. First, a questionnaire measuring the typical features of likeable and unlikeable targets issuing from two linguistic groups (Flemish and Walloon) revealed the existence of four distinguishable sets. These sets corresponded to the orthogonal combination of valence and group membership, i.e. they were organized in terms of two independent dimensions, an evaluative one and descriptive one. The dimensional complexity and evaluative extremity of the ‘positive ingroup’ and ‘negative outgroup’ sets were not different. Second, characteristics in each set served to create personality profiles presumably describing real targets. Subjects read these profiles, one feature at a time up to 10 features, and were asked to decide whether the target was a member of their group. They also learned that they could make their decision as soon as they felt confident. In line with Yzerbyt and Leyens' (1991) results, data indicate that subjects requested more information when the evidence was positive or consistent with their ingroup membership than when it was negative or inconsistent. These findings shed new light on earlier work concerning ethnic identification. In the context of the more general question of intergroup relations and their role in person perception, the present results may be interpreted in terms of an ingroup overexclusion effect rather than a vigilance effect or response bias. Thus is added a new effect to the well-known phenomena of ingroup favouritism and outgroup homogeneity.
Mfost of social psychology's theories of the self fail to take into account the significance of social identification in the definition of self. Social identities are self-definitions that are more inclusive than the individuated self-concept of most American psychology. A model of optimal distinctiveness is proposed in which social identity is viewed as a reconciliation of opposing needs for assimilation and differentiation from others. According to this model, individuals avoid self-construals that are either too personalized or too inclusive and instead define themselves in terms of distinctive category memberships. Social identity and group loyalty are hypothesized to be strongest for those self-categorizations that simultaneously provide for a sense of belonging and a sense of distinctiveness. Results from an initial laboratory experiment support the prediction that depersonalization and group size interact as determinants of the strength of social identification.
There are circumstances in which one is reluctant to express a judgment on the basis of the available information. This is for instance the case when the decision may jeopardize the integrity of the group one is a member of. In particular, ingroup members are considered less judgeable than outgroup members. This phenomenon corresponds to the ingroup overexclusion effect (Leyens and Yzerbyt, 1992). An experimental situation was designed in order to rule out an explanation of this phenomenon in terms of confirmation of hypothesis. French- or Dutch-speaking subjects heard recordings of 40 sentences and, depending on the specific wording of the question, decided whether the speakers belonged to the group of French-speaking (i.e. Walloon) versus Dutch-speaking (i.e. Flemish) Belgians or not. The 40 sentences enabled to cross three factors with five sentences in each cell: Walloon versus Flemish speakers, French versus Dutch sentences, and short versus long sentences. As predicted, subjects made most errors when ingroup members read short outgroup sentences. Most importantly, the specific wording of the question did not lead to a reversal of the pattern of errors of group identification. Subjects also took longer to make a decision about an ingroup member reading an outgroup sentence than about an outgroup member reading an ingroup sentence. Such a pattern clearly supports a motivational explanation and undermines a confirmation of hypothesis explanation of the ingroup overexclusion effect. Older accounts of ethnic identification phenomena are addressed and it is suggested that identity concerns greatly affect impression formation processes.
According to Optimal Distinctiveness Theory and Self-Categorization Theory, possible self-definition as a member of contextually moderately distinctive social categories should be more central to identity than association with very general or with highly unique social categories. Data from a large scale cohort survey of 4156 18-21-year-olds were analysed to test this hypothesis. Respondents' self-reported political affiliations were classified according to the social popularity (size and support) accorded each party. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that minority political parties should provide more central and important bases of social identity. Supporters of minority parties showed greatest commitment, perceived their parties to be more representative of themselves, and were less likely to simply conform to parental political views. Minority supporters were also significantly more likely to discuss politics with their friends. Additional data from Scotland confirmed that identification with Scotland was more strongly associated with support for the Scottish Nationalist Party than with support for other minority or majority parties. These data provide convergent evidence that minority parties may attract members through their capacity to provide a meaningful social identity.
The goal of the present research was to demonstrate the influence of perceiver motivations on perceptions of in-group and out-group homogeneity. Based on Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (Brewer, 1991), it was predicted that arousal of assimilation and differentiation needs (through threats to intragroup standing and intergroup distinctiveness) would lead to heightened perceptions of both in-group and out-group homogeneity. Because perceived homogeneity enhances both intragroup assimilation and intergroup contrast, such perceptions can serve both the need for increased inclusion within the in-group and the need for increased distinctiveness between in-group and out-group. As predicted, compared to no-arousal controls, participants in the assimilation and differentiation arousal conditions showed heightened perceptions of in-group and out-group homogeneity, greater perceived in-group stereotypicality, and the tendency to be more restrictive in defining in-group membership.
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This study assessed the effects of group induction procedures that are practical in their administration (written format) and also individualized. Fifty-four females and 36 males were assigned randomly to one of three conditions. Conditions One and Two consisted of subjects being asked to think of the two saddest or two happiest events of their lives, respectively. Condition Three consisted of a control condition in which subjects were asked to read a geography article. The procedure produced marked decreases in depression (p < .001) and anxiety (p = .001) as mood states in Condition One (happy events) and marked increases in depression (p < .001) and anxiety (p < .001) in Condition Two (sad events). These procedures are particularly suitable for mood induction in a group setting.