We provide a meta-analytical review examining two decades of work on the relationship between individuals’ social identifications and health in organizations (102 effect sizes, k = 58, N = 19,799). Results reveal a mean-weighted positive association between organizational identification and health (r =. 21, T =. 14). Analysis identified a positive relationship for both workgroup (r =. 21) and organizational identification (r =. 21), and in studies using longitudinal/experimental (r =. 13) and cross-sectional designs (r =. 22). The relationship is stronger (a) for indicators of the presence of well-being (r =. 27) than absence of stress (r =. 18), (b) for psychological (r =. 23) than physical health (r =. 16), (c) to the extent that identification is shared among group members, and (d) as the proportion of female participants in a sample decreases. Overall, results indicate that social identifications in organizations are positively associated with health but that there is also substantial variation in effect size strength. We discuss implications for theory and practice and outline a roadmap for future research.

Secrecy, privacy, confidentiality, concealment, disclosure, and gossip all involve sharing and withholding access to information. However, existing theories do not account for the fundamental similarity between these concepts. Accordingly, it is unclear when sharing and withholding access to information will have positive or negative effects, and why these effects might occur. We argue that these problems can be addressed by conceptualizing these phenomena more broadly as different kinds of information access regulation. Furthermore, we outline a social identity theory of information access regulation (SITIAR), which proposes that information access regulation shapes shared social identity, explaining why people who have access to information feel a sense of togetherness with others who have the same access, and a sense of separation from those who do not. This theoretical framework unifies diverse findings across disparate literatures and generates a number of novel predictions about how information access regulation affects individuals and groups

The concept of entitativity was developed by Campbell (1958) to refer to the extent to which a group is perceived as a coherent whole or entity. This concept is relevant to research in both social perception (e.g. the categorization effects approach to the study of social stereotyping) and social influence (e.g. the consistency attributed to minority groups in theories of minority influence). On the basis of previous research, four variables were expected to play a role in group entitativity judgements. These were intra-group variability, group size, diversity (or variety) and extremity. In two empirical studies it was found that entitativity decreased as variability and diversity increased and that it increased with group size. These effects and interactions between group size and extremity size and diversity, and variability and extremity are consistent with the idea that entitativity is a function of how meaningful a stimulus pattern is. This is in turn (in part) a function of how unlikely the pattern is.

Objectives: the present research investigates how coaches’ identity leadership predicts individual and team outcomes in soccer. Specifically, we tested hypotheses that coaches’ identity leadership would be associated with players’ perceptions of (a) higher team effort, (b) lower turnover intentions, (c) better individual performance, and (d) better team performance. In addition, we aimed to examine the relationship between coaches’ identity leadership and increased team identification of players and the degree to which the associations of identity leadership with these various outcomes were mediated by players’ strength of team identification.Design: We conduced a cross-sectional study of male soccer players in Germany.Method: the final sample consisted of 247 male soccer players nested in 24 teams that completed measures of their coaches’ identity leadership, team identification, team effort, turnover intentions, and individual/team performance.Results: Analysis revealed a positive relationship between coaches’ identity leadership and team effort, as well as individual and team performance. Moreover, coaches’ identity leadership was associated with lower turnover intentions. There was also evidence that the relationships between identity leadership and the investigated outcomes were mediated by team identification.Conclusions: These findings support claims that coaches’ identity leadership is associated with better individual and team outcomes because it helps to build a sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’ in the team they lead.

Recent research has shown that multi-agency emergency response is beset by a range of problems, calling for a greater understanding of the way in which these teams work together to improve future multi-agency working. Social psychological research shows that a shared identity within a group can improve the way in which that group works together and can facilitate effective outcomes. Thus, seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with strategic and tactical responders during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore whether there was any evidence that a shared identity was part of the solution to challenges faced, and if so, how and when shared identity arose. Findings suggest that two forms of group relations were particularly relevant: horizontal intergroup relations – the relationships among responders at the local level; and vertical intergroup relations – the relationship between responders at the local level and national level. Three key factors appeared to contribute to a shared identity amongst responders. First, pre-existing relationships with other responders facilitated the ease with which responders were able to work together initially. Second, a sense of ‘common fate’ helped bring responders together, and finally, Chairs of groups were able to strategically reinforce a sense of shared identity.

Background. Decades of research indicate that when social connectedness is threatened, mental health is at risk. However, extant interventions to tackle loneliness have had only modest success, and none have been trialled under conditions of such threat.Method. 174 young people with depression and loneliness were randomised to one of two evidence-based treatments: cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) or GROUPS 4 HEALTH (G4H), an intervention designed to increase social group belonging. Depression, loneliness, and well-being outcomes were evaluated at one-year follow-up; COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were imposed partway through follow-up assessments. This provided a quasi-experimental test of the utility of each intervention in the presence (lockdown group) and absence (control group) of a threat to social connectedness. Results. At one-year follow-up, participants in lockdown reported significantly poorer wellbeing than controls who completed follow-up before lockdown, t(152)=2.41, p=.017. Although both CBT and G4H led to symptom improvement, the benefits of G4H were more robust following an unanticipated threat to social connectedness for depression (2(16)=31.35, p=.001), loneliness (2(8)=21.622, p=.006), and wellbeing (2(8)=22.938, p=.003). Limitations. Because the COVID-19 lockdown was unanticipated, this analysis represents an opportunistic use of available data. As a result, we could not measure the specific impact of restrictions on participants, such as reduced income, degree of isolation, or health-related anxieties.Conclusions. G4H delivered one year prior to COVID-19 lockdown offered greater protection than CBT against relapse of loneliness and depression symptoms. Implications are discussed with a focus on how these benefits might be extended to other life stressors and transitions.

Background. Depression treatments are typically less effective for young people than for adults. However, extant treatments rarely target loneliness, which is a key risk factor in the onset, maintenance, and development of depression. Aims. This study evaluated the efficacy of a novel loneliness intervention, GROUPS 4 HEALTH (G4H), relative to best-practice treatment Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) in reducing loneliness and depression over a 12 month period. Methods. The study was a Phase 3, randomised non-inferiority trial comparing G4H to dose-controlled group CBT. Participants were 174 young people aged 15-25 years experiencing loneliness and clinically significant symptoms of depression, who were not in receipt of adjunct treatment. Participants were recruited from mental health services in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Randomisation was conducted using computer software. Follow-up assessments and statistical analyses were blind to allocation. Both interventions consisted of 5 x 75 min group-based psychotherapy sessions. The primary outcomes were depression and loneliness, with a non-inferiority margin of 2.20 for depression. The trial was prospectively registered on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12618000440224) on 27 March 2018 and is closed to new participants. Results. 174 participants were enrolled between 24 April 2018 and 25 May 2019, with 84 in the G4H condition and 90 in the CBT condition. All randomised participants were included in the intention-to-treat analyses (N=174). The pre-post effect sizes for depression were d=-.71G4H and d=-.91CBT. For loneliness, they were d=-1.07G4H and d=-0.89CBT. At 12-month follow-up, the absolute difference between groups in depression was 1.176 (95%CI: -1.94, 4.29), and in loneliness was -0.679 (95%CI: -.1.43. 07). No adverse effects were observed. Conclusions. G4H was non-inferior to CBT for depression and showed a slight advantage over CBT for loneliness that emerged after treatment completion.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest global crisis of our lifetimes and leadership has been critical to societies’ capacity to deal with it. Here effective leadership has brought people together, provided a clear perspective on what is happening and what response is needed, and mobilised the population to act in the most effective ways to bring the pandemic under control. Informed by a model of identity leadership (Haslam, Reicher & Platow, 2020), this review argues that leaders’ ability to do these things is grounded in their ability to represent and advance the shared interests of group members and to create and embed a sense of shared social identity among them (a sense of “us-ness”). For leaders, then, this sense of us-ness is the key resource that they need to marshal in order to harness the support and energy of citizens. The review discusses examples of the successes and failures of different leaders during the pandemic and organises these around five policy priorities related to the 5Rs of identity leadership: Readying, Reflecting, Representing, Realising and Reinforcing. These priorities and associated lessons are relevant not only to the management of COVID-19 but to crisis management and leadership more generally.

The human face is a key source of social information. In particular, it communicates a target’s personal identity and some of their main group memberships. Different models of social perception posit distinct stages at which this group-level and person-level information is extracted from the face, with divergent downstream consequences for cognition and behavior. This paper presents four experiments that explore the time-course of extracting group and person information from faces. In Experiments 1 and 2, we explore the effect of chunked versus unchunked processing on the speed of extracting group versus person information, as well as the impact of familiarity in Experiment 2. In Experiment 3, we examine the effect of the availability of a diagnostic cue on these same judgments. In Experiment 4, we explore the effect of both group-level and person-level prototypicality of face exemplars. Across all four experiments, we find no evidence for the perceptual primacy of either group or person information. Instead, we find that chunked processing, featural processing based on a single diagnostic cue, familiarity, and the prototypicality of face exemplars all result in a processing speed advantage for both group-level and person-level judgments equivalently. These results have important implications for influential models of face processing and impression formation, and can inform — and be integrated with — an understanding of the process of social categorization more broadly.

In the present research, we examine how two aspects of leader self-awareness — namely, leader awareness of their (a) personal identity and (b) collective (group) identity — influence perceptions of authentic leadership and leader endorsement. Study 1 provides experimental evidence that (a) leader personal self-awareness has a somewhat stronger impact on perceptions of their authentic leadership than leader collective self-awareness, but that (b) leader collective self-awareness self has a stronger impact on leader endorsement. These findings are replicated in a second field study with political leaders, and in a third experimental study with workplace supervisors. Results suggest that for leaders to seen as authentic and garner support, they need to be seen as aware not only of who they are as individuals, but also of who they are as members of the collective they seek to lead. Implications for theories of the nature of self, authenticity, and leadership are discussed.

Using the Katz-Braly checklist subjects (N = 65) assigned five traits to a national group and estimated the percentage of group members who had those traits. This was either an in-group (Australians) or an out-group (Americans), and subjects either judged that group alone (one-group conditions) or also estimated the percentage of people from the other nation (the United States or Australia, respectively) who had those same traits (two-group conditions). Across one-group conditions there was a significant out-group homogeneity effect with traits being seen to apply to more Americans than Australians, but there was no such effect across the two-group conditions. These findings were predicted on the basis of self-categorization theory's analysis of the role of comparative context in determining level of social categorization. Across two-group conditions non-stereotypic traits were also applied to fewer in-group than out-group members. This result suggests that trait favourableness is an important normative-motivational determinant of perceived homogeneity. A second experiment (N = 297) confirmed this point through an additional manipulation of the favourableness of checklist traits. This study also replicated the effect for comparative context. Implications for the analysis of social categorization, perceived group homogeneity and stereotyping are discussed.

The Integrated Self-Categorization model of Autism (ISCA: Skorich & Haslam, under review; Bertschy et al. 2019) argues that the theory of mind differences seen in autism arise from Enhanced Perceptual Functioning/Weak Central Coherence, via a dysfunctional self-categorization mechanism. The ISCA model also makes the novel prediction that phenomena that arise from self-categorization should also be affected in autistic people. In this paper, we report three studies exploring this prediction in the context of one such phenomenon: group homogeneity. We first measure participants’ autistic traits, then ask them to make homogeneity judgments of their ingroup alone or their outgroup alone (in Study 1, and in the Alone conditions of Studies 2a and 2b); or of their ingroup in comparison to their outgroup or their outgroup in comparison to their ingroup (in the Compare conditions of Studies 2a and 2b). As predicted, we find that: the degree of autistic traits negatively predicts ratings of group homogeneity; this relationship is mediated by social identification/self-categorization; and typical comparison-related homogeneity effects are strengthened at higher relative to lower levels of autistic traits. These studies provide convergent evidence for the ISCA model and suggest important avenues for well-being and social skills interventions for autistic people.

Social identities play an important role in many aspects of life, not least in those pertaining to health and well-being. Decades of research shows that these relationships are driven by a range of social identity processes, including identification with groups, social support received from groups, and multiple group memberships. However, to date, researchers have not had access to methods that simultaneously capture these social identity processes. To fill this void, this paper introduces an online Social Identity Mapping (oSIM) tool designed to assess the multidimensional and connected nature of social identities. Four studies (total N = 721) featuring community, student, new parent, and retiree samples, test the reliability and validity of oSIM. Results indicate that the tool is easy to use, engaging, has good internal consistency as well as convergent and discriminant validity, and predicts relevant outcomes across a range of contexts. Furthermore, using meta-analytic findings, the tool is able to index a higher-order social identity construct, here introduced as a supergroup. This new concept provides holistic information about groups (reflecting an integrated index of several social identity processes) that are predictive of well-being outcomes, as well as outcomes related to successful adjustment to challenging life events. We discuss how the tool can be used to tackle key debates in the literature and contribute to theory by affording researchers the opportunity to capture the nuanced and contextual nature of social identity in action.

In recent years, there has been a renewal of interest in the processes through which groups coordinate social perceptions and judgement. This topic is particularly important for the study of stereotyping, as most of the impact of stereotypes derives from the fact that they are widely shared within social groups. The present experiment (N = 132) tests the assertion that perceivers are more likely to generate a shared in-group stereotype to the extent that they define themselves and interact in terms of a common social category membership. Results supported predictions, indicating that manipulations intended to heighten social identity salience affected the content of self-categorizations leading to enhanced stereotype consensus and favorableness. As predicted, effects apparent when individuals completed stereotype checklists were also enhanced when checklists were completed in. groups. These results are consistent with predictions derived from self-categorization theory and point to the capacity for internalized group memberships to structure and regulate cognition.

The present research explored how immersion in religious spaces influenced self-perceived psychological and physical health among Christians and Atheists. Study 1 (N=97) provided preliminary evidence in that self-identified Christians reported higher self-esteem when they focused on their external environment outside a cathedral (versus a castle or shopping district), whereas Atheists reported higher self-esteem when they focused away from this religious environment. Study 2 (N=124) followed up on these findings by immersing Christian and Atheist participants in virtual environments. Christians reported better physical health when immersed in a cathedral (versus a mosque or museum) compared to Atheists immersed in the cathedral, who reported the greatest health while disengaging from this religious place. These results suggest that immersion in spaces that reflect one’s own religious beliefs and identity has positive consequences for health and well-being.

Growing evidence points to the role of authentic leadership in enhancing followership. Yet little is known about the factors that determine whether followers perceive leaders as displaying authentic leadership. In the present research, we examine the impact of leaders' championing of collective (group) interests on authentic leadership. Study 1 shows experimentally that compared to a leader who advances personal interests, a leader who advances the interests of a collective is (a) perceived as offering more authentic leadership and (b) more likely to inspire followership. Findings are followed up in a field study revealing that leaders' championing of collective interests is associated with greater perceived authentic leadership and followership (in terms of voting intentions). Furthermore, results indicate that shared self-categorization is a boundary condition of these relationships such that the relationship between a leader's championing of collective (group) interests and authentic leadership (and followership) is more pronounced for perceivers who self-categorize as members of the group that a leader is leading (rather than of a different group). In sum, findings suggest that leaders are regarded as more authentic to the extent that they are true to the collective identity of the group that they lead.

This article argues that in-group favoritism occurs on positive and negative dimensions only when the dimensions of comparison provide an appropriate and meaningful basis for self-other definition, that is, when traits comparatively and normatively fit in-group-out-group categorizations. Three studies are reported in which groups were evaluated on positive or negative traits that varied in their degree of normative fit to in-group and out-group identity. In line with predictions, fit rather than stimulus valence was the crucial determinant of (a) in-group favoritism and (b) absolute level of differentiation between groups. Implications of the findings for explanations of positive-negative asymmetry and broader understandings of intergroup discrimination are discussed.

Abstract
A large body of management and design literature argues that organizational outcomes can be enhanced either by strict managerial control or by managerial enrichment of office space. An alternative model, derived from the social identity approach to organizational life, argues that because they fail to empower workers, both strategies are likely to compromise employees’ organizational identification, and should therefore be associated with sub-optimal workplace experiences. Two studies (Ns = 288, 1,643) were conducted to compare these models. Both indicated that managerial control of space was associated with feelings of physical and psychological discomfort in the office and with lower levels of organizational identification. Discomfort and identification were also found to mediate relationships between managerial control and job satisfaction and well-being. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.


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The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health-related anxiety in ways that undermine peoples’ mental and physical health. Contextual factors such as living in a high-risk area might further increase the risk of health deterioration. Based on the Social Identity Approach, we argue that social identities can not only be local that are characterized by social interactions, but also be global that are characterized by a symbolic sense of togetherness and that both of these can be a basis for health. In line with these ideas, we tested how identification with one’s family and with humankind relates to stress and physical symptoms while experiencing health-related anxiety and being exposed to contextual risk factors. We tested our assumptions in a representative sample (N = 974) two-wave survey study with a 4-week time lag. The results show that anxiety at Time 1 was positively related to stress and physical symptoms at Time 2. Feeling exposed to risk factors related to lower physical health, but was unrelated to stress. Family identification and identification with humankind were both negatively associated with subsequent stress and family identification was negatively associated with subsequent physical symptoms. These findings suggest that for social identities to be beneficial for mental health, they can be embodied as well as symbolic.

AbstractGroups are only real, and only serve as a basis for collective action, when their members perceive them to be real. For a computational model to have analytic fidelity and predictive validity it, therefore, needs to engage with the psychological reality of groups, their internal structure, and their structuring by (and of) the social context in which they function.

OBJECTIVES: to investigate whether citizens' adherence to health-protective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by identity leadership, wherein leaders are perceived to create a sense of shared national identity. DESIGN: Observational two-wave study. Hypotheses testing was conducted with structural equation modelling. SETTING: Data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, Germany, Israel and the USA in April/May 2020 and four weeks later. PARTICIPANTS: Adults in China (n=548, 66.6% women), Germany (n=182, 78% women), Israel (n=198, 51.0% women) and the USA (n=108, 58.3% women). MEASURES: Identity leadership (assessed by the four-item Identity Leadership Inventory Short-Form) at Time 1, perceived shared national identification (PSNI; assessed with four items) and adherence to health-protective NPIs (assessed with 10 items that describe different health-protective interventions; for example, wearing face masks) at Time 2. RESULTS: Identity leadership was positively associated with PSNI (95% CI 0.11 to 0.30, p

The Integrated Self-Categorization model of Autism (ISCA; Bertschy et al. 2019; Skorich & Haslam, 2021) argues that the theory of mind differences seen in autism arises from Enhanced Perceptual Functioning/Weak Central Coherence, via a dysfunctional self-categorization mechanism. The ISCA model also makes the novel prediction that phenomena that arise from self-categorization should also be affected in autistic people. In this article, we report three studies exploring this prediction in the context of one such phenomenon: Group homogeneity. We first measure participants' autistic traits, then ask them to make homogeneity judgments of their ingroup alone or their outgroup alone (in Study 1, and in the Alone conditions of Studies 2a and 2b); or of their ingroup in comparison to their outgroup or their outgroup in comparison to their ingroup (in the Compare conditions of Studies 2a and 2b). As predicted, we find that: the degree of autistic traits negatively predicts ratings of group homogeneity; this relationship is mediated by social identification/self-categorization; and typical comparison-related homogeneity effects are strengthened at higher relative to lower levels of autistic traits. These studies provide convergent evidence for the ISCA model and suggest important avenues for well-being and social skills interventions for autistic people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

This review argues that a distinctly positive form of social connection is made possible by the social identities that people derive from psychologically meaningful group memberships. These connections have important implications for mental health by virtue of their distinct capacity to furnish people with a sense of collective meaning, purpose, support, and efficacy. This analysis suggests that loneliness and its toxic effects arise in part from the challenges of achieving this distinct form of social connection in contemporary society. However, it also suggests that a good way to tackle loneliness and support mental health is by building, restoring, and sustaining social identities through meaningful group-based connections. We conclude by reflecting on the success of interventions that do precisely this - most notably Groups 4 Health.

In this article, we formally present the Integrated Self-Categorization model of Autism (ISCA). This model brings together the cognitive-perceptual and social-communication features of autism under a single explanatory framework. Specifically, ISCA proposes that the social-communication features that are related to theory of mind dysfunction emerge from the cognitive-perceptual features related to enhanced perceptual functioning and weak central coherence, and proposes that they are linked by dysfunction in the self-categorization process. We present the assumptions on which the model is based, and from these, we derive a set of precise, testable hypotheses, including a set of novel hypotheses that do not emerge from any existing models of autism. We then provide evidence that supports the model, derived from a number of direct tests of the hypotheses that it generates. We conclude by discussing the implications of the model for understanding autism and for intervention to improve the lives of autistic people, as well as future directions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Leadership is one of the most researched topics in psychological and other social and behavioral sciences. It is routinely seen as vital to the success and vitality of various forms of collaborative activity not only in organizations but in society at large. This has provided the stimulus for a massive amount of theoretical and applied research and also supports a huge industry. But to whom does this body of work appeal? More specifically, does it appeal to people with a broad interest in advancing groups and society or to people who are primarily interested in promoting themselves? to answer this question, we explore the extent to which individuals' narcissism predicts their endorsement of leadership theories. Results provide empirical evidence that the more narcissistic people are, the more they find leadership theories appealing and the more interest they have in learning about the ideas behind particular theories. The predictive power of narcissism also holds when accounting for other variables (including demographic, Big Five traits, and ideological and motivational variables). We conclude that psychological theorizing about leadership can be a double-edged sword in so far as the lionization of leaders(hip) appeals to, and legitimizes, the tastes of a narcissistic audience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Secrecy, privacy, confidentiality, concealment, disclosure, and gossip all involve sharing and withholding access to information. However, existing theories do not account for the fundamental similarity between these concepts. Accordingly, it is unclear when sharing and withholding access to information will have positive or negative effects and why these effects might occur. We argue that these problems can be addressed by conceptualizing these phenomena more broadly as different kinds of information-access regulation. Furthermore, we outline a social-identity theory of information-access regulation (SITIAR) that proposes that information-access regulation shapes shared social identity, explaining why people who have access to information feel a sense of togetherness with others who have the same access and a sense of separation from those who do not. This theoretical framework unifies diverse findings across disparate lines of research and generates a number of novel predictions about how information-access regulation affects individuals and groups.

Having access to the “secrets” of leadership promises to be immensely valuable to those wishing to lead. But what are these “secrets”? in this study, we examined the types of non-academic theorizing (communicated as leadership “secrets”) that writings for a general audience convey. A content analysis of 131 commercial books on leadership “secrets” revealed seven major “secrets” that pertained to (1) knowledge and learning, (2) habits, behaviors, and practices, (3) handling failure, challenges, and struggle, (4) personal inspiration, drive, and motivation, (5) team, group, and organizational strategy, (6) choices and decisions, and (7) communication skills. Intriguingly, the prevalence of leadership “secrets” varied in a cyclical pattern across time such that some “secrets” lost prominence in one period only to reemerge in another. We also observed a considerable degree of correspondence between the foci of topics in these commercial outlets and the foci of academic publications. JEL Classification: J24, O15, M12

Objectives: the present research investigates how coaches' identity leadership predicts individual and team outcomes in soccer. Specifically, we tested hypotheses that coaches' identity leadership would be associated with players' perceptions of (a) higher team effort, (b) lower turnover intentions, (c) better individual performance, and (d) better team performance. In addition, we aimed to examine the relationship between coaches' identity leadership and increased team identification of players and the degree to which the associations of identity leadership with these various outcomes were mediated by players' strength of team identification. Design: We conducted a cross-sectional study of male soccer players in Germany. Method: the final sample consisted of 247 male soccer players nested in 24 teams that completed measures of their coaches' identity leadership, team identification, team effort, turnover intentions, and individual/team performance. Results: Analysis revealed a positive relationship between coaches' identity leadership and team effort, as well as individual and team performance. Moreover, coaches' identity leadership was associated with lower turnover intentions. There was also evidence that the relationships between identity leadership and the investigated outcomes were mediated by team identification. Conclusions: These findings support claims that coaches' identity leadership is associated with better individual and team outcomes because it helps to build a sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’ in the team they lead.

