Working for the self or working for the group: how self- versus group affirmation affects collective behavior in low-status groups.
Experiencing social identity threat can lead members of stigmatized groups to protect their self-regard by withdrawing from domains that are associated with higher status groups. Four experiments examined how providing identity affirmation in alternative domains affects performance motivation in status-defining domains among stigmatized group members. Two forms of identity affirmation were distinguished: self-affirmation, which enhances personal identity, and group affirmation, which enhances social identity. The results showed that although self- and group affirmation both induce high performance motivation, they do so in different ways. Whereas self-affirmation induces a focus on the personal self, group affirmation induces a focus on the social self (Study 1). Accordingly, group affirmation elicited high performance motivation among highly identified group members (Studies 1 and 2) by inducing challenge (Study 2) and protected interest in group-serving behaviors that improve collective status (Studies 3 and 4). By contrast, low identifiers were challenged and motivated to perform well only after self-affirmation (Studies 1 and 2) and reported an even stronger inclination to work for themselves at the expense of the group when offered group affirmation (Studies 3 and 4).
Derks
Belle
B
Institute for Psychological Research, Social and Organizational Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. derks@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
van Laar
Colette
C
Ellemers
Naomi
N
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004532:Ego; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult