Social Identity Salience Research Articles

Moral Faces: How Spontaneous Ideological Inferences from Facial Cues Influence Moral Judgments

This research demonstrates that individuals make moral judgments based on ideological inferences from facial cues. Using racially homogeneous male faces, four studies showed that individuals infer ideological beliefs—and thus group membership (in- versus out-group)—from a novel face and that the fit between the inferred social identity and the perceiver’s own social identity leads to judgments of moral superiority. Further evidence shows that a salient social identity moderates moral evaluation. These results reflect the automaticity of social categorization, which contributes to moral judgments of a person.

The various facets of eliminationist politics: Conflict, nation-building, and forced migration

Eliminationist policies, as defined in this article, are deliberate actions by state or non-state actors that aim to destroy, remove, or erase certain groups on the basis of salient social identity characteristics. Conflict, nation-building, and forced migration scholars examine different facets of these policies, and related tactics, motivated by different research questions and methodological choices. This has resulted in academic silos, with varied conceptualizations, operationalizations, and scope conditions. These, in turn, limit theory-building and testing, introduce sources of potential bias, and undermine the generalizability of the findings. To address these shortcomings, we propose a broader field of ‘eliminationist politics’ encouraging cross-field dialogue. We propose that bringing these scholars into conversation will enhance theorizing, generate new research questions, and spur data collection efforts.

Training in Cultural Competence for Mental Health Care: A Mixed-Methods Study of Students, Faculty, and Practitioners from India and USA.

Although the need to train clinicians to provide effective mental health care to individuals from diverse backgrounds has been recognized worldwide, a bulk of what we know about training in cultural competence (CC) is based on research conducted in the United States. Research on CC in mental health training from different world populations is needed due to the context-dependent nature of CC. Focusing on India and USA, two diverse countries that provide complementary contexts to examine CC, we explored graduate students', practicing clinicians', and faculty members' perspectives regarding CCtraining they received/provided and future training needs using mixed-methods. The data were collected using focus groups (n = 25 groups total: 15 in India, 11 in USA), and a survey (n = 800: 450 in India, 350 in USA). Our data highlight the salient social identities in these countries, and the corresponding constituents of CC training. Participants in India described a practical emphasis to their CC training (e.g., learning about CC through life experiences and clinical practice experiences) more so than through coursework, whereas participants in USA described varying levels of courseworkrelated toCC along with practice. Participants in both countries considered enormity of CC as a challenge, while those in the US also identified CC training limited to a white, straight, male perspective, hesitancy in engaging with diversity topics, and limited time and competence of the faculty. Strengths of CC training in India and USA are mutually informative in generating recommendations for enhancing the training in both countries.

The rise of and demand for identity‐oriented media coverage

AbstractWhile some assert that social identities have become more salient in American media coverage, existing evidence is largely anecdotal. An increased emphasis on social identities has important political implications, including for polarization and representation. We first document the rising salience of different social identities using natural language processing tools to analyze all tweets from 19 media outlets (2008–2021) alongside 553,078 URLs shared on Facebook. We then examine one potential mechanism: Outlets may highlight meaningful social identities—race/ethnicity, gender, religion, or partisanship—to attract readers through various social and psychological pathways. We find that identity cues are associated with increases in some forms of engagement on social media. To probe causality, we analyze 3,828 randomized headline experiments conducted via Upworthy. Headlines mentioning racial/ethnic identities generated more engagement than headlines that did not, with suggestive evidence for other identities. Identity‐oriented media coverage is growing and rooted partly in audience demand.

Covid and the common good: In-group out-group dynamics and Covid-19 vaccination in Wales and the United States

Vaccination is a social act, where benefits spill-over to third parties. How we approach such social decisions is influenced by whether likely beneficiaries share salient social identities with us. This study explores these dynamics using representative survey data from two contexts: national identity groups in Wales (N = 4187) and political partisans in America (N = 4864).In both cases, those in the minority in their local area were less likely to be vaccinated. In Wales, respondents who did not identify as Welsh were less likely to be vaccinated the greater the proportion of residents of their local area identified as Welsh. In America, the vaccination rate of Biden voters fell off more steeply than that of Trump voters as the proportion of Trump voters in their county increased. Results are robust to controlling for likely confounds and sensitivity analyses. In-group out-group dynamics help to shape important health decisions.

