Non-normative Collective Action Research Articles

Being positively moved by climate protest predicts peaceful collective action

People can be motivated to engage in collective action for climate protection because they are angry about an injustice or because they are emotionally moved by the idea that they can achieve something together. However, previous research on emotions and collective action has not distinguished between being positively and being negatively moved and between normative and non-normative collective action. To address this gap, we conducted a field study in Germany with activists and non-activists of Fridays for Future (N = 223). Participants reported their appraisals, feelings and intentions related to the climate crisis and the Fridays for Future protests. Being positively moved predicted intentions to engage in normative collective action (signing petitions, participating in demonstrations) but not intentions to participate in non-normative collective action (involving damage to property or risk of personal injury). Being negatively moved did not significantly predict either of these collective action intentions. This suggests that the motivational effect of being moved on collective action is specific to being positively moved and to normative collective action. Acceptance of non-normative collective action was predicted by perceptions of injustice and low collective efficacy beliefs. Thus, non-normative collective action for climate protection seems to be considered when peaceful protest is perceived as ineffective.

Gender and National Collective Narcissism: Gender Asymmetries and Obstacles to Gender Equality

To elucidate how ingroup identification is implicated in attitudes towards gender equality, it is important to consider that (1) people simultaneously identify with more (a nation) vs. less abstract groups (gender), and (2) gender collective narcissism is the specific aspect of ingroup identification likely to inspire opposite attitudes towards gender equality among men (negative) and women (positive), but (3) national narcissism is likely to align with men’s interests and inspire negative attitudes towards gender equality among men and women. In Study 1, we demonstrate that gender collective narcissism is the same variable among men and women. In Study 2, we show that among women (but not among men) in Poland, gender collective narcissism predicts intentions to engage in normative and non-normative collective action for gender equality. In Study 3, we show that gender collective narcissists among women endorse an egalitarian outlook, whereas gender collective narcissists among men reject it. In contrast, national narcissism predicts refusal to engage in collective action for gender equality and endorsement of an anti-egalitarian outlook among women and among men. Thus, national narcissism and gender collective narcissism among men impair pursuit of gender equality. Gender collective narcissism among women facilitates engagement in collective action for gender equality. Low gender collective narcissism among men and low national narcissism may also facilitate support for gender equality.

Efficacy of peaceful and violent protests as predictors of normative and non-normative collective action: Catalonia 2019 (La eficacia de la protesta pacífica y de la violenta como predictores de la acción colectiva normativa y no normativa: Cataluña 2019)

ABSTRACT To demonstrate the value of operationalizing the efficacy of action beliefs in terms of peaceful and violent actions in understanding why people engage in different forms of collective action (CA), we conducted a study (N = 211 students) in Catalonia in 2019, during the massive protests after the Spanish Supreme Court ruling on the Catalan leaders. We tested six models differing regarding the operationalization of CA and inclusion of group identity and perceived injustice as control factors. The role of the efficacy of peaceful protests was model-dependent. Conversely, we found evidence in favour of the efficacy of violent protests as a robust predictor of intentions to participate in non-normative CA — participants perceiving violence as effective exhibited stronger intentions to participate in non-normative CA. Furthermore, no predictor other than the efficacy of violent protests predicted the variance of non-normative CA isolated from the variance of normative CA, implying that studying the perceived efficacy of different types of CA could improve our understanding of why people engage in different forms of CA.

Normative and non-normative collective action facing repression in a democratic context: A mixed study in a Chilean social movement

This work addresses collective action in the context of a social movement facing police repression in a democratic country. The movement studied was carried out in a region of southern Chile, had a very high citizen participation and deployed normative and non-normative actions. We aim to understand why people decided to participate and how they came to consider violent action as a legitimate option. We use a mixed methods approach. In a quantitative study we compare participation in normative and non-normative actions, and find they factor together as part of the same action repertoire, making it possible to speak of a continuum of participation instead of different types. We also replicate key findings of the SIMCA model, with protest participation motivated directly by anger and efficacy, but also by positive emotions. In a qualitative study we found similar results and draw out new data highlighting the relevance of the experience of repression in invoking a need for radical action and creating social cohesion among protestors.

