The Impact of Group Identity Shifting on Group Identity and Intergroup Attitudes: A Recategorization Model Based on Cognitive Consistency

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2024.05.018

Abstract

Abstract: The present article introduced a recategorization model based on cognitive consistency to explore how new identities were assimilated into the self-concept, along with its attendant consequences on intergroup attitudes. The model specified four key concepts (self, attributes, old group, new group) as interconnected components, which explained how groups with self and shared attributes were connected through the principle of cognitive consistency, thereby forming self-concept, group stereotypes, and group identity. When group identity shifted, the degree of identification with the new group identity and the intergroup attitude depended on the (in)compatibility of the different social groups. This model expanded the scope of research on multiple identities. In addition to single recategorization and dual recategorization, there was a new way to recategorization which was transformed recategorization. And it played an important role in facilitating identity integration and thus contributed to reducing intergroup bias. Future research should provide more empirical evidence of the effectiveness of recategorization to enrich the boundary conditions of the recategorization.

Key words: group identity shifting, recategorization, cognitive consistency, group compatibility

摘要： 再分类模型在认知一致性的基础上，探讨当个体的群体身份发生变化时，新身份融入自我形成群体认同，影响群体态度的过程。该模型将自我、属性、旧群体身份、新群体身份四者放入一个关系框架，系统阐释了自我与共享属性的群体如何通过认知一致性原则产生联结，进而形成自我概念、群体刻板印象和群体认同。当群体身份变换后，对新身份的认同程度以及新旧群体之间的群际态度取决于群体相容性水平。该模型拓展了多重身份认同研究范畴，将单一再分类、双重再分类拓展到身份转变再分类，为减少群际偏见提供了新的实践路径，有助于促进和谐群际关系。今后研究应提供更多群体身份变换有效性的实证证据，丰富身份转变再分类的边界条件。

关键词: 群体身份变换, 再分类, 认知一致性, 群体相容性

CLC Number:

B849

HANG Ning, GUAN Jian. The Impact of Group Identity Shifting on Group Identity and Intergroup Attitudes: A Recategorization Model Based on Cognitive Consistency[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(5): 713-720.

杭宁, 管健. 群体身份变换对群体认同、群际态度的影响：基于认知一致性的再分类模型[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2024, 22(5): 713-720.