The link between early adolescents' gender discrimination and gender attitudes about peers: Does gender similarity matter?

Gender is one of the most salient social identities, particularly during early adolescence. However, factors related to adolescents' gender attitudes remain underexamined. We examined links between adolescents' gender discrimination, felt-gender similarity, and intergroup gender attitudes. Participants were 270 adolescents in the United States (Mage = 12.95 years, SD = 1.33; 47.4% adolescent girls; 63.7% White, 12.2% Latinx, 10.7% Black, 4.1% Asian, 5.6% multiracial, and 3% indigenous). Path analyses showed that gender discrimination negatively predicted adolescents' attitudes towards own- and other-gender peers. Felt own-gender similarity positively predicted own-gender attitudes as expected, but other-gender similarity did not predict other-gender attitudes. Further, own- and other-gender similarity did not interact to predict adolescents' gender attitudes. However, adolescents' attitudes towards other-gender peers were more negatively impacted by gender discrimination for those who felt highly similar to own-gender peers than for those with average or low own-gender similarity. Findings inform potential strategies to improve adolescents' gender attitudes.

Can solar energy become polarized? Understanding the role of expressive and negative partisanship in support for solar tax credits

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 is perhaps the most ambitious federal legislation aimed at decarbonizing the energy system. The IRA expanded investment tax credits (ITCs) for households that install rooftop solar, providing an important catalyst to encourage households to adopt this innovation. Although the IRA is promising, the transition to renewables has been slow and marred by partisan polarization and legislative gridlock. We suggest that renewable energy policies, such as ITCs, could become polarized. Our results imply that partisan polarization around solar ITCs is currently modest, but such policies could become polarized in the future. Expressive partisans—those for whom partisanship is a salient social identity—and negative partisans differ from other partisans. Opponents of renewable energy could potentially leverage negative and expressive partisanship to create opposition. However, this outcome is not inevitable. We suggest that policymakers and renewable energy advocates should develop strategies to avoid partisan polarization.

Determinants of automatic age and race bias: ingroup-outgroup distinction salience moderates automatic evaluations of social groups.

The present research investigates whether ingroup-outgroup distinction salience moderates automatic intergroup bias (i.e., more positive evaluations of ingroup targets relative to outgroup targets) toward multiply categorizable social targets. In two experiments, we manipulated the salience of participants' social identity based on age vs. race, respectively. Afterwards, we measured automatic evaluations of social targets varying in age and race. Young White participants exhibited higher automatic race bias when their racial identity (i.e., White in contrast to Black) was salient. Conversely, they exhibited higher automatic age bias when their age identity (i.e., young in contrast to old) was salient. Going beyond previous research, we show that it is sufficient to direct participants' attention to their ingroup-identity in contrast to the respective outgroup to cause changes in automatic intergroup bias. This is important because it provides a strong test of the hypothesis that ingroup-outgroup distinction salience moderates automatic intergroup bias.

Sustainable luxury brands: the moderating effects of salient identity-based goals

