Research on identity fusion (Swann, Gomez, Seyle, & Morales, 2009), a recent phenomenological approach to social identification, suggests that some people have a deep personal bond with a group that they belong to. Evidence shows that fused people have a persistent connection between their group identity and personal selves. The notion of a social identity that is deeply entwined with the personal self stands in contrast to traditional views of social identification (e.g. Self-Categorization Theory; Turner, Oakes, Haslam, & McGarty, 1994), which tend to see group membership as something that is only important in particular group-related situations. Whereas most people are able to compartmentalize their identities based on the context they are in, a fused group identity can be active even in situations that are unrelated to it. The ability to compartmentalize may be beneficial in some cases, however. Downplaying an identity that is not active can allow people to insulate themselves from negative information about the group and can improve the quality of social interactions. Without the ability to compartmentalize, people who are fused with a group may have trouble with both of these things. Three studies tested whether fused people do indeed experience such repercussions. The first study presented University of Texas students with a fake news story describing the school hurting local family farmers. Participants who were highly identified with UT were more likely to feel guilty after reading the story, while participants who were highly fused with UT were more likely to engage in a subsequent charitable task (whether they read the news story or were in a control condition). In the second study, UT students were asked to chat with each other about a variety of topics, and have the quality of their interactions linguistically analyzed. The final study had UT students write about either their relationship with UT or with their immediate family. Participants who were more highly fused with UT were less likely to use words signifying negative emotion or uncertainty, but were more likely to use inclusive pronouns. Implications for future research on identity fusion are discussed. / text

I assessed the influence prototypicality has on judgements individuals make about gay men. It has been demonstrated that individuals make inferences regarding a person’s traits and group membership based upon a person’s perceived prototypicality (Ambady, Hallahan, & Conner, 1999; Stephan & Stephan, 1989; Wilkins, Kaiser, and Rieck, 2010). I hypothesized that highly prototypical gay men would be perceived to be more identified with the gay community, possess more negative stereotypes of gay men, engage in more activities associated with the gay community, receive less positive feelings from others, and experience more discrimination. Additionally, perceived group identification and negative stereotyping were expected to mediate serially the relationship between prototypicality, perceived engagement in gay activities, positive attitudes from others, and discrimination from others. Participants (N=360) viewed an image of a gay man either low or high in prototypicality. Participants evaluated the gay man’s perceived group identification, perceived stereotypical traits, engagement in activities associated with the gay community, as well as their own feelings and behavioral intentions toward the gay men. Highly prototypical gay men were perceived to (1) identify more with the gay community, (2) possess more negative stereotypes associated with gay men, and (3) engage in more immoral activities associated with the gay community, than low prototypical gay men. Moreover, perceived group identification and negative stereotyping serially mediated the relationship between prototypicality, and perceived engagement in gay activities, attitudes towards the target, and discrimination from others.

To my knowledge, few studies have investigated the effects of ingroup prejudice. Study 1 assessed the relationship between experienced ingroup prejudice and wellbeing. Results indicated that experiencing racism from the LGBT community was related to poor wellbeing amongst Black men (N=99). Partial correlations indicated that while controlling for other sources of prejudice, racism from the ingroup (i.e., LGBT community) continued to relate to the wellbeing of gay Black men (GBM); however, the relationship between racism from the outgroup (i.e., Whites) and wellbeing was lost. Thus, ingroup and outgroup racism may affect GBM’s wellbeing differently. For Study 2, (N=264) I once again, evaluated the relationship between ingroup prejudice and wellbeing amongst gay Black men. Findings demonstrated that effects of prejudice on wellbeing of GBM were not dependent upon ingroup and outgroup prejudice. However, racism from the LGBT community was more impactful than any other condition. GBM reported lower self-esteem when racism stemmed from the LGBT community versus sexuality prejudice from the Black community. This may be due to GBM finding bias from the LGBT community as more unexpected compared to all other sources of bias. When bias stemmed from the LGBT community compared to all groups, GBM reported lower self-esteem and lower perceived control. Mediation analyses demonstrated that bias expectations mediated the relationship between the difference of racism from the LGBT community from all other groups and wellbeing. Moreover, GBM identified less with their ingroups when they read about ingroup prejudice.

Diversity structures (e.g. diversity trainings) have been implemented in companies to bring awareness to discrimination and promote equality (Shen, Chanda, D’Netto, & Monga, 2009). However, previous research has shown that diversity structures can act as legitimizing cues and can threaten the authenticity of claims of discrimination made by low-status groups (Dover, Major, & Kaiser, 2012). Ironically, high-status group are typically threatened by pro-diversity organizational messages (Dover, Major & Kaiser, 2015). Could diversity structures meant to help minorities make it more likely that high-status groups are more likely to believe bias claims from an in-group member? In Study 1, White participants were randomly assigned to read a description of a company that had a diversity training versus regular employee training, then read a claim of discrimination made by a White employee. They also completed a measure of White group identification. There was a significant interaction (Condition X GID), which suggested that when participants in the control condition identified more with their in-group, the more believable they found the claim of discrimination to be. The unexpected but interesting result could be due to the fact participants in the diversity condition withdrew their support of the White claimant because they did not want to appear racist or felt that the White claimant was acting as a bad in-group member. A replication of the Study 1 with the additional measures, group level social cost and individual level social cost was conducted, and the results did not replicate. However, exploratory mediation analyses revealed group level social cost served as a significant mediator for the relationship between GID and claim believability, perceptions of diversity structures and perceptions of policy changes while individual social cost did not. Implications for diversity structures, GID and future research directions are discussed.