References

贾磊, 罗俊龙, 肖宵, 张庆林. (2010). 刻板印象的认知神经机制. 心理科学进展, 18(12), 1909–1918.
凯歌. (2020). 经济生活变迁与职业身份转换问题研究——以明花乡裕固族社区为例(硕士学位论文). 西北民族大学, 兰州.
温芳芳, 柯文琳, 何赛飞, 佐斌, 李兰心, 马书瀚, 王晶. (2022). 群体身份变换性对老年人印象更新的影响: 共同内群体认同的中介作用. 心理学报, 54(9), 1059–1075.
温芳芳, 佐斌. (2018). 最简群体范式的操作、心理机制及新应用. 心理科学, 41(3), 713–719.
向洲, 严磊, 张艳红, 胡修银, 吴博文, 陈婉仪, … 杨林川. (2020). 社会认同形成的认知过程: 社会认同整合模型. 心理技术与应用, 8(7), 431–439.
严磊, 佐斌, 张艳红, 吴漾, 杨林川. (2018). 交叉分类及其对刻板印象的影响. 心理科学进展, 26(7), 1272–1283.
Amiot, C. E., de la Sablonniere, R., Smith, L. G. E., & Smith, J. R. (2015). Capturing changes in social identities over time and how they become part of the self-concept. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(4), 171–187.
Amiot, C. E., de la Sablonniere, R., Terry, D. J., & Smith, J. R. (2007). Integration of social identities in the self: Toward a cognitive-developmental model. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(4), 364–388.
Benet-Martínez, V. (2012). Multiculturalism: Cultural, social, and personality processes. In K. Deaux & M. Snyder (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of personality and social psychology (pp. 623–648). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Benet-Martínez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII): Components and psychosocial antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73(4), 1015–1050.
Bliuc, A. M., McGarty, C., Reynolds, K., & Muntele, D. (2007). Opinion-based group membership as a predictor of commitment to political action. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37(1), 19–32.
Čehajić-Clancy, S., Janković, A., Opačin, N., & Bilewicz, M. (2023). The process of becoming ‘we’ in an intergroup conflict context: How enhancing intergroup moral similarities leads to common-ingroup identity. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(3), 1251–1270.
Cheng, C. Y., & Lee, F. (2009). Multiracial identity integration: Perceptions of conflict and distance among multiracial individuals. Journal of Social Issues, 65(1), 51–68.
Cikara, M., & van Bavel, J. J. (2014). The neuroscience of intergroup relations: An integrative review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(3), 245–274.
Clement, R. W., & Krueger, J. (2002). Social categorization moderates social projection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38(3), 219–231.
Cocco, V. M., Vezzali, L., Kola-Daisi, T. I., & Çakal, H. (2023). The role of common ingroup identity in promoting social change among tribes in Nigeria. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 27(1), 142–157.
Crisp, R. J., & Beck, S. R. (2005). Reducing intergroup bias: The moderating role of ingroup identification. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 8(2), 173–185.
Davies, K., Tropp, L. R., Aron, A., Pettigrew, T. F., & Wright, S. C. (2011). Cross-group friendships and intergroup attitudes: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15(4), 332–351.
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2010). Intergroup bias. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed., pp. 1084–1121). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Eckel, C. C., Wilson, R. K., & Youn, S. (2022). In-group favoritism in natural and minimal groups. Economics Letters, 219, 110794.
Goldenberg, A., Sweeny, T. D., Shpigel, E., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Is this my group or not? The role of ensemble coding of emotional expressions in group categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(3), 445–460.
Gonzalez-Saenz de Tejada, M., Bilbao, A., Baré, M., Briones, E., Sarasqueta, C., Quintana, J. M., … CARESS-CCR Group. (2017). Association between social support, functional status, and change in health-related quality of life and changes in anxiety and depression in colorectal cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology, 26(9), 1263–1269.
Greenwald, A. G., Banaji, M. R., Rudman, L. A., Farnham, S. D., Nosek, B. A., & Mellott, D. S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept. Psychological Review, 109(1), 3–25.
Hogg, M. A., Abrams, D., Otten, S., & Hinkle, S. (2004). The social identity perspective: Intergroup relations, self-conception, and small groups. Small Group Research, 35(3), 246–276.
Husnu, S., & Crisp, R. J. (2010). Elaboration enhances the imagined contact effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 943–950.
Jackson, R. L. (2002). Cultural contracts theory: Toward an understanding of identity negotiation. Communication Quarterly, 50(3–4), 359–367.
Jetten, J., & Hutchison, P. (2011). When groups have a lot to lose: Historical continuity enhances resistance to a merger. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41(3), 335–343.
Jones, J. M., & Jetten, J. (2011). Recovering from strain and enduring pain: Multiple group memberships promote resilience in the face of physical challenges. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2(3), 239–244.
Kawakami, K., Amodio, D. M., & Hugenberg, K. (2017). Intergroup perception and cognition: An integrative framework for understanding the causes and consequences of social categorization. In J. M. Olson (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 55, pp. 1–80). New York: Academic Press.
