Impact of Social Identity Complexity in Unfair Events on Intergroup Bias in Third-Party Fairness Maintenance

The intergroup bias in third-party fairness maintenance includes two components: ingroup love and outgroup hate. Previous studies revealed that intergroup bias could be alleviated by high social identity complexity. This study explored the influence of the social identity complexity of parties in unfair events on intergroup bias in third-party fairness maintenance. Participants were divided into two groups and asked to choose from retention and punishment (Experiment One)/compensation (Experiment Two) to respond to unfair events presented by dictator games. To separate the components, we introduced additional unaffiliated members. Social identity complexity included single identity, presented as ingroup vs. outgroup sides of unfair events, and multiple identities, which included group identity and five additional identities. The results demonstrated that third parties tended to impose less punishment and more compensation on outgroup members under multiple than single identity conditions; however, the punishment and compensation to ingroup members exhibited no significant difference between the identity conditions. These results indicated that the multiple identities of the two sides in unfair events can reduce intergroup bias in third-party fairness maintenance, which can be achieved by reducing the outgroup hate rather than ingroup love.

Social Identity Complexity, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Brand Love of Multiple Leagues in Professional Sport

How can corporate social responsibility initiatives influence brand love? Based on the theory of social identity complexity, we examined whether greater complexity of a sport fan's multiple identifications with sport leagues led to higher multicultural tolerance and more positive perceptions of leagues' corporate social responsibility activities. Further, brand authenticity was tested as a variable intervening between perceived corporate social responsibility and brand love. We analyzed this serial mediation effect impacting sport fans' brand love for their multiple, favored and less favored, sport leagues. Participants (N = 242 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers) answered the scale item questionnaire for model assessment. The hypothesized model was supported as the indirect effect through all mediators was significant (43.42% of total indirect effects). Our results suggest that when sport fans acknowledge a high overlap among league fan groups (low social identity complexity), their tolerance is more likely to be higher than those who have a low overlap. Such high levels of tolerance influence how fans perceive corporate social responsibility initiatives, and these effects build up for fans to perceive the brand to be more authentic (i.e., based on their continuity, credibility, integrity, and symbolism). These antecedents affected brand love through a serial mediation. Sport league managers should consider the diverse aspects across leagues (i.e., different fan characteristics, media operations, game schedules) for harmonious coexistence with other leagues (e.g., by collaborating on promotions and reducing overlap of schedules) and maintain brand authenticity for their social initiatives to result in a greater brand love in the consumer's mind.

A riot on campus: The effects of social identity complexity on emotions and reparative attitudes after ingroup-perpetrated violence

When a group commits a transgression, members who identify closely with the group often engage in defensive strategies in which they are less likely to experience guilt and shame in response to the transgression than are less identified group members. Subsequently, highly identified group members are often less willing to offer reparations to the injured parties. Because appropriate emotional responses and reparations are critical to community reconciliation, the present investigation examined whether social identity complexity-the degree to which individuals perceive their multiple social identities as interrelated-reduced these defensive responses. In the aftermath of a campus riot, emotional responses and reparative attitudes of undergraduate students were assessed. Results indicated that individuals who closely identified with the university were in fact capable of experiencing guilt and shame, but only if they also had complex social identities. A path model indicated that emotional responses, in turn, predicted willingness to provide reparations to the campus community. Accordingly, social identity complexity provides a new approach to understanding responses to ingroup-perpetrated violence.

Bridges or Barriers? Conceptualization of the Role of Multiple Identity Gateway Groups in Intergroup Relations

The modern era of globalization has been accompanied by a massive growth in interconnections between groups, and has led to the sharing of multiple identities by individuals and groups. Following these developments, research has focused on the issue of multiple identities, and has shed important light on how individuals who hold these complex forms of identity feel and behave, and on the reactions they elicit from members of other groups. However, the potential of groups with such multiple identities (e.g., biracials, immigrants, etc.) to affect the intergroup relations between the groups that represent the respective sources of the different identities (e.g., Blacks and Whites, country of origin and country of residence, etc.) has not been examined to date. Accordingly, in this paper, we first systematically explore the potential of groups in which people identify with multiple social categories, or groups that are perceived as such by others, to play a role in intergroup dynamics. Next, we offer a theoretical framework outlining what functions groups of people with shared multiple identities may serve (as bridges or barriers) by proposing how their presence may facilitate or deteriorate intergroup relations. Finally, we present recent empirical research examining how groups of people with shared multiple identities can act as gateways and bridge the cleft between two separate groups that represent the respective sources of their different identities, and discuss the theoretical and practical implications for the field of intergroup relations.

Multiple Group Membership and Well-Being: Is There Always Strength in Numbers?

A growing body of research points to the value of multiple group memberships for individual well-being. However, much of this work considers group memberships very broadly and in terms of number alone. We conducted two correlational studies exploring how the relationship between multiple group membership and well-being is shaped by (a) the complexity of those groups within the overall self-concept (i.e., social identity complexity: SIC), and (b) the perceived value and visibility of individual group memberships to others (i.e., stigma). Study 1 (N = 112) found a positive relationship between multiple group membership and well-being, but only for individuals high in SIC. This effect was mediated by perceived identity expression and access to social support. Study 2 (N = 104) also found that multiple group memberships indirectly contributed to well-being via perceived identity expression and social support, as well as identity compatibility and perceived social inclusion. But, in this study the relationship between multiple group memberships and well-being outcomes was moderated by the perceived value and visibility of group memberships to others. Specifically, possessing multiple, devalued and visible group memberships compromised well-being relative to multiple valued group memberships, or devalued group memberships that were invisible. Together, these studies suggest that the benefits of multiple group membership depend on factors beyond their number. Specifically, the features of group memberships, individually and in combination, and the way in which these guide self-expression and social action, determine whether these are a benefit or burden for individual well-being.

Social identity complexity, cross-ethnic friendships, and intergroup attitudes in urban middle schools

This study investigated contextual antecedents (i.e., cross-ethnic peers and friends) and correlates (i.e., intergroup attitudes) of social identity complexity in seventh grade. Social identity complexity refers to the perceived overlap among social groups with which youth identify. Identifying mostly with out-of-school sports, religious affiliations, and peer crowds, the ethnically diverse sample (N = 622; Mage in seventh grade = 12.56) showed moderately high complexity. Social identity complexity mediated the link between cross-ethnic friendships and ethnic intergroup attitudes, but only when adolescents had a high proportion of cross-ethnic peers at school. Results are discussed in terms of how school diversity can promote complex social identities and positive intergroup attitudes.