This research focuses on the cultural identity of Chinese Australian adolescents in Canberra between the ages of 18 and 21. Adolescence is a developmental stage in which young people feel a need to define their cultural identity. According to social identity theory, being a member of the group provides individuals with a sense of belonging that contributes to a positive self-concept. In particular, young people belonging to ethnic minority groups need a firm sense of group identification in order to maintain a sense of wellbeing (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). The purpose and significance of this study is to update our understanding of how adolescents from a specific ethnic minority group (Chinese Australian) adjust to the mainstream Australian culture. The information gathered will be significant to the wellbeing of these individuals in helping them to come to terms with their own identity. It will also provide useful information for effective cross-cultural interaction for a range of services such as education, law, health and social services. The quantitative and qualitative approaches employed in this study include a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview complements the questionnaire in confirming the adjustments of these adolescents within an analytical framework that is a replica of Phinney's framework (1994). In her research on bicultural identity orientations of African American and Mexican American adolescents, Phinney categorised these adolescents under four distinct types of interaction with the mainstream culture. These are namely: separation (focus only on the ethnic culture), assimilation (identifying solely with the dominant culture), integration (relating well to both cultures) and marginality (relating to neither culture). In this dissertation the researcher also aims to determine the cultural identity of Chinese Australian adolescents in Canberra in the study using these four categories. The results of this study demonstrate that this framework is an appropriate analytical tool for the study of the cultural identity of Chinese Australian adolescents, most of whom classified themselves as integrated. Overall, Chinese Australian adolescents between the ages of 18 and 21 in the Canberra region were well adjusted and showed little tension or stress in relating to their ethnic culture or to the mainstream Australian culture.

<p>A long tradition of social psychological research suggests that perceptions of similarity and common ground can promote more harmonious relations among otherwise diverse social groups. Yet perceived similarity with and empathy for members of an outgroup can also intensify intergroup bias by threatening the positive distinctiveness of one's group. In the present research, cognitive dissonance theory is used as a framework for understanding how people experience and react to similarity with members of a rival outgroup and for clarifying the conditions under which outgroup similarity reduces or intensifies intergroup prejudice. Four studies tested the hypothesis that outgroup similarity elicits subjective feelings of cognitive dissonance, including psychological discomfort and negative self-evaluation. Study 1 was a pilot test in which similarity to an outgroup member was associated with negative self-evaluation but not psychological discomfort. Study 2 strengthened the interpretation of the turncoat effect as cognitive dissonance by demonstrating that the effect varies as a function of a classic dissonance moderator--perceived choice. Participants induced to experience outgroup similarity reported psychological discomfort and negative self-evaluation, but only when they believed their feelings of similarity resulted from a high degree of personal choice. Study 3 identified strength of ingroup identification as another key moderator of the effect: Only participants who were highly identified with their ingroup reported feelings of dissonance after an induction of outgroup similarity. Finally, Study 4 investigated the implications of three dissonance reduction strategies for intergroup prejudice.</p> / Dissertation

Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of the relatively new concept of Brand Hate. More specifically, how Brand Hate can occur in people with no to little experience with certain brands, so called non-customers. We want to believe that humans are a rational being that takes decisions based on all the available information and does not jump to conclusions before all options have been exhausted. But upon closer examination theoretical concepts such as brand love can be found. A concept that argues that users of a brand utilize the brand itself in order to internally identify values he or she holds, as well as showcasing those values and personality traits externally to others. With this theory as a basis the relatively new concept of Brand Hate was born. The new concept, posits that there has to be another side of the brand love, where people actually hate or dislike the brand. Up to this point very little research has been done within the area, and that is where the authors of this thesis saw an opportunity to fill a research gap. There has been no previous research attempting to understand WHY these negative feelings comes to present themselves within people. But as soon as the work on the thesis had started another opportunity presented itself, it seemed as though people hate or dislike brands that they themselves does not even use. As a result non-customers became the focal point of investigation of this thesis.  The research itself included three different focus groups, with in total nineteen respondents that discussed a wide variety of topics. During the sessions the discussions touched upon what brands they disliked, why they disliked them and how the respondents identified with other groups of people. This gave the authors the ability to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological reasoning behind why certain brands the respondents did not use were severely hated or disliked.    The findings from the research seem to point in one very specific direction, group identification is an integral reason why non-customers started to hate or dislike brands. No matter how good companies are creating an appealing brand, that same brand will always risk to become distorted, as a result of the different targeted user groups. This research shows that people let their emotions and prejudices come between what they perceive a brand to be, and what companies want them to be. The result is people prematurely judging brands based upon the customers of that brand. If the respondents did not like the user group of a certain brand, that same brand would be inscribed with all the negative connotations with the user groups, thereby distorting the public brand image far from what the companies might intend them to be.