Li, S. X. (2020). Group identity, ingroup favoritism, and discrimination. In K. F. Zimmermann (Ed.), Handbook of labor, human resources and population economics (pp. 1–28). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Libby, L. K., Shaeffer, E. M., Eibach, R. P., & Slemmer, J. A. (2007). Picture yourself at the polls: Visual perspective in mental imagery affects self-perception and behavior. Psychological Science, 18(3), 199–203.
Livingstone, A. G., Windeatt, S., Nesbitt, L., Kerry, J., Barr, S. A., Ashman, L., … Wu, J. C. (2020). Do you get us? A multi-experiment, meta-analytic test of the effect of felt understanding in intergroup relations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 91, 104028.
Loughnane, J. (2024). A cognitive consistency approach to understanding multiple group identification and intergroup attitudes (Unpublished doctorial dissertation). University of Limerick, Ireland.
Loughnane, J., Roth, J., Rauner, M., & Strack, F. (2021). From student to employee: Group compatibility predicts group identification and intergroup attitudes. Identity, 21(2), 131–143.
Loughnane, J., Roth, J., & van Tilburg, W. (2023). A cognitive balance approach to understanding intergroup attitudes in post-Brexit Northern Ireland. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(4), 1798–1816.
Matschke, C., & Fehr, J. (2017). Does identity incompatibility lead to disidentification? Internal motivation to be a group member acts as buffer for sojourners from independent cultures, Whereas external motivation acts as buffer for sojourners from interdependent cultures. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 335.
Morris, R. C. (2013). Identity salience and identity importance in identity theory. Current Research in Social Psychology, 21(8), 23–36.
Moss, S. M. (2016). “Country first, politics later” reasons for dual recategorization in Zanzibari narratives. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 22(4), 318–328.
Otten, S., & Epstude, K. (2006). Overlapping mental representations of self, ingroup, and outgroup: Unraveling self-stereotyping and self-anchoring. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(7), 957–969.
Otten, S., & Moskowitz, G. B. (2000). Evidence for implicit evaluative in-group bias: Affect-biased spontaneous trait inference in a minimal group paradigm. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(1), 77–89.
Oyserman, D., Lewis, N. A., Yan, V. X., Fisher, O., O’Donnell, S. C., & Horowitz, E. (2017). An identity-based motivation framework for self-regulation. Psychological Inquiry, 28(2–3), 139–147.
Roth, J., Steffens, M. C., & Vignoles, V. L. (2018). Group membership, group change, and intergroup attitudes: A recategorization model based on cognitive consistency principles. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 479.
Sanchez, A. K., Zogmaister, C., & Arcuri, L. (2007). When “they” becomes “we”: Multiple contrasting identities in mixed status groups. Self and Identity, 6(2–3), 154–172.
Sassenberg, K., & Matschke, C. (2010). The impact of exchange programs on the integration of the hostgroup into the self-concept. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(1), 148–159.
Sassenberg, K., & Wieber, F. (2005). Don’t ignore the other half: The impact of ingroup identification on implicit measures of prejudice. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(5), 621–632.
Sherif, M., & Sherif, C. W. (1953). Groups in harmony and tension: An integration of studies of intergroup relations. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Skinner, T. C., Joensen, L., & Parkin, T. (2020). Twenty-five years of diabetes distress research. Diabetic Medicine, 37(3), 393–400.
Szeto, S. S. (2021). Identity motives: Influences of multiple motives on cognitive and behavioural dimensions of Facebook identity construction (Unpublished doctorial dissertation). University of Salford, United Kingdom.
van Veelen, R., Otten, S., Cadinu, M., & Hansen, N. (2016). An integrative model of social identification: Self-stereotyping and self-anchoring as two cognitive pathways. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(1), 3–26.
Vezzali, L., & Stathi, S. (2021). Using intergroup contact to fight prejudice and negative attitudes: Psychological perspectives. London: Routledge.
Vignoles, V. L. (2011). Identity motives. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 403–432). New York: Springer.
Xiao, Y. J., Coppin, G., & van Bavel, J. J. (2016). Perceiving the world through group-colored glasses: A perceptual model of intergroup relations. Psychological Inquiry, 27(4), 255–274.
Yamaguchi, S., Greenwald, A. G., Banaji, M. R., Murakami, F., Chen, D., Shiomura, K., … Krendl, A. (2007). Apparent universality of positive implicit self-esteem. Psychological Science, 18(6), 498–500.
Yan, L., Chen, W. Y., Xiang, Z., Zhou, J. H., Yang, L. C., & Zhang, Y. H. (2022). Self-stereotyping and self-anchoring affect social identification: Self-esteem as a moderator. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 50(1), e10821.