The influence of perceived threat and political mistrust on politicized identity and normative and violent nonnormative collective action

The present research examined the interplay of social threat and political mistrust on collective action intentions in the context of Hong Kong social unrest. We investigated perceived social threat from a dominant outgroup and mistrust in the political system as two antecedents of politicized identity, and as indirect predictors of intentions to participate in normative and violent nonnormative collective action. Across two studies (Study 1: N = 398; Study 2: N = 200), we found that perceived social threat, political mistrust, and their interaction had positive significant associations with action intentions (Study 1) and an interactive association (Study 2) with politicized identity. Both studies indicated indirect effects of social threat and political mistrust on both normative and violent collective action intentions through politicized identity. Politicized identity and a broader Hong Kong identity were both directly associated with normative collective action intentions. However, only politicized identity was associated with violent collective action intentions.

The Dark Triad and Non-Normative Collective Action in the Save KPK Movement in Indonesia: The Mediation Effect of Contempt

This study aimed to examine the role of group-based contempt and the Dark Triad of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) in the intention to participate in non-normative collective action in the Save KPK (Save the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission) movement. The data was collected via the distribution of an online questionnaire and on-campus recruitment of university students. A total of 409 students were involved as the participants through a purposive sampling strategy. The multiple regression tests found that only the variables group-based contempt and psychopathy significantly could predict non-normative collective action, albeit partially; the other Dark Triad variables (Machiavellianism and narcissism), in this case, were found to be insignificant. A path analysis model showed that Machiavellianism and psychopathy could significantly predict non-normative collective action under the mediation of group-based contempt. Narcissism was found to have no significance. This study results, by considering the Dark Triad and emotional factors, help people understand why and how individuals or groups of students commit violence.

The different effects of collective narcissism and secure ingroup identity on collective action and life satisfaction among LGBTQ+ individuals

For LGBTQ+ community members, one way to cope with the discrimination they experience is through a stronger ingroup identity. However, not all types of ingroup identity may be equally beneficial to LGBTQ+ individuals. A longitudinal ( N = 1,044) and a cross-sectional ( N = 8,464) study among LGBTQ+ people in Poland demonstrated that collective narcissism was a positive predictor of group-based anger (Study 2) and had a positive reciprocal relationship with group relative deprivation (GRD; Study 1), however, it was negatively related to life satisfaction and exhibited a stronger positive link with nonnormative than normative collective action. Secure LGBTQ+ identification was not longitudinally predicted by GRD (Study 1) and showed a weaker positive association with group-based anger (Study 2). It had a reciprocal positive relationship with life satisfaction and was a stronger predictor of normative than nonnormative collective action. These results show that whereas secure ingroup identity is a clearly positive coping mechanism, the effects of collective narcissism are mixed.

From Individual Anxiety to Collective Narcissism? Adult Attachment Styles and Different Types of National Commitment.

National narcissism and national identification, two distinct types of national commitment, differ in terms of their psychological concomitants. Therefore, in the current article, we hypothesized that they would also relate to different adult attachment styles. Namely, we proposed that national narcissism would be positively associated with higher attachment anxiety, while national identification would be associated with lower attachment anxiety and avoidance. These hypotheses were tested in three cross-sectional surveys (Study 1 N = 570; Study 3 N = 558; Study 4 N = 649) and one longitudinal survey (Study 2 N = 808). In all studies, we found a consistent positive relationship between attachment anxiety and national narcissism, and a negative relationship between attachment avoidance and national identification. Finally, we also demonstrated indirect effects of attachment anxiety (via national narcissism) on maladaptive group-related outcomes: conspiracy beliefs, non-normative collective action, and willingness to conspire.

