title: Where are we coming from versus who we will become: the effect of priming different contents of European identity on cooperation.
abstract: In two experiments, we investigated how priming European identity as common project versus common heritage affects participants' cooperation in a social dilemma; an additional aim was to explore the mediators involved in the process. In the first experiment, 82 students played a public good dilemma with a European bogus partner and then completed self-report measures of identification with the European Union (EU), group-based trust and collective interest. Results showed that priming a common project-based but not a common heritage-based European social identity fostered cooperative behaviour; this effect was mediated by two sequential mediators: the common project prime increased participants' strength of identification with EU (mediator 1) which, in turn, positively affected group-based trust (mediator 2), fostering greater cooperation. Experiment 2 was conducted with a similar procedure on a sample of 124 students, using a different measure of trust and changing the order of mediators. Results supported those of previous experiment: Priming a project-based EU identity content (compared to heritage-based one) had significant direct and indirect effects on cooperation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, University of Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Barbera
authors.forename: Pia Cariota
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Ferrara
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005006:Ethnicity; D005062:European Union; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D011340:Problem Solving; D012933:Social Identification; D012935:Social Justice; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D035502:Trust; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Common project; Cooperation; European identity; Social identity; Trust