Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T08:46:43.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Motivational (con)fusion: Identity fusion does not quell personal self-interest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Lowell Gaertner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996. gaertner@utk.eduaheger@vols.utk.eduhttps://psychology.utk.edu/faculty/gaertner.php
Amy Heger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996. gaertner@utk.eduaheger@vols.utk.eduhttps://psychology.utk.edu/faculty/gaertner.php
Constantine Sedikides
Affiliation:
Centre for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom. cs2@soton.ac.ukhttps://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/cs2.page

Abstract

We question whether altruistic motivation links identity fusion and extreme self-sacrifice. We review two lines of research suggesting that the underlying motivation is plausibly egoistic.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Batson, C. D. (2011) Altruism in humans. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gaertner, L. & Insko, C. A. (2000) Intergroup discrimination in the minimal group paradigm: Categorization, reciprocation, or fear? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79:7794.Google Scholar
Gaertner, L., Sedikides, C. & Graetz, K. (1999) In search of self-definition: Motivational primacy of the individual self, motivational primacy of the collective self, or contextual primacy? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 76:518.Google Scholar
Gaertner, L., Sedikides, C., Luke, M., O'Mara, E. M., Iuzzini, J., Jackson, L. E., Cai, H. & Wu, Q. (2012) A motivational hierarchy within: Primacy of the individual self, relational self, or collective self? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48:9971013.Google Scholar
Gaertner, L., Sedikides, C., Vevea, J. & Iuzzini, J. (2002) The “I,” the “we,” and the “when”: A meta-analysis of motivational primacy in self-definition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83:574–91.Google Scholar
Gómez, A., Brooks, M. L., Buhrmester, M. D., Vázquez, A., Jetten, J. & Swann, W. B. Jr., (2011a) On the nature of identity fusion: Insights into the construct and a new measure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100:918–33.Google Scholar
Gramzow, R. H. & Gaertner, L. (2005) Self-esteem and favoritism toward novel in-groups: The self as an evaluative base. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88:801–15.Google Scholar
Heger, A. & Gaertner, L. (2018a) The motivational primacy of the personal-self holds true for the identity-fused. Poster presented to the annual meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.Google Scholar
Heger, A. & Gaertner, L. (2018b) Testing the identity synergy principle: Identity fusion promotes self and group sacrifice. Self and Identity 17:487–99.Google Scholar
Nehrlich, A. D., Gebauer, J. E., Sedikides, C. & Abele, A. E. (2018) Individual self>relational self>collective self – But why? Processes driving the self-hierarchy in self- and person perception. Journal of Personality. Published online March 2018. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12384.relational+self>collective+self+–+But+why?+Processes+driving+the+self-hierarchy+in+self-+and+person+perception.+Journal+of+Personality.+Published+online+March+2018.+doi:+10.1111/jopy.12384.>Google Scholar
O'Mara, E. M., Jackson, L. E., Batson, C. D. & Gaertner, L. (2011) Will moral outrage stand up? Distinguishing among emotional reactions to a moral violation. European Journal of Social Psychology 4:173–79.Google Scholar
Richerson, P. & Henrich, J. (2012) Tribal social instincts and the cultural evolution of institutions to solve collective action problems. Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History 3(1):3880.Google Scholar
Sedikides, C., Gaertner, L., Luke, M. A., O'Mara, E. & Gebauer, J. E. (2013) A three-tier hierarchy of self-potency: Individual self, relational self, collective self. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 48:235–95.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., Buhrmester, M. D., Gómez, A., Jetten, J., Bastian, B., Vázquez, A., Ariyanto, A., Besta, T., Christ, O., Cui, L., Finchilescu, G., González, R., Goto, N., Homsey, M., Sharma, S., Susianto, H. & Zhang, A. (2014a) What makes a group worth dying for? Identity fusion fosters perception of familial ties, promoting self-sacrifice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 106(6):912–26.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., Gómez, A., Seyle, D. C., Morales, J. & Huici, C. (2009) Identity fusion: The interplay of personal and social identities in extreme group behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96(5):9951011. doi: 10.1037/a0013668.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., Jetten, J., Gómez, Á., Whitehouse, H. & Bastian, B. (2012) When group membership gets personal: A theory of identity fusion. Psychological Review 119(3):441–56. doi: 10.1037/a0028589.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. C. (1979) An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In: The social psychology of intergroup relations, ed. Austin, W. G. & Worchel, S., pp. 3347. Brooks-Cole.Google Scholar
Wegner, D. M. & Giuliano, T. (1980) Arousal-induced attention to self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38:719–26.Google Scholar