How exposure to real conspiracy theories motivates collective action and political engagement? Τhe moderating role of primed victimhood and underlying emotional mechanisms in the case of 2018 bushfire in Attica

AbstractConspiracy theories concern milestone events, mobilizing various explanations. However, there is still emerging research on how conspiracy beliefs mobilize normative and nonnormative collective action, as well as political engagement and what the emotional underpinnings of such effects are. We conducted two experimental studies (Study 1, N = 301 and Study 2, N = 328) on exploring the relationship between exposure to conspiracy theories and normative, nonnormative collective action and political engagement, moderated by primed victimhood and mediated by fear/anxiety and anger emotional indices. Results in Study 1 showed that exposure to conspiracy theories decreases normative collective action, but increases nonnormative collective action, negative emotions of anger and fear/anxiety and political engagement. In Study 2 we confirmed findings of Study 1, but these effects were moderated by primed victimhood. Study 2 also showed that anger index, but not fear/anxiety index, significantly mediated the moderating interaction effect between exposure to conspiracy theories and primed victimhood on the (non)normative collective action and political engagement. Results are discussed in light of the broader impact of circulation of conspiracy theories and their effective tackle amidst societal traumas.

“Resistance!”: Collective Action Cues in Conspiracy Theory-Endorsing Facebook Groups

Conspiracy theories on social media have been suspected of contributing to mobilization and radicalization. Yet, few studies have examined the prevalence of psychological variables that may serve to motivate normative and non-normative collective action in this material. Drawing from the “social identity model of collective action,” the current study uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the prevalence of collective action cues in conspiracy theory-endorsing social media spaces. Towards this end, I examined four German Facebook groups (Covid-19-Skeptic, Far-Right, Chemtrail, and Political Affairs) during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic<em>. </em>The results of qualitative content analysis (<em>N</em> = 828 posts), a hierarchical cluster analysis, and the examination of popularity cues showed that: (a) collective action cues were frequent; (b) most posts transmitted alternative views (Cluster 1) or<em> </em>absolutist ideologies (Cluster 2) with few collective action cues—yet, more than one-third of the posts were either mobilizing (Cluster 3) or wrathful (Cluster 4), entailing multiple collective action cues including cues theoretically linked to non-normative action; (c) mobilizing and wrathful posts were more engaging than alternative views and absolutist ideologies; (d) the types of posts and levels of engagement varied between the examined groups such that the Chemtrail and the Far-Right group disseminated more content with a higher mobilizing potential. The Far-Right group was also the most active in responding to its members. The results of this study are novel in that they demonstrate the prevalence of cues that have been linked to non-normative collective action in psychological research within conspiracy theory-endorsing Facebook groups.

Does crossing a moral line justify collective means? Explaining how a perceived moral violation triggers normative and nonnormative forms of collective action

AbstractIn three studies conducted in the United States, we examined whether a perceived moral violation motivates willingness to engage in normative and more radical collective action. Using value‐protection and identity‐formation models, we explored whether increased endorsement of moral convictions and relevant opinion‐based group identification could explain such effects. Study 1, using the “travel ban” for Muslims as the focal issue, experimentally found that a strong violation, compared to a weak violation, increased normative and nonnormative collective action, moral convictions and opinion‐based group identification. Study 2 replicated these results in a longitudinal design and supported a mediating effect of increased endorsement of moral convictions and opinion‐based group identity. Study 3 used a real‐world violation (the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate agreements) to replicate the findings cross‐sectionally. We conclude that a perceived moral violation motivates normative and nonnormative collective action because the violation makes one's moral conviction and opinion‐based group identification more salient.

“It was rigged”: Different types of identification predict activism and radicalism in the U.S. 2020 election

AbstractWhat motivated Trump Supporters to storm the US Capitol in protest of the US Election results? We examined how different dimensions of an identification (Trump, Republican) predicted intentions to engage in activism or radicalism in the wake of the 2020 US Presidential Election. We sampled self‐identified Republicans 3 weeks before (N = 273), and 10 days after (N = 277), the US Capitol Insurrection. We separately measured identification as a Republican and Trump Supporter before assessing people's perception that the 2020 Election was illegitimate. We then assessed two emotions (anger, contempt) and two forms of collective action intentions (activism, radicalism). Both studies showed that stronger Trump identification, but weaker Republican identification, predicted perceptions that the 2020 US Election was illegitimate. Perceptions of illegitimacy predicted feelings of anger and contempt, which differently predicted normative and nonnormative collective action. Results suggest that different dimensions of identification predispose people to different perceptions of events and, consequently, harbor different action intentions.

