,Chapter 3: inclusion and identity
Inclusion people change from outsiders into insiders by joining the group
Collectivism members begin to think about the good of the group, rather than what the group
provides them
Identity individuals change their conception of who they are to include their group’s qualities as
well as their own individual qualities
Story: Patrick wanted to join ‘peak’ = all-volunteer emergency response group. Patrick is self-
confident, extravert but the members who set themselves above others and so self-glorification get
excluded. In time, Patrick learned his personal self to grow quieter and group-level self-flourished.
1. From isolation to inclusion
1.1 The need to belong
- Humans seek inclusion over exclusion.
- People have a ‘need to belong’ = a drive to form an maintain lasting, positive and impactful
interpersonal relationships linked to other basic needs
Solitude and social isolation
Sometimes, it can be pleasant to be alone. Most people find periods of social isolation disturbing.
Isolated individuals speak of the psychological costs (fear, insomnia, depression,).
Prolonged isolation has been identified as a risk factor for the onset of psychological disorders
paranoia, schizophrenia, …
Social and emotional loneliness
Relationships can form buffer against feelings of isolation and loneliness
- Loneliness = an aversive psycho reaction to a lack of personal or social relations
o Emotional loneliness = lack of long-term meaningful relationships. (triggered by f.e.
break-up)
o Social loneliness = when people feel cut off from their network of friends... (because
of moving, rejection, …
Both feelings of sadness, depression emptiness, longing, shame, …
All groups are not equally effective in buffering their members from both forms of loneliness. Bv.
Transitory, impersonal collectives do little to ease either social or emotional loneliness.
Only groups that sustain stable can ward off social loneliness (athletics groups, work groups…=
social). Only groups that connect people together in an intimate, meaningful way reduce feelings of
emotional loneliness (family, romantic couple very close friendship,… = social and emotional)
1.2 inclusion and exclusion
ostracism
= to be deliberately ignored and excluded by others.
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, - Contemporary forms
o Formal rejection: club bans patron
o Subtle interpersonal tactics: silent treatment, cold shoulder
Some people are not deliberately excluded, but have the feeling of being ‘out of the loop’ = not
knowing info f.e. They experience more negative moods, feel les competent, do not feel as close
interpersonally to other group members.
Kipling Williams did an experiment on this: the ball toss method = people tossing ball in waiting
room, subject is excluded.
- The inclusion-exclusion continuum: maximum inclusion/maximum exclusion (p67)
Reactions to inclusion
Excluded people feel frustrated, anxious, nervous, lonely.
The desire to belong is so strong that people respond negatively, even when rejected by a group
whose members they dislike.
- William’s temporal need-threat model of ostracism (p68)
o Minimal signal: detection of ostracism
o Reflexive stage: pain, negative affect … followed by
o Reflective stage.
o Resignation stage: when you never are able to gain acceptance = depleted resources.
- Fight-or-fight response
o Fight their way back into the group
o Avoid further rejection withdrawal can cause social isolation when they do it too
frequently to rejection-threatening situations.
o Men more likely
- Tend-and Befriend response
o Coping with initial rejection in socially positive ways (see story)
o Not struggling against group, but supporting them and reducing risks. Doing
everything to strengthen connection to others.
o More sensitive to social cues, more willing to work hard.
o Women more likely
- Cyberostracism (p70)
Exclusion and aggression
some people are angered when excluded and the are the ones who are more likely to engage un
antisocial behavior, including aggression. They may interpret neutral/positive actions as negative,
and so they feel as if the total group had ostracized them, when only 1 or 2 members have.
- Gaertner did an experiment on this: ‘noise tolerance test’
o 1 person excluded (subject), he increased volume of the other 3 participants wo
rejected them (the one who excluded him AND the innocent bystanders)
o Implications for understanding extreme cases of violence committed by 1 student
against lager groups of students tied together by common thread: exclusion.
1.3 inclusion and human nature
the need to belong to groups is a part of human nature
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,the herd instinct
the idea that humans are instinctively drawn to gather with other humans. => to a vast human herd
(is attractive on those outside of it).
- Evolutionary explanation
o Advantages of group life, over multiple generations sewed sociality into DNA of
humans’ race.
Sociometer theory
Sociometer= a cognitive adaption that monitors your degree of acceptance by others.
- Feelings of self-worth function as just such a monitor
- Self-esteem is a psycho gauge that monitors the degree to which people perceive that they
are relationally valued by other people. if the gauge drops, then exclusion is likely.
- Self-esteem =/ an index of one’s sense of personal value but = indicator of acceptance into
the group
- Leary and colleagues did an experiment: measuring self-esteem after exclusion. Rejection by
the group lowered self-esteem. Inclusion raised self-esteem.
the biology of ostracism and inclusion
the intensely negative reaction when feeling excluded has a biological basis.
- Pain of exclusion is neurologically similar to pain caused by psychical injury.
- When excluded: 2 areas of the brain were active
o dACC
o anterior insula
o = associated with the experience of physical pain sensations and other negative
social experiences.
- Painkillers also relieve pain caused by social exclusion. => less negatively responding in
cyberball game when on medication in comparison to the placebo group.