Rationale: Social identification with the people in one's neighbourhood has a wide variety of benefits for individual and community health and wellbeing. In particular, previous research shows that residents' social identification with their neighbourhood is protective of mental health. However, researchers are only just beginning to design and evaluate interventions that directly target social identification on health grounds. Objective: This longitudinal study evaluated a whole-of-community intervention at scale (Neighbour Day, 2019), in which Australian residents were encouraged to build social connections in their local community. Neighbour Day is a campaign that seeks to raise public awareness of the importance of connecting with neighbours and had a reach of approximately 300,000 people in 2019. Methods: Participants were 437 hosts of neighbourhood events held across 276 diverse suburbs across Australia. Participants were surveyed at three-time points; before and after Neighbour Day, as well as at six-month follow up. Results: Hosting a Neighbour Day event led to a significant increase in neighbourhood social identification, which was sustained six months later. This increase in social identification predicted increased social cohesion, reduced loneliness and improved wellbeing. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that neighbourhood identification is an effective target mechanism to curb loneliness and social fragmentation in the community. Implications are discussed with a focus on how social identity-building interventions can be effectively implemented in community settings to benefit public health.

International students transitioning to university undergo dramatic changes in social identity, with a need to adapt to a new culture, language, environment, and way of living. This paper explores the impact of this social identity change on academic performance, academic retention, mental health, and life satisfaction. The Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC) predicts that during life transitions of this form, an individual’s group memberships and associated social identities can protect them from the negative effects of life change. This longitudinal study tested SIMIC among international students (N = 210) transitioning to study overseas, with data collected at three time points across a Foundation Year programme in a large Australian university. Consistent with SIMIC, continuity of social identities predicted higher academic performance and better life satisfaction, and indirectly predicted student retention over time.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest global crisis of our lifetimes, and leadership has been critical to societies’ capacity to deal with it. Here effective leadership has brought people together, provided a clear perspective on what is happening and what response is needed, and mobilized the population to act in the most effective ways to bring the pandemic under control. Informed by a model of identity leadership (Haslam, Reicher & Platow, 2020), this review argues that leaders’ ability to do these things is grounded in their ability to represent and advance the shared interests of group members and to create and embed a sense of shared social identity among them (a sense of “us-ness”). For leaders, then, this sense of us-ness is the key resource that they need to marshal in order to harness the support and energy of citizens. The review discusses examples of the successes and failures of different leaders during the pandemic and organizes these around five policy priorities related to the 5Rs of identity leadership: readying, reflecting, representing, realizing, and reinforcing. These priorities and associated lessons are relevant not only to the management of COVID-19 but to crisis management and leadership more generally.

Shared social identities can better prepare us to confront societal problems.

Life change affects health. Research aimed at understanding the consequences of life change has primarily focused on the important roles played by stress, social support, individual differences, and broader socioeconomic factors in shaping health outcomes, most notably mental health decline. In this review we extend these accounts by exploring social identity-based determinants of adjustment to life change. We do so by drawing on social identity theorizing and, in particular, the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC). This points to the importance of multiple, maintained, new, and compatible group memberships as determinants of people's responses and adjustment to life change. We apply this model to understand the health consequences of adjustment to life change in four diverse areas: pursuit of higher education, migration, trauma and resilience, and recovery from illness and injury. Finally, we provide direction for future research on SIMIC and the health consequences of life change.

Objective: We examined the dynamic relationship between life changes (pregnancy and childbirth) and social support during the postpartum period. Methods: a large, nationally representative sample of Australian women (N=806) who completed the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) in the year immediately before and immediately after giving birth to a child reported on measures of perceived social support and mental health. Results: Analyses indicated a decrease in both social support and mental health after having a baby. Social support during the postpartum period – controlling for social support and mental health prior to the birth of a baby – predicted better mental health in women. However, for women who experienced a decline in social support, prenatal social support was a risk factor for a decline in mental wellbeing rather than a protective factor. Conclusions: Women who have ‘more to lose’ are at increased risk of mental ill-health if they cannot maintain existing sources of social support. Implications for public health: Loss of social support during pregnancy and the postpartum period should be considered as a significant risk factor for postpartum depression in its own right and one that warrants screening and intervention.

Neoliberalism has become the dominant ideology in many parts of the world. Yet there is little empirical research on its psychological impact. On the basis of a social identity approach to health, we hypothesize that, by increasing competition and by reducing people’s sense of connection to others, neoliberalism can increase loneliness and compromise our well-being. Study 1 (N = 246) shows that the more neoliberal people perceive society to be, the worse their well-being, and that this relationship is mediated via loneliness. In two experiments, we showed that exposure to neoliberal ideology increases loneliness (Study 2, N = 204) and, through this, decreases well-being (Study 3, N = 173). In Study 4 (N = 303), we found that exposure to neoliberal ideology increased loneliness and decreased well-being by reducing people’s sense of connection to others and by increasing perceptions of being in competition with others. In Study 4, the effect of neoliberalism on well-being was evident for liberals only. We discuss the potential impact of neoliberalism on different social groups in society.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has always been controversial and highly politicized. Here, using a social identity approach, we review evidence that trauma and its aftermath are fundamentally linked to social position, sociopolitical capital, and power. We begin this contribution by demonstrating how a person's group memberships (and the social identities they derive from these memberships) are inherently linked to the experience of adversity. We then go on to consider how it is through group memberships that individuals are defined by their trauma risk and trauma histories—that is, a person's group memberships and their trauma are often inherently linked. Considering the importance of group memberships for understanding trauma, we argue that it is important to see these, and group processes more generally, as more than just “demographic” risk factors. Instead, we argue that when groups are defined by their trauma history or risk, their members will often derive some sense of self from this trauma. For this reason, attributes of group memberships are important in developing an understanding of adjustment and adaptation to trauma. In particular, groups' status, their recourse to justice, and the level of trust and solidarity within the group are all central to the impact of traumatic events on individual-level psychological resilience. We review evidence that supports this analysis by focusing on the exacerbating effects of stigma and social mistrust on post-traumatic stress, and the value of solidarity and strong identities for resilience. We conclude that because of these group-related processes, trauma interweaves the personal with the political and that post-traumatic stress is fundamentally about power, positionality, and politics.

Karunamuni et al.’s (2020) biopsychosocial-pathways (BPS-P) model provides an important framework for elaborating on Engel's (1977) biopsychosocial (BPS) model of health. In particular, the BPS-P model improves on Engel's by articulating and evidencing the multiple pathways between biological, psychological, and social influences on health and identifying mechanisms that might be implicated in these pathways. Yet its analytic treatment of these influences as “separate systems” means that, as with Engel's model, the BPS-P model is more a list of ingredients than an integrated whole. In this commentary, following Haslam et al.’s (2019) specification of a sociopsychobio model, we underscore the value of a synthetic appreciation of biology, psychology, and society as dynamically interdependent aspects of an integrated whole which is more than just the sum of its parts and the pathways between them. In particular, our alternative framework centres on an appreciation of people as social beings whose group memberships and associated social identities open up ‘changeways’ (not just pathways) that, as we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, can fundamentally restructure biology, psychology and society.

Objectives: High-quality leadership is often regarded as one of the main sources of competitive advantage. Especially within sport teams, a team's leadership structure has historically been considered to be stable across the season, with the coach and team captain as the formal, and often sole, leaders. In line with recent organizational research, the present study aims to broaden this perspective by also taking informal leaders into account and exploring how leadership structures among athletes within sport teams evolve over the course of a season. Design: Using social network analysis, we analyzed the leadership structure of 20 semi-professional soccer teams (N = 460 players, Mage = 23.50 years; SD = 4.55) at the start of the season and then again halfway through the season. More specifically, for each team we constructed a leadership network for four leadership roles (task, motivational, social, and external leadership) at these two time points. Results: Findings suggest that leadership structures in sport teams can change considerably over the course of the competitive season, thereby challenging the classic view of stable, vertical leadership structures. The transition to more shared forms of leadership can be attributed to the emergence of informal leaders over time as players engage more strongly in leadership roles. Furthermore, our results suggest that as teams evolve towards shared leadership their functioning and performance benefits from these changes. Conclusions: Based on these findings, we recommend that coaches actively implement a structure of shared leadership and seek to develop the leadership qualities of formal and informal athlete leaders.

While most leadership programs seek to develop the leadership qualities of the formal team leader, programs that aim to develop the leadership qualities of team members are rare. This article draws on insights from organisational and sport psychology to develop and introduce a new leadership development program — the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) — that (1) implements a structure of shared leadership (through Shared Leadership Mapping) and (2) further develops participants’ leadership potential (through the 5R's of Readying, Reflecting, Representing, Realising, and Reporting). More specifically, being a close intertwinement of shared leadership theorising and the social identity approach to leadership, 5RS helps leaders in the team to create, embody, advance, and embed a collective sense of ‘us’ in their teams. In this article, we aim to shed light on the underpinning theoretical foundation of 5RS, while also sharing insights about how 5RS can be delivered in practice. Furthermore, to provide initial insight into the applicability of 5RS in both organisational and sport contexts, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative comparison study. This involved collecting qualitative data from two initial implementations: with an organisational team (N = 16) and a sport team (N = 16). A critical reflection on these initial implementations of 5RS leads to recommendations for future efforts to develop shared leadership in organisational and sporting teams. In particular, we highlight the importance of explaining the nature of shared leadership at the start of the program and of having multiple follow-up sessions for participants. In conclusion, by helping leaders in the team to develop and mobilise a sense of ‘us-ness’, 5RS gives leaders and their teams the tools to create the best possible version of ‘us’.

Access to the Stanford University archive has revealed new material that makes it possible to debate the precise nature and causes of events in the Stanford Prison Experiment. What the authors see as important is that these materials show the experimenters engaged in processes of identity leadership, which encouraged guard cruelty by presenting it as necessary for the achievement of noble collective goals. However, the authors encourage students, teachers, and researchers to engage with this new material themselves to explore alternative perspectives on what actually occurred in the study. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Economists have recently proposed a theory of identity economics in which behavior is understood to be shaped by motivations associated with identities that people share with others. At the same time psychologists have proposed a theory of identity leadership in which leaders' influence flows from their creation and promotion of shared identity with followers. Exploring links between these approaches, we examine the impact of very high leader pay on followers' identification with leaders and perceptions of their leadership. Whereas traditional approaches suggest that high pay incentivizes leadership, identity-based approaches argue that it can undermine shared identity between leaders and followers and therefore be counterproductive. Supporting this identity approach, two studies provide experimental and field evidence that people identify less strongly with a CEO who receives high pay relative to other CEOs and that this reduces that leader's perceived identity leadership and charisma. The implications for leadership, economics, and organizations are discussed.

OBJECTIVES: Leadership has been suggested to be a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage as a team, with shared leadership being a better predictor of team functioning than vertical leadership. Although the benefits of shared leadership are well-documented, evidence about how to implement a shared leadership structure remains sparse. This leaves coaches with three key challenges: (1) identifying the best leaders; (2) defining what roles those leaders should fulfill; and (3) developing their leadership skills. Solutions to these challenges have been proposed in the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) - a leadership development program that seeks to implement an effective structure of shared leadership within sports teams. DESIGN: to test the effectiveness of 5RS program, we conducted an experimental-comparison group intervention in which eight national-level basketball teams (N = 96) completed a questionnaire at two points in time (i.e. pre- and posttest). The teams in the intervention condition completed the 5RS program, in which we identified the leadership structure in their teams (through Shared Leadership Mapping), appointed the best leaders in their leadership role, and then developed their identity leadership skills. RESULTS: the results revealed that the 5RS program was successful in strengthening athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, and as a result also team members' identification with their team. Furthermore, in contrast to athletes in the comparison condition, athletes in the 5RS condition were able to maintain their levels of intrinsic motivation and commitment to team goals, while also reporting improved well-being. CONCLUSIONS: the present study provides encouraging evidence that, by implementing a structure of shared leadership and by promoting athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, the 5RS program is able to improve the team's functioning and the well-being of its members.

Although physical activity participation has numerous physiological and psychological benefits, inactivity rates remain high, and a greater understanding of the factors that drive participation is needed. Growing evidence indicates that (a) the strength of individuals' social identification as a member of a particular physical activity group (e.g. an exercise group or sports team) is positively associated with their group-relevant participation, and (b) physical activity leaders (e.g. exercise group leaders, coaches, and captains) can foster members' identification, and thus their greater group-relevant participation. Extending previous cross-sectional research, we examined relationships over time between sports group members' perceptions of their leaders' engagement in identity leadership, their group identification, and attendance. Participants (N = 186) from amateur sports teams completed measures of identity leadership, group identification, and attendance on two occasions, 8 weeks apart. Lagged regressions indicated that perceptions of leaders' engagement in identity leadership at Time 1 predicted members' group identification at Time 2, controlling for their group identification at Time 1, and members' group identification at Time 2 was associated with their attendance at Time 2, controlling for their attendance at Time 1. Mediation analysis demonstrated a significant indirect effect of perceptions of leaders' engagement in identity leadership on group members' attendance through greater group identification. Findings provide evidence of the participation-related benefits of forming, and maintaining, strong social identities in physical activity settings, and point to the role leaders can play in fostering members' sustained identification and participation.

BACKGROUND: Research investigating the health benefits of social group participation in the retirement transition has provided little insight into the longitudinal effects on cognitive health and the generalizability of these relationships to non-Western samples. The present paper addresses these issues by examining the effects of social group engagement on the cognitive performance and depression symptoms of Chinese older adults followed over 4 years in their transition to retirement. METHODS: Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data, a sample of 1,297 Chinese seniors transitioning to retirement were followed between 2011 and 2013, and then 2 years later (in 2015) after retirement. Group-based social engagement was used to predict retiree cognitive performance and depression symptoms across time. RESULTS: After controlling for established demographic covariates and close relationship factors at baseline, social group engagement at baseline positively predicted overall cognitive performance and depression symptoms. Moreover, positive change in group engagement was associated with reduced decline in cognitive performance over the 4-year retirement transition period. DISCUSSION: the current findings demonstrate the generalizability of the health benefits of social group engagement to cognitive health and to a non-Western (Chinese) sample of retirees.

Overtraining, exhaustion, and burnout are widely recognized problems amongst elite athletes. The present research addresses this issue by exploring the extent to which high-quality athlete leadership is associated with elite athletes' health and burnout. Participants (120 male athletes from three top-division Australian football teams) were asked to rate the quality of each of their teammates in four different leadership roles (i.e. as task and motivational leaders on the field and as social and external leaders off the field), and also to indicate their identification with their team as well as their self-reported health and burnout. Findings indicated that (a) being seen to be a good athlete leader by other members of the team and (b) having a good athlete leader on the team were both positively associated with better team member health and lower burnout. This relationship was mediated by athletes' identification with their team, suggesting that leaders enhance athletes' health and reduce athlete burnout by creating and maintaining a sense of shared identity in their team. This, in turn, suggests that coaches can foster an optimal team environment by developing the leadership potential of their athlete leaders - in particular, their skills that foster a sense of shared team identification. This is in the interests not only of team performance but also of team members' health and burnout.

The Integrated self-categorization model of autism (ISCA) argues that a self-categorization dysfunction could be the link between some of the disparate features of ASD. To the extent that this is true, any social psychological phenomena arising from self-categorization should be impaired in autistic people. Based on this premise, we investigated whether ingroup favouritism within the minimal group paradigm is reduced to the extent that individuals possess autistic traits. Results indicated that participants with a high proportion of autistic traits showed less ingroup favouritism, and that this was due to a decreased tendency for self-categorization. By providing evidence of the disruption of self-categorization in ASD, these findings lend support to ISCA and raise important issues for existing accounts of the disorder.

OBJECTIVES: an emerging body of evidence indicates that, in addition to the coach, athlete leaders within a team are vital for a sports team's success. Sports teams are therefore keen to know which attributes are distinctly characteristic of high-quality leaders on and off the field. The present study aims to shed more light on this question. METHOD: a wide variety of traits and leadership behaviors was assessed in a sample of 776 athletes, stratified across gender, competitive level, and four sports. The leadership quality of each of the athletes (ie, as task, motivational, social, and external leader) was determined on the basis of the perceptions of teammates using social network analysis. RESULTS: Findings revealed that leadership behaviors outweighed personality traits in distinguishing high-quality leaders from others on and off the field. Providing identity leadership that creates, embodies, advances, and embeds a collective sense of "us" in their teams was found to be a particularly important leadership behavior that characterized high-quality leaders both on and off the field. CONCLUSION: the fact that leadership behaviors were important predictors of high-quality athlete leadership (and more important predictors than traits) suggests that leaders are not just born, but can also be made. Our findings therefore highlight the clear need for leadership development programs to target the behaviors that we identified as important predictors of leadership.

Organizational research has shown that personal initiative is related to both climate for initiative and work engagement. Yet little is known about what happens to this relationship once the focus shifts to the team level. When organizational and team goals are involved this renders the relationship more complex, and team identification and organizational identification are likely to be key to understanding it. In this paper we develop a model to deal with these complexities. This predicts (a) that team identification will impact on team initiative through team work engagement while (b) organizational identification will impact on team initiative through climate for initiative. It is also expected that team initiative will, in turn, impact on team productivity, and on radical innovation as evaluated by the team leader. This model was tested in a field study with 327 participants of 76 workteams belonging to 50 organizations. Results of SEM and regression analysis supported our main hypotheses. Findings showed that initiative is related to performance and also underline the importance of initiative at a team level. At the same time they suggest that to develop teams with high levels of initiative it is important to promote both organizational and team identification.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive global health crisis. Because the crisis requires large-scale behaviour change and places significant psychological burdens on individuals, insights from the social and behavioural sciences can be used to help align human behaviour with the recommendations of epidemiologists and public health experts. Here we discuss evidence from a selection of research topics relevant to pandemics, including work on navigating threats, social and cultural influences on behaviour, science communication, moral decision-making, leadership, and stress and coping. In each section, we note the nature and quality of prior research, including uncertainty and unsettled issues. We identify several insights for effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight important gaps researchers should move quickly to fill in the coming weeks and months.

© the Author(s) 2018. This research tests a social identity model of paranoia, building on work showing that identification with social groups is associated with less paranoid thinking. Studies 1 (N = 800) and 2 (N = 779) supported this model, showing that national group identification is associated with lower paranoia. Study 3 (N = 784) added to the literature by probing the mechanisms underlying these relationships, and found that it is through enhanced control and trust that identification is associated with better mental health. Studies 4 (N = 390) and 5 (N = 904) manipulated identification to provide evidence of causality. A minimeta analysis revealed a robust association between national identification and paranoia across the studies, although no association emerged between political identification and paranoia. The results point to the role that lack of social connections can play in underpinning paranoid thinking, and suggest that, as with other mental health issues, the problems caused by paranoia may have a social cure.

In the present research, we replicate previous research showing that death increases attributions of a leader’s charisma and that this is mediated by followers’ perceptions of a connection between the leader and their group (identity fusion). We also extend previous research by including identity leadership as a further mediator, examining the importance of a leaders’ perceived ability to strengthen the identity of the group they lead. Predictions were tested in the unique context of the death of two former German chancellors (Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl) with participants (n = 233) evaluating one of these leaders either before or after their death. Results show that the leaders’ identity leadership, identity fusion, and charisma were perceived to be significantly higher after their death. Analysis also supported the proposed serial mediation model in which condition (alive or dead) impacted charisma via identity leadership and then fusion. Results support claims that charisma is a social attribution.

BACKGROUND: Research on the health and wellbeing of retirees has tended to focus on financial security and financial planning. However, we suggest that one reason why financial security is important for retirees is that it enables social connectedness, which is critical for healthy ageing. METHODS: This paper tests this hypothesis cross-sectionally (N = 3109) and longitudinally (N = 404) using a population-weighted mixed effects mediation model in two nationally representative samples of Australian retirees. RESULTS: Analyses provide robust support for our model. Subjective financial security predicted retiree health cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Social connectedness also consistently predicted mental health and physical health, on average four times more strongly than financial security. Furthermore, social connectedness partially accounted for the protective effect of subjective financial security. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss the implications of these findings for public health, with a particular emphasis on how social connectedness can be better supported for people transitioning to retirement.

Engel presented a compelling case for a biopsychosocial model of health. This challenged a biomedical model that he saw as reductionistic, physicalistic, and exclusionist. Yet despite its laudable goals and popularity, the biopsychosocial model can be faulted for being incremental, imprecise, and individualistic. Ultimately, this means it is no less reductionist than the biomedical model which it sought to supplant. In this paper, we present a reformulation of this model that foregrounds the capacity for social groups—and the social contexts in which those groups are embedded—to structure psychology and, through this, biology and health. This sociopsychobio model argues that the three elements of Engel's framework are not fixed and immutable but rather dynamic and interdependent. The model is consistent with a range of recent approaches to health that have focused on the important role that social class, social inequality, social structure, and social networks play in shaping health outcomes. In this paper, though, the concrete value of this reformulation is illustrated through a discussion of recent research that focuses on the role of group memberships and associated social identities in shaping the psychology and biology of stress. This review underlines two key points that are central to the general case for a sociopsychobio model of health. First, that groups are a force in the world that shape the psychology and biology of their members (as well as members of other groups) in ways that cannot be reduced to those group members' functioning as individuals. Second, that groups provide their members with a basis for seeking to change the world rather than simply accepting it. In this, group life is not merely an appendage to psychology and biology but is instead a basis for collective experiences that have the potential to unleash new expressions of both.

There is growing evidence that leaders' effectiveness derives in part from their creation of a sense of identity that is shared by members of a group they are attempting to lead (i.e. their identity entrepreneurship). Little is known, however, about the impact of identity entrepreneurship in sport and exercise settings, particularly in relation to its effect on group members' effort and performance. Using a pre-post between subjects experimental design, we examined the effect of leaders' identity entrepreneurship on group members' effort and performance during 5km cycling time trials. Following a baseline session (in which time trials were completed individually), participants (N = 72) were randomly allocated to either a high or low identity entrepreneurship condition, and further randomly divided into groups of five (including a leader who was a confederate). In the subsequent test sessions (which participants attended with their fellow group members), leaders displayed either high or low identity entrepreneurship behaviors. Results indicated that, compared to participants in the low identity entrepreneurship condition, those in the high identity entrepreneurship condition maintained greater effort (maximum heart rate), and demonstrated improved (rather than poorer) performance (average power output in the first 60 seconds of time trials). Examination of pacing showed that the largest increases in participants' average power output occurred in the early stages of their second time trials for those in the high identity entrepreneurship condition only. Results provide causal evidence that leaders who create a shared sense of identity among team members are able to inspire greater participant effort and performance.

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Locational disadvantage has negative effects on mental health, with research showing that low (vs. high) neighbourhood socioeconomic-status (SES) predicts worse outcomes. Perceived neighbourhood quality is a well-established mediator of this association. The present paper extends this analysis, focusing on the contribution of residents’ social identification with their neighbourhood. In particular, it tests a model in which this neighbourhood identification both attenuates the effect of neighbourhood SES via perceived neighbourhood quality, and has a direct positive effect on mental health. Study 1 tested this hypothesized dual-effect neighbourhood identification model using a large nationally representative dataset (N = 14,874). Study 2 used a novel experimental design (N = 280) to investigate the causal effects of neighbourhood SES and neighbourhood identification on mental health. In line with the hypothesized model, in both studies, high neighbourhood identification attenuated the effects of neighbourhood SES on perceived neighbourhood quality, and neighbourhood identification had a direct positive impact on mental health. Additionally, and consistent with previous research, both studies also showed that perceived neighbourhood quality was the means through which neighbourhood SES affected mental health. The novel and far-reaching implications of neighbourhood identification for community mental health are discussed.