Purpose Luxury brands struggle to communicate their sustainability commitments to consumers due to the perceived incongruence between “luxury” and “sustainability”. This study aims to provide luxury brands with insights on how to engage consumers with different social value orientations (SVOs) to make sustainable luxury purchases in a compatible manner. It investigates the relationships between personal values (symbolism/universalism), SVOs (pro-self/prosocial orientation) and behavioral intentions toward sustainable luxury brands. It further explores whether these relationships may differ when consumers view themselves as individuals (salient personal identity is activated) versus group members (salient social identity is activated). Design/methodology/approach Study 1 (N = 419) used an online experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to either salient personal or social identity conditions to test the proposed model. Study 2 (N = 438) used a fictional brand to further validate the findings. Hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) and multi-group SEM. Findings Results indicate that prosocial orientation significantly increases consumers’ behavioral intentions toward sustainable luxury brands. Interestingly, pro-self-orientation can also drive intentions to support sustainable luxury brands when consumers’ personal identity is salient. Salient social identity can further strengthen the relationship between prosocial orientation and sustainable luxury behavioral intentions. Originality/value This study presents a novel, inclusive definition of sustainable luxury brands and adds theoretical rigor to the SVO framework by revealing the moderating role of salient identities, contributing to the body of knowledge in luxury brand research.

Running women or women runners: Does identity salience affect intention to exercise outside and feelings of safety?

AbstractSafety concerns for women are prevalent and influence their likelihood to exercise outside. While some women modify their exercise behaviour due to safety concerns, others exercise outside more freely. In this paper, two experiments are reported with women runners to examine whether making their identity as a runner or a woman salient changed their self‐reported likelihood of exercising outside, sense of safety and personal safety anxiety. While study 1 (n = 153) found no significant experimental effect, it revealed a trend: women whose runner identity was made salient were more likely to self‐report their willingness to exercise outside than those in the gender identity condition. Study 2 (n = 236) was conducted to examine this trend further. The second study employed a larger sample size and a more robust manipulation of social identity salience. A significant effect of the experimental condition on women's sense of safety was observed. Specifically, women in the runner identity salience condition had significantly greater feelings of safety than women in the gender identity salience condition. A similar trend emerged for self‐reported likelihood to exercise outside. These findings corroborate prior research on the impact of identity salience on intention to engage in health behaviours. They contribute to the existing body of literature on the intricate interplay between women's physical activity intentions and safety concerns. Furthermore, these findings could aid in the development of interventions to increase women's physical activity levels. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Mind the Audience: Forensic Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Identification by Reference to the Social Identity of Athenian dikastai

Abstract: This paper highlights the importance of an audience-centric approach in the study of Athenian forensic rhetoric and leverages insights from Social Identity Theory and Burke's concept of 'identification' to examine courtroom speeches. Litigants, perceiving the Athenian dikastai as a distinct group marked by a salient social identity, rhetorically employed the group's prototypes, norms, and interests to establish their identification—and underscore the opponent's division—with the audience. This prominent role of social identity and the potential for jury bias affecting the large audiences of dikastai prompt a reconsideration of the nature of Athenian trials and suggest that, in addition to upholding the law, Athenian courts functioned as platforms for the imposition of social and legal conformity.

Fostering inclusive science media: Insights from examining the relationship between women's identities and their anticipated engagement with Deep Look YouTube science videos.

As science media content creators strive for inclusivity in communication design and promotion, they must consider the influence of audiences' identities on their engagement with science media. A gender gap in viewership or "missing audience" has been identified for women viewers for educational science content on digital media; one such example of this is Deep Look, a science video series from KQED public media and PBS Digital Studios distributed on YouTube. This study used a mixed method design (1) to examine women's preferences for Deep Look YouTube video promotions (i.e., episode titles and thumbnail images-the images that act as a preview for the video) to best inform future design of promotional content for these videos to attract more women viewers, and (2) to explore how women's preferences for science content are linked to their social identities, science identity, and science curiosity. Findings indicated that women's preferences for promotions for Deep Look YouTube science and nature videos followed expected trends with most women preferring images perceived as visually attractive and colorful more than images perceived as disgusting or gross. However, these preferences were conditional on science curiosity and science identity. Findings indicated that to boost women's engagement with YouTube science and nature videos, content creators may find it useful to consider how science curious various women audiences are, how strongly women viewers identify with being a science person, and how their most salient social identities motivate engagement.

