Sonia Roccas

Social Identity Complexity

In this article, we introduce the concept of social identity complexity—a new theoretical construct that refers to an individuals subjective representation of the interrelationships among his or her multiple group identities. Social identity complexity reflects the degree of overlap perceived to exist between groups of which a person is simultaneously a member When the overlap of multiple ingroups is perceived to be high, the individual maintains a relatively simplified identity structure whereby memberships in different groups converge to form a single ingroup identification. When a person acknowledges, and accepts, that memberships in multiple ingroups are not fully convergent or overlapping, the associated identity structure is both more inclusive and more complex. In this article, we define the concept of social identity complexity and discuss its possible antecedents and consequences. Results from initial studies support the prediction that social identity complexity is affected by stress and is related to personal value priorities and to tolerance of outgroup members.

The Big Five Personality Factors and Personal Values

The authors relate Big Five personality traits to basic values in a sample of 246 students. As hypothesized, Agreeableness correlates most positively with benevolence and tradition values, Openness with self-direction and universalism values, Extroversion with achievement and stimulation values, and Conscientiousness with achievement and conformity values. Correlations of values with facets of the five factors reveal nuances of the facets and clarify ambiguities in the meanings of the factors. Values and personality traits exhibit different patterns of correlation with religiosity and positive affect. Findings support the idea that the influence of values on behavior depends more on cognitive control than does the influence of traits.

The paradox of group-based guilt : Modes of national identification, conflict vehemence, and reactions to the in-Group's moral violations

The authors examined the relationships between 2 modes of national identification (attachment to the in-group and the in-groups glorification) and reactions to the in-groups moral violations among Israeli students. Data were collected during a period of relative calm in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as during a period of great intensification of this conflict. As expected, in Study 1, the 2 modes of identification had contrasting relationships with group-based guilt: Attachment was positively related whereas glorification was negatively related to group-based guilt for in-groups past infractions. Glorification suppressed the attachment effect but not vice versa. Both relationships were mediated by the use of exonerating cognitions. In Study 2, group-based guilt for the in-groups current wrongdoings was increased by priming critical rather than conventional attachment to the in-group, suggesting a causal effect of mode of identification on the experience of negative group-based emotions.

Toward a Unifying Model of Identification With Groups: Integrating Theoretical Perspectives

Building on the contributions of diverse theoretical approaches, the authors present a multidimensional model of group identification. Integrating conceptions from the social identity perspective with those from research on individualism—collectivism, nationalism— patriotism, and identification with organizations, we propose four conceptually distinct modes of identification: importance (how much I view the group as part of who I am), commitment (how much I want to benefit the group), superiority (how much I view my group as superior to other groups), and deference (how much I honor, revere, and submit to the groups norms, symbols, and leaders). We present an instrument for assessing the four modes of identification and review initial empirical findings that validate the proposed model and show its utility in understanding antecedents and consequences of identification.

Personal value priorities of economists

Economists often play crucial roles in designing and implementing policies in the private and public sectors; thus it is important to better understand the values that underlie their decisions. We explore the value hierarchies that characterize economists in five studies. Findings indicate that students of economics attribute more importance to self-enhancement values and less importance to universalism values than students in other fields. This profile is already apparent at the beginning of the first year of study and persists throughout the degree. The values distinctive to economists are related to work-related perceptions and attitudes and hence may influence the policy decisions and recommendations of economists.

Church-State Relations and the Association of Religiosity With Values: A Study of Catholics in Six Countries

Past research has shown that individual religiosity relates posi tively to valuing conformity, security, tradition, and benevolence toward close others, and negatively to valuing stimulation, self- direction, universalism, power, and achievement. These findings replicated in four different religions in five countries where church- state relations were cordial. The authors postulate that opposition between church and state modifies the associations of values with religiosity because it influences the social and psychological func tions of religiosity in society. Data from samples in six Roman Catholic countries (N = 2,274) confirmed the following hypotheses: In countries with oppositional relations between church and state during the years that preceded data gathering (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary), religiosity correlates less positively with valu ing conformity and security, more negatively with valuing power and achievement, and more positively with valuing universalism than in countries with cordial separation of church and state (Italy, Spain, Portugal).

Identification and Status Revisited: The Moderating Role of Self-Enhancement and Self-Transcendence Values

Two studies examined the moderating role of the importance attributed to self-enhancement and self-transcendence values on the association of group status with identification. In the first study, students reported their personal value priorities, their identification with a group, and their perception of the status of that group. The more importance respondents attributed to self-enhancement and the less importance to self-transcendence, the more their identification with a group depended on the groups status. In the second study, the salience of self-enhancement and of self-transcendence values was experimentally manipulated. Identification with a group depended more on the status of that group when self-enhancement values were salient than when self-transcendence values were salient.

The Value of Values in Cross-Cultural Research: A Special Issue in Honor of Shalom Schwartz

The centrality of values in cross-cultural research has more than doubled over the last three decades. This Special Issue investigates values across cultures and focuses on two main levels: individual and national. At the individual level, values express broad, trans-situational motivational goals, affecting individuals’ interpretation of situations, preferences, choices, and actions. At the national level, values reflect the solutions groups develop in response to existential challenges and relate to the way social institutions function. The authors review the role of values at each level and present eight articles included in the special issue, showing the value of values in cross-cultural research.

Perceiving Intergroup Conflict: From Game Models to Mental Templates

This article puts forward a parsimonious framework for studying subjective perceptions of real-life intergroup conflicts. Four studies were conducted to explore how individuals perceive the strategic properties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Studies 1 and 2 found theory-driven associations between peoples subjective perception of the conflicts structure as a Chicken, Assurance, or Prisoners Dilemma game and their ingroup/outgroup perceptions, national identification, religiosity, political partisanship, voting behavior, and right-wing authoritarianism. Studies 3 and 4 manipulated the saliency of the needs for cognitive closure and security, respectively, demonstrating that these needs affect peoples endorsement of the game models as descriptions of the conflict.

Cultural differences in attitudes toward action and inaction: The role of dialecticism.

The current research examined whether nations differ in their attitudes toward action and inaction. It was anticipated that members of dialectical East Asian societies would show a positive association in their attitudes toward action/inaction. However, members of non-dialectical European-American societies were expected to show a negative association in their attitudes toward action/inaction. Young adults in 19 nations completed measures of dialectical thinking and attitudes toward action/inaction. Results from multi-level modeling showed, as predicted, that people from high dialecticism nations reported a more positive association in their attitudes toward action and inaction than people from low dialecticism nations. Furthermore, these findings remained after controlling for cultural differences in individualism-collectivism, neuroticism, gross-domestic product, and response style. Discussion highlights the implications of these findings for action/inaction goals, dialecticism, and culture.