2. From individualism to collectivism
2.1 Creating cooperation
Individualism based on independence and uniqueness of each individual. People are autonomous.
They are free to act and think in ways that they prefer, rather than to submit to the demands of the
group
Collectivism interdependent members who must adjust their actions and reactions on others
around them.
Triantis: theory of individualism-collectivism 4 elements: social relations, social obligations, shared
goals, changes in self-conceptions.
Social relations
- Individuals in exchange relationships monitor their inputs into the group, strive to maximize
the rewards they personally receive trough membership and are dissatisfied if their group
becomes too costly for them.
o They expect awards in exchange for investment
o One-for one exchange guided by the norm of reciprocity.
- People in communal relationships are more concerned with what their group receives than
with their own personal outcomes.
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, o Not concerned with matching inputs and outputs
Social obligations
- Each group forms its own unique group culture
o Some groups endorse individualism
Not display as a high degree of uniformity
Tend to display anger at those who disregard the group’s emphasis on
autonomy by seeking to impose their own will on others.
o Some are more like communities
Members are expected to conform to group’s norms.
They prefer acquiescence to disagreement and compromise to conflict
Social goals
- Collectivist: equality norm
o All group members, whatever their inputs were, should get an equal share of the
payoff
o They may require the costs to be borne more heavily on one individual, but that is to
protect the group
- Individualism: equity norm
o Group members should receive outcomes in proportion to their inputs.
2.2 the social self
question: who am I?
- many people mention their individualistic qualities and characteristics (personality traits,
likes and dislikes,…).
- They also mention their social roles and relationships (lover, parent, caregiver, worker,…)
‘qualities that spring from their relationships’: roles/groups/categories/relations
- Memberships in social groups (carpools, clubs, church,…)
The personal identity = all those unique qualities, traits, believes, skills: ‘ME’
The social identity= qualities that derive from connections and similarity to other people and
groups: ‘WE’
Individualists and collectivists
- Individualists
o Attribute behaviors to the internal, personal characteristics of the person
o Prefer own personal goals.
- Collectivists
o Recognize that people’s actions are often determined by the social circumstance in
which they find themselves.
o Personality flexible set of tendencies that can change from one social situation to
another
Cultural differences
- US, western EU, English speaking countries = more individualistic
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, o Self = only personal descriptors
o Describe themselves similarly across situations.
- Asia, eastern EU, African, middle eastern = more collectivistic
o Japan: self = ones portion of the shared space
o Self= more references to roles and relationships
Maintaining optimal distinctiveness
The two orientations (individualist and collectivist) are continuous dimensions of personality that
vary in their influence across time and situations.
- Optimal distinctiveness theory: Brewer people have 3 fundamental needs
o Need to be assimilated by the group
o Need to be connected to friends and loved ones
o The need for autonomy and differentiation
people are satisfied when they achieve optimal distinctiveness: their unique personal
qualities are noted and appreciated, they are emotionally bonded with intimates and they
feel similar to group members in many respects.
3. From personality identity to social identity
3.1 social identity theory: the basics
= analysis of group process and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members’
self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorize themselves as group
members and identify with the group.
- They began by first creating minimal intergroup situation = creating 2 groups with no future,
connection,… members still divided more money to their ‘own’ group.
o They did this because of social identity
- Two processes combine to transform a group membership into an identity: social
categorization and identification
A) Social categorization
= the perceptual classification of people, including the self, into categories
- Many of these believes are stereotypes = they describe the typical characteristics of people
in various social groups how one group differs from another.
o People can even apply these stereotypes to themselves = self-stereotyping/auto
stereotyping
B) Identification
= as social identification increases, individuals come to think that their membership in the group
is personally significant. They feel connected + interdependent + feel strong attachment.
- Self-descriptions become more depersonalized
- Hot cognitive reaction
Self and identity
- Situational triggers of a collective self-categorization
o Labelled group: Being part of a group that others have labeled as a group
o Presence of other groups
o Relative size of one’s group compared to other groups
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, Smaller = more quickly categorized as members
o Only representative
If you are f.e the only man of 5 women, can become very aware that they are
a ‘man’
3.2 Motivation and social identity
Evaluating the self/collective self-esteem
- Hogg: 2 basic motives that influence the way social categorization and identification
processes combine to shape one’s sense of self
o They maintain their self-worth by thinking well of their groups
o Self-understanding is a core motive for most people groups offer people a means
of understanding themselves.
- Crocker: examined the relationship between people’s self-esteem and their feelings about
the group measure of collective self-esteem.
o = individual’s overall assessment that proportion of their self-concept is based on the
relationships with others and memberships in social groups
o Compared scores on collective self-esteem to scores on traditional self-esteem
o People with high membership esteem had higher scores personal self-esteem
Can social identity theory explain sports fans?
- Sports fans identify with their team and so experience team’s outcomes as their own
o BIRG: bask in reflected glory = seeking direct or indirect association with prestigious
or successful groups or individuals. (in interaction with other people, even though
they contributed little to that success)
o CORFing = distancing oneself from a group that perform poorly
Casual fans can do this (switching to another team)
Dedicated fans cannot do this, their team’s loss is their loss.
