Description
Secure social identities are maintained by balancing two competing needs: the need to be included in social groups (assimilation need) and the need to feel distinct from others (differentiation need). If either need is elicited, people experience discomfort and make adjustments to restore balance. What remains unclear is whether changing the perception of who qualifies to belong to the ingroup satisfies those social identity needs. It was hypothesized that secure social identity would be reestablished through greater inclusion of individuals who exhibit more behaviors than is typical for the ingroup (over-typical). Need State Arousal (Assimilation-Below, Assimilation-Above, Differentiation, No Need) was manipulated between participants. Need State conditions were manipulated through false feedback regarding the similarity of the participant to his/her self-identified, religious ingroup. Participants were then presented with eleven profiles of (fictitious) target persons who displayed varying degrees of religious behavior (e.g., prays three times a week). Participants then judged the likelihood each target was a member of his/her own religious ingroup. Participants were SDSU undergraduates (n = 124) who self-identified as members of a religious group during the Psychology participant pool prescreening. Sequential hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze ingroup likelihood judgments. Planned contrasts were created to test if ingroup inclusion varied when assimilation needs were aroused (Above and Below conditions) than when they were not (Differentiation and No Need conditions). Results revealed significant effects of Target Religious Behaviors (both linear and quadratic). The likelihood a target person was perceived to be an ingroup member increased as target religious behaviors increased, but this trend tapered off when target persons took part in many religious behaviors. The quadratic effect was qualified by a significant interaction with the contrast of assimilation aroused or not such that tapering off of the Target Religious Behaviors to inclusion relationship occurred in conditions that did not arouse assimilation needs. The findings suggest that assimilation need arousal prompts inclusivity of individuals high in favorable ingroup behaviors (e.g., overachievers). This may provide a person with a sense of loyalty to the ingroup, thereby, reestablishing the perception of secure standing therein.
