Self-categorization, commitment to the group and SE as related but distinct aspects of social identity (Ellemer et al., 1999) CLICK HERE
Investigation of the conceptualization and measurement of mediators of soc. behavior
Group Features
Social Identity #
Tajfel (1978) 3 components:
-Cognitive
-Evaluative
-Emotional
Unclear if social identity should be treated as a uni-
or multidimensional construct. Many models include Tajfel's individual components. However, there is other work to suggest that these components are well correlated with one another (Hinkle,1989).
Previous work uses "minimal groups" to induce social categorization to cause group membership behavior.
But these patterns of results may not reflect natural group membership.*
Emotional Involvement in group self identification
Social Identity - refers to a feeling of affective commitment to the group
Important to distinguish between cognitive awareness of group membership (self-categorization) and emotional membership (affective commitment)
Group Status #
Goals:
Investigate the role of the 3 aspects of soc. identity (are they dissociable?)
How are these aspects of social identity effected by group features: group size and group membership?
Are the components of soc. identity mediators of group level behavior? (prediction: affective commitment predisposes people to show ingroup favoritism)
Emotional Involvement in Group Self Esteem
Important to consider the emotional involvement with their group (affective commitment)from the value connotation of that particular group membership (group self-esteem)
this relationship may change between some experimental and natural groups
Low group status - unfavorable comparisons between the in group and relevant other groups. This may frustrate disrupt the formation of a positive social identity from one's group membership. Thus, they are expected to show less group membership than members with higher status.
Low group members seem to be pulled two directions, between pride and group self-esteem
Authors argue that this reflects the evaluative component of social identity (group self-esteem)
Group Size
Group size --> ingroup favoritism
Inconsistent results: minority vs majority
Generic phrasing would suggest majority and minority would refer to differential status, but when separated out minority group members actually show higher levels of ingroup identification
Explained cognitive component of self-categorization?
Group Characteristic #
Group Characteristics --> emotional component
individual level (distancing oneself from the group) vs group level traits (ingroup favoritism). Can possibly be eased apart between assigned vs. achieved group membership
Previous work: ingroup members who feel that their inclusion in a lower status group is unjust are likely to work toward leaving the group (competing with fellow members if needed) showing little group commitment (Ellemers, 1993)
Additionally, voluntary commitment is a reliable predictor of group solidarity (Turner et al. 1984)
Thus artificial and natural groups may respond differently to assignation and self-selection
Application to Practice - representation of the student population within the teacher population.
Explicit instruction on ingroup outgroup bias: debate class/ argument or perspective taking interventions
Unrelated:(I could see this topic having clear implication within jury /law psychology)
Methods
Procedure -
Given a survey that describes different problem solving styles
For the assigned group participants were put into groups based on their problem solving style
self-selected group - participants indicated which style of problem solving works best for them
Manipulations
Participants 119 students (68 Women)
Manipulation of Ingroup Size - majority group members were told that their scores were in the top 70% of respondents. Minority group members were told that their scores were in the lower 30th percentile
Manipulation of ingroup status - preprogrammed feedback:
high-status, ingroup score of 82 points, outgroup, 53 points
low-status, ingroup score of 53 points, outgroup, 82 points
Participants were informed that the average score of university students was a 67
Manipulation of Group Formation - participants sorted "based on their responses to survey, or subjects indicated themselves which style works best
Results
Group self-Esteem, self-categorization, and commitment to the group Refer to Table 1.
In short, each question type explains enough of the variance related to the constructs its testing, uniquely
DV
measure of self-categorization, commitment to the group, and group self-esteem.
10 further questions related to individual identity
Likert Scale (1-7)
Personal Identity and self-esteem Group formation did not affect personal self-esteem for members of high status groups. However, low status group members who were in a self-selected group showed lower self-esteem than those assigned to a group.
Group Ratings: show ingroup favoritism did not emerge for high status group members (thy were less likely to show ingroup favoritism than for those in which the majority group was self selected.
In Group Favoritism and Identification:
self categorization (cognitive component) - does not contribute to either form of differentiation
group SE (the evaluative component) - shows a moderate relation with the two intergroup differentiation measures
affective commitment (affective component) is significantly correlated with displays of ingroup favoritism on both measures (as predicted)
Discussion
The data suggests that the component of social identity should be considered separate. Confirming the traditional view of the theoretical construct "social identity".
This result may help to explain why strong group membership is observed between minority group members, even if faced with a negative group stereotype.
Even when group members ha low-status people may show strong group commitment when their group membership is self selected. Additionally, majority group membership has less of an emotional connection to the group. As discussed in the beginning, this could be due to the uniqueness of the groups.
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