Do People Perceive Products Differently when Buying for Self Versus for Others? Malleable Brand Personality in Gifting

According to social identity theory, people behave differently in a social context than when they are by themselves because of social identity salience. Like people, brand personality changes depending on situations and context. There is lack of research investigating identity salience within the context of gifting and its subsequent impact on the perceived brand personality of a gift in different gifting situations. This paper proposes that in gifting situations of others, a social identity is activated which leads to change in the perceived brand personality of the same product purchased for self-gifting. Within the Japanese context, the hypothesis states that the excitement of brand personality dimension is more prominent in self-gifting than in gifting others, while competence and sincerity brand personalities are more prominent in gifting others than in self-gifting scenarios. To test these hypotheses, thirty-six brand personality traits (Aaker et al., 2001) of eight brands were evaluated by 251 respondents in Japan. Factor analysis and multiple regression results support the main hypotheses. The paper concludes with managerial implications and future research directions.

Increasing meat-free meal selections: The role of social identity salience and identity-related meal names

Avoiding meat overconsumption is good for the environment and people's health. Changing meal names represents a simple, cost-effective way of increasing meat-free meal selection in restaurants. In the past, however, this approach has shown limited effectiveness. The activation of different social identities may explain inconsistencies in prior findings and offer a powerful leverage point for influencing meal choices. We recruited participants (N = 899) who identified as “meat-eaters” for an online experiment in which they were asked to select a meal from a menu that included meat-free and meat-based burgers. We manipulated (1) social identity salience (meat-eater identity; sustainable identity; personal identity) and (2) the meal names on the menu (vegetarian name; sustainable name; neutral name). Our findings show that activating a sustainable identity significantly increases the odds of selecting a meat-free burger (22%) compared to alternative identity conditions (meat-eater identity 12%, personal identity 12%). Sustainable meal names outperform vegetarian but not neutral meal names (sustainable name 20%, vegetarian name 12%, neutral name 15%). When participants who previously selected a meat-based burger (N = 760) were limited to meat-free menu options, satisfaction and enjoyment ratings dropped steeply. This drop was significantly stronger in the meat-eater identity condition. Accounting for identity salience can lead to more targeted, improved interventions that increase meat-free meal selections by accounting for people's different social identities and the social context in which food consumption tends to occur.

Through the Lens of Experience

Identity-based bullying encompasses physical and verbal aggression rooted in unique traits such as race and gender, particularly within school contexts. Extensive literature underscores its detrimental impact on the well-being of victimized youth. Teachers' pivotal role in intervening is acknowledged, though a gap exists between incident rates and interventions, partly attributed to educators' misperception of bullying occurrences. Through the lens of social identity theory, which examines how individuals identify themselves, this study investigated whether teachers' past experiences in bullying-related roles shape their perceptions and interventions, influenced by contextually salient social identities triggered by situational cues. Additionally, the study explored how empathy and victim blaming may enhance or weaken this relationship, respectively. Data were collected through a self-administered online survey, where teachers provided demographic information and were randomly assigned one of five identity-based peer exclusion scenarios. After a manipulation check, 941 participants ranked and answered questions assessing perceptions and responses to the scenario, including variables like seriousness, responsibility, empathy, victim blaming, and intervention likelihood. Participants' bullying-related roles were self-reported based on a section where they described their role as a witness, defender, bully, or victim during their school years. Contrary to our hypothesis, there are unexpected findings on teachers' response with prior experience as victims. Furthermore, bullying-related roles were not moderated by empathy and victim-blaming, with one exception. Overall, the findings from this study allows us to comprehensively understand these dynamics, which in turn inform strategies that optimize teacher interventions and foster a supportive environment for students' growth and well-being.

Waiting and walking with strangers: a socio-psychological pedestrian experiment on joint action in anonymous situations.

