It’s not just “us” versus “them”: Moving beyond binary perspectives on intergroup processes

ABSTRACT

The social psychology of intergroup relations has emerged largely from studies of how one group of people (e.g., whites) think and feel about another (e.g., blacks). By reducing the social world to binary categories, this approach has provided an effective and efficient methodological framework. However, it has also obscured important features of social relations in historically divided societies. This paper highlights the importance of investigating intergroup relationships involving more than two groups and of exploring not only their psychological but also their political significance. Exemplifying this argument, we discuss the conditions under which members of disadvantaged groups either dissolve into internecine competition or unite to challenge the status quo, highlighting the role of complex forms of social comparison, identification, contact, and third-party support for collective action. Binary conceptualizations of intergroup relations, we conclude, are the product of specific sociohistorical practices rather than a natural starting point for psychological research.     

Stigmatized‐Identity Cues and Consumer Applications Revisited

This article responds to thoughtful commentaries provided by Lamberton (2019–this issue) and Wooten & Rank‐Christman (2019—this issue) on Chaney, Sanchez, & Maimon (2019—this issue), an article in which we discussed the implications of social psychological research on stigmatized‐identity safety cues for consumer behavior. In Chaney, et al. (2019–this issue), we contend that stigmatized‐identity cues can signal belonging to marginalized groups via the ideological assumptions made about companies. In this article, we first clarify our definition of stigmatized identities beyond the limitation assumed by Wooten & Rank‐Christman (2019—this issue). In addition, we join the conversation regarding when cues lead to divergent responses in social groups. We also consider how using identity cues can “backfire” and the importance of using marketing goals to assess the extent to which strategies using such cues succeeded. Lastly, we integrate Lamberton's (2019–this issue) framework of dignity architecture and related empirical findings to discuss some of the challenges of research on stigmatized‐identity cues.     

Together We Rise: How Social Movements Succeed

Social movements, such as Black Lives Matter, surge when support grows for their social justice goals. At their core, social movements advance when people act collectively by rising in solidarity with a shared purpose to address injustice and inequality. Drawing on insights from consumer psychology, this review investigates how social movements succeed in creating social change. We build on an established 21^st‐century framework for how social movements succeed to outline the promising practices of successful social movements. For each of these practices, we identify the consumer psychology mechanisms that motivate collective action and encourage people to transform from bystanders to upstanders, those who provide the grassroots momentum for successful social movements. We illustrate this framework with examples from the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Finally, we highlight insights from consumer psychology that promote an understanding of social movements, and we raise research questions to encourage more consumer psychologists to investigate how social movements succeed.     

人格情绪导向模式--对H管理理论的研究

本研究从《H管理理论》的人格情绪导向模式 (心理应激——情绪——社会支持——工作行为 )的角度出发 ,探讨了该模式所包含的这几个成分之间的关系 ,我们的研究发现工作应激在该模式中起着中介的作用 ,并对工作行为具有很强的影响 ,这为实际工作情境中的管理者提供了一定的借鉴     

Stigmatized‐Identity Cues: Threats as Opportunities for Consumer Psychology

In their review of the literature on stigmatized‐identity cues, Chaney, Sanchez, and Maimon (2019—this issue) summarize evidence that stigmatized‐identity threat and safety cues drive consumer behavior through their effects on consumers’ inferences about the company's ideology and their consequential impact on feelings of belonging. The authors also identify various factors that moderate the relationship between these identity cues and consumers’ belonging perceptions. In our commentary, we identify future research opportunities by: (a) encouraging efforts to broaden the proposed framework to account for stigmatized identities defined in terms of consumption activities, (b) highlighting concepts and relationships that may require re‐examination or deeper understanding, and (c) proposing additional consumer behaviors that punish or reward companies that use stigmatized‐identity threat and safety cues, respectively.     

