Why and How are you Attached to your Social Group?

To understand how a person may behave it is important to look at how a person's social identity is constructed. The strength of social identity is tracked using three dimensions which are collective identity, self-determined motivations one uses to form identification, and contingencies with social identification. Previously conducted research has examined these dimensions to understand in order to better understand why and by what means people bond with a group. This research seeks to demonstrate how tracking these dimensions within a person will determine both their individual and intergroup results.

This study takes data from research conducted in both Quebec and Australia. The purpose of the Quebec study was to measure the strength of the Quebecois identity. There were 119 participants that were undergraduate college students and they were recruited via email and classrooms. There were several measures given in the questionnaire. Social identification was measured both identification (action) and quality of that identification (happiness) with two Jackson subscales. Self-determination to identity was tested by examining participants self-determined (personal satisfaction) and non-self-determination (must identify) with Amiot and Sansfacon Motivation to Identify Scale.

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Collective identity clarity was measured by asking how confused participants felt about being Quebecois using a 10-point Likert scale. CSEC-C used a 5-item Crocker and colleagues (Crocker, Luthanen, Cooper, and Bouvrette, 2003) Self-esteem Contingency scale to understand how personal worth was linked to the group success. Patriotism and Nationalism was analyzed using a Kosterman and Freshback (1989) 17-item scale to understand the level of personal pride and superiority one felt about their nation.

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Outcomes change based upon analysis method. Analysis of the data shows that there is a strong self-determination to identify they will also have stronger collective identity clarity. Strong self-determination is also closely linked to patriotism.

The second study was conducted in Montreal using 83 undergraduate students recruited during class and personal contacts. The questionnaire was the same as the first study except for Personal self-esteem and collective self-esteem. The Personal self-esteem section used a 10-item French version (Vallieres & Vallerand, 1990) of Rosenberg's (1979) Self-Esteem Scale to measure a person feeling of individual worth. The Collective self-esteem section used Luhtanen and Crocker (1992) Collective Self-Esteem Scale with four subscales to understand a person's feeling of worth relative to their group.

Results varied based upon the method used. Examining the data from this study reveals that if a person has strong self-determination to identify they are subject to collective self-esteem. Also, it can be observed that if a person has relatively low self-determination to identify they will have a higher value of personal self-esteem.

The third study was conducted using 136 Australian undergraduate college students that went through two phases. The first phase was used to measure identification and the second measured consequence that affect ingroup bias. In order to measure self-determination to identify the same scale was used form the previous two studies but geared towards Australians. Positive and negative affect was measured by examining ten items taken from Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al 1988) to understand how situations would produce effects. A Likert scale was used to understand how participants believed they could influence the outcome of both 5 positive and 5 negative situations. A feeling thermometer was used to examine group preference with the ingroup of Australia and several random groups.

Different results were created depending on the analysis model chosen. There is a strong relation to self-determination and control over positive and negative situations. When non-self-determination is coupled with CSEC-C it can be determined that an individual will demonstrate a higher level of ingroup bias.

Examining all the studies some conclusions can be made. If there was a high value of self-determined motivation to identify and clarity of collective identity, then individuals would see these values as satisfying forms of identity. Non-self-determined motivations to identify and collective self-esteem contingency would generally be competitive forms of identity. Non-self-determined motivation to identify could predict one's level of nationalism if coupled with self-esteem.

For future research it was suggested that understanding the well-being of individuals may help understand their level of group involvement. Another metric that could be tested is the level of openness and tolerance.

One shortcomings of the research were that intergroup consequences were negative so including positive consequences would be beneficial.

Updated: Aug 10, 2021

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Why and How are you Attached to your Social Group?. (2019, Dec 05). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/how-are-you-attached-to-your-social-group-essay

Why and How are you Attached to your Social Group? essay
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