The role of social identity in the explanation of collective action: An intergroup perspective on the Yellow Vests movement

AbstractSocial psychologists have developed influential theoretical models to understand intergroup conflicts, radicalism, and collective action. November 2018 saw the emergence of a new powerful movement in France named the Yellow Vests. Born on social media, the movement has sustained an unprecedented period of intense protests and violent clashes with the police, challenging the French government. As such, this movement offers an ideal context to examine the real‐world relevance of current social‐psychological theorizing. Using a social identity and self‐categorization perspective, two correlational studies (three samples, N = 1,849) tested the role of self‐categorization as a group member, or social identity, in accounting for individual participation in normative and nonnormative collective action. Using different operationalizations of identification, both studies confirm a powerful role of identification as a Yellow Vest and provided evidence that the effect of social media use on collective action is fully mediated by self‐categorization as a Yellow Vest. An alternative model suggesting that social media use mediated the relation between social identity and collective action was not supported by the data.

Acting collectively to confront injustice: the mediating role of the legitimacy of authorities (Actuar colectivamente frente a la injusticia: el rol mediador de la legitimidad de las autoridades)

ABSTRACT Why do people participate in different forms of collective action? This article analyses the impact that perceptions of injustice in the way authorities treat citizens and the legitimacy of authorities have on attitudes towards normative, e.g., voting in a plebiscite or peacefully protesting, and non-normative, e.g., violent protests or barricades, collective action. We propose a dialogue between the social psychology of social movements and theories of social justice and legitimacy to consider the joint effect of perceived injustices and legitimacy on collective action. We analysed data from a representative sample of the Chilean population (n = 1,805). Through an analysis of structural equations we found that perceived injustice is related to lower beliefs in the legitimacy of authorities, and that this leads to a greater justification for non-normative collective action and lower justification for normative collective action. Results were analysed within the current context of radicalization of social mobilizations throughout the world and in Chile.

Supplemental Material for Disrupting the System Constructively: Testing the Effectiveness of Nonnormative Nonviolent Collective Action

Supplemental Material for Disrupting the System Constructively: Testing the Effectiveness of Nonnormative Nonviolent Collective Action

"Is Martin Luther King or Malcolm X the more acceptable face of protest? High-status groups' reactions to low-status groups' collective action": Correction to Teixeira, Spears, and Yzerbyt (2019).

Reports an error in "Is Martin Luther King or Malcolm X the more acceptable face of protest? High-status groups' reactions to low-status groups' collective action" by Cátia P. Teixeira, Russell Spears and Vincent Y. Yzerbyt (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Jun 06, 2019, np). In the article, Malcolm X was misspelled in the article title, in the second epigraph below the abstract, and in the second paragraph of the first paragraph and the first sentence of the fifth paragraph of the Implications for the Effectiveness of Low-Status Collective Action section. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2019-30725-001.) Work on collective action focuses mainly on the perspective of disadvantaged groups. However, the dynamics of social change cannot be fully understood without taking into account the reactions of the members of advantaged groups to collective action by low-status groups. In 10 experiments conducted in 4 different intergroup contexts (N = 1349), we examine advantaged groups support for normative versus non-normative collective action by disadvantaged groups. Experiments 1a to 1e show that normative collective action is perceived as more likely to improve the disadvantaged group's position and that non-normative collective action is perceived as more damaging to the advantaged group's social image. Also, these differences are due to differences in perceptions of actions violating norms of protest and perceptions of protesters as blaming the advantaged group for the inequality. Experiments 2a to 3 show that high compared with low identified members of advantaged groups distinguish more between types of collective action, showing a greater preference for the normative type. Both a mediational design and an experimental-causal-chain design (Experiments 3 and 4) show that support among high identifiers depends more on whether collective action damages the high-status group's social image than on whether it actually reduces inequality. Findings suggest that high-status groups' support for collective action is not only shaped by the perceived likelihood of change but also by its potential damage to the image of the high-status ingroup. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Is Martin Luther King or Malcolm X the more acceptable face of protest? High-status groups' reactions to low-status groups' collective action.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported online in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on Jul 8 2019 (see record 2019-40588-001). In the article, Malcolm X was misspelled in the article title, in the second epigraph below the abstract, and in the second paragraph of the first paragraph and the first sentence of the fifth paragraph of the Implications for the Effectiveness of Low-Status Collective Action section. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Work on collective action focuses mainly on the perspective of disadvantaged groups. However, the dynamics of social change cannot be fully understood without taking into account the reactions of the members of advantaged groups to collective action by low-status groups. In 10 experiments conducted in 4 different intergroup contexts (N = 1349), we examine advantaged groups support for normative versus non-normative collective action by disadvantaged groups. Experiments 1a to 1e show that normative collective action is perceived as more likely to improve the disadvantaged group's position and that non-normative collective action is perceived as more damaging to the advantaged group's social image. Also, these differences are due to differences in perceptions of actions violating norms of protest and perceptions of protesters as blaming the advantaged group for the inequality. Experiments 2a to 3 show that high compared with low identified members of advantaged groups distinguish more between types of collective action, showing a greater preference for the normative type. Both a mediational design and an experimental-causal-chain design (Experiments 3 and 4) show that support among high identifiers depends more on whether collective action damages the high-status group's social image than on whether it actually reduces inequality. Findings suggest that high-status groups' support for collective action is not only shaped by the perceived likelihood of change but also by its potential damage to the image of the high-status ingroup. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Modes of Ingroup Identification and Notions of Justice Provide Distinct Pathways to Normative and Nonnormative Collective Action in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

