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I Continue to Feel So Good About Us: In-Group Identification and the Use of Social Identity–Enhancing Strategies to Reduce Intragroup Dissonance

¹ John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center
² Yale University
³ University of Connecticut

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dglasford{at}jjay.cuny.edu.

	Abstract

The present research examined the relation between in-group identification and the use of social identity– enhancing strategies for dealing with the discomfort associated with inconsistency between personal beliefs and in-group behavior (intragroup dissonance). Consistent with the hypothesis that social identity–enhancing strategies would be more effective at reducing intragroup dissonance for those highly identified with the in-group, Experiment 1 demonstrated that level of group identification moderated the effectiveness of group affirmation for reducing psychological discomfort associated with intragroup dissonance, but not the effectiveness of self-affirmation. In Experiment 2, which manipulated level of group identification, participants in a high-identification condition, relative to those in a low-identification condition, were more likely to choose to reduce intragroup dissonance with a strategy that enhanced social identity (i.e., out-group derogation) over a strategy less effective at social identity enhancement (i.e., activism to change the behavior of the group). Implications for intergroup relations are discussed.

First published on January 13, 2009, doi:10.1177/0146167208329216

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009;35:415.

A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2009


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