A multi-level approach to change in in-group identification : Comparative change of meaningfulness of social categories <Summaries of the Doctoral Theses>

内集団アイデンティティの重層的な変動メカニズムについての検討 : 社会的カテゴリーの相対的有意味性モデルの観点から <学位論文要旨>

Nakashima Ken'ichiro

広島大学大学院総合科学研究科紀要. I, 人間科学研究

Bulletin of the Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University. I, Studies in human sciences

Although previous research found that many factors facilitate in-group identification, past studies did not consider the interactive effects of intra-group and inter-group factors (e.g., ingroup social values). Therefore, my first purpose in this doctoral study was to explain in-group identification change from the perspective of comparative change of categories' meaningfulness. The questionnaire survey and The experiment supported the prediction that interaction with other in-group members and a high level of value synergistically promoted in-group identification and suggested a high level of context-dependent meaningfulness of inter-group factors. My second purpose was to develop this approach on a basis of multi-level infl uence processes among individual, interpersonal, group, social, and cultural factors. The minimal group paradigm and the longitudinal questionnaire survey focused on the effect of independent and interdependent self-construal, as an individual factor implying cultural-level differences, which present a threat to self-esteem from a personal task-relevant stress or interpersonal stress on in-group favoritism. For buffering threats to self-esteem, independents identify more than interdependents with the in-group. Moreover, the questionnaire survey allowed an examination of the effect of the in-group's social value as a sociallevel factor. The results showed that independents, who reported more threats to their self-esteem, identifi ed more with the in-group only when the ingroup's value was high. Interdependents showed less in-group identification, regardless of the ingroup's value. The results also suggested that such a multi-level approach enables a possible expansion from individual to cultural factors.

Psychology [ 140 ]

eng

広島大学大学院総合科学研究科

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[ISSN] 1881-7688

[NCID] AA12198647