People on both sides of an intergroup conflict undertake various forms of collective action to seek justice for their own group. Three studies investigated whether modes of ingroup identification promoted distinct preferences for justice, which subsequently shaped the form of collective action people supported. Among Arab (Study 1, n = 148) and Jewish Israelis (Study 2, n = 294), we found that ingroup glorification promoted a desire for retributive justice, which predicted support for nonnormative collective action, whereas ingroup attachment promoted a desire for restorative justice, which predicted support for normative collective action. Further, during a period of conflict escalation (i.e., Palestinian protests at the Gaza Strip), emphasizing retributive or restorative justice produced differential effects on the links from glorification and attachment to nonnormative and normative collective action (Study 3, n = 546). This research advances our understanding of when and how collective action can escalate intergroup conflict.

Popular justice on bullies: Attributions of responsibility, anger, and ineffective social control as fuel for non-normative collective action

O bullying escolar raramente tem sido analisado através do ponto de vista da sociedade em geral. No entanto, nas situações em que o agressor atrai a atenção mediática, verificam-se reações coletivas muito severas. Neste trabalho, analisámos os processos subjacentes à ação coletiva não-normativa que muitas vezes emerge perante situações de bullying. Após um vídeo amador que mostrava uma destas situações se ter tornado viral em Portugal, pedimos a 350 participantes que preenchessem um questionário sobre o tema. Os resultados mostraram que a atribuição de responsabilidade ao agressor predizia a concordância com medidas de justiça popular, e que isto era mediado por emoções de raiva, e moderado pela perceção de ineficácia dos mecanismos de controlo social. Mais especificamente, quanto maior a responsabilidade atribuída ao agressor, maior a raiva sentida, o que levava a um maior grau de concordância com medidas de justiça popular. Para além disso, este efeito era maior para os participantes que acreditavam que os mecanismos formais de controlo social eram ineficazes. Os resultados foram discutidos à luz da sua contribuição para o combate ao bullying, e da literatura sobre desvio, controlo social, e ação coletiva.

Explaining Normative Versus Nonnormative Action: The Role of Implicit Theories

The current research investigates what motivates people to engage in normative versus nonnormative action. Prior research has shown that different emotions lead to different types of action. We argue that these differing emotions are determined by a more basic characteristic, namely, implicit theories about whether groups and the world in general can change. We hypothesized that incremental theories (beliefs that groups/the world can change) would predict normative action, and entity theories (beliefs that groups/the world cannot change) as well as group identification would predict nonnormative action. We conducted a pilot in the context of protests against a government plan to relocate Bedouin villages in Israel and a main study during the Israeli social protests of the middle class. Results revealed three distinct pathways to collective action. First, incremental theories about the world predicted hope, which predicted normative action. Second, incremental theories about groups and group identification predicted anger, which also predicted normative collective action. Lastly, entity theories about groups predicted nonnormative collective action through hatred, but only for participants who were highly identified with the group. In sum, people who believed in the possibility of change supported normative action, whereas those who believed change was not possible supported nonnormative action.