[1]	LIU Xiaofei, XIN Ziqiang. Latent Types of Homo Economicus Beliefs and the Relationship with Self-Dehumanization [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(5): 682-689.
[2]	JIN Hua, WANG Chao, YIN Xiaojuan, JIA Lina, WANG Xuying. Effects of Misinformation Valence on Continued Influence Effect: The Mediating Role of Misinformation Belief [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(5): 690-696.
[3]	RUAN Lingling, SHI Yijing, MENG Wenchao, ZHANG Yifan, SHI Shaojia, YANG Qun. Predictions of Teachers’ Incremental Mindsets on Their Classroom Goal Structure: The Mediating Role of Positive Psychological Capital and the Moderating Role of Emotion [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(5): 697-703.
[4]	CHENG Zihan, BI Cuihua, WU Qi. The Impact of Episodic Future Thinking on Money Intertemporal Decision Making: Evidence from Three-Level Meta-Analysis [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(5): 704-712.
[5]	Boren BAI, Xiang ZHOU, Jingjing ZHANG, Yuxin CUI. Artificial Intelligence Narcissism Enhances Human-Agent Collaborative Innovation Willingness and Its Mechanisms [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 137-144.
[6]	Huijing ZHI, Yang LIU. A Study of Gaze Behavior for Decision-Making of Race-Walking Referees in the Multi-Person Scenarios [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 130-136.
[7]	Yaohua ZHANG, Min XU, Yunyun HUANG, Sufei XIN. Psychological Resilience Buffers Against the Curvilinear Relationship Between Stressful Life Events and School Burnout in Adolescence [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 123-129.
[8]	Zifu SHI, Huohong CHEN, Yihan ZHANG, Jinliang GUAN, Biqi XIA, Ziyang JIN. The Effect of Parental Helicopter Parenting on Subjective Well-Being of College Students: The Chain Mediating Effect of Self-Control and Depression [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 116-122.
[9]	Xingchao WANG, Fangfang TIAN. Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescents’ Bullying: The Roles of Adolescents’ Moral Disengagement and Fathers’ Moral Disengagement [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 108-115.
[10]	Yingchun HAN, Linxuan WANG. Aerobic Exercise, Emotion, and Creativity: The Moderating Role of Fluid Intelligence [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(1): 100-107.
[11]	Chongde LIN. “The Spirit of Educators” is also the Spiritual Pursuit of Chinese Psychologists [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(6): 721-724.
[12]	Ke ZHANG, Xiumin DU, Liyan LI, Xuehan ZHANG, Haixia ZHAO. Studies on the Relationship Between Sour Taste and Creativity [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(6): 815-823.
[13]	Jinglei YAN, Miaomiao FU, Bei HUANG, Shuailei LIAN. Problematic Social Media Use and Subjective Well-Being: The Chain Mediating Role of Technology Conflict and Fatigue [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(6): 824-831.
[14]	Mingzheng WU, Di CHEN, Mengyao YAN, Suhang NI, Shiqi WANG, Jinrong YIN, Xiaoling SUN. Family Rituals and Self-Control of Adolescents: A Chain Mediating Model of Parent-Child Attachment and Meaning in Life [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(6): 832-838.
[15]	Youlong ZHAN, Xuefen JIANG, Changlin LIU, Xu LIU, Qianbao TAN. The Effect of College Students’ Self-Accountability on Prosocial Behavioral Intention in Moral Dilemmas: The Chain Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Anticipated Pride [J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2023, 21(6): 839-845.