Social identification effects in social dilemmas: a transformation of motives

Three experimental studies were conducted to examine two alternative explanations for the widely established positive effect of social identification in promoting cooperation in social dilemmas. We hypothesised that social identification effects could be either ascribed to (1) an increase in the value assigned to the collective good (i.e. goal‐transformation hypothesis) or (2) an enhancement of trust in the cooperation of other group members (i.e. goal‐amplification hypothesis). To disentangle these two explanations, we examined the effects of social identification on the contributions to a public good of people with a different social value orientation (i.e. pre‐existing differences in preferred outcome distribution between self and others). Following the goal transformation hypothesis, we predicted that an increased group identification would raise contributions, in particular for people essentially concerned with their personal welfare (i.e. pro‐self value orientation). Alternatively, following the goal amplification hypothesis it was expected that increased group identification would primarily affect decisions of people concerned with the collective welfare (i.e. prosocial value orientation). The results of all three studies provided support for the goal‐transformation rather than goal‐amplification hypothesis, suggesting that ‘selfish’ individuals can be encouraged to cooperate by increasing the salience of their group membership. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reactions to social vs self-evaluation: Moderating effects of personal and social identity orientations

People differ in the degree to which their identities are based on personal versus social identity characteristics. This experiment tested the hypothesis that people are most concerned about evaluations that are relevant to their salient identity orientation. The Aspects of Identity Questionnaire was used to classify subjects as low or high in personal and social identities. Subjects then anticipated taking a test, believing that their performance would be known by only them, by only a research assistant, by both them and a research assistant, or by no one. Subjects then completed thought-listing and self-report measures of evaluation apprehension. Subjects who scored high in social identity reacted more strongly to the social evaluation than subjects low in social identity. Although subjects high in personal identity were not particularly threatened by private feedback, personal identity seemed to buffer subjects against the threat of social-evaluation. The results are discussed in the context of recent work on private and public aspects of the self.     

Intergroup and Intragroup Aspects of Leadership in Social Dilemmas: A Relational Model of Cooperation

Two experiments investigated how leadership shapes individual contributions in small groups facing public goods dilemmas. We predicted that the influence of leaders would be determined by their ability to fulfill both instrumental needs (solve the free-rider problem) and relational needs (contribute to the identity) of group members. The relative importance of these two needs was expected to vary with the salience of group membership (social vs personal identity). This hypothesis was supported in two experiments. Experiment 1 revealed that leaders showing group commitment and fairness toward members were more effective at raising contributions when social identity was salient. Furthermore, Experiment 2 showed that highly committed leaders were more influential when social identity was salient, whereas leaders with intrinsic leadership skills were more influential when personal identity was salient. This suggests that the effectiveness of leader solutions to social dilemmas depends upon the fit between leader characteristics and member expectations.     

Cooperating If One's Goals Are Collective‐Based: Social Identification Effects in Social Dilemmas as a Function of Goal Transformation1

Prior studies of the effect of group identification on cooperation in social dilemmas have advanced 2 competing accounts: the goal‐transformation hypothesis, which holds that identification makes personal and collective goals interchangeable; and the goal‐amplification hypothesis, which states that identification induces positive expectations about others’ cooperative behavior. However, prior studies have neglected to assess the process measures necessary to pit the one account against the other. The present study showed that the effect of identification was moderated by participants’ social value orientation. Identification influenced proselfs’ cooperation more than prosocials’ cooperation. Mediational analyses further showed that the effect of our identification manipulation was mediated by participants’ sense of collective self, and not by their expectations.     

The Influence of Feedback and Expert Status in Knowledge Sharing Dilemmas

Groups and organisations set cooperative goals for their members, yet in reality some team members contribute more than others to these goals. Experts, in particular, face a social dilemma: from the group's perspective they should share their knowledge, whereas individually they are better off not sharing, because acquiring knowledge is costly and they would give up a competitive advantage. Two experiments (N₁ = 96, N₂ = 192) tested the hypothesis, derived from indirect reciprocity theory, that experts contribute more if their status is being recognised. Expert status was manipulated under different performance feedback conditions and the impact on people's contributions in two different knowledge sharing tasks was analysed. In both studies, experts contributed more when feedback was individualised and public, ensuring both individual status rewards and public recognition. In contrast, novices contributed more when performance feedback was collective, regardless of whether it was public or private feedback. Novices did not have to fear negative performance evaluations under group feedback and could gain in social status as members of a successful group. Social value orientation moderated expert contributions in Study 2, with proself‐oriented experts being particularly susceptible to reputation gains. The studies contribute to the neglected aspect of motivation in knowledge sharing dilemmas where collective and individual interests are not necessarily aligned.     

