Social Identity

A social identity is a group membership                           Cognireps of social identities can

that is meaningful to a person.                                                 be complex or simple.

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         Henri Tajfel

Author of Social Identity Theory

 

Our research shows that women have a more complex cognitive representation (cognirep) of their social self.  When asked about their important social groups (social identities), women are more likely to have a detailed view of their groups.  Men instead have a vague, fuzzy view of their groups.  We believe this may have important implications for well-being, including feelings of loneliness.  This belief is based on studies showing that self-complexity is a buffer against threats to the self.  Social identity is also related to feelings about engaging in collective action on the part of groups low in social power.

 

Foels, R. (2006). Ingroup favoritism and social self-esteem in minimal groups:  Changing a social categorization into a social identity. Current Research in Social Psychology, 12(3), 38-53.

Foels, R., & Tomcho, T. J. (2005). Gender, interdependent self-construals, and collective self-esteem: Women and men are mostly the same. Self and Identity, 4, 213-225.

Foels, R., & Tomcho, T. J. (2009). Gender differences in interdependent self-construals: It’s not the type of group, it’s the way you see it. Self and Identity, 8, 396-417.

Rustin, B., & Foels, R. (2014). Gender differences in the need to belong: Different cognitive representations of the same social groups. Current Research in Social Psychology, 22, 1-9.

Stewart, A. L., Pratto, F., Bou Zeineddine, F., Sweetman, J., Either, V., Licata, L., Morselli, D., Saab, R., Aiello, A., Chryssochoou, X., Cichocka, A., Çidam, A., Foels, R., Giguère, B., Li, L., Prate, D., & van Stekelenburg, J. (2016). International support for the Arab uprisings: Understanding sympathetic collective action using theories of social identity and social dominance. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 19, 6-26.