Identity motives and in‐group favouritism: A new approach to individual differences in intergroup discrimination
- 1 March 2007
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in British Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 46 (1), 91-113
- https://doi.org/10.1348/014466605x85951
Abstract
Theories suggest that identity motives for self-esteem, meaning, distinctiveness and belonging are implicated in intergroup discrimination. Experimental studies have supported predictions, but correlational tests have been hindered by methodological problems. Using a new approach to measuring identity motives, we compared predictions of individual differences in in-group favouritism. Seventy British adults completed measures of identity motives, British identification and positive and negative trait typicality ratings of British and German nationalities. With greater identification, the strength of motives for distinctiveness and belonging increasingly predicted in-group favouritism: consistent with optimal distinctiveness theory, the belonging motive predicted positive ratings of the national in-group, whereas the distinctiveness motive predicted negative ratings of the national out-group. Results show the value of disentangling measures of motive strength from measures of motive satisfaction.This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
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