Goal Orientation and Feedback Congruence: Effects on Discretionary Effort and Achievement

This study examines the differential effects of outcome feedback for achievement goal orientations' relationship with effort and achievement. In support of our predictions, learning goal orientation had a positive relationship with task achievement in the absence of outcome feedback and a negative relationship in its presence, while performance goal orientation maintained a positive relationship with achievement regardless of whether outcome feedback was provided. We attribute this to a decrease in task interest when initial task purpose, as determined by personal goal orientation, is incongruent with the subsequent task cues provided by outcome feedback. Predictions regarding task effort and combined goal orientation effects were not supported. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The Effects of Social Identity on the Self-Set Goals and Task Performance of High and Low Self-Esteem Individuals

Social identification with co-workers was examined as a moderator of the frequently inscrutable link between worker self-esteem and goal setting. Weak or strong social identity was created in groups comprised of either high or low self-esteem persons. As expected, strengthening social identity increased perceived similarity to ingroup members regardless of self-esteem. Furthermore, only high self-esteem individuals with a strong social identity set higher goals for themselves, and achieved better performance, compared to high esteem/weak identity individuals or low self-esteem persons in either social identity condition. Increments in the goals and performance of high self-esteem individuals were associated with perceived similarity to ingroup members, and performance was attributed to personal ability. In contrast, the goals and performance of low self-esteem individuals were associated with certainty of goal achievement, and performance was attributed to perceptions of task difficulty. Asymmetrical effects of social identification are discussed in relation to group member personalities.     

公共物品困境中的突显身份效应及合作动机对合作行为影响

从合作动机的激发与破坏的角度探讨公共物品困境中突显身份对合作行为的影响,同时考察社会价值取向与突显身份之间的关系。结果表明：突显合作者与突显不合作者两种方式都会提高被试的合作水平;两种突显方式的作用机制不同。突显合作者条件下,被试的合作行为受内在动机和外在动机的共同影响。而突显不合作者则会破坏被试合作的内在动机,外在动机对提高合作行为起主要作用;突显合作者条件下,合作取向的被试更多受内在动机的影响,而非合作取向的被试则更多受外在动机的影响。在突显不合作者的条件下,合作取向和非合作取向被试的合作行为都受外在动机的影响较大。     

奖励的价值导向对绩效反馈效果的影响

本研究探讨了奖励形式启动的价值框架效应在调节绩效反馈对绩效提升与行为塑造的效果中发挥的作用。对231名大学生的问卷调查结果表明,采用金钱奖励时,接受个人绩效反馈的个体效能感更高,也有更好的绩效和合作行为表现;采用荣誉奖励时,集体绩效反馈的效果更好。即奖励形式与绩效反馈的匹配会提高组织成员绩效,增加其合作行为。基于该结果,建议管理者关注奖励体系中的价值信息与组织的管理方式相匹配,以推进组织的可持续发展。     

The Joint Impact of Achievement Goals and Performance Feedback on Information Giving

This research examined how performance feedback moderates the effects of individuals' achievement goals on information exchange when carrying out a novel and complex task. Experiment 1 demonstrated that mastery goal individuals who received positive performance feedback gave less modified information about their task performance to their exchange partner relative to both mastery goal individuals who received negative feedback and performance goal individuals (who received either negative or positive feedback). In Experiment 2, we found that relative to performance goals, mastery goals led to a stronger reciprocity orientation and a weaker exploitation orientation. Also, mastery goal individuals provided information of higher quality than performance goal individuals, thereby explaining the observed findings in Experiment 1.     

