Identity fusion, a psychological construct rooted in social psychology and cognitive anthropology, is a form of alignment with groups in which members experience a visceral sense of oneness with the group. The construct relies on a distinction between the personal self (characteristics that make someone a unique person, such as height, age, or personality) and the social self (characteristics that align the person with various groups, such as common nationalities, interests, or motivations). As the name suggests, identity fusion involves the union of the personal and social selves. When fusion occurs, both the personal and social selves remain salient and influential but the boundaries between them become highly permeable. In addition, the theory proposes that fused persons come to regard other group members as "family" and develop strong relational ties to them as well as ties to the collective. Therefore, fused persons are not just bound to the collective; they are tied to the individual members of the collective.
The potency of the personal self and relational ties distinguish identity fusion from other forms of alignment with groups, such as "group identification", in which allegiance to the collective eclipses the personal self and relational ties to other group members. Because of this, the personal self and relational ties are not as involved in theories of group identification. Identity fusion theorizes that fusion measures should be more predictive of extreme pro-group behavior than previously proposed measures of identification. In fact, there is growing evidence of this. Measures of identity fusion are particularly powerful predictors of personally costly pro-group behaviors, including endorsement of extreme behaviors, such as fighting and dying for the group. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
The identity fusion construct builds upon earlier work by emphasizing aspects of the relationship of people to groups that were de-emphasized within the social identity perspective (i.e., social identity theory [12] and self-categorization theory [13] ). Like social identity theory, identity fusion theory rests on the distinction between the personal and social identities. [14] However, the social identity approach assumes that there is a hydraulic relationship between personal and social identities. That is, the increases in the salience and influence of one identity diminishes the salience and influence of the other. One important implication of this assumption is that as the group identity becomes salient and apt to guide behavior, the personal identity becomes less salient and less likely to guide behavior. In contrast, the theory of identity fusion theory proposes that both the personal and social identities of a person can be salient and influential simultaneously. [4]
Social identity theory also suggests that group members are only linked to one another through their allegiance to the collective; theoretically, personal relationships between group members do not foster identification with the group [15] (with the exception of one study [16] ). In contrast, fused individuals feel deeply connected to other group members as individuals, as well as to the larger group as a whole. This is reflected in measures of identify fusion. For example, the verbal measure of identity fusion taps feelings of reciprocal strength between the individual and the group (e.g., "I am strong because of my group"; "I would do more for my group than any other group members would do") as well as feelings of oneness with the group (e.g., "I am one with my group"; "My group is me"). [3]
The characteristics of identity fusion theory have been summarized in the form of four principles:
Since the experimental study of actual extreme pro-group acts raises large ethical red flags, researchers have largely focused on endorsements of extreme pro-group acts. Several studies have shown that fusion is a robust predictor of willingness to fight and die on behalf of one's group. [3] [17] [5] [6] Other research has examined responses to variations of the trolley dilemma adapted for groups. In scenarios that pitted the desire for self-preservation against self-sacrifice for others, strongly fused persons were especially willing to endorse sacrificing their lives for fellow in-group members (but not for out-group members). [2] Using a different approach, researchers examined group members' reactions to significant group losses and found that highly identified individuals tend to detach themselves from the group following a group failure, whereas strongly fused persons predicted that they would "go down with the ship". For example, in parallel studies of the 2008 presidential elections in Spain and the United States, people who were strongly fused with their political party internalized both victory and defeat, but highly identified persons internalized only victory. [22] Additional field research with terrorist groups like ISIS [23] [24] [25] and rebel groups [7] [26] is also beginning to shed light on the role identity fusion plays in extreme pro-group behaviors. [27] [28]
In addition to predicting endorsement of extreme pro-group behaviors, research suggests that fusion is a predictor of a variety of personally costly pro-group behaviors in the real world. [29]
Additional research has shown that fusion could also be a strong predictor of group-directed helping behaviors. In some studies, individuals donated money to the group. [17] In others, they provided social and emotional support to fellow group members. [30] Other research has also suggested that strongly fused individuals are especially willing to go out of their way to protect the group and maintain its integrity. For instance, strongly fused employees were more likely to report having "blown the whistle" sometime during their employment. Presumably, such whistle-blowing activity was motivated by a conviction that their actions would ultimately benefit the group. [31] Another study found that students who were strongly fused with their university were willing to whistle-blow against a cheating fellow student despite the cost of time, energy, and the possibility of retaliation from the cheater. [32]
