{"id":1198,"date":"2026-02-23T04:28:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T04:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/?page_id=1198"},"modified":"2026-03-22T15:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T15:15:13","slug":"social-identity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/social-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"
A social identity is a group membership \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Cognireps of social identities can<\/h5>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 that is meaningful to a person. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 be complex or simple.<\/h5>\n

. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our research shows that women have a more complex cognitive representation (cognirep) of their social self. <\/span>When asked about their important social groups (social identities), women are more likely to have a detailed view of their groups. \u00a0Men instead have a vague, fuzzy view of their groups. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe this difference may have important implications for well-being, including feelings of loneliness. \u00a0This belief is based on studies showing that self-complexity is a buffer against threats to the self. \u00a0Social identity is also related to feelings about engaging in collective action on the part of groups low in social power.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Foels, R. (in prep). Feminist identity development, cognitive complexity, and social hierarchy opposition.<\/i><\/p>\n

Foels, R. (2006). Ingroup favoritism and social self-esteem in minimal groups:\u00a0 Changing a social categorization into a social identity. Current Research in Social Psychology, 12(3),<\/em> 38-53.<\/p>\n

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,<\/em> 213-225.<\/p>\n

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,<\/em> 396-417.<\/p>\n

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, <\/em>1-9.<\/p>\n

Stewart, A. L., Pratto, F., Bou Zeineddine, F., Sweetman, J., Either, V., Licata, L., Morselli, D., Saab, R., Aiello, A., Chryssochoou, X., Cichocka, A., \u00c7idam, A., Foels, R., Gigu\u00e8re, 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<\/em>, 6-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A social identity is a group membership \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Cognireps of social identities … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4233,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1198","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSocial Identity - Rob Foels, Ph.D.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/social-identity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social Identity - Rob Foels, Ph.D.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A social identity is a group membership \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Cognireps of social identities … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/social-identity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rob Foels, Ph.D.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-22T15:15:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1471\/2026\/03\/TajfelSITimage-e1773206591720-169x300.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/social-identity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/rob-foels\/social-identity\/\",\"name\":\"Social Identity - 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