Subgroup identities as a key to cooperation within large social groups

Anna Rabinovich; Thomas A. Morton

doi:10.1348/014466610x486356

Subgroup identities as a key to cooperation within large social groups

Anna Rabinovich^*, Thomas A. Morton

^*Corresponding author for this work

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We experimentally investigated the effect of superordinate (i.e. British) versus subordinate (i.e. English) identity salience on willingness to contribute to a resource shared at the superordinate level (the British coast). Contrary to what would be expected from straightforward application of self-categorization theory, two studies demonstrated that willingness to contribute to this shared resource was higher when subordinate (rather than superordinate) identity was activated. To explain this effect, we suggest that subordinate identities sometimes provide a more meaningful basis for self-definition and, when this is the case, activating subordinate level of identity might lay the foundation for enhanced cooperation within higher-order identities. Indeed, consistent with this argument, Study 2 showed that increased meaningfulness and coherence of the self-concept mediated the effect of subordinate identity salience on contributions to the shared (superordinate) resource. The results are discussed with respect to the role of meaning in determining categorization effects.

Original language	English
Journal	British Journal of Social Psychology
Volume	50
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	36-51
Number of pages	16
ISSN	0144-6665
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1348/014466610x486356
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2011
Externally published	Yes

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Subgroup identities as a key to cooperation within large social groups

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