Previous studies have suggested that the effects of gentrification on long-term residents' mental health depends upon individual socioeconomic position. However, the role of social psychological moderators of these effects remains unexplored. Drawing on the social identity approach to health, we examine whether social identification with the neighbourhood can be protective of mental health for residents in the context of (de-)gentrification. Using multi-level modelling in a longitudinal Australian sample (N = 8376), we show that neighbourhood identification protects the mental health of residents who live in neighbourhoods that undergo positive or negative neighbourhood socioeconomic status change.

© 2019, © 2019 Society for Psychotherapy Research. Background: Group therapy is a popular and effective format for psychological intervention, and both anecdotal and empirical data consistently point to group dynamics as a primary driver of its benefits. However, to date there has been no systematic investigation of what facilitates an engaged, cohesive group environment. We argue that this is social identification and explore the features of groups that help to build this. Method: We present two longitudinal studies of group therapy and examine the predictors of social identification. Study 1 was a sample of psychiatric outpatients (N = 103) who completed group cognitive behavior therapy. Study 2 was a sample of young women with body shape or weight concerns (N = 112) who completed an eating disorder prevention program. Results: Multilevel analyses indicated that social identification was best predicted by participant fit with the therapy group, specifically the degree to which (1) participants were and perceived themselves to be similar to other group members, and (2) participants met the group therapy eligibility criteria at baseline. Conclusions: These results show that attending to issues of client fit in group therapy can improve social identification, with implications for reducing client attrition and improving client outcomes.

This research examined how identity leadership displayed by group exercise instructors is associated with exercisers’ class attendance and in-class effort. Group exercise participants assessed their instructors’ engagement in identity leadership at baseline before indicating their comfort in the exercise environment, identification with the exercise group, class attendance, and in-class effort four weeks later. Results indicated positive associations between instructors’ identity leadership and exercisers’ group identification and comfort in the exercise environment four weeks later. Furthermore, results provided evidence of indirect effects. First, identity leadership was associated with members’ more frequent class attendance through their stronger group identification. Second, identity leadership was associated with members’ greater in-class effort through (a) their stronger group identification, and (b) their greater comfort. These relationships remained significant when accounting for the effect of established motivational predictors (i.e. competence and autonomy). These results point to the role that instructors’ leadership plays in promoting physical activity by suggesting that instructors’ engagement in identity leadership is associated with exercisers’ group-related experiences which, in turn, are a basis for group exercise participation.

The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is one of the most famous studies in the history of psychology. For nearly a half century it has been understood to show that assigning people to a toxic role will, on its own, unlock the human capacity to treat others with cruelty. In contrast, principles of identity leadership argue that roles are unlikely to elicit cruelty unless leaders encourage potential perpetrators to identify with what is presented as a noble ingroup cause and to believe their actions are necessary for the advancement of that cause. Although identity leadership has been implicated in behavior ranging from electoral success to obedience to authority, researchers have hitherto had limited capacity to establish whether role conformity or identity leadership provides a better account of the cruelty observed in the SPE. Through examination of material in the SPE archive, we present comprehensive evidence that, rather than guards conforming to role of their own accord, experimenters directly encouraged them to adopt roles and act tough in a manner consistent with tenets of identity leadership. Implications for the analysis of conformity and cruelty as well as for interpretation of the SPE are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Objectives: There is growing research interest in the social identity approach to leadership in sport. Researchers have examined how leaders’ representation of a shared social identity allows them to motivate group members but has neglected the role that identity content plays in this process. The present research addresses this issue in two experimental studies that examine the effect of sharedness in identity content (i.e. beliefs about what it means to be a member of a group) on leaders’ mobilization of group members. Design: a 2 X 2 experimental — between-participant — design, with two shared and two non-shared conditions. Method: in Study 1, 160 athletes imagined themselves in one of four sport team scenarios and responded to measures of mobilization (e.g. willingness to invest time on task). In Study 2 (laboratory experiment), we manipulated sharedness and assessed 114 participants’ behavioural mobilization and task performance. Results: Study 1 supports the hypothesis that identity content that is shared (rather than non-shared) between leaders and group members increases members’ willingness to invest time on a task. Study 2 replicates these results and also shows that increased effort among group members mediates the relationship between shared identity content and members’ improved task performance. Conclusions: the present research is the first to provide evidence that sport leaders’ capacity to mobilize the effort of group members rests upon their ability to build shared identity content.

Previous work in the social identity tradition suggests that adjustment to significant life changes, both positive (e.g. becoming a new parent) and negative (e.g. experiencing a stroke), can be supported by access to social group networks. This is the basis for the social identity model of identity change (SIMIC), which argues that, in the context of life transitions, well-being and adjustment are enhanced to the extent that people are able to maintain preexisting social group memberships that are important to them or else acquire new ones. Building on empirical work that has examined these issues in the context of a variety of life transitions, we outline the relevance of SIMIC for one particular life transition: retiring from work. We identify four key lessons that speak to the importance of managing social group resources effectively during the transition to retirement from the workforce. These suggest that adjustment to retirement is enhanced to the extent that retirees: (1) can access multiple important group memberships and the psychological resources they provide, (2) maintain positive and valued existing groups, and (3) develop meaningful new groups, (4) providing they are compatible with one another. This theory and empirical evidence is used to introduce a new social intervention, Groups 4 Health, that translates SIMIC's lessons into practice. This program aims to guide people through the process of developing and embedding their social group ties in ways that protect their health and well-being in periods of significant life change of the form experienced by many people as they transition into retirement.

Hollander and Turowetz (2017, Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 56, 655-674) present important data from post-experimental interviews with participants in Milgram's 'obedience' research. In these, participants responded to various questions about their perceptions of the study and their behaviour by indicating that they trusted the Experimenter not to let them inflict serious harm. Relatively few participants indicated that they acted as they did because they were committed to the Experimenter or to science. We argue, however, that there are two key reasons why this evidence is not inconsistent with claims that harm-doing is a product of engaged followership. The first is that (in contrast to the data obtained from later post-experimental surveys) the conversational logic of the interviews does not topicalize a discussion or valorization of science, but instead requires participants to defend themselves against an accusation of improper behaviour. The second is that participants' accounts of their behaviour nevertheless revolved around expressions of trust in the Experimenter which can themselves be seen as manifestations of shared identity and engaged followership. Nevertheless, we argue that H&T's analysis points to significant ways in which the engaged followership account and its broader implications for understanding perpetrator behaviour can be embellished.

Among the many factors that influence retirement adjustment, there is increasing recognition of the role played by people’s social relationships. In particular, research points to the benefits that joining new groups can have for people’s well-being when they experience life change. In three studies, we extend this research to assess the contribution that new groups and identities make to supporting the well-being and adjustment of people transitioning to retirement. Study 1, involving 302 retirees, demonstrates that joining new groups in retirement and developing a stronger sense of identification with retirees predicts life satisfaction after controlling for known predictors (e.g. financial planning, marital status, physical health status, retirement aspirations), while only retiree identification predicts adjustment. We then examine the extent to which multiple group memberships support retirement adjustment and well-being through the mediating role of new group memberships and retiree identification. This is first examined in a cross-sectional study of 90 retired academics (Study 2) and then in a two-wave study involving a general sample of 121 recent retirees (Study 3). Findings from both studies point to the importance of social group and identity gain in retirement adjustment and highlight the particular importance of retiree identification in the transition.

It is acknowledged that identity plays an important role in a person's leadership development. To date, however, there has been little consideration of the possibility - suggested by the social identity perspective - that individuals who identify as followers may be especially likely to emerge as leaders. We test this possibility in a longitudinal sample of recruit commandos in the Royal Marines. Recruits rated their identification with leader and follower roles five times over the course of their 32-week training programme. Recruits' leadership and followership were evaluated by their commanders, and their leadership was assessed by their peers. Analysis indicated that while recruits who identified as leaders received higher leadership ratings from their commanders, recruits who identified - and were perceived - as followers emerged as leaders for their peers. These findings suggest that follower and leader identities underpin different aspects of leadership and that these are differentially recognized by others.

Recent theorizing applying the social identity approach to leadership proposes a four-dimensional model of identity leadership that centres on leaders’ management of a shared sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’. This research validates a scale assessing this model – the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI). We present results from an international project with data from all six continents and from more than 20 countries/regions with 5,290 participants. The ILI was translated (using back-translation methods) into 13 different languages (available in the Appendix S1) and used along with measures of other leadership constructs (i.e. leader–member exchange [LMX], transformational leadership, and authentic leadership) as well as employee attitudes and (self-reported) behaviours – namely identification, trust in the leader, job satisfaction, innovative work behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, and burnout. Results provide consistent support for the construct, discriminant, and criterion validity of the ILI across countries. We show that the four dimensions of identity leadership are distinguishable and that they relate to important work-related attitudes and behaviours above and beyond other leadership constructs. Finally, we also validate a short form of the ILI, noting that is likely to have particular utility in applied contexts. Practitioner points: the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) has a consistent factor structure and high predictive value across 20 countries and can thus be used to assess a leader's ability to manage (team and organizational) identities in a range of national and cultural contexts. Identity leadership as perceived by employees is uniquely related to important indicators of leadership effectiveness including employees’ relationship to their team (identification and perceived team support), well-being (job satisfaction and reduced burnout), and performance (citizenship and innovative behaviour at work). The ILI can be used in practical settings to assess and develop leadership, for instance, in 360-degree feedback systems. The short form of the ILI is also a valid assessment of identity leadership, and this is likely to be useful in a range of applied contexts (e.g. those where there is a premium on cost and time or when comparing multiple leaders or multiple time points).

Recent trends in the leadership literature have advanced a relational and processual perspective that sheds light on the way leadership emerges and evolves in dynamic and flexible organizations. However, very few empirical studies have explored these processes over an extended period. To address this lacuna, we report findings from a three-year ethnographic study that explored the emergence and development of leadership in a self-managed interorganizational R&D team. Findings show that in the context of various events that impacted on the team, leadership emerged through interactions, processes and practices that were perceived by team members to develop and advance shared goals and shared identity. Leadership responses to uncertainty surrounding the project were generally legitimated by team members’ background and expertise in relation to this shared identity, while a lack of perceived legitimacy also compromised leadership. These observations are consistent with arguments that leadership revolves around the creation and enactment of shared social identity. However, they also suggest that the form and nature of leadership is hard to predict because it is heavily structured by specific identity-relevant practices and perceptions that arise in the context of unforeseeable events.

Sport and exercise participation exert a positive effect on numerous aspects of individuals' health. Although sport and exercise leaders have generally been observed to play a key role in shaping group members' behavior, our understanding of their impact on group members' attendance in sport and exercise sessions is limited. To address this, and building on promising findings in other domains, we examined the associations between perceptions of sport and exercise leaders' engagement in social identity leadership, group identification, and attendance. A sample of 583 participants from sports teams (n = 307) and exercise groups (n = 276) completed questionnaires measuring identity leadership, group identification, and attendance. Analyses demonstrated that perceptions of leader engagement in social identity leadership were positively associated with members' group identification, and that this in turn was positively associated with their attendance in either a sports group or an exercise group. Moreover, there was a significant indirect effect for perceptions of leader engagement in identity leadership on group members' attendance through their greater identification with these groups. Findings highlight the importance of considering the impact sport and exercise leaders have on group members' attendance and suggest that leaders who represent, advance, create, and embed a shared sense of identity (ie, a shared sense of "us") among attendees can promote participation in sport and exercise.

RATIONALE: Research has demonstrated the positive effects that social identification with multiple groups has on people's health and well-being, in part during the transition from work to retirement. However, these effects have not been examined outside Western retirement contexts. This study addresses this gap. OBJECTIVE: This investigation aims to examine the contribution that group membership and identification with multiple social groups makes to supporting retirees' physical health and well-being across cultures. METHOD: Responses from a representative sample of 10,513 retired individuals from 51 countries drawn from the World Values Survey were used in this analysis. This research focused on the number of group memberships, identification with multiple groups, subjective health, and well-being that respondents reported. RESULTS: Analysis showed that belonging to multiple groups positively predicted retirees' health and well-being in both Western and non-Western cultural contexts. In line with cross-cultural research, there was evidence that country-level collectivism moderated the strength of this association, with the effect being weaker in collectivistic (vs. individualistic) countries. CONCLUSION: Findings confirm the utility of using the social identity approach to understand people's adjustment to retirement across cultures.

Two studies examine how self-categorization theory can be used to refine our understanding of people's implicit theories about followership and social influence. Results from Study 1 show that perceivers regard followers of a group they themselves identify strongly with (rather than not at all) to be more representative of the prototype of effective followers (displaying enthusiasm, industry, good citizenship) and to be less representative of the antiprototype of effective followers (displaying conformity, incompetence, and insubordination). Results are replicated in a second experiment in which we compare the views of those self-categorizing as either Republican or Democrat responding to followers of the Republican and Democratic Party. Results of Study 2 replicate those of Study 1 and also reveal qualitative differences in the preferred influence strategy for dealing with followers. Specifically, respondents seek to engage in persuasion when trying to change the behavior of ingroup followers, while resorting to coercion when trying to change the behavior of outgroup followers. Our results are the first to provide evidence that perceivers' theories about what followers are like and how they are influenced most effectively are structured by perceivers' identification (and dis-identification) with the particular groups that leaders are championing.

There is evidence that the social groups to which people belong can be a source of resilience in challenging times. In this paper, we examine whether social group memberships can also increase resilience in the face of negative performance feedback by encouraging task persistence. In two experiments (Ns = 63, 61) participants completed three rounds of a performance task. In the experimental conditions (but not the control) participants were first asked to think about, and consider the importance of, either one or five important social groups of which they were members. In both experiments, participants who reflected on important social groups were more likely to persist in practicing the task after negative performance feedback than those in the control condition. In Experiment 2 only, there was also evidence of performance improvement after negative feedback for participants in experimental but not control conditions. There was no evidence that self-reported confidence, motivation, or self-efficacy accounted for the observed effects. Overall, this is the first study to provide evidence that salient group memberships can increase resilience in a sensorimotor task. Significantly, the findings suggest that groups are not just a context but also a critical psychological resource for performance following failure feedback.

In this paper we review recent evidence on the social identity model of leadership. First, we explain how this model is rooted in the social identity approach in social psychology and, specifically, the notion that shared reality and joint action in groups derives from shared social identity. We then show how effective leadership is a process of social identity management and we examine both the antecedents, the psychological and the political consequences of managing social identities.

The present research examined the link between passion displayed by team members during the singing of national anthems at UEFA Euro 2016 and team performance in the tournaments' 51 games. Drawing on social identity theorising, we hypothesised a positive relationship between passion and performance. Consistent with this hypothesis, results showed that teams that sang national anthems with greater passion went on to concede fewer goals. Moreover, results provided evidence that the impact of passion on the likelihood of winning a game depended on the stage of the competition: in the knockout stage (but not the group stage) greater passion was associated with a greater likelihood of victory. Extending recent reviews that highlight the importance of social identity processes in sporting contexts, these results suggest that team members' identity-based expression of passion for the collective can be an important predictor of subsequent performance.

RATIONALE: Recent meta-analytic research indicates that social support and social integration are highly protective against mortality, and that their importance is comparable to, or exceeds, that of many established behavioural risks such as smoking, high alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, and obesity that are the traditional focus of medical research (Holt-Lunstad et al. 2010). The present study examines perceptions of the contribution of these various factors to life expectancy within the community at large. METHOD: American and British community respondents (N = 502) completed an on-line survey assessing the perceived importance of social and behavioural risk factors for mortality. RESULTS: As hypothesized, while respondents' perceptions of the importance of established behavioural risks was positively and highly correlated with their actual importance, social factors were seen to be far less important for health than they actually are. As a result, overall, there was a small but significant negative correlation between the perceived benefits and the actual benefits of different social and behavioural factors. Men, younger participants, and participants with a lower level of education were more likely to underestimate the importance of social factors for health. There was also evidence that underestimation was predicted by a cluster of ideological factors, the most significant of which was respondents' respect for prevailing convention and authorities as captured by Right-Wing Authoritarianism. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that while people generally underestimate the importance of social factors for health this also varies as a function of demographic and ideological factors. They point to a range of challenges confronting those who seek to promote greater awareness of the importance of social factors for health.

The present research expands upon previous theory and empirical work concerning the leadership- health link by examining the lagged effects of leader identity entrepreneurship (i.e. leaders' creation of a sense of "we" and "us" among team members) on team members' burnout, work engagement and turnover intentions. We report results from a 2-wave field study with employees from a large solar panel producing organization in China conducted over a 10-month period. Findings indicate that perceived leader identity entrepreneurship predicted greater subsequent work engagement among team members, as well as lower subsequent burnout and turnover intentions. Moreover, effects on reduced turnover intentions were mediated by reduced burnout and increased work engagement. These findings are the first to examine how leader identity entrepreneurship impacts subsequent employee health and turnover intentions and suggest that leaders help to promote health and well-being in the workplace by creating and developing a sense of shared identity among those they lead.

This paper explores the contribution of social identity change to international students' health and well-being. International students typically face a range of challenges from the time they leave their home country, including the need to adapt both to a new culture and norms and to a new educational landscape. Previous research informed by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC) suggests that during such life transitions, an individual's group memberships and associated social identities can provide a buffer against the threats to well-being that such transitions present. To examine the relevance of SIMIC for the transitions that international students' experience, semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 international students attending an Australian university. Thematic analysis provided support for the relevance of SIMIC's social identity gain and social identity maintenance pathways in the transition and revealed a number of associated factors that acted as either facilitators (e.g. a host family that supported community integration) or barriers (e.g. experiencing culture shock) to social identity change. These findings present the first qualitative support for SIMIC within an international student population and help to flesh out the specific ways in which social identity processes contribute to both positive and negative health and well-being outcomes.

We provide a meta-analytical review examining two decades of work on the relationship between individuals' social identifications and health in organizations (102 effect sizes, k = 58, N = 19,799). Results reveal a mean-weighted positive association between organizational identification and health ( r =. 21, T =. 14). Analysis identified a positive relationship for both workgroup ( r =. 21) and organizational identification ( r =. 21), and in studies using longitudinal/experimental ( r =. 13) and cross-sectional designs ( r =. 22). The relationship is stronger (a) for indicators of the presence of well-being ( r =. 27) than absence of stress ( r =. 18), (b) for psychological ( r =. 23) than physical health ( r =. 16), (c) to the extent that identification is shared among group members, and (d) as the proportion of female participants in a sample decreases. Overall, results indicate that social identifications in organizations are positively associated with health but that there is also substantial variation in effect size strength. We discuss implications for theory and practice and outline a roadmap for future research.

Against the backdrop of a global physical inactivity crisis, attempts to both understand and positively influence physical activity behaviours are characterized by a focus on individual-level factors (e.g. cognitions, attitudes, motivation). We outline a new perspective, drawn from an emerging body of work exploring the applicability of social identity and self-categorization theories to domains of sport and health, from which to understand and address this pervasive problem. This social identity approach suggests that the groups to which people belong can be, and often are, incorporated into their sense of self and, through this, are powerful determinants of physical activity-related behaviour. We start by reviewing the current state of physical activity research and highlighting the potential for the social identity approach to help understand how social factors influence these behaviours. Next, we outline the theoretical underpinnings of the social identity approach and provide three key examples that speak to the analytical and practical value of the social identity approach in physical activity settings. Specifically, we argue that social identity (1) can be harnessed to promote engagement in physical activity, (2) underpins exercise group behaviour, and (3) underpins effective leadership in exercise settings. We conclude by identifying prospects for a range of theory-informed research developments.

© 2017 Hogrefe Publishing. Social identity research shows that leadership is a process of group identity development but has not examined how leaders can manage group identities in the workplace. The 5R leadership development program addresses this issue. This takes leaders through a fivestage process of (1) Readying: explaining the importance of social identity processes for leadership; (2) Reflecting: identifying important workplace social identities; (3) Representing: clarifying goals and aspirations associated with different subgroup identities; (4) Realizing: identifying superordinate goals and developing strategies to achieve both them and subgroup goals; and (5) Reporting: assessing progress toward goals. Results of a longitudinal study indicate that 5R is a useful framework for leadership development that translates insights from social identity theorizing into structured intervention.

The health of people's body and mind is powerfully conditioned by social factors that affect their social identity. Consistent with this notion, there is a growing interest in the way that group memberships (and the social identities derived from belonging to these groups) affect health and well-being. To the extent that group memberships provide individuals with meaning, support, and agency (i.e. a positive sense of social identity), health is positively impacted, constituting a “social cure”. However, when group membership is not associated with these positive psychological resources or when social identity is challenged in other ways (e.g. group membership is devalued or stigmatised), social identities may become a curse, threatening and potentially harming health and well-being. In a range of social contexts, novel examples of these processes are brought together in the contributions to this special issue. In this editorial, we link the findings from these contributions to a set of hypotheses that emerge from the social identity approach to highlight the nuanced ways in which social identity processes are key to understanding health and well-being (Haslam, Jetten, Cruwys, Dingle, & Haslam, forthcoming). The contributions in this special issue point to fruitful ways to develop the social cure agenda. Together they highlight the importance of social identities as powerful psychological resources that have an important role to play in managing and improving health.

People reliably encode information more effectively when it is related in some way to the self-a phenomenon known as the self-reference effect. This effect has been recognized in psychological research for almost 40 years, and its scope as a tool for investigating the self-concept is still expanding. The self-reference effect has been used within a broad range of psychological research, from cultural to neuroscientific, cognitive to clinical. Traditionally, the self-reference effect has been investigated in a laboratory context, which limits its applicability in non-laboratory samples. This paper introduces an online version of the self-referential encoding paradigm that yields reliable effects in an easy-to-administer procedure. Across four studies (total N = 658), this new online tool reliably replicated the traditional self-reference effect: in all studies self-referentially encoded words were recalled significantly more than semantically encoded words (d = 0.63). Moreover, the effect sizes obtained with this online tool are similar to those obtained in laboratory samples, and are robust to experimental variations in encoding time (Studies 1 and 2) and recall procedure (Studies 3 and 4), and persist independent of primacy and recency effects (all studies).

Cognitive research finds that people show superior encoding of information relating to the self rather than to others. This phenomenon, known as the self-reference effect, supports a view of the self as a definable and measurable entity. However, modern perspectives hold that the self is contextually fluid, not least because, under some conditions, ‘other’ can be incorporated into the self as part of ‘us’. This suggests that when perceivers see another person as an ingroup member, the self-reference effect will be attenuated. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments in which participants were included in, or excluded from, a minimal social group. When participants were excluded, the standard self-reference effect was replicated; but when they were included, other-referential encoding was not significantly different from self-referential encoding. Findings support self-categorization theory's claims that others, even strangers, can be treated as cognitively similar to the self when they share group membership.

In the present research, we shed light on the nature and origins of charisma by examining changes in a person's perceived charisma that follow their death. We propose that death is an event that will strengthen the connection between the leader and the group they belong to, which in turn will increase perceptions of leaders' charisma. In Study 1, results from an experimental study show that a scientist who is believed to be dead is regarded as more charismatic than the same scientist believed to be alive. Moreover, this effect was accounted for by people's perceptions that the dead scientist's fate is more strongly connected with the fate of the groups that they represent. In Study 2, a large-scale archival analysis of Heads of States who died in office in the 21st century shows that the proportion of published news items about Heads of State that include references to charisma increases significantly after their death. These results suggest that charisma is, at least in part, a social inference that increases after death. Moreover, they suggest that social influence and inspiration can be understood as products of people's capacity to embody valued social groups.

