Collective Identity Orientation, Patriotism, and Reactions to National Outcomes

Abstract

Two experiments examined the extent to which individual differences in collective identity orientation moderate perceptions of the United States following national success and failure. Participants classified as low or high on both personal and collective identity orientations read fictitious news stories desaibing actions by the United States in response to emergencies. For each story, the United States was portrayed as responding effectively (successful outcome) or failing to act quickly and efficiently (failure outcome). In Experiment 1, among subjects low in personal identity orientation, those high in collective identity orientation rated the United States more favorably following national failure than subjects low in collective identity. In Experiment 2, sujects' beliefs about whether their responses would be private or public were also manipulated. The results replicated Experiment 1, but no effects of the publicity of subjects' responses were obtained, suggesting that the results reflect self-esteem maintenance rather than self presentational motivations.