Since Charles Darwin, the willingness of some humans to sacrifice themselves for genetically unrelated members of the same large, diffuse group (such as a religion or a nation) has raised a theoretical challenge. Social psychological perspectives have contended that such sacrifices are motivated by commitment to the larger collective [12] whereas anthropological perspectives have contended that such sacrifices are triggered by commitment to other members of the group. [33] [34] The distinction between local and extended fusion provides an explanation for these apparently competing explanations. Local fusion is proposed to occur in relatively small, homogeneous groups whose members attach to each other through direct personal contact (e.g., families or work teams). In contrast, extended fusion occurs in relatively large groups whose members do not all have personal relationships (e.g., political parties or nation states). In extended fusion, even though fused individuals may not actually know all of their fellow group members, they still feel like they know them and even think of them as like family. [4] [35] [36]
In short, identity fusion theory posits that fused people project feelings of relational ties they have with known group members onto unknown group members. The projection of relational ties explains why fused individuals are sometimes willing to make sacrifices for members of large heterogeneous groups that most people would make only for small, tight-knit groups. Through the process of projection, they psychologically transform genetically unrelated individuals into kin. [4]
Although most fusion research to date has focused on the nature and consequences of fusion, recent research has revealed some starting points for understanding the causes of fusion. [4] [5] Perceptions of shared essence, the belief that one shares essential core qualities with the group, appears to be a key building block of identity fusion. Perceptions of shared essence arise in different ways in local and extended fusion. In local fusion, individuals have direct experiences with other group members that foster the conclusion that they share essential qualities with those individuals. In extended fusion, the perception of psychological kinship is fostered by the presence of certain characteristics that are perceived as fundamental to who the person is. For example, people are more likely to fuse with large extended groups when they become convinced that members of the group share with them genes or core values, especially if they hold those values sacred. [37]
The relational ties principle of fusion suggests that highly fused individuals will feel that they and other group members synergistically strengthen each other. This perception of reciprocal strength should foster the perception that together, members of the group are uniquely invulnerable. These feelings of invulnerability may serve to insulate strongly fused individuals from fully recognizing the risks associated with extreme acts. Perceptions of invulnerability have been shown to mediate the effects of fusion on endorsement of pro-group behavior. [3] [10] [38]
The identity synergy principle of fusion assumes that the borders between the personal and social selves are highly permeable for strongly fused individuals. These porous borders encourage people to channel their personal agency into group behavior, raising the possibility that strongly fused individuals will channel their feelings of personal agency into pro-group behavior. Perceptions of agency have been shown to mediate the effect of fusion on pro-group behavior. [17] [3]
A study found that groups that share painful or strong negative experiences can cause visceral bonding, and pro-group behavior. [39]
Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group, or between social groups. The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behaviour, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies. These applications of the field are studied in psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, education, social work, leadership studies, business and managerial studies, as well as communication studies.
In the social sciences, a social group is defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. For example, a society can be viewed as a large social group. The system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group or between social groups is known as group dynamics.
In sociology, a peer group is both a social group and a primary group of people who have similar interests (homophily), age, background, or social status. The members of this group are likely to influence the person's beliefs and behaviour.
In the psychology of self, one's self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to the question "Who am I?".
A self-serving bias is any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and enhance self-esteem, or the tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner. It is the belief that individuals tend to ascribe success to their own abilities and efforts, but ascribe failure to external factors. When individuals reject the validity of negative feedback, focus on their strengths and achievements but overlook their faults and failures, or take more credit for their group's work than they give to other members, they are protecting their self-esteem from threat and injury. These cognitive and perceptual tendencies perpetuate illusions and error, but they also serve the self's need for esteem. For example, a student who attributes earning a good grade on an exam to their own intelligence and preparation but attributes earning a poor grade to the teacher's poor teaching ability or unfair test questions might be exhibiting a self-serving bias. Studies have shown that similar attributions are made in various situations, such as the workplace, interpersonal relationships, sports, and consumer decisions.
In-group favoritism, sometimes known as in-group–out-group bias, in-group bias, intergroup bias, or in-group preference, is a pattern of favoring members of one's in-group over out-group members. This can be expressed in evaluation of others, in allocation of resources, and in many other ways.
