Social Identity 3

Social Identity and Intra-Group Processes

We will explore how social identity affects dynamics within smaller groups.

Key Topics

1. Social identity and leadership.

2. Social identity and deviance.

3. Group decision-making.

4. Collective narcissism.

5. Social identity and prejudice in children (briefly).

Shift in Focus

• Social identity theory initially focused on intergroup relations.

• In the early to mid-2000s, research expanded to consider smaller groups and intra-group processes.

• Initial lack of attention to the heterogeneity within groups.

Nested Group Situations

• Examples: School of Psychology within a university, sales and marketing department within an organization.

• Dominant positions: Certain attributes of a group are more fully represented.

• Subordinate subgroups: Can feel their distinct identity is threatened, leading to a fight for independence.

Political Example: Scottish Independence

• Scotland's move for independence from the UK.

Social Identity and Leadership

• Group attributes may include a social hierarchy.

• Key structural differentiations: leaders and followers.

Leadership Endorsement and Effectiveness

• Based on how prototypical the leader is considered to be.

• When membership is psychologically salient and members identify strongly with the group, leadership endorsement and effectiveness are increasingly based on how prototypical the leader is considered to be.

Mechanisms Underpinning Prototypical Leader Benefits

Leaders who epitomize the norms of their group or collective:

1. Stronger Identification: Members identify more strongly with the group if the leader is prototypical.

2. Trust and Motivation: Members assume the leader is motivated by the same needs as they are, building trust.

   • Acceptance of Change: This trust enables leaders to suggest change.

   • Perception of Initiatives: Suggestions are seen as creative attempts to fulfill traditional values, not challenge them

3. Cooperation: Leaders are perceived as cooperative within the group and believe in the group's self-serving manner.

4. Identity Clarification: Leaders clarify the collective's identity by differentiating it from rival groups and highlighting its merits, fulfilling individual social identity needs.

   • Validation: Validates membership credentials.

   • Trust: Builds trust among members.

5. Desirability: Because leaders are believed to epitomize the group, members assume the prototypical leader must also be desirable.

   • Positive Qualities: Members attribute positive qualities to these leaders, such as charisma, and trust them to act in the best interest of the group.

Innovation and Non-Conformity

• Prototypical leaders are given greater latitude to be innovative and non-conformist.

  • Non-prototypical leaders need to prove their membership and are less trusted.

  • Non-prototypical leaders need to behave in a conformist manner, which impedes innovation and effective leadership.

• The more prototypical a leader is, the greater it validates the identity of the group, the greater the trust is placed in that leader, and the greater space that leader is given to be innovative and non-conformist.

Social Identity Theory of Leadership

• Prototypical leaders are perceived as very effective and charismatic.

• Leaders whose characteristics deviate from the norms of their group are often perceived as ineffective, even if they demonstrate excellent qualities.

• Social Identity Theory has a significant role in whether a leader is deemed effective and how long they stay in their role.

Key Premise

• We look to our leaders to define our group's identity and prescribe what we should think, feel, and do as group members.

• Prototypical leaders guide us in terms of group norms.

Research Findings

• Leaders who seem to match the prototypes of their group are perceived favorably by followers, especially by members who identify strongly with the group.

• Prototypical leaders are also perceived as more suited to their leadership position, more charismatic, and more persuasive than other leaders.

Examples

• Leaders in jobs or professions.

• Government leaders (presidents and prime ministers).

Gaffney and Colleagues (2019) - President Trump Example

• Trump was a prototypical leader of the Republican party.

• Post-2016 election: Republicans decreased in their desire to leave their party.

• This effect is related to increasing perceptions of Trump's prototypicality and representation of the Republican party.

Contrasting Example - Democrat Candidate

• After the same election, Democrats increased in their desire to leave the party because the Democrat candidate was viewed as less prototypical.

Post-2020 Election

• Republicans had reduced perceptions of their leader's prototypicality compared with Democrats.

• Democrats perceived President Biden as more prototypical in terms of leadership of the Democrat party.

Social Identity and Deviance

• The opposite side of social identity is deviance.

• Deviant members are people who are not very prototypical and therefore they are not liked or trusted as much as prototypical members.

Deviant Members

• Deviant members do not follow group norms and are viewed as not prototypical.

• They threaten the integrity of group norms and the identity of the group.

Social Identity Analysis of Deviance

• Deviant members are typically not liked or trusted as much as prototypical members.

• These members threaten the integrity of group norms, and ultimately the identity of the group.

• Group members judge likeable in-group members more positively than similar out-group members, whilst judging unlikable in-group members more negatively than similar out-group members.

Black Sheep Effect

• People may simultaneously engage in in-group bias towards socially desirable group members and in-group derogation towards socially undesirable ones.

• The derogation of unlikable in-group members is a cognitive motivational strategy to purge from the group those in-group members who negatively contribute to social identity.

Importance of Self-Esteem

• Social identity is important for increasing our self-esteem.

• If non-prototypical group members threaten our social identity, we want to remove them from our group.

• The black sheep effect operates to preserve a positive social identity.

In-Group vs. Out-Group Evaluation

• In-group members' behavior is more relevant to the in-group's social identity.

• In-group members are consistently evaluated in a more extreme way than out-group members, either favorably or unfavorably.

Definition of Black Sheep Effect

• The black sheep effect is a tendency to evaluate a disreputable or disliked person more negatively when that person is a member of one's own group rather than of some other group.

Explanation by Social Identity Theory

• People respond negatively to those who act in ways that threaten their group identity, particularly when they affiliate strongly with their group.

• Because our social identity is so important to us, we want to rid our groups of anybody who threatens that social identity.