Uncertainty–Identity Theory
Section snippets
Historical Background
Social identity theory has its origins in Tajfel's early research on social categorization and his desire to provide a cognitive explanation of prejudice and discrimination (Tajfel, 1969)—an explanation that intentionally avoided attributing such behaviors to aberrant personality or interpersonal processes. Rather, Tajfel felt that prejudice and discrimination was a reflection of intergroup behavior in a particular social context on the part of people who identified with one of the groups. He
Uncertainty
Uncertainty–identity theory rests on the motivational tenet that feeling uncertain about ones perceptions, attitudes, values, or feelings is uncomfortable. At best it is an exhilarating challenge to be confronted and resolved—uncertainty is exciting and makes us feel edgy and alive, and delivers us a sense of satisfaction and mastery when we resolve such uncertainties. Meeting new people, going to parties, backpacking in exotic lands all raise uncertainty, but in a “good” way. At worst,
Social Identity
Feelings of uncertainty have different causes and different foci. Uncertainty–identity theory focuses on context‐induced feelings of uncertainty that are about self or things that relate to, reflect on, or matter to self. To the extent that a particular context that induces uncertainty endures, for example a long‐lasting economic crisis, uncertainty and attempts to reduce or fend off uncertainty may endure. There may be individual differences in how much uncertainty people feel in a given
Entitativity
Two studies were described above (Hogg & Svensson, 2006, Experiment 1; Reid & Hogg, 2005, Experiment 2) showing that uncertainty is more likely to lead to identification, or leads to stronger identification, if the group is relevant to self‐definition. This begs the broader question of what kinds of groups, or what properties of groups, are best equipped to reduce uncertainty through identification. The answer proposed by uncertainty–identity theory is high‐entitativity groups (Hogg 2004, Hogg
Social Extremism and Totalistic Groups
The story so far is that subjectively important feelings of uncertainty about self or about matters that relate to or reflect on self motivate people to identify with groups, particularly groups that are relevant to self and are high in entitativity. This process may go one step further (Hogg 2004, Hogg 2005a). When self‐uncertainty is acute or enduring, people may identify very strongly with groups that are not merely entitative but extreme—totalistic groups (Baron, Crawley, & Paulina, 2003).
Extensions, Applications, and Implications of Uncertainty–Identity Theory
In this section, I describe some extensions and implications of uncertainty–identity theory—to some extent consolidating ideas mentioned earlier.
Uncertainty–Identity Theory in Relation to Other Ideas
The previous section discussed some extensions and implications of uncertainty–identity theory. In this section, I briefly touch on, sometimes revisit, the relation between uncertainty–identity theory and some related ideas.
Concluding Comments
This chapter describes uncertainty–identity theory—its origins, its concepts, its implications and extensions, and its relation to related ideas and theories. The emphasis has been conceptual but empirical support was also described and assessed. Uncertainty–identity theory is an extension of social identity theory that postulates uncertainty reduction as a key motivation for social identity processes and group and intergroup behaviors. It is a theory that attributes particular forms of group
Acknowledgments
The research program reported in this chapter has been generously supported by the award of an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellowship, three research grants from the Australian Research Council, a research grant from The Leverhulme Trust, and travel grants from the British Academy and the British Psychological Society.
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