A Review and Reconceptualization of Social Aggression: Adaptive and Maladaptive Correlates

The emergence of a research literature exploring parallels between physical and nonphysical (i.e., social, relational, indirect) forms of aggression has raised many questions about the developmental effects of aggressive behavior on psychological functioning, peer relationships, and social status. Although both forms of aggression have been linked to problematic outcomes in childhood and adolescence, more recent findings have highlighted the importance of considering the possible social rewards conferred by socially aggressive behavior. This paper examines relevant theory and empirical research investigating the adaptive and maladaptive correlates specific to nonphysical forms of aggression. Findings are explored at the level of group (e.g., peer rejection), dyadic (e.g., friendship quality), and individual (e.g., depressive symptoms) variables. Key developmental considerations and methodological issues are addressed, and recommendations for future research integrating current theoretical conceptualizations and empirical findings on social aggression are advanced.     

When do people cooperate? The neuroeconomics of prosocial decision making

Understanding the roots of prosocial behavior is an interdisciplinary research endeavor that has generated an abundance of empirical data across many disciplines. This review integrates research findings from different fields into a novel theoretical framework that can account for when prosocial behavior is likely to occur. Specifically, we propose that the motivation to cooperate (or not), generated by the reward system in the brain (extending from the striatum to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex), is modulated by two neural networks: a cognitive control system (centered on the lateral prefrontal cortex) that processes extrinsic cooperative incentives, and/or a social cognition system (including the temporo-parietal junction, the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala) that processes trust and/or threat signals. The independent modulatory influence of incentives and trust on the decision to cooperate is substantiated by a growing body of neuroimaging data and reconciles the apparent paradox between economic versus social rationality in the literature, suggesting that we are in fact wired for both. Furthermore, the theoretical framework can account for substantial behavioral heterogeneity in prosocial behavior. Based on the existing data, we postulate that self-regarding individuals (who are more likely to adopt an economically rational strategy) are more responsive to extrinsic cooperative incentives and therefore rely relatively more on cognitive control to make (un)cooperative decisions, whereas other-regarding individuals (who are more likely to adopt a socially rational strategy) are more sensitive to trust signals to avoid betrayal and recruit relatively more brain activity in the social cognition system. Several additional hypotheses with respect to the neural roots of social preferences are derived from the model and suggested for future research.     

Children's attributions for peer victimization: A social comparison approach

A social comparison framework was used to examine the relations between children's attributions for victimization and adjustment. In Study One, 192 nine-to ten-year-old children were asked why someone may pick on them. Results revealed attributions reflecting five causes of victimization that could be reliably sorted by direction of social comparison: (a) jealous peer (downward), (b) mutual antipathy (horizontal), (c) being different from each other (horizontal), (d) personal behavior (upward) and (e) being uncool (upward). Children's responses were used to create an attribution measure that was administered to 206 eight-to eleven-year-old children. Results were consistent with the social comparison hypothesis such that peer jealousy was uniquely associated with lower levels of loneliness and greater acceptance whereas personal behavior and not being uncool were correlated with greater loneliness and lower perceived acceptance and self-esteem. Findings supported the usefulness of a social comparison framework for understanding associations among attributions and adjustment.     

How Financial Constraints Influence Consumer Behavior: An Integrative Framework

Financial constraints are economic limitations on behavior. Given that millions of people experience chronic or episodic financial constraints, we sought to review research that provides insight into how they affect consumer behavior. We propose an integrative framework that draws insights from multiple literatures that have examined financial constraints from different perspectives. The framework distinguishes between four perspectives, which are rooted in literatures on resource scarcity, choice restriction, social comparison, and environmental uncertainty and highlights different temporal stages of responding to financial constraints, distinguishing between reacting, coping, and adapting. Beyond the obvious negative effects of financial constraints, our framework emphasizes consumer resilience, highlighting that consumers often successfully cope with and devise adaptive strategies to deal with financial constraints. By broadening the behavioral and temporal scope of financial constraints considered within consumer psychology, this framework helps us to understand the often strong and sometimes counterintuitive effects of financial constraints on consumer behavior.     

