Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks

Evidence for Greater Marking along Ethnic Boundaries

The coordination of beliefs, norms, and behaviors is foundational to theories of group formation. However, because beliefs and norms are not directly observable, signaling mechanisms are required to build reliable signals of latent traits. Although the mathematical theory behind these signals is robust, there is very little testing of ethnic marker theory or of its key propositions that markers become more prevalent along ethnic boundaries and where more than two cultural groups are in contact. We present an ethnographic test of this theory with phonetic differences serving as potential group signals. The data derive from an ethnographic and linguistic investigation in two contrasting secondary school settings in Utah, one that is majority European American and one that is ethnically more diverse. Word list recordings were collected as part of interviews with teens from different backgrounds. We extracted acoustic data from the speech of European Americans (EAs) and Pacific Islanders (PIs), then analyzed differences in the pronunciation of the vowel in words such as "bit." We found evidence of greater phonetic marking at the more diverse school, along more prominent boundaries of ethnic interaction. These results align with predictions made by the theoretical models. This initial empirical test of model predictions provides justification for the development of more complex models that could account for more variables within the environment.

Signals of belonging: emergence of signalling norms as facilitators of trust and parochial cooperation

Mechanisms of social control reinforce norms that appear harmful or wasteful, such as mutilation practises or extensive body tattoos. We suggest such norms arise to serve as signals that distinguish between ingroup 'friends' and outgroup 'foes', facilitating parochial cooperation. Combining insights from research on signalling and parochial cooperation, we incorporate a trust game with signalling in an agent-based model to study the dynamics of signalling norm emergence in groups with conflicting interests. Our results show that costly signalling norms emerge from random acts of signalling in minority groups that benefit most from parochial cooperation. Majority groups are less likely to develop costly signalling norms. Yet, norms that prescribe sending costless group identity signals can easily emerge in groups of all sizes-albeit, at times, at the expense of minority group members. Further, the dynamics of signalling norm emergence differ across signal costs, relative group sizes, and levels of ingroup assortment. Our findings provide theoretical insights into norm evolution in contexts where groups develop identity markers in response to environmental challenges that put their interests at odds with the interests of other groups. Such contexts arise in zones of ethnic conflict or during contestations of existing power relations. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.

Hashtags as signals of political identity: #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter

We investigate perceptions of tweets marked with the #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags, as well as how the presence or absence of those hashtags changed the meaning and subsequent interpretation of tweets in U.S. participants. We found a strong effect of partisanship on perceptions of the tweets, such that participants on the political left were more likely to view #AllLivesMatter tweets as racist and offensive, while participants on the political right were more likely to view #BlackLivesMatter tweets as racist and offensive. Moreover, we found that political identity explained evaluation results far better than other measured demographics. Additionally, to assess the influence of hashtags themselves, we removed them from tweets in which they originally appeared and added them to selected neutral tweets. Our results have implications for our understanding of how social identity, and particularly political identity, shapes how individuals perceive and engage with the world.

Homophily and acrophily as drivers of political segregation

Political segregation is an important social problem, increasing polarization and impeding effective governance. Previous work has viewed the central driver of segregation to be political homophily, the tendency to associate with others who have similar views. Here we propose that, in addition to homophily, people's social tie decisions are driven by political acrophily, the tendency to associate with others who have more extreme political views (rather than more moderate). We examined this using a paradigm in which participants share emotions and attitudes on political policies, observe others' responses and choose which others to affiliate with. In four studies (N = 1,235), both liberal and conservative participants' social tie decisions reflected the presence of acrophily. We found that participants who viewed peers who expressed more extreme views as more prototypical of their political group also tended to engage in greater acrophily. These studies identify a previously overlooked tendency in tie formation.

Models of Identity Signaling

Identity signals inform receivers of a signaler’s membership in a subset of individuals, and in doing so shape cooperation, conflict, and social learning. Understanding the use and consequences of identity signaling is therefore critical for a complete science of collective human behavior. As is true for all complex social systems, this understanding is aided by the use of formal mathematical and computational models. Here I review some formal models of identity signaling. I divide these models into two categories. First, I discuss models used to study how identity functions as a signal, with a focus on public-health-related behavior and disease transmission. Second, I discuss models used to understand how identity signals operate strategically in different social environments, with a focus on covert, or encrypted, communication.