What makes a group worth dying for? Who accepts violence? What makes a person blind to their group’s wrongdoings? This project investigated such questions through variables like identity fusion and personality traits.
Project was granted by National Science Centre to Tomasz Besta (no. 2011/01/D/HS6/02282). Conducted research allowed for international cooperation with team lead by William Swann and Angel Gómez in developing theory of identity fusion. As a result polish team contributed to cross-cultural study on self-sacrifice and radical group actions published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
To date, most analyses of relationships between group processes and radicalization of attitudes have been guided by either realistic conflict theory or social identity theory and self-categorization theory. But recently researchers lead by W. Swann and A. Gomez (Gomez et al., 2009; Swann, et al., 2009; Swann, et al., 2010; Gomez, et al., in press) have linked self-verification motives to group processes and new concept into the field of group processes and radicalization of behaviors has been introduced, namely identity fusion. Although identity fusion is associated with group identification, the authors of this concept pointing out major differences between those two. Identify fusion is described as a state in which the boundaries between the self and the group become blurred, or ”a feeling of oneness with the group that induces people to tether their feelings of personal agency to the group” (Swann, et al., 2010) and identification represents an explicit awareness that the group is important to the person, it is part of his or her identity. The most important difference between those two variables is related to exlusivness of social identity. Where’s in social identity theory, in which identification is embedded, principle of functional antagonism is stressed (Turner et al., 1987), that is the salience of one identity (e.g. group) diminishes the salience of other identities (e.g. personal), identity fusion theory proposes (and researchers have empirically validated this assumption) that personal and social identities can be simultaneously active (Swann et al., 2009). Identity fusion is a new and developing construct. Existing research has focused on validating scales to assess fusion (pictorial Swann, et al., 2009; Swann, et al., 2010 and verbal Gomez, et al., in press ) and exploring if relationship between identity fusion and various pro-group behaviors exist. Strong association between fusion and radical attitudes has been confirmed as well as the role of self-verification strivings: fused individuals were especially prone to express radical pro-group opinion and fight on behalf of their fellow in-group member when their self-schema (personal or group) has been challenged (vs. confirmed). The identity fusion scale predicts responses to measures of religious fundamentalism (Seyle & Swann, 2005). Growing body of research supports the assumption that identity fusion is an effective predictor of pro-group behavior. This support the idea that construct of identity fusion, based on self-verification theory, could be an effective and fruitful model for the psychology of radicalism and extremism.
What is interesting, central dimension in social perception, namely agency and communion are not so often included in group processes’ analyses. But including those constructs into the analyses of group processes could answer a couple of important questions: e.g. if people with agentic self-schema who simultaneously have a strong communal self-schema and identify themselves with a group are those who are the most fused with a group? Are they the most radical Are the consequences of a state in which the boundaries between the self and the group become blurred the same when self is perceived both as strongly agentic and strongly communal compare to people whose dominant communal self-perception reflects a concern with others and their interests? We would like to explore some of the issue related to the possible role of personal agency in a radicalization of attitudes among people with strong group identity. Our project is a complex and coherent way of approaching issue of overlap between self-schema and group-schema, The main aims of a project are to identify correlates of identity fusion, to explore possible mechanism of interplay of personal and social identities and to establish factors related to identity fusion’s influence on radicalization of attitudes and behaviors. As to the possible moderators of fusion – radicalization relationships: feelings of agency for the group, invulnerability, personal agency and communion will be explored. Extraordinary state of identity fusion will be researched in three broad domains of human relationships: fusion with country, family and religion group. This complex approach allows to integrate various research perspectives and to in-depth investigation of mechanisms related to identity fusion, regardless of social context.
There are three main aims of this project:
a) Cross-national and cross-cultural comparison of a mean strength of identity fusion with various social groups and caparison of association’s strength between fusion and various social, cognitive and relational correlates.
b) Examination of predictive value of identity fusion and its relation to extremism and strong pro-group behaviors on behalf of the in-group and examination of possible mediators and moderators of this association.
c) Integration of the research on identity fusion with the field of agency-communion dimensions. In-depth explorations of associations between personal agency and identity fusion and exploration of the consequences of holding both strong agentic self-schema and a strong feeling of oneness with the group.
In various lines of research we extended previous research on identity fusion in three ways. First, we investigated whether identity fusion significantly predicts the willingness to fight for one’s group, while controlling for group identification, left-wing authoritarianism (LWA), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and social dominance orientation (SDO). Second, we controlled for membership in a group associated with radical actions toward out-groups, specifically football hooligans. Finally, we introduced a second outcome variable: acceptance of violent change to the current social system. Analyses revealed that identity fusion was the strongest predictor of willingness to defend the in-group, with RWA and group identification also showing significant effects. Additionally, RWA and LWA emerged as the strongest predictors of acceptance of violent change. Group membership itself did not have a significant effect. For more see publication.
Other research has focused on the perceived efficacy and agency of individuals who are strongly fused with a group. Identity fusion theory suggests that integrating a group into one’s personal identity should enhance feelings of group agency. Complementary research on the self-expansion model indicates that including others in one’s self-concept is associated with heightened self-efficacy. Across three correlational studies, we examined whether fusion with personal and group identities is associated with stronger feelings of personal agency, proposing that stable feelings of self-concept clarity would mediate this association. Individuals strongly fused with their country and family reported higher feelings of agency and goal adherence. Moreover, self-concept clarity emerged as a significant mediator of this relationship, even when controlling for group identification. See full article for more information.
You can check the outputs of the project here on the National Science Centre website