The social difficulties of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are typically explained as a disruption in the Shared Attention Mechanism (SAM) sub-component of the theory of mind (ToM) system. In the current paper, we explore the hypothesis that SAM's capacity to construct the self-other-object relations necessary for shared-attention arises from a self-categorization process, which is weaker among those with more autistic-like traits. We present participants with self-categorization and shared-attention tasks, and measure their autism-spectrum quotient (AQ). Results reveal a negative relationship between AQ and shared-attention, via self-categorization, suggesting a role for self-categorization in the disruption in SAM seen in ASD. Implications for intervention, and for a ToM model in which weak central coherence plays a role are discussed.

Objectives Researchers have argued that leadership is one of the most important determinants of team effectiveness. The present study examined the extent to which the perceived quality of athlete leadership was related to the effectiveness of elite sports teams. Design Three professional football teams (N = 135) participated in our study during the preparation phase for the Australian 2016 season. Methods Players and coaching staff were asked to assess players’ leadership quality in four leadership roles (as task, motivational, social, and external leader) via an online survey. The leadership quality in each of these roles was then calculated in a social network analysis by averaging the indegree centralities of the three best leaders in that particular role. Participants also rated their team's performance and its functioning on multiple indicators. Results As hypothesized, the team with the highest-quality athlete leadership on each of the four leadership roles excelled in all indicators of team effectiveness. More specifically, athletes in this team had a stronger shared sense of the team's purpose, they were more highly committed to realizing the team's goals, and they had a greater confidence in their team's abilities than athletes in the other teams. Moreover, this team demonstrated a higher task-involving and a lower ego-involving climate, and excelled on all measures of performance. Conclusions High-quality athlete leadership is positively related to team effectiveness. Given the importance of high-quality athlete leadership, the study highlights the need for well-designed empirically-based leadership development programs.

PURPOSE: the postpartum period presents the highest risk for women's mental health throughout the lifespan. We aimed to examine the Social Identity Model of Identity Change in this context. More specifically, we investigated changes in social identity during this life transition and their consequences for women's postpartum mental health. METHODS: Women who had given birth within the last 12 months (N = 387) reported on measures of depression, social group memberships, and motherhood identification. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that a decrease in group memberships after having a baby, controlling for group memberships prior to birth, was associated with an increase in depressive symptomology. However, maintaining pre-existing group memberships was predictive of better mental health. New group memberships were not associated with depressive symptomology. Identification as a mother was a strong positive predictor of mental health in the postpartum period. CONCLUSIONS: the social identity model of identity change provides a useful framework for understanding postpartum depression. Interventions to prevent and treat postpartum depression might aim to support women in maintaining important social group networks throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Effective leaders are believed to inspire followers by providing inclusive visions of the future that followers can identify with. In the present study, we examined the neural mechanisms underlying this process, testing key hypotheses derived from transformational and social identity approaches to leadership. While undergoing functional MRI, supporters from the two major Australian political parties (Liberal vs. Labor) were presented with inspirational collective-oriented and noninspirational personal-oriented statements made by in-group and out-group leaders. Imaging data revealed that inspirational (rather than noninspirational) statements from in-group leaders were associated with increased activation in the bilateral rostral inferior parietal lobule, pars opercularis, and posterior midcingulate cortex: brain areas that are typically implicated in controlling semantic information processing. In contrast, for out-group leaders, greater activation in these areas was associated with noninspirational statements. In addition, noninspirational statements by in-group (but not out-group) leaders resulted in increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area typically associated with reasoning about a person’s mental state. These results show that followers processed identical statements qualitatively differently as a function of leaders’ group membership, thus demonstrating that shared identity acts as an amplifier for inspirational leadership communication.

The current study investigated the impact of discrimination on the acculturation strategies of international students in the United Kingdom. In a longitudinal study that followed students (N = 113) for 1 year, the authors drew on social identity theory to understand the processes by which discrimination affects their acculturation strategies. Specifically, the study examined an indirect effect by which perceived discrimination affects acculturation strategies through perceived permeability of group boundaries. Results showed that perceiving discrimination is associated with a perceived lack of permeability, which in turn results in avoiding the host society and simultaneously endorsing one’s own cultural background. Implications for international students and other cultural groups are discussed.

Based on the idea that leadership is a group process, we propose that followers' endorsement of a leader depends on particular leadership strategies being perceived to be best suited for maintaining or advancing group identity in the context of prevailing intergroup relations. Three experimental studies with different samples aimed to examine how socio-structural variables that define intergroup relations impact on leader–follower relations and on the support that followers give to leaders who adopt different approaches to manage intergroup relations. We demonstrate that after manipulating the status and the stability of intergroup relations followers endorse leaders who strategically engage in group-oriented behaviour that maps onto optimal identity-management strategies. These patterns mirrored differences across contexts in the perceived prototypicality. We conclude that intergroup relations influence leaders' strategic behaviour and followers' reaction to them. Findings highlight the importance of understanding leadership as both a within- and between-group process.

The glass cliff refers to the tendency for women to be more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions that are risky and precarious. This paper reviews the first decade of research into the phenomenon and has three key aims: (a) to summarize and integrate evidence of the glass cliff, (b) to clarify the processes that have been shown to underlie the glass cliff, and (c) to explore the factors that may moderate the glass cliff phenomenon. We show that the glass cliff has had a significant impact on public discourse around women and leadership but is a complex, contextual, and multiply determined phenomenon.

OBJECTIVE: Social relationships are protective of cognitive health as we age and recent findings show that social group ties (e.g. with community and peer groups) are especially important. The present research examines this relationship further to explore (a) the contribution of group, relative to interpersonal, ties and (b) underlying mechanism. METHOD: Two cross-sectional survey studies were conducted. Study 1 was conducted online (N = 200) and Study 2 involved face-to-face interviews (N = 42). RESULTS: the findings confirmed group ties as a stronger predictor of cognitive health than individual ties. It also supported our proposed sequential mediation model suggesting that the benefits of group ties arise from their capacity to enhance a sense of shared social identification and this, in turn, provides the basis for effective social support. DISCUSSION: Both studies provided evidence consistent with claims that group ties were especially beneficial because they cultivated social identification that provided the foundation for social support.

BACKGROUND: Social isolation and disconnection have profound negative effects on mental health, but there are few, if any, theoretically-derived interventions that directly target this problem. We evaluate a new intervention, Groups 4 Health (G4H), a manualized 5-module psychological intervention that targets the development and maintenance of social group relationships to treat psychological distress arising from social isolation. METHODS: G4H was tested using a non-randomized control design. The program was delivered to young adults presenting with social isolation and affective disturbance. Primary outcome measures assessed mental health (depression, general anxiety, social anxiety, and stress), well-being (life satisfaction, self-esteem) and social connectedness (loneliness, social functioning). Our secondary goal was to assess whether mechanisms of social identification were responsible for changes in outcomes. RESULTS: G4H was found to significantly improve mental health, well-being, and social connectedness on all measures, both on program completion and 6-month follow-up. In line with social identity theorizing, analysis also showed that improvements in depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and life satisfaction were underpinned by participants' increased identification both with their G4H group and with multiple groups. LIMITATIONS: This study provides preliminary evidence of the potential value of G4H and its underlying mechanisms, but further examination is required in other populations to address issues of generalizability, and in randomized controlled trials to address its wider efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this pilot study confirm that G4H has the potential to reduce the negative health-related consequences of social disconnection. Future research will determine its utility in wider community contexts.

Worldwide, organizations are keen to ensure that they achieve a performance return from the large investment they make in employee training. This study examines the way in which workgroup identification facilitates trainees' motivation to transfer learning into workplace performance. A 2 × 2 longitudinal study evaluated the effects of a new generic professionalization training program (NGP) - which tapped into distal work identities, and a standard local professionalization program (SLP) - which spoke more to localized work identities, on participant's motivation to transfer their learning to the workplace. The study found that, compared to participants on the SLP (n=31), participants on the NGP (n=35) indicated a reduction in 4 measures (perceived utility of training; workplace participation; relatedness and workplace identification). The authors draw on the social identity approach to illustrate how a reduction in these variables is indicative of a reduction in motivation to transfer learning to the workplace. In short, training which does not speak to meaningful localized identities results in reduced motivation to transfer compared to training that does speak to those identities. More broadly, the study demonstrates the capacity of the social identity approach to meet the increasing demands of training researchers for a comprehensive, multi-dimensional, theoretical framework through which to understand the interplay of trainee and contextual factors that contribute to effective learning and performance in the workplace.

Embracing a shared social identity typically serves to protect group members in the face of threats. However, under some conditions, intragroup dynamics are diverted so that instead, they contribute to disturbances in collective well-being. The present analysis applies a social identity framework to understand how intragroup processes elicited in Indian Residential Schools (IRS) altered the capacity of Indigenous peoples to overcome damage to their identity and collective functioning. With the alleged goal of assimilating the Indigenous population, residential schools in Canada entailed the forced removal of Indigenous children from their communities. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission established in 2008 confirmed the extensive abuse perpetrated by IRS staff, but also raised awareness of the pervasiveness of student-to-student abuse. Supported by qualitative analyses of the reports of social service providers working with IRS survivors (N =  43), it is argued that a key part of the dynamics in the IRSs was the subversion of intragroup processes among Indigenous children in attendance. Understanding intragroup dynamics provides a basis for recognizing the persistent effects of IRSs, and for identifying strategies to heal and reclaim a positive collective identity.

RESEARCH AIMS: the present article provides a comprehensive examination of the relationship between playing position and leadership in sport. More particularly, it explores links between leadership and a player's interactional centrality-defined as the degree to which their playing position provides opportunities for interaction with other team members. This article examines this relationship across different leadership roles, team sex, and performance levels. RESULTS: Study 1 (N = 4443) shows that athlete leaders (and the task and motivational leader in particular) are more likely than other team members to occupy interactionally central positions in a team. Players with high interactional centrality were also perceived to be better leaders than those with low interactional centrality. Study 2 (N = 308) established this link for leadership in general, while Study 3 (N = 267) and Study 4 (N = 776) revealed that the same was true for task, motivational, and external leadership. This relationship is attenuated in sports where an interactionally central position confers limited interactional advantages. In other words, the observed patterns were strongest in sports that are played on a large field with relatively fixed positions (e.g. soccer), while being weaker in sports that are played on a smaller field where players switch positions dynamically (e.g. basketball, ice hockey). Beyond this, the pattern is broadly consistent across different sports, different sexes, and different levels of skill. CONCLUSIONS: the observed patterns are consistent with the idea that positions that are interactionally central afford players greater opportunities to do leadership-either through communication or through action. Significantly too, they also provide a basis for them to be seen to do leadership by others on their team. Thus while it is often stated that "leadership is an action, not a position," it is nevertheless the case that, when it comes to performing that action, some positions are more advantageous than others.

We examine the extent to which multiple social identities are associated with enhanced health and well-being in retirement because they provide a basis for giving and receiving social support. Results from a cross-sectional study show that retirees (N = 171) who had multiple social identities following (but not prior to) retirement report being (a) more satisfied with retirement, (b) in better health, and (c) more satisfied with life in general. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed an indirect path from multiple social identities to greater satisfaction with retirement and better health through greater provision, but not receipt, of social support to others. These findings are the first to point to the value of multiple group membership post-retirement as a basis for increased opportunities to give meaningful support to others. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for the management of multiple identities in the process of significant life transitions such as retirement.

Traditionally, Milgram's 'obedience' studies have been used to propose that 'ordinary people' are capable of inflicting great harm on outgroup members because they are predisposed to follow orders. According to this account, people focus so much on being good followers that they become unaware of the consequences of their actions. Atrocity is thus seen to derive from inattention. However recent work in psychology, together with historical reassessments of Nazi perpetrators, questions this analysis. In particular, forensic re-examination of Milgram's own findings, allied to new psychological and historical research, supports an 'engaged follower' analysis in which the behaviour of perpetrators is understood to derive from identification with, and commitment to, an ingroup cause that is believed to be noble and worthwhile.

In this research, we introduce Social Identity Mapping (SIM) as a method for visually representing and assessing a person's subjective network of group memberships. To provide evidence of its utility, we report validating data from three studies (two longitudinal), involving student, community, and clinical samples, together comprising over 400 participants. Results indicate that SIM is easy to use, internally consistent, with good convergent and discriminant validity. Each study also illustrates the ways that SIM can be used to address a range of novel research questions. Study 1 shows that multiple positive group memberships are a particularly powerful predictor of well-being. Study 2 shows that social support is primarily given and received within social groups and that only in-group support is beneficial for well-being. Study 3 shows that improved mental health following a social group intervention is attributable to an increase in group compatibility. In this way, the studies demonstrate the capacity for SIM to make a contribution both to the development of social-psychological theory and to its practical application.

A growing body of research in the field of health and social care indicates that the quality of the relationship between the person giving care and the person receiving it contributes significantly to the motivation and wellbeing of both. This paper examines how care workers’ motivation is shaped by their social and relational identification at work. Survey findings at two time points (T1, N = 643; T2, N = 1274) show that care workers’ motivation increases to the extent that incentives, the working context (of residential vs. domiciliary care), and the professionalization process (of acquiring vs. not acquiring a qualification) serve to build and maintain meaningful identities within the organization. In this context care workers attach greatest importance to their relational identity with clients and the more they perceive this as congruent with their organizational identity the more motivated. they are. Implications are discussed with regard to the need to develop and sustain a professional and compassionate workforce that is able to meet the needs of an ageing society.

OBJECTIVES: Retirement constitutes a major life transition that poses significant challenges to health, with many retirees experiencing a precipitous decline in health status following retirement. We examine the extent to which membership in social groups following retirement determines quality of life and mortality. DESIGN: the longitudinal impact of the number of social group memberships before and after the transition to retirement was assessed on retirees' quality of life and risk of death 6 years later. SETTING: Nationally representative cohort study of older adults living in England. PARTICIPANTS: Adults who underwent the transition to retirement (N=424). A matched control group (N=424) of participants who had comparable demographic and health characteristics at baseline but did not undergo the transition to retirement were also examined. OUTCOME MEASURES: Analyses examined participants' quality of life and mortality during a period of 6 years. RESULTS: Retirees who had two group memberships prior to retirement had a 2% risk of death in the first 6 years of retirement if they maintained membership in two groups, a 5% risk if they lost one group and a 12% risk if they lost both groups. Furthermore, for every group membership that participants lost in the year following retirement, their experienced quality of life 6 years later was approximately 10% lower. These relationships are robust when controlling for key sociodemographic variables (age, gender, relationship status and socioeconomic status prior to retirement). A comparison with a matched control group confirmed that these effects were specific to those undergoing the transition to retirement. The effect of social group memberships on mortality was comparable to that of physical exercise. CONCLUSIONS: Theoretical implications for our understanding of the determinants of retiree quality of life and health, and practical implications for the support of people transitioning from a life of work to retirement are discussed.

On the basis of research in the social identity tradition, we contend (a) that identification and differentiation are not mutually exclusive, (b) that a sequence in which identification gives way to differentiation is not necessarily associated with superior organizational outcomes, and

Social identities are known to improve well-being, but why is this? We argue that this is because they satisfy basic psychological needs, specifically, the need to belong, the need for self-esteem, the need for control and the need for meaningful existence. A longitudinal study (N = 70) revealed that gain in identity strength was associated with increased need satisfaction over 7 months. A cross-sectional study (N = 146) revealed that social identity gain and social identity loss predicted increased and reduced need satisfaction, respectively. Finally, an experiment (N = 300) showed that, relative to a control condition, social identity gain increased need satisfaction and social identity loss decreased it. Need satisfaction mediated the relationship between social identities and depression in all studies. Sensitivity analyses suggested that social identities satisfy psychological needs in a global sense, rather than being reducible to one particular need. These findings shed new light on the mechanisms through which social identities enhance well-being.

Eating disorders and subclinical behaviours such as dangerous dieting are a significant public health burden in the modern world. We argue that a social-psychological model of disordered eating is needed to explain how sociocultural factors are psychologically represented and subsequently reflected in an individual’s cognitions and behaviour. We present evidence that three central elements shape disordered eating–social norms, social identity and social context–and integrate these within a Situated Identity Enactment (SIE) model. Specifically, the SIE model states that social context determines the salience of both social norms and social identities. Social norms then influence disordered eating behaviour, but only to the extent that they are consistent represented in the content of a person’s social identities. We conclude by outlining the implications of the SIE model for researchers and practitioners in the domain of disordered eating, focusing in particular on the need for, and potential value of, theory-derived social interventions.

Growing evidence points to the role of authentic leadership in enhancing followership. Yet little is known about the factors that determine whether followers perceive leaders as displaying authentic leadership. In the present research, we examine the impact of leaders' championing of collective (group) interests on authentic leadership. Study 1 shows experimentally that compared to a leader who advances personal interests, a leader who advances the interests of a collective is (a) perceived as offering more authentic leadership and (b) more likely to inspire followership. Findings are followed up in a field study revealing that leaders' championing of collective interests is associated with greater perceived authentic leadership and followership (in terms of voting intentions). Furthermore, results indicate that shared self-categorization is a boundary condition of these relationships such that the relationship between a leader's championing of collective (group) interests and authentic leadership (and followership) is more pronounced for perceivers who self-categorize as members of the group that a leader is leading (rather than of a different group). In sum, findings suggest that leaders are regarded as more authentic to the extent that they are true to the collective identity of the group that they lead.

The present research examines the impact of leaders' confidence in their team on the team confidence and performance of their teammates. In an experiment involving newly assembled soccer teams, we manipulated the team confidence expressed by the team leader (high vs neutral vs low) and assessed team members' responses and performance as they unfolded during a competition (i.e. in a first baseline session and a second test session). Our findings pointed to team confidence contagion such that when the leader had expressed high (rather than neutral or low) team confidence, team members perceived their team to be more efficacious and were more confident in the team's ability to win. Moreover, leaders' team confidence affected individual and team performance such that teams led by a highly confident leader performed better than those led by a less confident leader. Finally, the results supported a hypothesized mediational model in showing that the effect of leaders' confidence on team members' team confidence and performance was mediated by the leader's perceived identity leadership and members' team identification. In conclusion, the findings of this experiment suggest that leaders' team confidence can enhance members' team confidence and performance by fostering members' identification with the team.

Three studies were conducted to examine the effect of group identification and normative content of social identities on healthy eating intentions and behaviour. In Study 1 (N = 87) Australian participants were shown images that portrayed a norm of healthy vs. unhealthy behaviour among Australians. Participants' choices from an online restaurant menu were used to calculate energy content as the dependent variable. In Study 2 (N = 117), female participants were assigned to a healthy or unhealthy norm condition. The dependent variable was the amount of food eaten in a taste test. Social group identification was measured in both studies. In Study 3 (N = 117), both American identification and healthiness norm were experimentally manipulated, and participants' choices from an online restaurant menu constituted the dependent variable. In all three studies, the healthiness norm presented interacted with participants' group identification to predict eating behaviour. Contrary to what would be predicted under the traditional normative social influence account, higher identifiers chose higher energy food from an online menu and ate more food in a taste test when presented with information about their in-group members behaving healthily. The exact psychological mechanism responsible for these results remains unclear, but the pattern of means can be interpreted as evidence of vicarious licensing, whereby participants feel less motivated to make healthy food choices after being presented with content suggesting that other in-group members are engaging in healthy behaviour. These results suggest a more complex interplay between group membership and norms than has previously been proposed.

Group interventions for mental health have proved very effective, but there is little consensus on their mechanism of action. In the present study, we posit that normative change is a plausible mechanism and provide a test of this in an eating disorder prevention group program. Participants were 112 women aged 15-25 years with body, shape or weight concerns who completed five questionnaires across the four session group-based intervention. Results indicated that participants experienced a significant reduction in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and dieting intentions across the course of the program. These decrements were preceded by changes in group norms. Changes in both descriptive norms and injunctive norms in the first half of the program predicted improvement in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and dieting intentions in the second half. Implications for theoretical models of attitude change are discussed, as well as implications for group interventions more generally.

This study examines the reactions of participants in Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' studies to reorient both theoretical and ethical debate. Previous discussion of these reactions has focused on whether or not participants were distressed. We provide evidence that the most salient feature of participants' responses - and the feature most needing explanation - is not their lack of distress but their happiness at having participated. Drawing on material in Box 44 of Yale's Milgram archive we argue that this was a product of the experimenter's ability to convince participants that they were contributing to a progressive enterprise. Such evidence accords with an engaged followership model in which (1) willingness to perform unpleasant tasks is contingent upon identification with collective goals and (2) leaders cultivate identification with those goals by making them seem virtuous rather than vicious and thereby ameliorating the stress that achieving them entails. This analysis is inconsistent with Milgram's own agentic state model. Moreover, it suggests that the major ethical problem with his studies lies less in the stress that they generated for participants than in the ideologies that were promoted to ameliorate stress and justify harming others.

Drawing on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, we outline an approach to sport psychology that understands groups not simply as features of sporting contexts but rather as elements that can be, and often are, incorporated into a person’s sense of self and, through this, become powerful determinants of their sport-related behavior. The underpinnings of this social identity approach are outlined, and four key lessons for sport that are indicative of the analytical and practical power of the approach are presented. These suggest that social identity is the basis for sports group (1) behavior, (2) formation and development, (3) support and stress appraisal, and (4) leadership. Building on recent developments within sport science, we outline an agenda for future research by identifying a range of topics to which the social identity approach could fruitfully contribute.

The present study examined the impact of athlete leaders' perceived confidence on their teammates' confidence and performance. Male basketball players (N = 102) participated in groups of 4. To manipulate leaders' team confidence, the appointed athlete leader of each newly formed basketball team (a confederate) expressed either high or low team confidence. The results revealed an effect of team confidence contagion such that team members had greater team confidence when the leader expressed high (rather than low) confidence in the team's success. Second, the present study sought to explain the mechanisms through which this contagion occurs. In line with the social identity approach to leadership, structural equation modeling demonstrated that this effect was partially mediated by team members' increased team identification. Third, findings indicated that when leaders expressed high team confidence, team members' performance increased during the test, but when leaders expressed low confidence, team members' performance decreased. Athlete leaders thus have the capacity to shape team members' confidence--and hence their performance--in both positive and negative ways. In particular, by showing that they believe in "our team," leaders are able not only to make "us" a psychological reality, but also to transform "us" into an effective operational unit.

© 2015 APA, all rights reserved). There is growing recognition that identification with social groups can protect and enhance health and well-being, thereby constituting a kind of "social cure." the present research explores the role of control as a novel mediator of the relationship between shared group identity and well-being. Five studies provide evidence for this process. Group identification predicted significantly greater perceived personal control across 47 countries (Study 1), and in groups that had experienced success and failure (Study 2). The relationship was observed longitudinally (Study 3) and experimentally (Study 4). Manipulated group identification also buffered a loss of personal control (Study 5). Across the studies, perceived personal control mediated social cure effects in political, academic, community, and national groups. The findings reveal that the personal benefits of social groups come not only from their ability to make people feel good, but also from their ability to make people feel capable and in control of their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record

There is growing recognition that identification with social groups can protect and enhance health and well-being, thereby constituting a kind of "social cure." the present research explores the role of control as a novel mediator of the relationship between shared group identity and well-being. Five studies provide evidence for this process. Group identification predicted significantly greater perceived personal control across 47 countries (Study 1), and in groups that had experienced success and failure (Study 2). The relationship was observed longitudinally (Study 3) and experimentally (Study 4). Manipulated group identification also buffered a loss of personal control (Study 5). Across the studies, perceived personal control mediated social cure effects in political, academic, community, and national groups. The findings reveal that the personal benefits of social groups come not only from their ability to make people feel good, but also from their ability to make people feel capable and in control of their lives. (PsycINFO Database Record

There is growing recognition that identification with social groups can protect and enhance health and well-being, thereby constituting a kind of "social cure." the present research explores the role of control as a novel mediator of the relationship between shared group identity and well-being. Five studies provide evidence for this process. Group identification predicted significantly greater perceived personal control across 47 countries (Study 1), and in groups that had experienced success and failure (Study 2). The relationship was observed longitudinally (Study 3) and experimentally (Study 4). Manipulated group identification also buffered a loss of personal control (Study 5). Across the studies, perceived personal control mediated social cure effects in political, academic, community, and national groups. The findings reveal that the personal benefits of social groups come not only from their ability to make people feel good, but also from their ability to make people feel capable and in control of their lives.