- Fanship also comes with a risk: identifying with a group whose outcomes they can’t control
means that one will experience the pleasure of victory AND the agony of shared defeat
suicide rates rise and fall or great elation with victory
Protecting the collective self
They protect their collective self as they protect they personal self-esteem deny that their group
possesses negative qualities
- They exaggerate the differences between their groups and other groups
- Ingroup-outgroup bias = tendency to look more favorably on the ingroup.
o contributes to the self-esteem and emotional well-being of group members.
o Sometimes negative side effect: denigrating those who belong to other groups.
- Even if the group falters, members find ways to protect the group and in so doing,
themselves. calls for social creativity.
Stereotype verification and threat
- A social identity (stereotypes) can protect the self, even if the identity is one that includes
qualities that are not socially prized.
- Stereotypes however can contribute to intergroup conflict.
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, - Stereotypes can trigger stereotype threat = anxiety believe that other’s perceptions will be
influenced by negative stereotypes about one’s group that can interfere with the ability to
perform up to your capabilities. others that are relying on group stereotypes to judge
them.
o Stereotype can so become a self-fulfilling prophecy -> when they enter situations
with risk of being judged by stereotypes that they wish to resist, they may fail to
perform as well as they could.
Protecting the personal self
People are more disturbed by threats to their personal self than to their collective self-esteem.
- More readily claiming positive feedback when it focusses on them rather than on their group.
- Personal failure is more troubling than collective failure.
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,Chapter 4: formation
Story= all great artists: group was born in Paris, had little in common other than art. They competed
with one another but also took care of each other. They became the impressionists. (Manet had
highest rank)
- What were the circumstances that drove these individuals to cooperate and become a
group?
o The artists themselves: personality, experience, joiners/loners
o The situation (affiliation)
o Attracted to each other
1. Joining groups
1.1 personality and traits
Monet quickly joined the group, also because of his personality energetic, creative, optimistic,
warm/friendly. Once he joined, he became a leader.
- The five-factor model of personality: people vary on the 5 traits and exhibit consistent
differences across diverse times and situations.
o extraversion
o agreeableness
o conscientiousness
o neuroticism
o Openness to Experience
Joiners and loners
- Extraversion: particularly influential determinant of one’s groupishness.
o Tendency to move toward people rather than away from people
o Sociable, outgoing, active, prefer company of others
o They belong more to groups: groups are also more likely to recruit them connect
more easily, they are happier.
Happier because they are more sensitive to rewards: more + reaction to
pleasant experiences.
Also, because they join more frequently with other people = strong social
relationships = determent of well-being
- Introverts
o Withdrawn, quiet, reclusive.
Personality-group fit
All the traits influence the types of groups individuals join.
- Extraverts are attracted to organizations that are team-oriented.
- Agreeableness: avoid groups that are competitive and aggressive. They search a group that
emphasize cooperation
- Conscientious: attracted to groups that are detail- and task- oriented.
- Openness: search groups that are creative, original, aesthetic.
The closer the fit between an individual’s personality characteristics and the group’s
purpose/organization, the more likely the individual will join the group.
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, 1.2 anxiety and attachment
other personality qualities may push people away from groups.
Shyness
- tendency to feel uneasy, uncomfortable and awkward, in response to actual or anticipated
social interaction.
- React differently (neurologically) when they see a strangers face higher activity in
amygdala = emotional responses, including fear.
- Often bring a friend with them to enter in a new group = social surrogate.
Social anxiety
- Shyness can sometimes escalate into social anxiety
- People want to make a good impression, but they do not think that their attempts to
establish relationships will be succeeded.
- They become physiologically aroused: pulse races, blush, respiration.
- They do not actively participate
- The anxiety can cause people to reduce their social contact with others to disaffiliate.
Social anxiety disorder= if these feelings of anxiety are paired with a pronounced fear of
embarrassment or humiliation.
Attachment style
The idea that individuals differ in their orientations to their relationships.
- From an early stage, children differ in the way they relate to others.
o Some developing secure and comfortable relationships
o Others exhibiting dependence and uncertainty.
- The four basic styles
Secure = low anxiety, low avoidance
Dismissing = low anxiety, high avoidance
Fearful = high anxiety, high avoidance
Preoccupied = low avoidance, high anxiety
o Anxious: spend less time in their groups, less satisfied with support they get from the
group contributed less to group’s instrumental work
o Avoidant: group is less important to them, more likely to claim that they are planning
to leave the group. contributed less to both instrumental and relationship
activities.
1.3 social motivation
= psychological processes that guide people’s choices and the goals they seek.
A) Need for affiliation
- stronger desire to be with other people
- happier with other people
- more disturbed by unpleasant interactions with others
- joins groups more frequently (but not when they fear that the group will reject them)
- Also more anxious in social situations because of the fear of rejection.
o EXPERIMENT: two-way mirror: they said that there are being watched the persons
with a high need for affiliation reported feeling more anxious and uneasy.
B) Need for intimacy
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