In-Mind search

Complementing Individualism with The Social Identity Approach

... characteristics, is complemented with the so-calledsocial identity approach. The key reason for this is that groups are part and parcel of our social lives. Groups fulfill our needs for belongingness, affiliation , and ... / more

Love at First Sight

... our body that, more than any other, expresses our personal identity. For that reason, the face is the image pressed with affection into so ... Similarity as a Factor in the Mate Selection Process. Social Biology, 30, 151-157. Coren, S. (1999). Do People Look Like Their ... / more

The Double Edged Passion

... in 1975, witch hunts worldwide tend to follow closely after social turmoil. They peaked in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries when ... . Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin ... / more

Why We Are Still Social

... a colleague put to me the question: Why are humans still social? That “still” was weighty with meaning—the idea of a primal ... engaged in a perpetual juggling act between individual identity, interpersonal relationships and collective interests simultaneously ... / more

The Night of Nancy: Social Psychology and Football

... turns into a fighting machine in a football stadium. Social psychology might provide an explanation: it might well be the connection ... connection to one’s group has been explained in Social Identity Theory (SIT, e.g.  Tajfel , 1978;  Tajfel & Turner , 1979). ... / more

Sense-making through science

... Callan, & Laurin, 2008; Lerner, 1980), our world and our social environment are far from perfectly orderly and controlled. Life in ... An additional study showed that stage theories about identity development and musical development are seen as more orderly and ... / more

After Trayvon: The science of protecting innocent black men

... of stereotypes may take hold extremely early on in the social interactions that people engage in. These reactions can have lethal ... rooms (Shook & Fazio, 2008).  The Common In-group Identity Model, developed by Samuel L. Gaertner of the University of Delaware, ... / more

Are voters rational?

... There is, unfortunately, no easy answer to the question. Social psychological science, like all science, is a quest for knowledge in a ... affiliation has become an important part of one’s identity, changes in the Republican Party’s agenda may be ignored when ... / more

Fifty Shades of arousal misattribution and cognitive associations: How Christian Grey is making us believe that women find BDSM “hot”

... 2013).  It is likely that the film will further spread the social belief that women find it arousing to feel pain as a “submissive” ... & Walton, N.L. (2013). “Double crap” abuse and harmed identity in Fifty Shades of Grey , Journal of Women's Health , 22 (9), ... / more

Is banning bossy enough to enact real social change? Celebrity activism and the “Ban Bossy” campaign

... in the classroom and in life. In this blog I highlight the social value of celebrity activism and I highlight important caveats of ... consider how well the leader represents them.  Social identity research on leadership indicates that when a group is important to a ... / more