We have from our research, conducted in Guardamar del Segura, Spain, discovered that most of the communication between native Spaniards and immigrant Bulgarians is negative non-verbal communication which leads to a division between the two groups. The result of high unemployment and social stress, which the current situation in Spain provides, tend to create stronger ties inside the groups and at the same time enlarge the distance towards other groups. Also, the large amount of nonverbal communication such as observing each other’s behavior leads in this case to negative stereotyping and prejudices that creates and maintain the different group’s relations in the society.

Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) is one of the most influential social psychological theories of group behavior and intergroup relations. Early social identity research focused on many different group processes; however, the motivation behind group identification was not fully explored. Researchers have proposed a variety of accounts for why people join and identify with groups. This dissertation unravels the relationship between, on the one hand, mortality salience, self-related uncertainty and self-esteem, and on the other group identification and ingroup defense. The general hypothesis derived from uncertainty-identity theory (Hogg, 2010) is that uncertainty and not fear of death or pursuit of self-esteem motivate people to identify with and defend their groups, and that identification mediates the relationship between uncertainty and defense of the group. Experiment 1 (N = 112) tested the relationship between uncertainty and self-esteem on defense of the ingroup, with the additional test of the mediating effects of identification with the group between uncertainty and ingroup defense. Results showed that uncertainty and not self-esteem motivate people to identify with a group, to defend their group, and that group defense is mediated by identification. Experiment 2 (N = 112) provided a replication of the typical TMT study, which suggests that self-esteem will buffer the effects of mortality salience on ingroup defense, with the additional test of the mediating effects of identification between mortality salience and defense of one's group. As predicted, mortality salience only increased identification and defense of the group when self-esteem was not enhanced, as well, the interactive effects of mortality salience and self-esteem on defense was mediated by identification. Experiment 3 (N = 294) was a combination of both Experiments 1 and 2 and tested the hypothesis that uncertainty would moderate the relationship between self-esteem and mortality salience on group identification and ingroup defense. Exactly as predicted, only under high uncertainty the typical TMT results are demonstrated. Results across these three experiments demonstrate that self-uncertainty plays a significant role in reactions to mortality salience, and support uncertainty-identity theory's analysis of the role of self-uncertainty in ideological conviction and group behavior.

The aim of the present research was to investigate the various determinants of intergroup relations, particularly national stereotypes, in- group identification, contact, and social categorization. In chapter one a total of 150 Turkish Cypriots filled a national stereotypes questionnaire, social identity scale, and a scale assessing intergroup contact. Factor analysis of the stereotypes of the Turkish Cypriots (autostereotypes) demonstrated the existence of four latent variables adopted as Positivity, Competency- Based, Negativity and Religiosity/ Conservatism. The same factor structure was obtained for the stereotypes used to evaluate the Greek Cypriots (heterostereotypes). It was observed that Turkish Cypriots consistently demonstrated in- group favoritisim. In support of the Contact hypothesis it was found that increased exposure was predictive of greater endorsement of positive national stereotypes of the Greek Cypriots. In- group identification seemed to affect in- group attitudes alone / however, moderation analyses showed that in- group identification influenced negative out- group attitudes moderated through positive in- group attitudes. This led to the development of a model of negative out- group attitudes. In the second chapter the direction, content, and uniformity of the national stereotypes Turkish Cypriots endorse regarding the Turkish, Greek and British, three nations that have played a significant role in the history of Turkish Cypriots were assessed. Stereotypes were analyzed according to the following five dimensions: Empathic, dominant, efficient, negative, and religiosity/ conservative. Results led to the conclusion that Turkish Cypriots demonstrated in- group favoritism and had quite uniform autostereotypes yet inconsistent heterostereotypes. Stereotypic content was also mainly determined by the political, historical, and social relationship present between the national groups in question. In the third chapter participants were 150 Turkish Cypriots asked to assess their own town as well as the inhabitants of Nicosia. It was predicted that the act of stereotyping the neighbor would change depending on the type of category evoked from the questionnaire manipulation, such that Turkish Cypriots would judge Greek Cypriots as more similar when a common in- group identity Cypriot was suggested. The research findings however, did not support the assertions and Turkish Cypriots did not perceive themselves as more similar to Greek Cypriots under any condition, reflected also in their consistent selection of the same adjectives for Greek Cypriots over conditions. The limitations of the researches and future implications were discussed in an attempt to shed light on the intergroup processes present in Cyprus.