Research on pedestrian dynamics has generally dealt with temporary gatherings of people who do not know each other personally. These gatherings are often framed as highly individualized encounters in which social interactions play no or only a marginal role. However, recent research based on self-categorization theory showed the relevance of salient social identity for crowd dynamics. Drawing on the interactionist approach of social identity theory and the work of Erving Goffman and Alfred Schütz, this paper aims to show that anonymous encounters are carefully concerted social phenomena. The authors present the results of an exploratory social psychological experiment (N = 83), in which groups of participants were asked to wait for 5 min in a designated area with different communicative conditions and then to walk to a narrow exit. Based on the assumption that communication and conformity to expectations influences the behaviour of those present, we introduced four modifications during the waiting time and analysed questionnaire data and video recordings in a mixed-methods design. The results show that direct communication correlates with higher speed, cell phone use with greater distance to the nearest neighbour, and unexpected behaviour with slower movement.

A phenomenological exploration of Indian women's body image within intersecting identities in a globalizing nation

The goal of the study was to examine Indian women's body image experiences utilizing an intersectional framework. Using phenomenological method, the study attempted to explore how experiences of gender oppression intersect with salient social identities to produce experiences of body dissatisfaction in Indian women. Thirty-Five Indian women in the age group 18–40 years participated in semi-structured interviews. Overall, women experienced and discussed their bodies in terms of physical features they liked and disliked. Three themes emerged that comprised body image experiences of Indian women- (a) Beautiful, thin and fair- three social imperatives for women, (b) Internalization and (c) Body image management. Each of these impacted women negatively and contributed to greater body monitoring, increased indulgence in unhealthy behaviours and heightened body dissatisfaction. Women also discussed coping techniques for managing such experiences. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to take into account culturally constructed beauty norms and unique socio-cultural factors for Indian women that determine body image. Findings are interpreted in the context of evolving socio-cultural norms that have recolonised Indian women's embodiment in a globalizing nation.

To Zoom or not: Diverging responses to privacy and security risks

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lock-down, digital platforms like Zoom became essential for remote work. Yet at the same time, substantial security and privacy risks made the headlines. Using the lenses of Naturalistic Decision-making and the Theory of Multilevel Information Privacy, we find diverging responses to well-documented security risks of Zoom use in educational environments. We identify-three distinct response patterns, which we name the ‘Agnostic’, the ‘Pragmatic’ and the ‘Sceptic’, and show how the interplay of the salient social identity, personal privacy norms, and the privacy calculus guides the dynamic of privacy decision-making in light of experiential feedback, and the developing public discourse about security risks. We provide empirical evidence for multilevel decision-making and highlight the contextual and social nature of privacy decision-making about platform mode of use for remote work.

Inequality and identity salience

This paper provides a simple model of identity salience that is applied to the phenomenon of the recent rise in right-wing populism in the Western world. Trade and capital flows, skill-biased technological change, and migration have led to declining employment and wages in these economies and a parallel rise in economic and cultural populism, tapping into nativist sentiments. We argue that when long-term income stagnation for most of the population and decline for some go together with high rates of income growth at the very top, one has zero-sum economics and that naturally raises the possibility of using various kinds of social identities to claim a bigger share of a fixed sized pie. We show that in ethnically or racially polarized societies this naturally leads to the salience of social identities that enable majority ethnic groups to vote for policies that exclude minority groups so that they get a greater share of a dwindling surplus. In contrast, in more ethnically and racially homogeneous societies, this would instead lead to the demand for more pro-redistribution policies that involve greater provision of public goods.

Triggers and Hierarchies of Social Identities in the European Parliament

AbstractResearch on dynamics within the European Parliament frequently draws on group‐based explanations – such as parties and national affiliations – for the behaviour of its members. Hence, there is a growing interest in the question of how policy issues trigger the salience of group memberships and whether partisan or national group memberships – and which of them – rank higher when voting on issues. This article provides answers to these questions by presenting empirical evidence on the group memberships that are decisive for the voting behaviour of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In theoretical terms, it introduces the social‐psychological perspective on social identities to European Union (EU) parliamentary research. Methodologically, the article relies on a qualitative comparative analysis of voting results in three resolutions of the 9th EU legislative term. The findings emphasize a hierarchy of salient social identities and reveal that some national and some partisan identities are stronger than others in the European Parliament.