Abstract
The authors investigated the impact of temporal focus on group members' responses to contextual ingroup devaluation. Four experimental studies demonstrated that following an induction of negative ingroup evaluation, participants primed with a past temporal focus reported behavioral intentions more consistent with this negative appraisal than participants primed with a future temporal focus. This effect was apparent only when a negative (but not a positive) evaluation was induced, and only among highly identified group members. Importantly, the interplay between temporal focus and group identification on relevant intentions was mediated by individual self-esteem, suggesting that focus on the future may be conducive to separating negative ingroup appraisals from individual self-evaluations. Taken together, the findings suggest that high identifiers' responses to ingroup evaluations may be predicated on their temporal focus: A focus on the past may lock such individuals within their group's history, whereas a vision of the future may open up opportunities for change.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 397-410 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 0146-1672 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- group identification
- ingroup devaluation
- self-esteem
- temporal focus