Categorizing at the group‐level in response to intragroup social comparisons: a self‐categorization theory integration of self‐evaluation and social identity motives

Two experiments examined how people respond to upward social comparisons in terms of the extent to which they categorize the self and the source of comparison within the same social group. Self‐evaluation maintenance theory (SEM) suggests that upward ingroup comparisons can lead to the rejection of a shared categorization, because shared categorization makes the comparison more meaningful and threatening. In contrast, social identity theory (SIT) suggests that upward ingroup comparisons can lead to the acceptance of shared categorization because a high‐performing ingroup member enhances the ingroup identity. We attempted to resolve these differing predictions using self‐categorization theory, arguing that SEM applies to contexts that make salient one's personal identity, and SIT applies to contexts that make collective identity salient. Consistent with this perspective, the level of identity activated in context moderated the effect of an upward ingroup comparison on the acceptance of shared social categorization. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The threat vs. challenge of car parking for women: How self- and group affirmation affect cardiovascular responses

This study examines cardiovascular responses indicating challenge (vs. threat) during motivated performance of women under social identity threat. Low gender identified women should primarily be concerned with their personal identity and self-worth, leading them to benefit from self-affirmation under social identity threat. Highly identified women, conversely, should care more for the value of their group and benefit more from group affirmation. Among 64 female participants social identity threat was induced by emphasizing gender differences in car-parking ability. Then, participants received an opportunity to affirm the self or the group and worked on a car-parking task. During this task, cardiovascular challenge versus threat responses were assessed according to the biopsychosocial model (Blascovich, 2008). Results confirmed predictions by showing that self-affirmation elicited cardiovascular patterns indicating challenge in low identifiers, while group affirmation elicited challenge in high identifiers. Theoretical implications for work on social identity are discussed.     

社会价值取向和反馈方式对公共物品困境中决策行为的影响

本研究通过模拟投资实验和问卷来探讨重复型公共物品困境中社会价值取向（SVO）与信息反馈方式对决策行为的影响。结果表明：(1)合作型SVO的个体比非合作型个体表现出更多的合作行为;(2)SVO与信息反馈方式的交互作用岁实验轮次越来越显著,非合作型的个体会受信息反馈方式的影响,而合作型个体则不易受反馈方式的影响;(3)与无反馈的条件相比,集体反馈倾向于促进个体的合作行为,个体反馈倾向于抑制合作行为,但反馈所造成的适应性改变使情况更为复杂。     

Exploring metaphor's epistemic function: Uncertainty moderates metaphor-consistent priming effects on social perceptions

Consistent with conceptual metaphor theory's claim that metaphors operate at a conceptual, and not just linguistic, level, prior research shows that priming perceptions related to concrete concepts influences perceptions related to dissimilar, more abstract concepts in metaphor-consistent ways. However, the theory's claim that metaphors function to reduce uncertainty about abstract concepts has yet to be experimentally assessed. Two studies tested whether situational variation in uncertainty moderates metaphor-consistent priming effects. Study 1 focused on the metaphor life is a path and showed that priming path perceptions (vs. literal representations) increased perceived autobiographical continuity only if uncertainty about personal identity was salient. Study 2 focused on verticality metaphors and showed that vertical orientation primes influenced satisfaction with the decision to attend one's current university in both directions (up is good, bad is down) only if uncertainty about the value of the college experience was salient.     

Adolescent Attachment,Identity, and Adjustment to College: Implications for the Continuity of Adaptation Hypothesis

We examined the concurrent relationship between late adolescent attachment to parents and peers and two broad indices of adolescent adaptation—personal and social identity and adjustment to college. Participants included 130 college freshmen and 123 upperclassmen. Although freshmen were disadvantaged relative to upperclassmen with respect to social and personal-emotional adjustment, there were no group differences on the attachment measures, on the measures of academic adjustment and goal commitment, and on the measure of social identity. Freshmen scored higher on personal identity than did upperclassmen. Women reported less alienation from peers, had more trust and better communication with peers, and had higher scores on personal and social idenitity than men. The attachment variables were significant predictors of personal and social identity. Pervasive relations were also found between attachment and adjustment to college, particularly for the upperclassmen sample.     