Membership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important group memberships on personal self-esteem are not reducible to number of interpersonal ties. Studies 3a and 3b provide longitudinal evidence that multiple important group memberships predict personal self-esteem over time. Studies 4 and 5 show that collective self-esteem mediates this effect, suggesting that membership in multiple important groups boosts personal self-esteem because people take pride in, and derive meaning from, important group memberships. Discussion focuses on when and why important group memberships act as a social resource that fuels personal self-esteem.

Women have made substantial inroads into some traditionally masculine occupations (e.g. accounting, journalism) but not into others (e.g. military, surgery). Evidence suggests the latter group of occupations is characterized by hyper-masculine 'macho' stereotypes that are especially disadvantageous to women. Here, we explore whether such macho occupational stereotypes may be especially tenacious, not just because of their impact on women, but also because of their impact on men. We examined whether macho stereotypes associated with marine commandos and surgeons discourage men who feel that they are 'not man enough'. Study 1 demonstrates that male new recruits' (N = 218) perceived lack of fit with masculine commandos was associated with reduced occupational identification and motivation. Study 2 demonstrates that male surgical trainees' (N = 117) perceived lack of fit with masculine surgeons was associated with reduced identification and increased psychological exit a year later. Together, this suggests that macho occupational stereotypes may discourage the very men who may challenge them.

Women have made substantial inroads into some traditionally masculine occupations (e.g. accounting, journalism) but not into others (e.g. military, surgery). Evidence suggests the latter group of occupations is characterized by hyper-masculine 'macho' stereotypes that are especially disadvantageous to women. Here, we explore whether such macho occupational stereotypes may be especially tenacious, not just because of their impact on women, but also because of their impact on men. We examined whether macho stereotypes associated with marine commandos and surgeons discourage men who feel that they are 'not man enough'. Study 1 demonstrates that male new recruits' (N = 218) perceived lack of fit with masculine commandos was associated with reduced occupational identification and motivation. Study 2 demonstrates that male surgical trainees' (N = 117) perceived lack of fit with masculine surgeons was associated with reduced identification and increased psychological exit a year later. Together, this suggests that macho occupational stereotypes may discourage the very men who may challenge them.

Collective action expresses group-based identities, formed by supporters seeking to further particular social causes. While the development of groups linked to action necessitates interaction among supporters, little research has examined how these groups form. Utilizing responses of supporters who participated in 1 of 29 action-planning sessions, this research presents an initial attempt to identify the ingredients important to this process. It shows that to the extent that the actions agreed on in the course of group interactions were seen as capable of making a difference (action efficacy), and worthy of public expression (action voice), supporters’ group-based identification was enhanced. This in turn increased their willingness to engage in collective action. Practical implications and avenues for future research to understand the mobilization process are discussed.

The ability to communicate with others is one of the most important human social functions, yet communication is not always investigated from a social perspective. This research examined the role that shared social identity plays in communication effectiveness using a minimal group paradigm. In two experiments, participants constructed a model using instructions that were said to be created by an ingroup or an outgroup member. Participants made models of objectively better quality when working from communications ostensibly created by an ingroup member (Experiments 1 and 2). However, this effect was attenuated when participants were made aware of a shared superordinate identity that included both the ingroup and the outgroup (Experiment 2). These findings point to the importance of shared social identity for effective communication and provide novel insights into the social psychology of communication.

Attempts to revisit Milgram's "Obedience to Authority" (OtA) paradigm present serious ethical challenges. In recent years new paradigms have been developed to circumvent these challenges but none involve using Milgram's own procedures and asking naïve participants to deliver the maximum level of shock. This was achieved in the present research by using Immersive Digital Realism (IDR) to revisit the OtA paradigm. IDR is a dramatic method that involves a director collaborating with professional actors to develop characters, the strategic withholding of contextual information, and immersion in a realworld environment. 14 actors took part in an IDR study in which they were assigned to conditions that restaged Milgrams's New Baseline ("Coronary") condition and four other variants. Post-experimental interviews also assessed participants' identification with Experimenter and Learner. Participants' behaviour closely resembled that observed in Milgram's original research. In particular, this was evidenced by (a) all being willing to administer shocks greater than 150 volts, (b) nearuniversal refusal to continue after being told by the Experimenter that "you have no other choice, you must continue" (Milgram's fourth prod and the one most resembling an order), and (c) a strong correlation between the maximum level of shock that participants administered and the mean maximum shock delivered in the corresponding variant in Milgram's own research. Consistent with an engaged follower account, relative identification with the Experimenter (vs. the Learner) was also a good predictor of the maximum shock that participants administered.

Social identities are generally associated with better health and in particular lower levels of depression. However, there has been limited investigation of why social identities protect against depression. The current research suggests that social identities reduce depression in part because they attenuate the depressive attribution style (internal, stable, and global; e.g. “I failed because I’m stupid”). These relationships are first investigated in a survey (Study 1, N = 139) and then followed up in an experiment that manipulates social identity salience (Study 2, N = 88). In both cases, people with stronger social identities were less likely to attribute negative events to internal, stable, or global causes and subsequently reported lower levels of depression. These studies thus indicate that social identities can protect and enhance mental health by facilitating positive interpretations of stress and failure. Implications for clinical theory and practice are discussed.

Objective: an educational bottleneck occurs when students enter a phase of their training in which progression is highly competitive and determined by academic performance. We hypothesised that educational bottlenecks have a negative impact on student wellbeing, and investigated six potential protective factors. Method: a mixed-method approach was used to explore the hitherto unstudied impact of bottlenecks on student wellbeing in a sample of psychology honours students at two time points: at the time of research thesis submission and a month later after grades had been awarded. Results: at the time of submission, honours students experienced high levels of psychological distress and low wellbeing relative to student norms, with 49% scoring in the clinical range for depression. Higher-achieving students had the lowest wellbeing at the time of submission. Wellbeing had improved substantially 1 month later, except among students who received a disappointing grade. Perceived control over academic outcomes and having multiple group memberships from which to draw social support were found to be most important factors for protecting student mental health. Conclusion: Educational bottlenecks are associated with reduced student wellbeing. Higher-achieving students, those who feel little control over their academic outcomes, and those who lack social group memberships are at highest risk.

Two studies examined the effect of acculturation-contact discrepancies on well-being. Specifically, we tested the prediction that well-being will be compromised when cultural minorities' acculturation preferences are not met by the intergroup and intragroup contact in a new society. Study 1 found that for Polish immigrants (n=55) acculturation-contact discrepancies were associated with compromised well-being. Study 2 followed a cohort of international students (n=106) for a period of two academic years. Results suggested that discrepancies in students' acculturation-contact in their first year had harmful consequences for their well-being 1 year later. Overall, the two studies show that discrepancies between acculturation preferences and actual contact have negative implications for the psychological adaptation of acculturating individuals.

Policy makers can use four different modes of governance: 'hierarchy', 'markets', 'networks' and 'persuasion'. In this article, it is argued that 'nudging' represents a distinct (fifth) mode of governance. The effectiveness of nudging as a means of bringing about lasting behaviour change is questioned and it is argued that evidence for its success ignores the facts that many successful nudges are not in fact nudges; that there are instances when nudges backfire; and that there may be ethical concerns associated with nudges. Instead, and in contrast to nudging, behaviour change is more likely to be enduring where it involves social identity change and norm internalisation. The article concludes by urging public policy scholars to engage with the social identity literature on 'social influence', and the idea that those promoting lasting behaviour change need to engage with people not as individual cognitive misers, but as members of groups whose norms they internalise and enact.

Aligned with research in the social capital and general health literature, a large body of evidence shows that older people who are more socially active have better cognitive integrity and are less vulnerable to cognitive decline. The present research addresses the question of whether the type of social engagement (group-based vs. individual) has differential effects on these cognitive health outcomes. Drawing on population data (N = 3413) from three waves (i.e. Waves 3, 4 and 5) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we investigated the independent contribution of group and individual engagement in predicting cognitive functioning four years later. Hierarchical linear regression was used entering age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and physical health as covariates. The final model, controlling for initial cognitive function and social engagement (both group and individual) showed that only group engagement made a significant, sustained, and unique contribution to subsequent cognitive function. Furthermore, the effects of group engagement were stronger with increasing age. These findings extend previous work on the social determinants of health by pinpointing the types of relationships that are particularly beneficial in protecting cognitive health. The fact that group engagement optimized health outcomes, and that this was especially the case with increasing age, has important implications for directing community resources to keep older adults mentally active and independent for longer.

It has been almost 30 years since the metaphor of the "glass ceiling" was coined to describe the often subtle, but very real, barriers that women face as they try to climb the organizational hierarchy. Here we review evidence for a relatively new form of gender discrimination-captured by the metaphor of the glass cliff-that women face when they obtain positions of leadership. Such positions often prove to be more risky and precarious than those of their male counterparts. We summarize evidence demonstrating the existence of glass cliffs in business and politics as well as experimental work that identifies a number of factors contributing to the phenomenon. We then discuss implications for policy and practice, highlighting the importance of understanding women's and men's experiences in the workplace rather than treating gender diversity as merely "a numbers game." © 2014 the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Social relationships play a key role in depression. This is apparent in its etiology, symptomatology, and effective treatment. However, there has been little consensus about the best way to conceptualize the link between depression and social relationships. Furthermore, the extensive social-psychological literature on the nature of social relationships, and in particular, research on social identity, has not been integrated with depression research. This review presents evidence that social connectedness is key to understanding the development and resolution of clinical depression. The social identity approach is then used as a basis for conceptualizing the role of social relationships in depression, operationalized in terms of six central hypotheses. Research relevant to these hypotheses is then reviewed. Finally, we present an agenda for future research to advance theoretical and empirical understanding of the link between social identity and depression, and to translate the insights of this approach into clinical practice.

Considerable evidence now exists that people can draw on social groups in order to maintain and enhance health and well-being. We review this evidence and suggest that social identity theorizing, and its development in the social identity approach to health and well-being, can help us to understand the way that groups, and the identities that underpin them, can promote a social cure. Specifically, we propose that social groups are important psychological resources that have the capacity to protect health and well-being, but that they are only utilized effectively when individuals perceive they share identity with another individual or group. However, as powerful as shared identities may be, their consequences for health are largely ignored in policy and practice. In this review, we offer a novel direction for policy, identifying ways in which building and consolidating group identification can help to capitalize effectively on the potential of group membership for health. Using this as a basis to increase awareness, we go further to offer practical interventions aimed at assessing identity resources as substantial and concrete assets, which can be cultivated and harnessed in order to realize their health-enhancing potential. © 2014 the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

The extent to which leadership influences employee health and the processes that underlie its effects are not well understood at present. With the aim of filling this gap, we review four distinct forms of leader behavior (task-oriented, relationship-oriented, change-oriented, and passive/destructive) and clarify the different ways in which these can be expected to have a bearing on employee health. Next, we present a model that integrates and extends these insights. This model describes five pathways through which leader behavior can influence the health of organizational members and summarizes what we know about the most important determinants, processes (mediators) and moderators of these relationships. These involve leaders engaging in personfocused action, system- or team-focused action, action to moderate the impact of contextual factors, climate control and identity management, and modelling. Finally, we identify important gaps and opportunities in the literature that need to be addressed in future research. A key conclusion is that while much has been done to explore some key pathways between leadership and health, others remain underexplored. We also outline how future research might address these in the context of a more expansive theoretical, empirical and practical approach to this emerging field of research. © Rainer Hampp Verlag.

Although nearly two decades of research have provided support for the social identity approach to leadership, most previous work has focused on leaders' identity prototypicality while neglecting the assessment of other equally important dimensions of social identity management. However, recent theoretical developments have argued that in order to mobilize and direct followers' energies, leaders need not only to 'be one of us' (identity prototypicality), but also to 'do it for us' (identity advancement), to 'craft a sense of us' (identity entrepreneurship), and to 'embed a sense of us' (identity impresarioship). In the present research we develop and validate an Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) that assesses these dimensions in different contexts and with diverse samples from the US, China, and Belgium. Study 1 demonstrates that the scale has content validity such that the items meaningfully differentiate between the four dimensions. Studies 2, 3, and 4 provide evidence for the scale's construct validity (distinguishing between dimensions), discriminant validity (distinguishing identity leadership from authentic leadership, leaders' charisma, and perceived leader quality), and criterion validity (relating the ILI to key leadership outcomes). We conclude that by assessing multiple facets of leaders' social identity management the ILI has significant utility for both theory and practice.

Social identity research was pioneered as a distinctive theoretical approach to the analysis of intergroup relations but over the last two decades it has increasingly been used to shed light on applied issues. One early application of insights from social identity and self-categorization theories was to the organizational domain (with a particular focus on leadership), but more recently there has been a surge of interest in applications to the realm of health and clinical topics. This article charts the development of this Applied Social Identity Approach, and abstracts five core lessons from the research that has taken this forward. (1) Groups and social identities matter because they have a critical role to play in organizational and health outcomes. (2) Self-categorizations matter because it is people's self-understandings in a given context that shape their psychology and behaviour. (3) the power of groups is unlocked by working with social identities not across or against them. (4) Social identities need to be made to matter in deed not just in word. (5) Psychological intervention is always political because it always involves some form of social identity management. Programmes that seek to incorporate these principles are reviewed and important challenges and opportunities for the future are identified.

Purpose - There is considerable literature indicating the importance of social connectedness and its relationship to wellbeing. For problem substance users, a similar literature emphasises the importance of the transition from a social network supportive of use to one that fosters recovery. Within this framework, the therapeutic community (TC) is seen as a critical location for adopting a transitional identity (i.e. from a "drug user" to a "member of the TC"), as part of the emergence of a "recovery identity" following treatment. The purpose of this paper is to outline a model for conceptualising and measuring identity based on the theories of social identity and recovery capital, and pilots this model within a TC setting. Design/methodology/approach - a social identity mapping was used with TC residents to test their identification with "using" and "TC" groups, and their relationship to recovery capital. Findings - the network mapping method was acceptable to TC residents, and provided valuable insights into the social networks and social identity of TC residents. Research limitations/implications - This paper explores issues around mapping social identity and its potential in the TC and other residential settings. Originality/value - the paper integrates a number of conceptual models to create a new framework for understanding transitions in social networks during treatment and reports on a novel measurement method underpinning this. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Objectives: Reminiscence is a popular intervention for seniors, but, with mixed evidence supporting its efficacy, questions have been raised about the mechanisms underlying improvement. The present paper addresses this question by investigating the degree to which health effects depend on the development of a shared sense of group identification. This is examined in the context of traditional story-based reminiscence as well as novel forms of song-based reminiscence.Method: As the focus of a manualized intervention, 40 participants were randomly assigned to secular song (n = 13), religious song (n = 13), or standard story reminiscence (n = 14) groups. These were run over six weeks with cognitive performance, anxiety, and life satisfaction measured before and after the intervention. Measures of group fit were included to examine whether social identification contributed to outcomes.Results: No evidence of change emerged over time as a function of intervention form alone, but analysis of identification data revealed significant interactions with the type of reminiscence group. Specifically, initial fit with the story reminiscence group was associated with enhanced cognitive outcomes and greater life satisfaction, while fit with the religious song reminiscence group was associated with greater life satisfaction and less anxiety.Conclusion: These findings show that group identification is a key moderator through which reminiscence promotes health outcomes. Implications for theory and practice highlight an inherent limitation in randomized controlled trials insofar as they may compromise participants group identification. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

OBJECTIVES: Reminiscence is a popular intervention for seniors, but, with mixed evidence supporting its efficacy, questions have been raised about the mechanisms underlying improvement. The present paper addresses this question by investigating the degree to which health effects depend on the development of a shared sense of group identification. This is examined in the context of traditional story-based reminiscence as well as novel forms of song-based reminiscence. METHOD: As the focus of a manualized intervention, 40 participants were randomly assigned to secular song (n=13), religious song (n=13), or standard story reminiscence (n=14) groups. These were run over six weeks with cognitive performance, anxiety, and life satisfaction measured before and after the intervention. Measures of group fit were included to examine whether social identification contributed to outcomes. RESULTS: No evidence of change emerged over time as a function of intervention form alone, but analysis of identification data revealed significant interactions with the type of reminiscence group. Specifically, initial fit with the story reminiscence group was associated with enhanced cognitive outcomes and greater life satisfaction, while fit with the religious song reminiscence group was associated with greater life satisfaction and less anxiety. CONCLUSION: These findings show that group identification is a key moderator through which reminiscence promotes health outcomes. Implications for theory and practice highlight an inherent limitation in randomized controlled trials insofar as they may compromise participants' group identification.

An archival study of U.K. General Election results from 2001, 2005, and 2010 revealed that Conservative black and minority ethnic (BME) candidates were less successful than their white counterparts. However, mediation analyses demonstrate that this lack of success can be explained by the lower winnability of BME candidates' seats, such that the opposition candidate held a seat with a significantly larger majority compared with white candidates' opponents. Results and implications are discussed in the framework of the "glass cliff," previously demonstrated for women, in the sense that the seats minority groups contested were harder to win compared with majority groups. © 2013 University of Utah.

Principles of lean office management increasingly call for space to be stripped of extraneous decorations so that it can flexibly accommodate changing numbers of people and different office functions within the same area. Yet this practice is at odds with evidence that office workers' quality of life can be enriched by office landscaping that involves the use of plants that have no formal work-related function. To examine the impact of these competing approaches, 3 field experiments were conducted in large commercial offices in the Netherlands and the U.K. These examined the impact of lean and "green" offices on subjective perceptions of air quality, concentration, and workplace satisfaction as well as objective measures of productivity. Two studies were longitudinal, examining effects of interventions over subsequent weeks and months. In all 3 experiments enhanced outcomes were observed when offices were enriched by plants. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The present research extends prior work by proposing that followers' social identification with a group can translate into their relational identification with leaders. Study 1 demonstrates experimentally that compared to low-identified followers, highly identified followers perceive themselves to share relational identity with a leader when that leader is representative of their ingroup (but not if that leader is representative of an outgroup). Followers' relational identification, in turn, influences not only their experience of a personal bond with the leader but also perceptions of leader charisma. Study 2 replicates these findings in the context of Presidential candidates in the 2012 US election and extends them by examining leader prototypicality as a further moderating factor. Findings suggest that followers' experience of a 'special' and 'personal' bond with leaders arises from their social bond within a group that binds them together and provides a framework for their mutual relationship. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Group-based interventions have been argued to slow the cognitive decline of older people residing in care by building social identification and thereby increasing motivation and engagement. The present study explored the identity-cognition association further by investigating the impact of a group decision-making intervention on cognition. Thirty-six care home residents were assigned to one of three conditions: an Intervention in which they made decisions about lounge refurbishment as a group, a Comparison condition in which staff made these decisions, or a no-treatment Control. Cognitive function, social identification, home satisfaction, and lounge use were measured before and after the intervention. Participants in the Intervention condition showed significant increases on all measures, and greater improvement than participants in both Comparison and Control conditions. Consistent with social identity theorizing, these findings point to the role of group activity and social identification in promoting cognitive integrity and well-being among care residents. © 2012 the British Psychological Society.

In this article, we outline the rationale for reexamining Milgram's explanation of how ordinary people can become perpetrators of atrocity. We argue, first, that any consideration of these issues cannot ignore the impact of Milgram's ideas in psychology, in other disciplines such as history, and in society at large. Second, we outline recent research in both psychology and historywhich challenges Milgram's perspective-specifically his "agentic state" account. Third, we identify the moral dangers as well as the analytic weaknesses of his work. Fourth, we point to recent methodological developments that make it ethically possible to revisit Milgram's studies. Combining all four elements we argue that there is a compelling and timely case for reexamining Milgram's legacy and developing our understanding of perpetrator behavior. We then outline how the various articles in this special issue contribute to such a project.

This paper introduces a single-item social identification measure (SISI) that involves rating one's agreement with the statement 'I identify with my group (or category)' followed by a 7-point scale. Three studies provide evidence of the validity (convergent, divergent, and test-retest) of SISI with a broad range of social groups. Overall, the estimated reliability of SISI is good. To address the broader issue of single-item measure reliability, a meta-analysis of 16 widely used single-item measures is reported. The reliability of single-item scales ranges from low to reasonably high. Compared with this field, reliability of the SISI is high. In general, short measures struggle to achieve acceptable reliability because the constructs they assess are broad and heterogeneous. In the case of social identification, however, the construct appears to be sufficiently homogeneous to be adequately operationalized with a single item.

Objectives: Aging is associated with deterioration in health and well-being, but previous research suggests that this can be attenuated by maintaining group memberships and the valued social identities associated with them. In this regard, religious identification may be especially beneficial in helping individuals withstand the challenges of aging, partly because religious identity serves as a basis for a wider social network of other group memberships. This paper aims to examine relationships between religion (identification and group membership) and well-being among older adults. The contribution of having and maintaining multiple group memberships in mediating these relationships is assessed, and also compared to patterns associated with other group memberships (social and exercise). Method: Study 1 (N = 42) surveyed older adults living in residential care homes in Canada, who completed measures of religious identity, other group memberships, and depression. Study 2 (N = 7021) longitudinally assessed older adults in the UK on similar measures, but with the addition of perceived physical health. Results: in Study 1, religious identification was associated with fewer depressive symptoms, and membership in multiple groups mediated that relationship. However, no relationships between social or exercise groups and mental health were evident. Study 2 replicated these patterns, but additionally, maintaining multiple group memberships over time partially mediated the relationship between religious group membership and physical health. Conclusion: Together these findings suggest that religious social networks are an especially valuable source of social capital among older adults, supporting well-being directly and by promoting additional group memberships (including those that are non-religious). © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

OBJECTIVES: Aging is associated with deterioration in health and well-being, but previous research suggests that this can be attenuated by maintaining group memberships and the valued social identities associated with them. In this regard, religious identification may be especially beneficial in helping individuals withstand the challenges of aging, partly because religious identity serves as a basis for a wider social network of other group memberships. This paper aims to examine relationships between religion (identification and group membership) and well-being among older adults. The contribution of having and maintaining multiple group memberships in mediating these relationships is assessed, and also compared to patterns associated with other group memberships (social and exercise). METHOD: Study 1 (N = 42) surveyed older adults living in residential care homes in Canada, who completed measures of religious identity, other group memberships, and depression. Study 2 (N = 7021) longitudinally assessed older adults in the UK on similar measures, but with the addition of perceived physical health. RESULTS: in Study 1, religious identification was associated with fewer depressive symptoms, and membership in multiple groups mediated that relationship. However, no relationships between social or exercise groups and mental health were evident. Study 2 replicated these patterns, but additionally, maintaining multiple group memberships over time partially mediated the relationship between religious group membership and physical health. CONCLUSION: Together these findings suggest that religious social networks are an especially valuable source of social capital among older adults, supporting well-being directly and by promoting additional group memberships (including those that are non-religious).

Why are conservatives happier than liberals? Napier and Jost (2008) argue that this is because conservative ideology has a palliative (system-justifying) function that protects conservatives' (but not liberals') happiness. We develop another rationale for this effect and argue that we need to examine how ideology (e.g. conservatism) is embedded in the social system and people's own place within it. In a study (N = 816), we find that conservatives are more satisfied with life than liberals and that conservatism is associated with higher socioeconomic status (SES). Taking SES as a starting point, we find that those with high SES have access to more group memberships and that this is associated with higher life satisfaction. We failed to replicate Napier and Jost's finding that system-justifying ideology mediated the relationship between conservatism and life satisfaction. We conclude that conservatives may be happier than liberals because their high SES gives them access to more group memberships. © the Author(s) 2013.

