Abstract
Social identity exploration is a process whereby individuals actively seek information about their group membership and show efforts to understand its meaning. Developmental theory argues that exploration-based ingroup commitment is the basis for outgroup positivity. We tested this notion in relation to national identity and attitudes towards immigrants. The results of five experimental studies among German adolescents and early adults ( N = 1,146; 16–25 years) and one internal meta-analysis suggest that the positive identification–prejudice link is weaker when participants are instructed to explore the meaning of their identity (Study 1). This is not mediated via self-uncertainty (Study 2), but via a reduction in intergroup threat (Study 3) and an increase in deprovincialization (Study 4). In addition, identity exploration enabled strong identifiers to oppose descriptive ingroup norms (Study 5). We conclude that identity exploration can contribute to a further understanding of the identification–prejudice link.
Highlights
Social identity exploration is a process whereby individuals actively seek information about their group membership and show efforts to understand its meaning
In Study 1, we examined if identity exploration moderates the national identification–prejudice link (Figure 1a), and we expected this link to be weaker among participants with high identity exploration
We showed in Study 1 that the link between identification and prejudice disappeared when participants thought of a prior experience in which they learned something about their group membership, whereas the identification–prejudice link remained significant among participants who thought of a prior experience in which their group membership was salient
Summary
Social identity exploration is a process whereby individuals actively seek information about their group membership and show efforts to understand its meaning. Developmental models argue that strong ingroup identification encourages positive intergroup attitudes, subject to ingroup identification being based on identity exploration, a process whereby individuals actively seek and incorporate information about their group membership and show efforts to understand its meaning (Marcia, 1966; Phinney et al, 1997). Based on identity developmental theory, we experimentally examined the predictions that identity exploration moderates the positive identification–prejudice link (Study 1); that lower selfuncertainty (Study 2), reduced intergroup threat (Study 3), and stronger deprovincialization (Study 4) mediate this effect; and that identity exploration enables strong identifiers to oppose negative ingroup norms (Study 5). We focused on 16- to 25-year-old adolescents and emerging adults, as national identity development takes place during high school and the college years (Barrett, 2007; Phinney & Ong, 2007)
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