Social categorization and group‐motivated interindividual–intergroup discontinuity

Research on the interindividual–intergroup discontinuity effect has demonstrated that intergroup relations are often less cooperative than interindividual relations. The aim of the present paper is to test whether mere social categorization suffices to create a group‐motivated discontinuity effect. In two experiments, we manipulated actors' personal versus social identity salience, whereas controlling for actors' outcome independence (1 : 1) versus interdependence (3 : 3). Making actors' social identity salient using a minimal group treatment was sufficient to increase defection in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game, irrespective of whether this was in an interindividual or intergroup interaction (Experiment 1). Using a Mutual Fate Control matrix in Experiment 2, results indicate that this effect can be attributed to actors' increased motivation to maximize relative differences to outgroup opponents under social identity salience. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Process Model of Goal Orientation and Feedback Seeking

This study investigated antecedents of seeking different types of feedback. Individual differences in goal orientation and cost and value perceptions were proposed as antecedents of seeking different types of feedback. We hypothesized that 4 dimensions of cost and value perceptions of feedback seeking (expectancy value, appraisal value, ego cost, and self-presentation cost) are related to an individual's goal orientation. Furthermore, moving beyond a focus on the frequency of feedback seeking, we proposed that the perceptions of costs and values of feedback seeking influence the preference for and choice among 4 distinct feedback types (diagnostic, normative, assurance, and no feedback). A total of 240 students participated in a computer-simulated work setting. Results were largely consistent with the hypotheses; each goal orientation had a unique pattern of relations with the perceptions of costs and values. Cost and value perceptions, in turn, influenced preference and choice for feedback type. The theoretical implications of the research are discussed.     

The help-seeking orientations of Latino and non-Latino urban high school students: a critical-sociological investigation

This study focuses on the help-seeking orientations of low-status Latino adolescents. Help-seeking orientation is defined as a person's proclivity to resolve personal and academic problems through the seeking of social support (i.e., coping by seeking help). This article presents a selected review of the literature on key social antecedents of people's help-seeking orientation. It also presents an emerging sociological framework for recasting this social psychological phenomenon as an important mediating link between the systematic forces of class, race, and gender and the life chances of low-status youth. The authors report on a cross-sectional study of three measures of adolescent help-seeking orientation, based on a questionnaire survey of one urban high school in the southwestern United States. Measures of social class, gender, age, English-language proficiency, and academic performance were examined for their independent predictive value. The authors also tested for differential effects across three student groups: Spanish-dominant Latinos, English-proficient Latinos, and non-Latinos. Gender and academic performance emerged as the most salient predictors, suggesting that low-achieving males are particularly prone to withdraw from vital sources of support. Latino immigrants with little English proficiency also revealed signs of a negative or conflictive orientation toward help seeking, reporting low degrees of interpersonal openness and a low desire for academic support.     

Improving work motivation and performance in brainstorming groups: The effects of three group goal-setting strategies

An experiment was conducted with 30 groups (n = 120) solving brainstorming tasks under four different group goal conditions: do your best (DYB), directive group goal setting (DGGS), participative group goal setting (PGGS), and PGGS in combination with individual goal setting (PGGS + IGS). As expected, all groups with specific and difficult group goals performed better than DYB control groups. It is hypothesized that these positive effects of group goal setting on brainstorming performance arise because group goal setting counteracts motivation losses such as social loafing. In addition, group goal setting should promote motivation gains arising from social compensation and related cognitive processes, in particular high identification with the group. Consistent with this hypothesis, it was found that group goal setting increased team identification, the readiness to compensate for other weak group members, the value of group success, and the value of group failure. Mediation analysis also indicated that concern to avoid group failure was partly responsible for performance improvements. Finally, no large differences were found between PGGS + IGS and PGGS or DGGS. On this basis group goal setting can be considered a robust strategy for improving work motivation and brainstorming performance in groups.     

Leader endorsement in social dilemmas: Comparing the instrumental and relational perspectives

This chapter examines the role of leadership in overcoming social dilemmas within groups. First, based on prior theorising and research we present two alternative perspectives on leader endorsement in social dilemmas, an instrumental and a relational perspective. Next, we systematically compare these perspectives in a series of experiments investigating leadership in social dilemmas created within small groups in the laboratory. The results of our studies suggest that when their personal identity is salient, group members more strongly endorse leaders who are perceived to be instrumental in solving the freerider problem. In contrast, when a social identity is salient, members more strongly endorse leaders who fulfil their relational needs. Based on these findings we propose a differential needs model of leader endorsement in social dilemmas.