Research has demonstrated that leader performance and leader prototypicality are both predictors of leader endorsement. While performance and prototypicality have generally been considered to be independent, this paper suggests that performance and prototypicality are interdependent and have a bi-directional impact both on each other and on leaders' capacity to engage in identity entrepreneurship (i.e. to define shared group norms and ideals). Two experimental studies indicate that followers infer leaders' prototypicality from their performance and that a leader's prototypicality determines perceptions of performance (indicating reversed causality). Moreover, there is evidence that both performance and prototypicality enhance leaders' capacity to act as identity entrepreneurs. These findings extend our understanding of the mutually dependent causal relationship between followers' perceptions that a leader is 'one of us' and that he or she is 'doing it well'. They also provide the first experimental evidence that these factors are joint determinants of leaders' identity entrepreneurship. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

OBJECTIVES: As provenance of postconcussion symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is controversial, with similar rates found in other populations, we aimed to identify postconcussion symptoms specific to mTBI compared with controls. We also compared differences between complicated and uncomplicated mTBIs. SETTING: Hospital emergency department. PARTICIPANTS: Adult individuals (34 individuals with complicated mTBI, 76 individuals with uncomplicated mTBI, and 47 orthopedic controls) who sought care in the emergency department and were consecutively recruited by post at 2 weeks postinjury. MAIN MEASURES: Rivermead Postconcussion Symptom Questionnaire. Preinjury factors were used as covariates. RESULTS: Compared with orthopedic controls, complicated mTBI group reported greater severity of headaches, dizziness, and nausea, as well as concentration difficulties, suggesting that these are neurogenic. Severity of other symptoms measured on the Rivermead Postconcussion Symptom Questionnaire was not significantly different between these groups, suggesting that these are psychogenic. Differences were evident between the 2 mTBI samples on the items of dizziness, nausea, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and concentration difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: Neurogenic and psychogenic postconcussion symptoms were identified at the acute-phase postinjury. Findings suggest that treating persons with mTBI as a homogenous sample is not prudent. This should inform prognostic models and follow-up support offered after leaving the emergency department.

Leaders have been observed to use distinct rhetorical strategies, but it is unclear to what extent such strategies are effective. To address this issue we analyzed the official election campaign speeches of successful and unsuccessful Prime Ministerial candidates in all 43 Australian Federal elections since independence from Britain in 1901 and measured candidates' use of personal ('I', 'me') and collective pronouns ('we', 'us'). Victors used more collective pronouns than their unsuccessful opponents in 80% of all elections. Across all elections, victors made 61% more references to 'we' and 'us' and used these once every 79 words (vs. every 136 words for losers). Extending social identity theorizing, this research suggests that electoral endorsement is associated with leaders' capacity to engage with, and speak on behalf of, a collective identity that is shared with followers whose support and energies they seek to mobilize.

Prevailing approaches to individual and group creativity have focused on personal factors that contribute to creative behavior (e.g. personality, intelligence, motivation), and the processes of behaving creatively and appreciating creativity are understood to be largely unrelated. This article uses social identity and self-categorization theories as the basis for a model of creativity that addresses these lacunae by emphasizing the role that groups play in stimulating and shaping creative acts and in determining the reception they are given. We argue that shared social identity (or lack of it) motivates individuals to rise to particular creative challenges and provides a basis for certain forms of creativity to be recognized (or disregarded). Empirical work informed by this approach supports eight novel hypotheses relating to individual, group, and systemic dimensions of the creativity process. These also provide an agenda for future creativity research.

In this paper, we argue for social psychology as ‘a science of movement’. We argue that such a science must problematise the status quo and focus on the way in which social stability as well as social change is actively produced. Key to this project is a recognition that human action arises in a context where multiple voices seek to mobilise people in different directions. The question of which voice prevails depends upon processes of social identification that provide a basis for authority and influence. We illustrate this approach, first, by examining the dynamics of crowd behaviour. We use the Elaborated Social Identity Model (ESIM) to examine when people pay heed to those who advocate a challenge to authority and when, by contrast, participation increases their acceptance of existing authority. We then go on examine Milgram’s famous ‘obedience’ studies, looking again at when participants shun the voice of authority and when they heed it. In contrast to conventional explanations which take conformity to authority as a given, we propose an ‘engaged follower’ perspective in which conformity depends upon identification with the cause which authority represents. We finish by showing how Milgram actively managed participants’ identification in order to mobilise their compliance.

Two studies were conducted examining the impact of framing on ingroup identification and allegiance in the context of international conflicts. The first study was carried out among British students at the beginning of the war in Afghanistan (N = 69). Perceptions of the war were manipulated by varying the frame that determined whether the war was perceived as positive and just or negative. Participants provided with a positive frame on the war identified more with their ingroup (Britain), and displayed higher allegiance to the United States than when given a negative frame. These findings were replicated in a second study conducted in the context of the second Iraq war (N = 51). Discussion focuses on the way in which framing affects perceptions of intergroup relations and the relationship between self, ingroup and out-group(s). Copyright © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

An online survey-based study (N = 314) combining experimental and quasi-experimental elements was conducted to examine variation in employees' group identification in organizational contexts. The study measured three foci of identification (organization, workgroup, career) under three conditions of identity fit (organizational, workgroup, career) in two healthcare organizations (one public sector, one private sector) that had distinct organizational cultures (collectivist, individualist, respectively). Whilst workgroup identification was generally higher than organizational identification, this difference was moderated both by sector and by the interaction between sector and identity fit. This meant (1) that when the fit manipulation made workgroup identity salient, workgroup identification was only higher than organizational and career identification in the public-sector organization and (2) that when the fit manipulation made career identity salient, career identification was only higher than organizational and workgroup identification in the private-sector organization. These findings are consistent with hypotheses derived from self-categorization theory, which suggests that the salience of organizational identities defined at different levels of abstraction varies as a function of their accessibility and fit and hence is determined by their localized meaning. They are also inconsistent with assumptions that workgroup identity will always be preferred to more inclusive categorizations. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. © 2012 the British Psychological Society.

A growing body of evidence indicates that organizational identification underpins a range of important organizational outcomes. However, to date, the literature has provided little empirically grounded guidance for organizations that are trying to develop organizational identification among their employees. In this paper we aim to address this lacuna by testing the effectiveness of the ASPIRe model — a model that specifies a sequence of structured activities designed to use subgroup identities as a platform for building organizational identification — in a bespoke workshop delivered to senior military health services personnel. As predicted by the ASPIRe model, participants reported increased levels of subgroup and organizational identification as a result of the workshop and were also more supportive of the organization’s strategy.

The rejection-identification model (RIM; Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999) is supported by a number of previous studies (e.g. Schmitt, Branscombe, Kobrynowicz, & Owen, 2002; Schmitt, Spears, & Branscombe, 2003). This suggests that rejection by an outgroup can lead minority group members to identify more with their ingroup, thereby buffering them from the negative effects of discrimination. However, contradictory findings have been produced by other research (e.g. Eccleston & Major, 2006; Major, Quinton, & Schmader, 2003; McCoy & Major, 2003; Sellers & Shelton, 2003), suggesting that the relationship between rejection and identification is far from being completely understood. In the present study, we followed a cohort of 113 international students for a period of 2 years. The study sought to extend the previous work in two important ways. First, it examined the RIM within a longitudinal perspective. Second, building on important work on the multidimensionality of social identification (e.g. Ellemers, Kortekaas, & Ouwerkerk, 1999; Jackson, 2002), it tested the RIM using a three-dimensional approach to group identification. Results supported the predictions of the RIM and indicated that perceived discrimination causes minority group identification and not the reverse. The multidimensional approach also served to reveal a specific effect of discrimination on the cognitive components of identification.

Three points that are implicit in Dixon et al.'s paradigm-challenging paper serve to make prejudice potent. First, prejudice reflects understandings of social identity – the relationship of “us” to "them" - that are shared within particular groups. Second, these understandings are actively promoted by leaders who represent and advance in-group identity. Third, prejudice is identified in out-groups, not in-groups.

Understanding of the psychology of tyranny is dominated by classic studies from the 1960s and 1970s: Milgram's research on obedience to authority and Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment. Supporting popular notions of the banality of evil, this research has been taken to show that people conform passively and unthinkingly to both the instructions and the roles that authorities provide, however malevolent these may be. Recently, though, this consensus has been challenged by empirical work informed by social identity theorizing. This suggests that individuals' willingness to follow authorities is conditional on identification with the authority in question and an associated belief that the authority is right.

John Turner, whose pioneering work on social identity and self-categorization theories changed the face of modern social psychology, died in July 2011. This unique virtual special issue celebrates Turner's life and work by reproducing a number of key articles that were published in the British Journal of Social Psychology and the European Journal of Social Psychology over the course of his career. These articles are of three types: first, key position papers, on which Turner was the leading or sole author; second, papers that he published with collaborators (typically PhD students) that explored key theoretical propositions; third, short commentary papers, in which Turner engaged in debate around key issues within social psychology. Together, these papers map out a clear and compelling vision. This seeks to explain the distinctly social nature of the human mind by showing how all important forms of social behaviour - and in particular, the propensity for social influence and social change -are grounded in the sense of social identity that people derive from their group memberships. As we discuss in this editorial, Turner's great contribution was to formalize this understanding in terms of testable hypotheses and generative theory and then to work intensively but imaginatively with others to take this vision forward.

The divide between religious traditionalists and secular humanists has been widening for decades; yet, little is known about factors that attenuate hostility between these groups. Two studies examined whether (ir)religious identification could mitigate negative feelings toward (ir)religious outgroups. Following priming to make salient religious groups in daily life or group-based threat, Atheists and Christians in Britain (Study 1, n = 113), and Atheists, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and Protestants in Canada (Study 2, n = 181) reported intergroup feelings, ingroup evaluations, and perceptions of their group as viewed by others. Atheists reported the lowest ingroup identification and felt equally negative toward all religious groups. Likewise, religious group members generally felt most negative toward Atheists. However, identification with the (ir)religious ingroup was associated with less hostility toward the outgroup(s). This was particularly marked for Atheists who perceived that religious followers felt positively toward them. These results challenge suggestions that (ir)religious identification and threat necessarily promote intergroup hostility. © SAGE Publications 2011.

In this interview Prof. Alex Haslam discusses his past and present work in social and organisational psychology and the multiple ways in which these two fields are inter-connected. He considers the guiding threads within his scientific activity from the famous BBC Prison Study to more recent work on leadership. Covering both theoretical to applied considerations, this interview addresses important questions for psychologists working in organisations and elsewhere in society. It offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of humans as social beings capable of forming groups and sharing identities, of including but also excluding, of both following and leading.

We examined how a group's claim to moral superiority influences evaluations of rule-breaking by ingroup members. Moral superiority was manipulated among researchers (Study 1) and British citizens (Study 2), after which group members were presented with ingroup rule-breakers: a researcher violating ethical rules (Study 1) and British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners (Study 2). In both studies, higher and lower identifiers in the control condition perceived the rule-breaking as equally damaging, evaluated the rule-breakers equally negatively and recommended equally harsh punishments. When the group had taken the moral high ground, lower identifiers perceived the rule-breaking as more damaging than did higher identifiers. In addition, higher identifiers evaluated the rule-breakers less negatively and recommended more lenient punishments. Results of mediation analyses demonstrated that negative evaluations of, and recommended punishment for, the rule-breakers were explained by the perceived damage that their behaviour caused to the ingroup. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

OBJECTIVES: the costs associated with traumatic injury are often exacerbated by the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms. However, it is unclear what decreases the development of post-traumatic symptoms over time. The aim of the present research was to examine the role of psychological symptoms and social group memberships in reducing the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms after orthopaedic injuries (OIs) and acquired brain injuries (ABIs). DESIGN AND METHODS: a longitudinal prospective study assessed self-reported general health symptoms, social group memberships, and post-traumatic stress symptoms among participants with mild or moderate ABI (n= 62) or upper limb OI (n= 31) at 2 weeks (T1) and 3 months (T2) after injury. RESULTS: Hierarchical regressions revealed that having fewer T1 general health symptoms predicted lower levels of T2 post-traumatic stress symptoms after OI but forming more new group memberships at T1 predicted lower levels of T2 post-traumatic stress symptoms after ABI. CONCLUSION: a focus on acquiring group memberships may be particularly important in reducing the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms after injuries, such as ABI, which result in long-term life changes.

There is a general tendency for social psychologists to focus on processes of oppression rather than resistance. This is exemplified and entrenched by the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). Consequently, researchers and commentators have come to see domination, tyranny, and abuse as natural or inevitable in the world at large. Challenging this view, research suggests that where members of low-status groups are bound together by a sense of shared social identity, this can be the basis for effective leadership and organization that allows them to counteract stress, secure support, challenge authority, and promote social change in even the most extreme of situations. This view is supported by a review of experimental research--notably the SPE and the BBC Prison Study--and case studies of rebellion against carceral regimes in Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Nazi Germany. This evidence is used to develop a social identity model of resistance dynamics.

This study examined the combined effects of age-based self-categorization and aging expectations on cognitive performance in a clinical context. An experimental study manipulated older adults’ salient self-categorization as Younger or Older, as well as expectations that aging involves a specific memory decline versus generalized cognitive decline. Memory and general ability tests that are typically used in dementia screening were then administered. As predicted, self-categorization as Older dramatically reduced performance, but the measure on which this effect was revealed depended on aging expectations. Participants who self-categorized as Older and expected memory to decline performed worse on memory tests. Conversely, participants who self-categorized as Older and expected widespread cognitive decline performed worse on the general ability test. The clinical implications for the latter group were profound, as 70% met the diagnostic criterion for dementia, compared to an average of 14% in other conditions. The importance of self-categorization processes when interpreting performance on tests used to diagnose dementia are discussed.

In 2 field studies (Ns=71 and 113), we tested the prediction that in-group identification would mediate the acquisition of group norms by new group members. Study 1 demonstrated that participants surveyed after a team-development program reported greater awareness of in-group norms of teamwork and cooperation, compared to those surveyed at the start. Moreover, there was evidence that this effect was mediated by increased in-group identification. Study 2 replicated this finding, and showed that the effects were specific to the norm of teamwork. Acquisition of alternative norms of individualism and competitiveness did not increase after participation in the program, and did not correlate with identification. Practical implications and future work are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The present research explores the relationship between the two components of autobiographical memory--episodic and semantic self-knowledge--and identity strength in older adults living in the community and residential care. Participants (N= 32) completed the autobiographical memory interview and measures of personal identity strength and multiple group memberships. Contrary to previous research, autobiographical memory for all time periods (childhood, early adulthood, and recent life) in the semantic domain was associated with greater strength in personal identity. Further, we obtained support for the hypothesis that the relationship between episodic self-knowledge and identity strength would be mediated by knowledge of personal semantic facts. However, there was also support for a reverse mediation model indicating that a strong sense of identity is associated with semantic self-knowledge and through this may enhance self-relevant recollection. The discussion elaborates on these findings and we propose a self-knowledge and identity model (SKIM) whereby semantic self-knowledge mediates a bidirectional relationship between episodic self-knowledge and identity.

Russell's forensic archival investigations reveal the great lengths that Milgram went to in order to construct an experiment that would 'shock the world'. However, in achieving this goal it is also apparent that the drama of the 'basic' obedience paradigm draws attention away both from variation in obedience and from the task of explaining that variation. Building on points that Russell and others have made concerning the competing 'pulls' that are at play in the Milgram paradigm, this paper outlines the potential for a social identity perspective on obedience to provide such an explanation.

To ensure subordinates' compliance with organizational policies and procedures, those in positions of organizational leadership and authority have a number of resources at their disposal (e.g. rewards and punishments, surveillance, persuasion). When choosing strategies that will maximise their capacity to influence, however, leaders cannot afford to overlook the role of social identity processes. Evidence from two studies shows that the success or otherwise of strategies such as rewards/punishments and surveillance depends on whether the leader is considered to be an ingroup or outgroup member. In line with hypotheses, the results indicate that while surveillance may be a necessary tool in the repertoire of outgroup leaders (Experiment 2), in the hands of ingroup leaders it is likely to attenuate rather than enhance their capacity to influence (Experiments 1 and 2). © 2010 Elsevier Inc.

This study examined the roles of personal and social changes on the relationship between injury severity and life satisfaction among individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI). Personal change (i.e. having developed a survivor identity, identity strength), social changes (i.e. improved social relationships, support from services), injury severity (i.e. length of time in coma), and well-being (i.e. life satisfaction) were assessed in a sample of 630 individuals with ABIs. A counterintuitive positive relationship was found between injury severity and life satisfaction. Bootstrapping analyses indicated that this relationship was mediated by personal and social changes. Although identity strength was the strongest individual mediator, both personal and social changes each explained unique variance in this relationship. These findings suggest that strategies that strengthen personal identity and social relationships may be beneficial for individuals recovering from ABIs.

Stanley Milgram had an epic vision for social psychology: to create strong experimental contexts that would demonstrate the power of the social world to shape individual behaviour. Consistent with this goal, variants of the obedience paradigm reveal participants' propensity to show not only total obedience but also total disobedience. This article argues that the key remaining task for researchers is to explain this variation, but that to do this we need to reconnect with the richness of Milgram's data and ideas. This theme is echoed and elaborated in other contributions to this special feature. Alexandra Milgram tells us about the passions that motivated her husband's life and work; Jerry Burger discusses his replication of the Milgram studies; film scholar Kathryn Millard explores an overlooked side of Milgram; and historian Richard Overy considers the impact of Milgram's ideas on our understanding of destructive obedience in, and after, the Second World War.

Researchers have recently asserted that social identity salience moderates the way in which people react to external stressors. However, previous research has mainly investigated this idea in the context of internal coping processes in response to personal threat. The present research examines people's willingness to respond to collective threat by means of aggressive acts of revenge. A study with 80 female participants revealed that aggressive revenge intentions were most pronounced when the form of collective threat was relevant to a currently salient social identity. Specifically, we found that a threat to national identity (the 7/7/2005 London bombings) led to greater aggression and greater support for revenge when national rather than gender identity was salient. In contrast, a threat to gender identity (Taliban misogyny) led to greater aggression and greater support for revenge when gender rather than national identity was salient. Implications for research on social identity, stress, and responses to terrorism are discussed. © 2010 American Psychological Association.

The present research explores the relationship between the two components of autobiographical memory - episodic and semantic self-knowledge - and identity strength in older adults living in the community and residential care. Participants (N=32) completed the autobiographical memory interview and measures of personal identity strength and multiple group memberships. Contrary to previous research, autobiographical memory for all time periods (childhood, early adulthood, and recent life) in the semantic domain was associated with greater strength in personal identity. Further, we obtained support for the hypothesis that the relationship between episodic self-knowledge and identity strength would be mediated by knowledge of personal semantic facts. However, there was also support for a reverse mediation model indicating that a strong sense of identity is associated with semantic self-knowledge and through this may enhance self-relevant recollection. The discussion elaborates on these findings and we propose a self-knowledge and identity model (SKIM) whereby semantic self-knowledge mediates a bidirectional relationship between episodic self-knowledge and identity.

We investigated the impact of cognitive deterioration and identity loss on well-being in older adults with dementia. We predicted that in addition to the negative effects that decline in cognitive ability has on dementia sufferers' well-being, there are also independent negative effects of identity loss. Participants (N = 48) were residents receiving standard care with mild dementia, residents receiving specialized care with severe dementia, and an age-matched community comparison group. Predictably, autobiographical memory and cognitive performance decreased linearly as a function of care level. Life satisfaction was lower for the standard care group with mild dementia than for the community sample, but, unexpectedly, life satisfaction was just as high for the severe dementia group receiving specialized care as for the community group. A similar U-shaped pattern was found in ratings of personal identity strength, and this mediated the life satisfaction effect. We conclude that amongst those suffering from dementia, loss of memory serves to compromise well-being primarily because it is associated with loss of identity.

Benevolent, long-term care can threaten older adults' sense of autonomy in a residential home environment. Increasing reliance on a hotel style of living has been seen to erode social identity, life satisfaction and even survival or lifespan. Drawing on evidence from both gerontological and social psychological literature, this paper examines the links between the empowerment of residents and their subsequent quality of life in the context of a move into a new care facility in a medium-sized town in South-West England. A longitudinal experiment was conducted during which 27 residents on one floor of a new facility were involved in decisions surrounding its décor, while those on another floor were not. The residents' attitudes and behaviour were monitored at three points over five months (four weeks pre-move, four weeks post-move, and four months post-move). Consistent with the social identity literature, members of the empowered group reported increased identification with staff and fellow residents in the new home, displayed enhanced citizenship, reported improved wellbeing, and made more use of the communal space. Moreover the staff found the empowered residents to be more engaged with their environment and the people around them, to be generally happier and to have better health. These patterns were observed one month after the move and remained four months later. Some implications for theory and practice are discussed. © 2010 Cambridge University Press.

This paper presents a comprehensive archival examination of FTSE 100 companies in
the period 2001–2005, focusing on the relationship between the presence of women on
company boards and both accountancy-based and stock-based measures of company
performance. Consistent with work by Adams, Gupta and Leeth this analysis reveals
that there was no relationship between women’s presence on boards and ‘objective’
accountancy-based measures of performance (return on assets, return on equity).
However, consistent with ‘glass cliff’ research there was a negative relationship between
women’s presence on boards and ‘subjective’ stock-based measures of performance.
Companies with male-only boards enjoyed a valuation premium of 37% relative to firms
with a woman on their board. Results support claims that women are found on the
boards of companies that are perceived to be performing poorly and that their presence
on boards can lead to the devaluation of companies by investors. Yet the findings also
indicate that perceptions and investment are not aligned with the underlying realities of
company performance.

Recent archival and experimental research by Ryan and Haslam (2005, 2007; Haslam & Ryan, 2008) has revealed that women are more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions when an organization is in crisis. As a result, women often confront a “glass cliff” in which their position as leader is precarious. Our first archival study examined the 2005 UK General Election and found that, in the Conservative Party, women contested harder-to-win seats than did men. Our second study experimentally investigated the selection of a candidate by 80 undergraduates in a British political science class to contest a by-election in a seat that was either safe (held by own party with a large margin) or risky (held by an opposition party with a large margin). Results indicated that a male candidate was more likely than a woman to be selected to contest a safe seat, but there was a strong preference for a woman rather than a male appointment when the seat was described as hard to win. Implications for women’s participation in politics are discussed.

We provide evidence that, compared to old-timers, newcomers' intentions to confront deviants are more sensitive to the social context when confronted with rule-violations. Female rugby players (N=71) were asked for their disapproval of, and willingness to sanction, ingroup and outgroup members who broke important rules in rugby. We also manipulated the status of the audience and found that newcomers were more likely to confront deviants when the audience was high status, and when there was little risk of alienating other ingroup members. In contrast, old-timers expressed relatively high intentions to confront deviants regardless of the context. Discussion focuses on the idea that newcomers resiled from confronting deviants when an ingroup rule-breaker had to be directly confronted, presumably because the perceived costs of doing so exceeded the potential benefits of ingratiating oneself to the high-status audience. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Religious affiliation has consistently been shown to help individuals cope with adversity and stressful events. The present paper argues that this proposition is valid for both Christians and Muslims, but that these religious identities foster different types of coping. In accordance with historical, cultural, and psychological accounts, it is proposed that the Christian core self is relatively individualistic, whereas the Muslim core self is oriented more toward the collective. As a consequence, it is hypothesized that when confronted with a stressful life event, Muslims are more likely to adopt interpersonal (collective) coping strategies (such as seeking social support or turning to family members), while Christians are more likely to engage intrapersonal (individualistic) coping mechanisms, such as cognitive restructuring or reframing the event. Evidence from the literature on coping strategies is reviewed and systematized. Evidence lend support to the analysis by indicating that Muslims indeed tend to use an interpersonally oriented (collective) coping style when dealing with adversity, whereas Christians are more likely to employ intrapersonally oriented (individualistic) strategies when facing comparable scenarios. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. © 2010 American Psychological Association.