Moral Psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between the application of philosophy and psychology. Moral psychology eventually came to refer more broadly to various topics at the intersection of ethics, psychology, and philosophy of mind. Some of the main topics of the field are moral judgment, moral reasoning, moral satisficing, moral sensitivity, moral responsibility, moral motivation, moral identity, moral action, moral development, moral diversity, moral character, altruism, psychological egoism, moral luck, moral forecasting, moral emotion, affective forecasting, and moral disagreement.
Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups, although this is a matter of contention. For the social psychologist, the level of analysis is the individual in the context of a social situation. As such, social psychologists emphasize the role of internal psychological processes. Other social scientists, such as sociologists, are more concerned with broad social, economic, political, and historical factors that influence events in a given society.
Self-knowledge is a term used in psychology to describe the information that an individual draws upon when finding answers to the questions "What am I like?" and "Who am I?".
Self-sacrifice is the giving up of something that a person wants for themselves so that others can be helped or protected or so that other external values can be advanced or protected. Generally, the act of self-sacrifice conforms to the rule that it does not serve the person’s best self-interest and will leave the person in a worse situation than the person otherwise would have been.
William B. Swann is a professor of social and personality psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is primarily known for his work on identity, self and self-esteem, but has also done research on relationships, social cognition, group processes, accuracy in person perception and interpersonal expectancy effects. He received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Minnesota and undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College.
Social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group.
Identity negotiation refers to the processes through which people reach agreements regarding "who is who" in their relationships. Once these agreements are reached, people are expected to remain faithful to the identities they have agreed to assume. The process of identity negotiation thus establishes what people can expect of one another. Identity negotiation thus provides the interpersonal "glue" that holds relationships together.
Harvey Whitehouse is chair of social anthropology and professorial fellow of Magdalen College at the University of Oxford.
Implicit self-esteem refers to a person's disposition to evaluate themselves in a spontaneous, automatic, or unconscious manner. It contrasts with explicit self-esteem, which entails more conscious and reflective self-evaluation. Both explicit and implicit self-esteem are constituents of self-esteem.
In social psychology, self-stereotyping is a process by which an individual integrates and internalizes commonly held characterizations of an in-group into their self-concept. It is described as part of social identity theory (SIT) and, more specifically, self-categorization theory (SCT).
In social psychology, collective narcissism is the tendency to exaggerate the positive image and importance of a group to which one belongs. The group may be defined by ideology, race, political beliefs/stance, religion, sexual orientation, social class, language, nationality, employment status, education level, cultural values, or any other ingroup. While the classic definition of narcissism focuses on the individual, collective narcissism extends this concept to similar excessively high opinions of a person's social group, and suggests that a group can function as a narcissistic entity.
Peer victimization is harassment or bullying that occurs among members of the same peer group. It is often used to describe the experience among children or young people of being a target of the aggressive and abusive behavior of other children, who are not siblings and not necessarily age-mates.
The self-expansion model proposes that individuals seek to expand their sense of self by acquiring resources, broadening their perspectives, and increase competency to ultimately optimize their ability to thrive in their environment. It was developed in 1986 by Arthur Aron and Elaine Aron to provide a framework for the underlying experience and behavior in close relationships. The model has two distinct but related core principles: the motivational principle and the inclusion-of-other-in-self principle. The motivational principle refers to an individual's inherent desire to improve their self-efficacy and adapt, survive, and reproduce in their environment. The inclusion-of-other-in-self principle posits that close relationships serve as the primary way to expand our sense of self as we incorporate the identities, perspectives, resources, and experiences of others as our own through these relationships.
The theory of divergent modes of religiosity (DMR) is intended to explain how religions are created, transmitted, and changed. DMR theory was first developed by anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse following his ethnographic fieldwork in Papua New Guinea. The theory proposes that religions tend to coalesce around two divergent modes, termed imagistic and doctrinal, which are distinguished primarily by their ritual practices. The imagistic mode is characterized by infrequently performed, high arousal rituals (e.g. initiation rites) and is associated with small scale, exclusive religious groups. In contrast the doctrinal mode is characterized by frequently performed, low arousal rituals (e.g. daily recitations of sacred texts) and is associated with larger inclusive communities, as found in the major world religions.