“Brands as Intentional Agents”: Questions and extensions

The notion that consumers' relationships with brands can be characterized in ways that resemble their relationships with people is gaining considerable ground in the areas of consumer behavior and branding. Kervyn, Fiske and Malone's “Brands as Intentional Agents” offers additional support for this basic proposition. The authors argue that the ability to translate research on human social interaction relationships with brand relationships provides useful insights into brand positioning and brand communications. This author, while raising a few general questions about the SCM and BIAF models, identifies additional research questions in the consumer behavior and branding domains that might be informed by the basic components of the SCM model.     

顾客间互动影响服务品牌象征价值的心理机制

象征价值是品牌赋予消费者的心理收益, 强化服务品牌的象征价值成为企业提升消费者心理满足感的重要途径。鉴于顾客间互动是现有消费心理研究中重要而尚未得到足够重视的研究视角, 研究试图在文献回顾的基础上, 尝试综合运用访谈法和关键事件法, 构建顾客间互动与服务品牌象征价值的影响关系模型; 拟基于人际关系的三维需求理论, 深入挖掘顾客角色内外互动行为与象征价值之间的作用机制。未来的实证研究中拟运用实验和调研等方法对理论模型进行验证, 以期为服务企业激发顾客的象征消费行为提供理论依据。     

Climate action now: How to fuel a social movement

Our research develops a framework that explores how to fuel the climate movement by accelerating grassroots, community-based climate action. Drawing on insights from consumer psychology, our framework identifies the psychological mechanisms that encourage and motivate people, both individually and collectively, to take climate action, thereby contributing to our understanding of how to advance social action and propel a social movement. Our climate action framework builds on: (1) individuals we describe as climate upstanders who rise up to take climate action with like-minded others, and (2) communities of climate upstanders who engage in collective action aimed at addressing the climate crisis. Our framework expands the field of consumer psychology by redefining the role of consumers to include the practice of social action and broadening the study of consumers to include collective, community-based action. We call on consumer psychologists to research individual and collective consumer practices related to social action and contribute to making social good central to the study of consumer psychology.     

Gendered Political Behavior: A Darwinian Feminist Approach

Darwinian feminists use an evolutionary framework to examine behaviors that promote survival and reproductive success. Subsequent power relations between women and men arise from conflicting reproductive strategies and social scientists ought to reconfigure their understanding of the psychological and behavioral repertoires of women and men based on their dynamic interactions throughout human evolution. This paper is an addition to the feminist literature on women’s contribution to evolution through an exploration of autonomy and leadership in egalitarian society and uses a Darwinian feminist approach to understand gendered political behavior.     

Acculturation and Psychological Adjustment of Vietnamese Refugees: An Ecological Acculturation Framework

Acculturation to the culture of the host society as well as to one’s heritage culture have been shown to impact immigrants’ adjustment during the years following resettlement. While acculturation has been identified as an important factor in adjustment of Vietnamese immigrants (Birman and Tran in Am J Orthopsychiatr 78(1):109–120. doi:10.1037/0002‐9432.78.1.109, 2008 ), no clear pattern of findings has emerged and too few studies have employed an ecological approach. The purpose of this paper is to contextualize the study of acculturation and adjustment by taking an ecological approach to exploring these relationships across several life domains, using a bilinear scale, and examining mediators of these relationships for adult Vietnamese refugees (N = 203) in the United States. We call this approach the Ecological Acculturation Framework (EAF). Results of a structural equation model (SEM) showed that job satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between American acculturation and psychological distress, demonstrating that this relationship was specific to an occupational domain. However, while Vietnamese acculturation predicted co‐ethnic social support satisfaction, it did not predict reduced psychological distress. Implications for a life domains approach, including domain specificity, are discussed.     