Principles of lean management encourage managers to exert tight control over office space and the people within it. Alternative, design-led approaches promote the value of offices that are enriched, particularly by plants and art. On the basis of a social identity perspective, this paper argues that both these approaches may compromise organizational outcomes by disempowering workers and failing to give them input into the design of their office space. This hypothesis is tested in two experiments (Ns = 112, 47). The first was conducted in an interior office in a Psychology Department, the second in a commercial city office. In four independent conditions the studies examine the impact of space management strategies in which the office is either (a) lean, (b) decorated by the experimenter (with plants and art), (c) self-decorated, or (d) self-decorated and then redecorated by the experimenter. The studies examine the impact of these conditions on organizational identification, well-being, and various forms of productivity (attention to detail, information processing, information management, and organizational citizenship). In both experiments, superior outcomes are observed when offices are decorated rather than lean. However, further improvements in well-being and productivity are observed when workers have input into office decoration. Moreover, these effects are attenuated if this input is overridden. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. In particular, findings point to the need to question assumptions about the merits of lean office space management that have been dominant throughout the last century.

To flesh out the principles of dynamic interactionism presented by Reynolds et al. (2010), we discuss traditional approaches to the psychology of tyranny and oppression. We argue that models which place personality and situational factors in opposition, together with those which combine these elements mechanically, signally fail to capture the dynamism that is characteristic of tyrannical systems. We identify four aspects of this dynamism. These suggest that individual differences (a) draw people towards particular contexts, (b) are given meaning by salient social identities, (c) are transformed by intense group experiences and (d) become most potent when representative of group identity. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We report findings from an intervention study that investigates the impact of group reminiscence (GR) and individual reminiscence (IR) activities on older adults living in care settings. This research aimed to provide a theory-driven evaluation of reminiscence based on a social identity framework. This framework predicts better health outcomes for group-based interventions as a result of their capacity to create a sense of shared social identification among participants. A total of 73 residents, living in either standard or specialized (i.e. dementia) care units, were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: GR (n = 29), IR (n = 24), and a group control activity (n = 20). The intervention took place over 6 weeks, and cognitive screening and well-being measures were administered both pre- and post-intervention. Results indicated that only the group interventions produced effective outcomes and that these differed as a modality-specific function of condition: Collective recollection of past memories enhanced memory performance, and engaging in a shared social activity enhanced well-being. Theoretically, these findings point to the important role that group membership plays in maintaining and promoting health and well-being.

The “think manager–think male” (TMTM) association underlies many gender inequalities in the workplace. However, research into the “glass cliff” has demonstrated that the suitability of male and female managers varies as a function of company performance such that in times of poor performance people may “think female” (Ryan & Haslam, 2005, 2007). Three studies examined gender and managerial stereotypes in the context of companies that are doing well or doing badly. Study 1 reproduced TMTM associations for descriptions of managers of successful companies but demonstrated a reversal for managers of unsuccessful companies. Study 2 examined the prescriptive nature of these stereotypes. No TMTM relationship was found for ideal managers of successful companies, but ideal managers of unsuccessful companies were associated with the female stereotype. Study 3 suggested that women may be favored in times of poor performance, not because they are expected to improve the situation, but because they are seen to be good people managers and can take the blame for organizational failure. Together, the studies illustrate the importance of context as a moderator of the TMTM association. Practical and theoretical implications for gender discrimination in the workplace are discussed.

The topic of diversity is of increasing interest to business, academics, and consultants. Diversity research tends to focus on the demographic characteristics of organisations and examines how managers might work with the ethnic, cultural, religious and gender differences of employees to maximise organisational performance. One strategy is to recognise and record the demographic diversity within the organisation (referred to as auditing) in order to use these diversity resources to strategically advance organisational goals. Based on a social psychological analysis of diversity, though, it is argued that auditing can be highly problematic. This practice can lead to an increase in prejudice and a decrease in performance on relevant organisational dimensions. In contrast, an AIRing (Ascertaining Identity Resources) process is outlined that is more likely to lead to organisational success. © 2010 Australian Human Resources Institute.

There is limited empirical evidence of the relationship between attributions following failure and subsequent task performance. Two studies manipulated the perceived controllability and stability of causes of initial task failure and explored the impact of these factors on perceptions of self-efficacy and follow-up performance. Consistent with previous attributional and social identity theorizing, an induced belief that failure was both beyond control and unlikely to change led to lower self-efficacy and worse performance, relative to conditions in which outcomes were believed to be controllable and/or unstable. These findings point to the resilience of beliefs in personal self-efficacy, but suggest that where opportunities for self-enhancement are precluded, personal self-belief will be compromised and performance will suffer.

Public opinion research has increased our understanding of the variables affecting endorsement of EU integration. What is less well understood is how comparative identity processes shape EU identification. Drawing on social identity principles, we argue that EU identification is in part affected by tensions between relevant subgroup identities. To illustrate this point, two studies were conducted in UK regions (Wales and Cornwall). Findings confirm our prediction that a comparative context affects EU identity and indicate (a) that levels of EU identity were higher in contexts where regional identity was salient, and (b) that regional identity affected the bases and meaning of EU identification and EU endorsement. Discussion highlights the importance of taking context and intergroup relations into account when examining EU attitudes. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Previous theorizing and research in the social identity tradition suggests that identification with a group is a major determinant both of individuals' citizenship behaviour and their experience of, and responses to, social and organizational stressors. To provide a longitudinal exploration of these processes, the present study examines the patterns of group identification, work-related attitudes and burnout within two theatre production teams on five occasions, from audition to post-performance. As predicted, identification with the production team at the outset predicted positive perceptions and attitudes at the productions' conclusion. Specifically, high identifiers were more willing to display organizational citizenship, had greater work satisfaction and had more pride in their work than those lower in identification. Compared with low identifiers, high identifiers were also less likely to experience burnout during the most demanding phases of a production (i.e. dress rehearsal and performance). Moreover, path analysis indicates that the effect of initial identification on the level of citizenship that was ultimately displayed was partly attributable to the role that group identification played in protecting individuals from burnout during these demanding periods. Findings thus suggest that social identification not only motivates individuals to contribute to group success but also protects them from the stressors they encounter in the process of making that contribution. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The social environment comprising communities, families, neighbourhoods, work teams, and various other forms of social group is not simply an external feature of the world that provides a context for individual behaviour. Instead these groups impact on the psychology of individuals through their capacity to be internalised as part of a person's social identity. If groups provide individuals with a sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging (i.e. a positive sense of social identity) they tend to have positive psychological consequences. The impact of these identity processes on health and well-being is explored in the contributions to this special issue. In this editorial, we discuss these contributions in light of five central themes that have emerged from research to date. These themes address the relationship between social identity and (a) symptom appraisal and response, (b) health-related norms and behaviour, (c) social support, (d) coping, and (e) clinical outcomes. The special issue as a whole points to the capacity for a social identity approach to enrich academic understanding in these areas and to play a key role in shaping health-related policy and practice. 2009 International Association of Applied Psychology.

In recent years, a social identity approach has been used to help understand why people do or do not pay tax [see Taylor, 2003; Wenzel, M. 2002. The impact of outcome orientation and justice concerns on tax compliance: the role of taxpayers' identity. Journal of Applied Psychology 87, 629-645; Wenzel, M. 2004. An analysis of norm processes in tax compliance. Journal of Economic Psychology 25, 213-228; Wenzel, M. 2005. Misperception of social norms about tax compliance: from theory to intervention. Journal of Economic Psychology 26, 862-883; Wenzel, M. 2007. The multiplicity of taxpayer identities and their implications for tax ethics. Law & Policy 29, 31-50]. This research, which has focused almost exclusively on national identity, indicates that the more people identify with a group, the more likely they are to adhere to its tax norms and values. However, conformity to group norms may be more nuanced than this, and depend on (a) the meaning or content of the identity in question [e.g. Turner, J.C. 1999. Some current themes in research on social identity and self-categorization theories. In: Ellemers, N. Spears, R. Doojse, B. (Eds.), Social Identity: Context, Commitment, Content. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 6-34] and (b) whether the norms and values are central or peripheral to the content of that identity. In line with this idea, two studies explored whether the concept and act of taxpaying are more central to what it means to be a member of one's nation than of one's occupational group. Both studies confirm this expectation. Importantly, the findings also suggest that although occupational groups have different norms and values in relation to pre-tax behaviours (e.g. how to deal with extra income), these too can be peripheral to what it means to a group member. If norms are peripheral to identity content, conformity to such norms may be independent of group identification. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Two longitudinal studies considered the role of social identity factors in predicting well-being after students' transition to university. The transition (assessed before starting university and after 2 months at university) had a detrimental effect on well-being, but identification as a university student improved well-being. Both studies showed that the social context in which the change occurred either facilitated or hindered university identification. Specifically, perceived compatibility between old and new identities and having multiple group memberships (which were each influenced by social class background, Study 2) both increased likelihood of identification with the new group. These predictive relationships remained statistically reliable when controlling for other factors relevant to the transition. The results suggest that life transitions are difficult partly because they entail changes in group membership. Both studies also demonstrate that identification with a new group can help buffer individuals from the negative well-being consequences of change.

Many individuals embark on their careers as tax novices and become acculturated into their occupational sector's taxpaying culture (i.e. its norms and values) over time. This paper uses a social identity framework to investigate whether perceptions of occupational taxpaying culture and related variables influence not only self-reported tax compliance, and tax minimization, but also how taxpayers position themselves in relation to the tax office. A questionnaire study (N = 511) with an Australian sample measured the way in which participants perceived their occupational taxpaying culture. Linear and logistic hierarchal regression analyses revealed that occupational taxpaying culture is important in explaining stances towards the tax office and tax minimization, even when more "traditional" economic tax variables (e.g. deterrence) are included. However, a more refined measure of culture is needed to determine the role that taxpaying culture plays in tax compliance. The analyses also indicate that the relationship between occupational identity and taxpaying culture is complex. Overall, we build a case for an integrated approach that marries traditional variables with social and cultural ones. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The authors examine how beliefs about the stability of the social hierarchy moderate the link between sexism and essentialist beliefs about gender and how the expression of essentialist beliefs might reciprocally affect the social structure. Studies 1 (N = 240) and 2 (N = 143) presented gender-based inequality as stable, changing, or changed. In both studies, sexism was positively associated with essentialism only among men and only when inequality was presented as changing. Study 3 (N = 552) explored the possible consequences of expressing essentialist theories for social change. Exposure to essentialist theories increased both men's and women's acceptance of inequality. Exposure further increased men's support for discriminatory practices and boosted their self-esteem. These patterns demonstrate that although essentialism is linked to prejudice, this link is itself not essential. Rather, essentialism may be invoked strategically to protect higher status when this is threatened by change and may be successful in so doing.

A wealth of historical, cultural, and biographical evidence points to the fact that there is considerable variation in different people's judgments of creative products. What is creative to one person is deviant to another, and creative efforts often fail to be given the enthusiastic reception that their creators anticipate and think they deserve. Unpacking the roots of these discrepancies, this paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. This analysis is supported by a review of previous research that points to the way in which perceptions of creativity are structured by both self-categorization and social norms (and their interaction). Further support for the analysis is provided by two experiments (Ns=100, 125) which support the hypothesis that ingroup products are perceived to be more creative than those of outgroups independently of other factors with which group membership is typically correlated in the world at large (e.g. quality). The studies also indicate that this pattern is not simply a manifestation of generic ingroup bias since judgments of creativity diverge from those of both likeability (Experiment 1) and beauty (Experiment 2). The theoretical and practical significance of these findings is discussed with particular reference to innovation resistance and the "not invented here" syndrome.

A survey study of patients recovering from stroke (N = 53) examined the extent to which belonging to multiple groups prior to stroke and the maintenance of those group memberships (as measured by the Exeter Identity Transitions Scales, EXITS) predicted well-being after stroke. Results of correlation analysis showed that life satisfaction was associated both with multiple group memberships prior to stroke and with the maintenance of group memberships. Path analysis indicated that belonging to multiple groups was associated with maintained well-being because there was a greater likelihood that some of those memberships would be preserved after stroke-related life transition. Furthermore, it was found that cognitive failures compromised well-being in part because they made it hard for individuals to maintain group memberships post-stroke. These findings highlight the importance of social identity continuity in facilitating well-being following stroke and, more broadly, show the theoretical contribution that a social identity approach to mental health can make in the context of neuropsychological rehabilitation.

There is a widespread consensus amongst psychologists that tyranny triumphs either because ordinary people blindly follow orders or else because they mindlessly conform to powerful rotes. However, recent evidence concerning historical events challenges these views. In particular, studies of the Nazi regime reveal that its functionaries engaged actively and creatively with their tasks. Re-examination of classic social psychological studies points to the same dynamics at work. This article summarises these developments and lays out the case for an updated social psychology of tyranny that explains both the influence of tyrannical leaders and the active contributions of their followers.

Organizations commonly make use of focus groups for planning purposes while giving little thought to the dimensions on which those groups are formed. This paper argues that the dimensions of group formation have a significant effect on the ultimate success of any planning exercise. This is because in all organizations people necessarily self-categorize as members of groups that shape the way they think and act at work. However, there is often a lack of fit between the way organizations categorize employees and the way those employees categorize themselves. To the extent that there is a lack of fit between imposed and self-identified categories, we argue that organizations will fail to effectively harness group resources. Any planning strategy that makes use of groups should organize people in terms of identities that are most relevant to their work in order (a) to have an impact on the way people think and act and (b) to ensure that people have (and feel that they have) the opportunity to provide input that is relevant, useful and important for the organization. The paper discusses a technique, AIRing, that allows organizations to address this issue effectively. This is the first stage of the ASPIRe negotiation-based planning model (Eggins et al. Social Identity at Work: Developing Theory for Organizational Practice, pp. 241-260, Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis, 2003; Haslam et al. British Journal of Management, 14 (2003), pp. 357-369).

Two studies (N=117, 112) were conducted with school students in Northern Ireland to investigate the neglected relationship between social identity content and intergroup relations. Study 1 tested and found support for two hypotheses. The first was that the association between in-group identification and negative behavioural intentions would be moderated by antagonistic identity content. The second was that the antagonistic identity content mediates the relationship between the experience of intergroup antagonism and negative behavioural intentions. Study 2 replicated these findings at a time of reduced intergroup violence, and supplemented them with a qualitative-quantitative analysis of participants' written responses. In addition, findings demonstrate the importance of appreciating the content and meaning of social identities when theorizing about intergroup relations and developing conflict management interventions.

Research into gender and leadership has tended to focus on the inequalities that women encounter while trying to climb the corporate ladder. with particular emphasis on the role played by the so-called glass ceiling. However, recent archival evidence has identified an additional hurdle that women must often overcome once they are in leadership positions: the glass cliff [Ryan, M. K. & Haslam, S. A. (2005a). The glass cliff: Evidence that women are over-represented in precarious leadership positions. British Journal of Management, 16, 81-90; Ryan, M. K. & Haslam, S. A. (2007). The glass cliff: Exploring the dynamics surrounding women's appointment to precarious leadership positions. Academy of Management Review]. This refers to the phenomenon whereby women are more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions associated with increased risk of failure and criticism because these positions are more likely to involve management of organizational units that are in crisis. This paper presents three experimental studies (Ns=95, 85, 83) that represent the first experimental investigations of the glass cliff phenomenon. In these, management graduates (Study 1), high-school students (Study 2) or business leaders (Study 3) selected a leader for a hypothetical organization whose performance was either improving or declining. Consistent with predictions, results indicate that the likelihood of a female candidate being selected ahead of an equally qualified male candidate increased when the organization's performance was declining rather than improving. Study 3 also provided evidence that glass cliff appointments are associated with beliefs that they (a) suit the distinctive leadership abilities of women, (b) provide women with good leadership opportunities and (c) are particularly stressful for women. These findings define an important agenda for future research. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The present research examines the way in which politicians' attitudes towards the EU are affected by comparative identity processes. Interviews among regional politicians in two peripheral regions in the UK (Study 1: Wales and Cornwall) and two peripheral regions in the Netherlands (Study 2: Friesland and Limburg) show that when the relationship between nation-state and European Union is perceived to be negative (i.e. in UK regions), the national government is defined by emphasising the regions' pro-Europe sentiments. When central government is perceived to hold positive EU attitudes (i.e. in the Netherlands), politicians in peripheral regions accuse the national government of over-conformity to the EU, while emphasising the greater historical and cultural link between their region and Europe than between region and nation-state. Discussion focuses on the context-dependent nature of EU attitudes and on the importance of identity considerations at the regional level when examining attitudes towards the EU.

This paper develops an analysis of innovative behavior and creativity that is informed by the social identity perspective. Two studies manipulated group norms and analyzed their impact on creative behavior. The results of Study I show that when people are asked to make a creative product collectively they display conformity to ingroup norms, but that they deviate from ingroup norms when group members make the same products on their own. A parallel result was found in group members' private perceptions of what they consider creative. In Study 2, the social identity of participants was made salient. Results showed conformity to group norms even when group members worked on their own creations. Findings suggest that innovative behavior is informed by normative context, and that in contexts in which people operate as members of a group (either physically through collective action, or psychologically through social identity salience) innovation will respect normative boundaries. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recent neuropsychological evidence, supporting a strong version of Whorfian principles of linguistic relativity, has reinvigorated debate about the role of language in colour categorisation. This paper questions the methodology used in this research and uses a novel approach to examine the unique contribution of language to categorisation behaviour. Results of three investigations are reported. The first required development of objective measures of category coherence and consistency to clarify questions about healthy control performance on the freesorting colour categorisation task used in previous studies. Between-participant consistency was found to be only moderate and the number of colour categories generated was found to vary markedly between individuals. The second study involved longitudinal neuropsychological examination of a patient whose colour categorisation strategy was monitored in the context of a progressive decline in language due to semantic dementia. Performance on measures of category coherence and consistency was found to be relatively stable over time despite a profound decline in the patient's colour language. In a final investigation we demonstrated that, for both the patient and controls, between- and within-participant consistency were higher than expected by (a) random sorting and (b) sorting perceptually similar chips together. These findings indicate that the maintenance of colour categorisation need not depend on language.

A study of employees in the finance industry tested the propositions (a) that work team identity is more salient than organizational identity when desks are assigned, whereas organizational identity is more salient when they are not; and (b) that this is partly because physical arrangements have a significant bearing on the way in which employees engage with the organization as well as who they are most likely to engage with (i.e. impacting on the type and focus of organizational participation). The study measured levels of work team and organizational identity in matched samples of employees (N = 142) assigned to desks and not assigned (i.e. hot desked), as well as their perceptions of the use, importance, and effectiveness of electronic and face-to-face communication as indicators of different types of organizational participation. Results support the hypotheses. The perceived value of electronic communication also accounted for significant variance in organizational identification for all employees. Findings point to a number of practical implications relating to the use of hot desking in the workplace. © 2007 INFORMS.

This paper provides an overview of previous work that has explored issues of social, organizational and corporate identity. Differences in the form and focus of research into these three topics are noted. Social identity work generally examines issues of cognitive process and structure; organizational identity research tends to address the patterning of shared meanings; studies of corporate identity tend to focus on products that communicate a specific image. Nonetheless, across these areas there is general consensus that collective identities are (a) made viable by their positivity and distinctiveness, (b) fluid, (c) a basis for shared perceptions and action, (d) strategically created and managed, (e) qualitatively different from individual identities and (f) the basis for material outcomes and products. This paper calls for greater cross-fertilization of the three identity literatures and discusses requirements for the integration of micro- and macro-level analyses. © 2007 British Academy of Management.

This paper extends prior research on the romance of leadership by examining (a) whether the romance of leadership holds for women as well as for men, and (b) the impact of the romance of leadership on performance-based pay. An experimental study (N = 210) suggests that the romance of leadership does exist for both men and women but that the process of pay allocation differs as a function of gender. For a female leader, the allocation of a performance-related bonus is based on perceptions of her charisma and leadership ability rather than resulting directly from company performance. However, for a male leader bonus allocation reflects the romance of leadership such that improved company performance leads to increased perceived charisma, increased leadership ability, and a larger bonus. Practical implications for the gender pay gap are discussed.

In our rejoinder, we concentrate on responding to Zimbardo's criticisms. These criticisms involve three broad strategies. The first is to turn broad discussion about the psychology of tyranny into narrow questions about the replication of prison conditions. The second is to confuse our scientific analysis with the television programmes of 'The Experiment'. The third is to make unsupported and unwarranted attacks on our integrity. All three lines of attack are flawed and distract from the important theoretical challenge of understanding when people act to reproduce social inequalities and when they act to challenge them. This is the challenge that Turner identifies and engages with in his commentary.

This paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. Two studies are reported that support this analysis. Study 1 (N=73) manipulated social identity salience and the content of group norms. The group norm was either conservative (i.e. promoted no change) or progressive (i.e. promoted change). When social identity was salient and the group norm was conservative, a non-novel proposal was perceived to be more creative. Study 2 (N=63) manipulated social norms and identity relevance. Results showed that while social norms influenced perceptions of creativity, identity relevance influenced positivity but not perceptions of creativity. These findings support the idea that perceptions of creativity are grounded in the normative content of group membership and self-categorization processes.

Members of the public (Study 1; n = 184) and university students (Study 2; n = 101) evaluated a piece of research and indicated their support for its continuation. The research findings were held constant, but the methods that revealed those findings were attributed to either neuroscience or social science, and the conclusions based on those findings were biased either in favor of men or in favor of women. Study 1 revealed that participants were more positive about research that affirmed their gender identity and that was based on neuroscience rather than social science. Study 2 found this pattern to be apparent in more specialist samples. Indeed, participants with some scientific training were more influenced by research that affirmed the reader’s gender identity. Participants with less scientific training, in comparison, were more influenced by the type of science described when making judgments about the value of the research. Contrary to popular claims, this suggests that scientific knowledge alone is no protection against the effects of bias on research evaluation. Implications for the practice and popularization of science are discussed.

In this study, in-group stereotyping was examined as a function of variations in social context and perceiver factors. The social context consisted of different comparison groups and different domains of comparison. Comparison group and comparative domain were expected to interact in determining the content of the in-group stereotype. This prediction was confirmed with in-group stereotyping being strongest in conditions where the combination of comparison group and comparative domain made the in-group seem most similar to an out-group. The perceiver's level of in-group identification was also positively related to the level of in-group stereotyping. Moreover, the level of identification was shown to be dependent on the immediate social context and mediated the relationship between social context and in-group stereotyping. This pattern is explained in terms of a search for in-group distinctiveness.

Pre-recorded, or "canned" laughter is often used to encourage audience laughter. Previous research suggests that hearing others laugh can influence an audience, although several variables moderate its effects. We examined an unexplored moderator, hypothesizing that canned laughter would influence listeners only if they believed the laughter came from fellow in-group members. We manipulated the presence or absence of canned laughter in a potentially humorous recording and participants' beliefs about the in-group or out-group composition of the laughing audience. The results confirmed our hypothesis: Participants laughed and smiled more, laughed longer, and rated humorous material more favorably when they heard in-group laughter rather than out-group laughter or no laughter at all. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An experiment was conducted with 30 groups (n = 120) solving brainstorming tasks under four different group goal conditions: do your best (DYB), directive group goal setting (DGGS), participative group goal setting (PGGS), and PGGS in combination with individual goal setting (PGGS + IGS). As expected, all groups with specific and difficult group goals performed better than DYB control groups. It is hypothesized that these positive effects of group goal setting on brainstorming performance arise because group goal setting counteracts motivation losses such as social loafing. In addition, group goal setting should promote motivation gains arising from social compensation and related cognitive processes, in particular high identification with the group. Consistent with this hypothesis, it was found that group goal setting increased team identification, the readiness to compensate for other weak group members, the value of group success, and the value of group failure. Mediation analysis also indicated that concern to avoid group failure was partly responsible for performance improvements. Finally, no large differences were found between PGGS + IGS and PGGS or DGGS. On this basis group goal setting can be considered a robust strategy for improving work motivation and brainstorming performance in groups. © 2005 Psychology Press Ltd.

Traditional models see leadership as a form of zero-sum game in which leader agency is achieved at the expense of follower agency and vice versa. Against this view, the present article argues that leadership is a vehicle for social identity-based collective agency in which leaders and followers are partners. Drawing upon evidence from a range of historical sources and from the BBC Prison Study, the present article explores the two sides of this partnership: the way in which a shared sense of identity makes leadership possible and the way in which leaders act as entrepreneurs of identity in order to make particular forms of identity and their own leadership viable. The analysis also focuses (a) on the way in which leaders' identity projects are constrained by social reality, and (b) on the manner in which effective leadership contributes to the transformation of this reality through the initiation of structure that mobilizes and redirects a group's identity-based social power. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The present paper tries to overcome the dualism of group-level vs. individualistic analysis of small group processes, by presenting a model of social identity formation that incorporates factors at both levels of analysis as well as their interaction. On the basis of prior theorising in the social identity tradition and a programme of research spanning several interactive group research paradigms, we suggest that within small groups a social identity can operate as a contextual given, which shapes the behaviour of individuals within the group, as much as the behaviour of individuals within the group can shape social identity. This proposal is supported by a programme of research into social influence within small interactive groups. This research explores deductive (top-down) processes through which existing identities influence group processes, but also shows a reciprocal influence through which intragroup discussion creates a sense of group identity in the apparent absence of any direct intergroup comparison (an inductive, or bottom-up, path). It is the interaction between these two forces that we believe is characteristic of the way in which small groups achieve a sense of social identity. Supporting this view, we describe research that suggests that processes of identity formation play a key role in decision making, productive collaboration, consensualisation, integrative negotiations, and the development of shared cognition.

Two studies examined the dynamics of social judgments in natural intergroup contexts. In Study 1, the manipulated positivity of an out-group's stereotype of participants' national in-group was reciprocated, particularly when the out-group shared the in-group's negative stereotype of a third national group. Study 2 investigated the extent to which reciprocal judgments are observed in a large real-life intergroup context by analyzing data from the Eurovision Song Contest. In this festival, juries from different European countries award points to singers from the various other countries taking part. Here it was observed that (a) nations received more points from countries to which they had given a considerable number of points during the previous 5 years, and (b) nations gave more points to countries from which they had received a large numbers of points over the preceding 5 years. This last pattern was more pronounced for countries with a high collectivistic orientation and for countries low in economic power. The studies point to the theoretical and practical importance of the dynamics of reciprocity in applied intergroup settings. Copyright © 2005 by V. H. Winston & Son, Inc. All rights reserved.

A critique of Zimbardo et al.’s well-known “Stanford Prison Experiment” is provided. This identifies its design and procedural limitations and points to misleading interpretations of its results. An alternative study which produced dramatically different results to those obtained by Zimbardo is then described—the “BBC Prison Experiment”. Its findings are interpreted within the framework of Social Identity Theory and suggest a radically different understanding of the psychology of power and tyranny. © 2004 by Fundación Infancia y Aprendizaje.

Krueger & Funder's (K&F's) diagnosis of social psychology's obsession with bias is correct and accords with similar observations by self-categorization theorists. However, the analysis of causes is incomplete and suggestions for cures are flawed. The primary problem is not imbalance, but a failure to acknowledge that social reality has different forms, depending on one's social and political vantage point in relation to a specific social context.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the role that social influence plays in the appraisal of a potentially stressful situation. Participants (N = 40) preparing for a mental arithmetic task were exposed to a message in which the task was described as stressful or challenging. The message was delivered by the same person in each condition but this person was said to be either an ingroup member (a University student) or an outgroup member (a stress disorder sufferer). Consistent with predictions derived from self-categorization theory, message source and message content interacted to determine the stress experienced while performing the task. Findings imply that the impact of informational support is not constant but varies systematically as a function of the group membership of the support provider. Implications for theory and practice are discussed with emphasis on the importance of social context as a determinant not only of what information people are exposed to about stress but also of how that information is construed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organizational research from a social identity perspective has shown that people expend effort on behalf of a work unit to the extent that the unit contributes to their sense of social identity. Moreover, it has been suggested that identification is enhanced to the extent that group members anticipate future interaction with one other (Worchel et al. 1998). This study examined these ideas in relation to the phenomenon of workplace casualization, looking at whether assigning individuals to different employment roles impacts on their intentions to contribute to the functioning of an organization in both typical and non-typical ways. In a scenario-based study, public sector employees (N = 138) indicated their willingness to contribute positively to the organization after being assigned either casual, temporary or permanent roles in a team that had, or did not have, a future. Consistent with the social identity approach (e.g. Haslam, 2004), results indicated that assignment to a permanent role increased willingness to contribute to the organization and that this was mediated by social identification.

Recent papers by Cornelissen (2002a, 2002b) and Gioia, Schultz and Corley (2002a, 2002b) have debated the utility of organizational identity as a metaphor for understanding organizational life. In the present paper we argue that this debate is limiting because it frames issues of organizational identity purely in metaphorical terms and fails to explore the social psychological basis and consequences of the discontinuity between personal and organizational identity. Extending this debate, we argue that the power of organizational identity as a theoretical and applied construct derives from the fact that it has the capacity to be both an externally shared and negotiated product and an internalized aspect of the collective self. Consistent with recent research informed by the social identity approach to organizational psychology, we discuss how an appreciation of the identity-based dynamic between the social facts of organizations and the socially-structured psychology of organizational members is essential for both theoretical and practical understanding of organizational life.

Some models of conflict resolution propose that group membership be downplayed in negotiation because social categorization leads to ingroup bias. Challenging this view, this article argues that social conflict occurs partly as a collective attempt to establish a positive and distinct social identity. Restoration of this identity should therefore be important to negotiating groups. Two interactive studies (Ns = 104, 195) tested the effects over time of emphasizing identity-based group boundaries prior to negotiation with another group. Results indicated that where group members had the opportunity to interact with ingroup members (Study 1) or within a group (Study 2) prior to a superordinate negotiation, they consistently identified more at the subcategory level but were also more satisfied with the negotiation process. Evidence from the second study suggests that these effects were mediated by the development of a superordinate identity. © 2002 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

For at least 100 years the experimental method has been used to add scientific rigour to the process of conducting social psychological research. More specifically, experiments have been used to reduce methodological uncertainty surrounding the causal relationships between variables. In this way the method has proved particularly useful in demonstrating the impact of social contextual variables over-and-above individual differences. However, problems with the method have arisen because over time experimentalists have tended (1) to define uncertainty too narrowly, (2) to emphasize uncertainty reduction, but (3) to neglect the equally important process of uncertainty creation. This has contributed to the normalization of social psychology as a science but also made the discipline more conservative and circumscribed. It is argued that experimentalists need to address broader metatheoretical and political uncertainties in order to rediscover the experiment's potency as a tool of revolutionary and progressive science.

This experiment investigated the role that group membership and shared stereotypes play in the expression of intergroup prejudice. In three independent conditions schoolchildren (N = 96) used a checklist to describe Australian Aborigines with reference to the cultural stereotype and their personal beliefs. In two conditions Aborigines were also described with reference to the beliefs of a relevant in-group (with or without group interaction). In all conditions an independent prejudice measure was also completed. Following Devine and Elliot (1995), personal beliefs were always better predictors of prejudice than the cultural stereotype. However, shared group beliefs were better predictors of prejudice than personal beliefs elicited in the abstract, and personal beliefs were more predictive of prejudice in conditions where they were informed by a salient group membership. These patterns suggest that personal beliefs are more predictive of prejudice when they reflect stereotypic beliefs shared within an in-group rather than individuals' idiosyncratic views.

This experiment investigated the role that group membership and shared stereotypes play in the expression of intergroup prejudice. In three independent conditions schoolchildren (N = 96) used a checklist to describe Australian Aborigines with reference to the cultural stereotype and their personal beliefs. In two conditions Aborigines were also described with reference to the beliefs of a relevant in-group (with or without group interaction). In all conditions an independent prejudice measure was also completed. Following Devine and Elliot (1995), personal beliefs were always better predictors of prejudice than the cultural stereotype. However, shared group beliefs were better predictors of prejudice than personal beliefs elicited in the abstract, and personal beliefs were more predictive of prejudice in conditions where they were informed by a salient group membership. These patterns suggest that personal beliefs are more predictive of prejudice when they reflect stereotypic beliefs shared within an in-group rather than individuals' idiosyncratic views.

In the context of recent arguments that stereotyping plays an important role in the subjugation of powerless groups, this article explores the possibility that stereotyping may also contribute to social change processes engaged in by the disadvantaged. In a partial replication of an experiment by S. C. Wright, D. M. Taylor, and F.M. Moghaddam (1990), participants (N = 44) were placed in powerless, low-status groups and denied entry to an attractive high-status group. The intergroup boundary was open, slightly permeable, or completely impermeable. Participants could respond to this disadvantage in 1 of 3 ways: acceptance, individual protest, or collective protest. As predicted, open boundaries produced acceptance and reproduction of stereotypes consistent with the established status relationship, whereas closed boundaries encouraged collective protest and stereotypes that challenged the powerful group's position.

This study examines the impact of group identification and social context on willingness to participate in industrial protest. Trade union members (N = 313) completed a survey indicating their willingness to participate in union activities, their perceptions of the union and its role, and their attitudes toward present and former governments. Three independent conditions defined the union and its activities in different ways: either (a) referring to conflict with the present government, (b) referring to this conflict together with the government's threat to the union, or (c) presenting no additional information (a control condition). Results indicated that participants who identified highly with the union were more willing to participate in collective action to the extent that issues were defined in conflictual terms. Low identifiers resiled from participation in union activities when reference was made to conflict alone, but this effect was attenuated when reference was also made to threat. Results suggest that collective action is not simply a product of identification, but is also shaped by the distinct meaning which such action assumes for high and low identifiers within a given context.

This study examines the impact of group identification and social context on willingness to participate in industrial protest. Trade union members (N = 313) completed a survey indicating their willingness to participate in union activities, their perceptions of the union and its role, and their attitudes toward present and former governments. Three independent conditions defined the union and its activities in different ways: either (a) referring to conflict with the present government, (b) referring to this conflict together with the government's threat to the union, or (c) presenting no additional information (a control condition). Results indicated that participants who identified highly with the union were more willing to participate in collective action to the extent that issues were defined in conflictual terms. Low identifiers resiled from participation in union activities when reference was made to conflict alone, but this effect was attenuated when reference was also made to threat. Results suggest that collective action is not simply a product of identification, but is also shaped by the distinct meaning which such action assumes for high and low identifiers within a given context.

Should stereotyping be characterised as an act of cognitive miserliness of one of rational meaning-seeking? This paper uses a cognitive load paradigm to investigate the adequacy of popular resource-based explanations of stereotyping in comparison to an alternative fit-based or meaning-based explanation. In Experiment 1, load was increased by means of concurrent tasks within a highly fitting context (where targets generally behaved in a stereotype-consistent fashion). A linear decrease in stereotyping resulted as measured by category confusions on a who-said what recognition task (Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff & Ruderman, 1978). This outcome is inconsistent with a resource-based analysis of stereotyping. Experiment 2 manipulated load as stimulus exposure time. Although load was successfully imposed in this second experiment, stereotyping neither increased nor decreased as a function of load. The concept of cognitive load and the importance of fit for the analysis of stereotyping are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper examines the impact of social division associated with the emergent "race debate" in Australia (and the so-called "Hanson phenomenon") on the consensus of Australian students' stereotypes of their national ingroup. It compares the stereotypes held by a sample of students in 1997 (N = 20) with those revealed in studies conducted from 1992 onwards (N = 102). Results provide strong evidence that stereotype consensus was reduced in the current phase of research and post-testing also indicates that participants themselves interpreted this as being the product of political change in Australian society. The findings are consistent with the argument that stereotypes are sensitive to changes in intergroup and intragroup relations, and that they respond to the reality of social division rather than to the rhetoric of unity.

The category confusion paradigm (Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff & Ruderman, 1978) was used to examine the relationship between cognitive load and the extent of social categorization. The original prediction made by Taylor et al. (1978; Experiment 2) and inferences from the cognitive miser model suggest that categorization should increase or be unaffected by cognitive load. In contrast, it is argued that social categorization can be an effortful and resource-consuming process, especially where the representation of multiple stimuli are concerned. This leads to the prediction that social categorization should decrease with load - assuming there is enough load to produce recall errors in the first place. We obtained results consistent with this analysis in paradigms which manipulated load by means of set-size (Study 1) and processing pace (Study 2). Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The relationship between social influence and the development of attitudes to eating was explored in an experimental study. Schoolgirls (n = 59, median age = 15 years) listened to an interview in which the interviewee (identified as a radical feminist, a sportswoman or a women's magazine journalist) gave either a pro-diet or an anti-diet message. Following the interview, participants completed a questionnaire which examine their attitudes to eating and their judgements of the interviewee. The results supported predictions that influence would vary as an interactive function of the message and the normative ingroup-outgroup status of the message source. However, different patterns of influence were observed on two factors that emerged from an analysis of the eating disorder items, suggesting that there were important differences in the shaping of subjects' beliefs about appropriate eating behaviour, (a) for themselves personally and (b) for the community in general. The findings suggest that social influence has a significant but complex impact upon the development of potentially harmful attitudes to eating. It also appears that, for a variety of reasons, certain anti-diet messages may actually be a counter-productive means of improving female body satisfaction. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Previous research has suggested that promotion decisions in hierarchical organizations may vary as a function of the decision maker's sex. In particular, it has been argued that women may be more likely to support a same-sex other than men due to higher levels of identification with their gender in-group. This paper reports findings from two experiments which examine gender identification and candidate promotion strategies amongst university students (N = 116) and public servants (N = 136) in hypothetical organizations which manipulated the participants' personal status and that of their gender in-group. In the university sample women did identify more strongly with their sex than men. This was not generally the case in the public service sample, although here women with high personal status tended to show greater identification than men in a similar position. However, in both studies there was little evidence that gender identification was associated with preferential treatment of in-group candidates in promotion-related decisions. These decisions were generally influenced by norms of fairness qualified by the participants' personal status. Implications for the self-categorization process are discussed.

Previous research has suggested that promotion decisions in hierarchical organizations may vary as a function of the decision maker's sex. In particular, it has been argued that women may be more likely to support a same-sex other than men due to higher levels of identification with their gender in-group. This paper reports findings from two experiments which examine gender identification and candidate promotion strategies amongst university students (N = 116) and public servants (N = 136) in hypothetical organizations which manipulated the participants' personal status and that of their gender in-group. In the university sample women did identify more strongly with their sex than men. This was not generally the case in the public service sample, although here women with high personal status tended to show greater identification than men in a similar position. However, in both studies there was little evidence that gender identification was associated with preferential treatment of in-group candidates in promotion-related decisions. These decisions were generally influenced by norms of fairness qualified by the participants' personal status. Implications for the self-categorization process are discussed.

This article tests the hypothesis that group performance might be superior when leaders are randomly rather than systematically selected. In Experiment 1 groups with randomly selected leaders performed a survival task better than groups whose leaders were systematically selected. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2: Groups with a random leader also performed better than groups with no appointed leader and followers adhered more strongly to the group decision. In Experiment 3, naive participants' experimental expectations confirmed the counterintuitive nature of these findings. Results suggest that systematically selected leaders can undermine group goals and group maintenance. The possibility that this occurs because leaders assert their personal superiority at the expense of shared social identity is discussed. Copyright 1998 by the Educational Publishing Foundation.

A study is reported that examines the effects of comparative context on central tendency and variability judgements of groups, and the evaluation of group characteristics. The central assumption is that these social judgements are not absolute, but depend on the social context in which they are grounded. It is demonstrated that people vary their description of the ingroup in terms of central tendency and group variability as a function of the possibility of comparing the ingroup favourably with other groups in the judgemental task. In a similar vein, it is shown that the evaluation of an ingroup characteristic is not fixed, but depends on its relative favourability within the comparative context. The results of this study clearly demonstrate the importance of comparative context in group perception and are discussed with reference to self-categorization theory and alternative models of social judgement. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The fact that stereotypes are shared within groups is essential to stereotype definition and operationalization. Nonetheless, stereotype consensus remains under-researched and under-explained. To address this problem we present a theoretical analysis of the process through which stereotype consensus develops. Derived from self-categorization theory, this argues that consensus is produced by shared social identification and the collective co-ordination of perception and behaviour that flows from it. This analysis is examined in a review of relevant research and in studies where dynamic processes of category representation and social influence are shown to contribute to consensual stereotypes of both out-groups and ingroups.

Since the advent of the 'cognitive revolution' in stereotyping research, interest in the consensual nature of stereotypes and its social psychological basis has declined dramatically. Reversing this trend, this paper examines the manner in which the strength of shared stereotypes and the links between particular content and particular groups are mediated by processes of social influence. Two experiments (Ns = 300, 230) are reported in which participants' pre-existing stereotypes about Australians and Americans were confirmed or contradicted by either an in-group or an out-group source. As predicted, this social validation had powerful effects on the perceived applicability of content to groups (Expt 1) as well as stereotype consensus and favourableness (Expt 2). Stereotypes were typically bolstered when they were confirmed by an in-group or contradicted by an out-group, relative to conditions in which they were contradicted by an in-group or confirmed by an out-group. It is argued that the theoretical integration of principles from stereotyping and social influence research offers the potential for a fuller understanding of the inter-subjective, group based properties of stereotypes and stereotype change.

An experiment (N=60) was conducted to examine the hypothesis that the illusory correlation effect is underpinned by a process of seeking to identify meaningful differences between social categories. It was reasoned that the effect would be weaker in an experimental condition in which the identity of the majority and minority groups was based on a characteristic (right- and left-handedness, respectively) that was less relevant to evaluative differentiation than in a control condition. This argument was supported by the predicted differences (a) in levels of illusory correlation across control and experimental conditions and (b) self-reports indicating that control participants sought to develop more differentiated impressions of groups than did participants in the experimental condition. The results support claims that the stereotyping process underpinning illusory correlation is structured by social meaning.

The concept of entitativity was developed by Campbell (1958) to refer to the extent to which a group is perceived as a coherent whole or entity. This concept is relevant to research in both social perception (e.g. the categorization effects approach to the study of social stereotyping) and social influence (e.g. the consistency attributed to minority groups in theories of minority influence). On the basis of previous research, four variables were expected to play a role in group entitativity judgements. These were intra-group variability, group size, diversity (or variety) and extremity. In two empirical studies it was found that entitativity decreased as variability and diversity increased and that it increased with group size. These effects and interactions between group size and extremity, size and diversity, and variability and extremity are consistent with the idea that entitativity is a function of how meaningful a stimulus pattern is. This is in turn (in part) a function of how unlikely the pattern is.

The relationship between early neurological variables and cognitive outcome was investigated in a group of 77 severely head-injured patients following C. Haslam et al. (1994). At the time of admission, patients were assessed on 7 neurological indices, including durations of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) and post-coma disturbance (PCD), the latter defined as the period between emergence from coma and end of PTA. PTA and PCD were transformed to address their non-linearity. Two years later, patients underwent examination on selected psychological measures. Recent memory was best predicted by transformed PTA, and speed of information processing was best predicted by transformed PCD. Prediction of both psychological factors was also improved by taking into account surgical evacuation of an extradural hematoma. Findings are consistent with research demonstrating the utility of transformed variables and PCD in prediction of cognitive outcome. © 1995 American Psychological Association.

Using the Katz-Braly checklist subjects (N = 65) assigned five traits to a national group and estimated the percentage of group members who had those traits. This was either an in-group (Australians) or an out-group (Americans), and subjects either judged that group alone (one-group conditions) or also estimated the percentage of people from the other nation (the United States or Australia, respectively) who had those same traits (two-group conditions). Across one-group conditions there was a significant out-group homogeneity effect with traits being seen to apply to more Americans than Australians, but there was no such effect across the two-group conditions. These findings were predicted on the basis of self-categorization theory's analysis of the role of comparative context in determining level of social categorization. Across two-group conditions non-stereotypic traits were also applied to fewer in-group than out-group members. This result suggests that trait favourableness is an important normative-motivational determinant of perceived homogeneity. A second experiment (N = 297) confirmed this point through an additional manipulation of the favourableness of checklist traits. This study also replicated the effect for comparative context. Implications for the analysis of social categorization, perceived group homogeneity and stereotyping are discussed.

This study sought to identify combinations of early neurological variables which best predict cognitive outcome 12 months after severe head injury. At the time of admission patients were assessed on seven neurological indices. Twelve months later a battery of neuropsychological tests examining recent memory functioning and speed of information processing was administered. Recent memory functioning was best predicted by a combination of post-coma disturbance (PCD; i.e. the duration of post-traumatic amnesia, PTA, minus the duration of coma) and presence of subarachnoid haemorrhage (multiple r = 0.54, p < 0.001). Speed of information processing was best predicted by the duration of PTA (r = 0.35, p < 0.01). However, these conclusions were based on square root transformation of PCD and PTA variables. The success of this transformation in assisting prediction confirms suggestions that the relationship between PTA and cognitive outcome is nonlinear.

The relationship between the self and the collective is discussed from the perspective of self-categorization theory. Self-categorization theory makes a basic distinction between personal and social identity as different levels of self-categorization. It shows how the emergent properties of group processes can be explained in terms of a shift in self-perception from personal to social identity. It also elucidates how self-categorization vanes with the social context. It argues that self-categorizing is inherently variable, fluid, and context dependent, as self-categories are social comparative and are always relative to a frame of reference. This notion has major implications for accepted ways of thinking about the self. The variability of self-categorizing provides the perceiver with behavioral and cognitive flexibility and ensures that cognition is always shaped by the social context in which it takes place.

This paper examines the hypothesis that patterns of stereotypic accentuation reflect the degree to which judged stimuli share the same social category membership as the stereotyper. Following self-categorization theory, the degree of this shared identity is operationalized in terms of the meta-contrast ratio as a function of the positions of (a) stereotyper and (b) stereotyped target relative to (c) the stereotyper's frame of reference. Three experiments are reported which sought to manipulate shared category membership either by extension of subjects' frame of reference or by extremitization of target and subject with respect to that frame. As predicted, greater shared identity was associated with stronger assimilation of the target to subjects' own position and with change in stereotype content. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of personality, social judgement and social cognition. Like the accentuation processes which underpin them, it is proposed that stereotypes are sensitive to comparative context and that they reflect veridically the social self-categorical properties of stimuli.

During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf conflict an experiment was conducted with Australian university students (N = 200) to investigate whether the social stereotyping of Americans varied with social contextual manipulations related to the hostilities. The study, conducted in two phases at the start and end of the conflict, examined how the assignment of standard stereotypical traits to Americans was affected (a) by the large-scale social change constituted by the war and (b) by variation in the frame of reference provided by relevant comparison groups. The elicited stereotypes were sensitive to both of these contextual variables, demonstrating significant variation and fluidity. Overall, stereotypes of Americans were relatively negative. They were significantly more negative (a) at the end of the war than at the beginning in the restricted frame (when Australia and Britain were comparison groups) and (b) in the first phase of the conflict when the frame was extended to include Iraq as a comparison group. The findings were in line with expectations derived from self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985) that the social categorization of self and other into ingroup and outgroup is inherently variable, comparative and context-dependent. They question the long-held view of stereotypes as fixed, rigid and resistant to change.