Consumer decisions in relationships

Most research on consumer choice assumes that decisions are usually made by individuals, and that these decisions are based on an individual's personal attitudes, beliefs, and preferences. Yet, much consumer behavior—from joint decisions to individual choices—is directly or indirectly shaped by people with whom we have some relationship. In this target article, we examine how each member in a relationship can affect how consumer decisions are made. After reviewing foundational work in the area, we introduce a powerful and statistically sophisticated methodology to study decisions within relationships—a dyadic framework of decision-making. We then discuss how the study of consumer decisions in relationships can be informed by different theories in the relationships field, including attachment, interdependence, social power, communal/exchange orientations, relationship norms, and evolutionary principles. By building on the seminal foundations of prior joint-decision making research with theories and methods from contemporary relationship science, we hope to facilitate the integration of the consumer and relationships literature to better understand and generate novel hypotheses about consumer decisions in relationships.     

Impact of consumers' corporate social responsibility‐related activities in social media on brand attitude,electronic word‐of‐mouth intention,and purchase intention: A study of Chinese consumer behavior

This study examines how consumers' corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐related activities in social media affect their responses to brands. We defined consumers' CSR‐related activities in social media as the extent to which consumers use social media to engage in CSR communication by companies. An online survey was conducted to examine social media users in China, the largest consumer market in today's global economies. This study developed a theoretical model and empirically tested the relationships between consumers' CSR‐related activities in social media, identification with the brand, and three consumer behavior outcomes: electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) intention, brand attitude, and purchase intention. The results suggested that consumers' CSR‐related activities in social media significantly impacted eWOM intention and purchase intention through enhancing identification with the brand and positive brand attitude. This study provides important insights on consumer behavior and CSR by investigating social media, an important and emerging marketing platform. Moreover, this study fills in the research gap about the association between consumers' CSR‐related activities in social media and their responses to brands. Theoretical and managerial implications for CSR strategies in social media are discussed.     

Affinity to mnemonic features of social media: Antecedent and consequences

This research explores consumer loneliness and its resulting preference for mnemonic features as the psychological antecedents of social media use and studies its consequence on consumer behavior. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a survey with a large sample (N = 1307) and analyzed the data using PLS structural equation modeling method. We show that individuals with higher (vs. lower) feelings of loneliness show a lower (vs. higher) affinity to mnemonic features of social media platforms, making them more likely to use Snapchat (vs. Facebook). This effect persists after controlling for demographic factors (such as age and gender) and other known motivations behind social media choice. These two groups of social media users also exhibit different types of consumer behavior resulting from their underlying affinity to mnemonic features. Snapchat users tend to be more variety-seeking and prefer newer brands (vs. established brands) than Facebook users. Our research contributes to the literature on the adoption of social media platforms by studying an important individual difference variable and integrating the concept of mnemonic features of social media as a key driving factor in that choice. The findings can give managers essential insights into the usership of social media platforms and help them select the right platform for their social media campaigns.     

Self-supporting personality and psychological symptoms: The mediating effects of stress and social support

This study examined relations among self-supporting personality, stress, social support, and psychological symptoms in a sample of 782 Chinese undergraduate students using the Self-Supporting Personality Scale for Adolescent Students (SSPS-AS), Adolescent Self-Rating Life Event Checklist (ASLEC), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSSS), and Symptoms Check List 90 (SCL-90). As predicted, results from cross-sectional structural equation analyses suggested that stress and social support mediate the relationship between four self-supporting personality traits and psychological symptoms; an alternative stress-moderation model was not supported.     

Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Dialogical Experiences

The purpose of this study is to offer a model in which auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) can be conceptualized as dialogical experiences. This model is of interest in that it integrates several different perspectives (phenomenological, cognitive, social, and evolutionary) and the findings of empirical research on the subject. Hallucinations are understood as the product of a state of consciousness in which the self is dissociated into different positions or perspectives. After reviewing the most relevant results of psychological research, dialogical self theory is proposed as the theoretical framework for understanding hallucinatory experiences. It is argued that the voices possess a series of characteristics, pragmatic properties, relationships with the voices similar to their social surroundings, and more dissociative experiences in people who experience voices than in those who do not, with which they may be considered a dialogical experience. Finally, a model attempting to integrate psychological research on AVHs within the framework of dialogical self theory is presented.