Feeling marginalized, silenced and excluded, as an individual or as a (sub)group within a collective, can make one feel uncertain about one’s self and identity and about “fitting in.” This feeling of uncertainty can be reduced by group identification – especially with a distinctive group that has a clearly defined, unambiguous, and homogenous social identity. Such groups and identities can sometimes be characterized as extremist. Excluded individuals may exit the larger group to identify with a different and possibly more extreme group, and the larger group may thus become less diverse and more homogeneous and extreme itself. Members of excluded subgroups can bond tightly together as a highly distinctive entity and identify strongly with it, a process that can fragment and polarize the larger group into oppositional or combative factions. In this chapter we draw upon an uncertainty identity theory framework to describe how exclusion can generate self and identity uncertainty, which is resolved by a process of identification that fragments groups and can produce extremist groups and identities.

In this chapter, we first address the question of why groups are so much “better at” terrorism than individuals. Specifically, we argue that, when trying to explain terrorism, it makes more sense to consider people’s social identities than their personal identities, and thus to focus on the group rather than the individual. We present seven pieces of evidence for this idea. Subsequently, we describe studies in which we employ a new paradigm called “Bovenland” to study experimentally the role of multiple and ongoing threats to one’s social identity (in terms of exclusion) in explaining inaction, normative, and (extreme) nonnormative behavior. We conclude by articulating how and when threats to one’s social identity are associated with the need to restore one’s image by displaying violent behavior.

A multilevel conception of identity is proposed in this chapter, with individual, social, human, and ecological levels. Emphasis is placed on the nature of the relationships among the different identity positions, with a focus on dialogical flexibility and the distinction between consonant and dissonant dialogues. The risk of over-positioning is analyzed, indicating the one-sided exaggeration of one of the identities, and attention is devoted to the “level confusion” resulting from a lack of distinction between the different levels. An elaborate discussion of the concept of conscience is presented. From a neurological perspective, evidence shows that the natural inclination of bonding and caring puts limitations on our circle of moral regard. Finally, the worldviews of two historical icons, Jane Addams and Andrew Carnegie, are compared in order to demonstrate the value of promoter positions.

This chapter unites a multiplicity of individual case studies on the relationship between athletic victors and their hometowns. In Rhodes, the impressive Olympic victories of the second century were based upon a strong aristocracy that served as a guarantor of the success at a time when the political influence of the city diminished after the Third Macedonian War. In a similar manner, third-century Theban victors compensated for their city’s political ill fortune by presenting their hometown as a young and vital community. In Sparta and Messene, competitive constellations were transferred from the political arena to the agonistic sphere. Victor epigrams from both poleis formed part of a political discourse whose pillars were represented by Spartan polis ideology on the one hand and Messenian emphasis on autonomy on the other. All in all, it becomes clear that the polis remained the most important point of reference in the self-presentation of Hellenistic athletes.

Drawing on an education project conducted in northern Nigeria, this chapter considers how social choices can be made and legitimized when different groups contributing to them hold significantly different views. Social identity theory is employed to understand the perceived and relative values individuals have of themselves and others. Social choice theory is then used to explore the influence of those valuations on meaningful social choices, specifically here the choice of groups of educators to work together to improve educational policies and practices. The development of capabilities, illustrated here by the professional capabilities of those educators, is traced through these theories. Although it has this very specific empirical focus, by making use of social identity and social choice theories, this chapter contributes to the wider understanding of individual freedoms to enhance the well-being of others through collective decision making.

This chapter seeks to understand the psychological facilitators of active community engagement with the public health response to successful responses to disease outbreaks. It summarises research on the key psychological predictors of engagement in protective behaviours in the COVID-19 pandemic, it describes how mutual aid groups have helped people to shield and self-isolate during the pandemic, and it summarises research on the factors that have sustained these groups over time. It draws out the general principles and the policy and practice implications that emerge from the research on this topic. The focus is largely on evidence from the UK, although many of the points covered in this chapter apply equally to the situation in other countries.

This chapter summarises how understandings of the role of the public in emergencies have changed over time. It proceeds to outline a conceptual framework, the social identity approach, that has proved fruitful for understanding how the public responds during these events. The focus here is on behaviour. However, social identity processes also have implications for mental health. The chapter explains these connections and points to the other chapters that elaborate on these arguments, with empirical examples.

This chapter helps to further develop the novel theoretical notion of collective psychosocial resilience in the face of danger, whereby emergent cooperation can happen not solely despite a terrorist incident, but also because of it. It examines how the public contribute prior to professional responders arriving, and how they might be involved actively at the scenes of emergencies, incidents, disasters, and disease outbreaks (EIDD). Greater understanding of the realities and their potential by professional first responders should enable emergency planners to develop practical strategies to optimise the interventions required by survivors.

Large-scale incidents that involve chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) material, whether accidental or deliberate, remain a high-impact public health threat. This chapter describes research in which the social identity approach has been applied to examine the psychosocial aspects involved in the process of decontamination. It focuses on the willingness and ability of members of the public to undergo decontamination. This research programme highlights the role of social identity in shaping public behaviour and affecting public health outcomes during incidents involving mass decontamination. It identifies that, during incidents requiring decontamination, the relationship between responders and members of the public is likely to play a key part in shaping public behaviour. It proposes that effective communication must begin prior to an incident occurring, continuing into the early stages and throughout the duration of the incident. It also proposes several actions that responders should take to facilitate the decontamination process and its outcomes.

Flooding can severely affect wellbeing through both primary stressors and secondary stressors. The impacts may be mitigated by community resilience; this may be used deliberately or unwittingly by people affected and the responsible authorities. Using data from England and Ireland, we address collective psychosocial resilience – that is, the way in which shared social identification allows groups to spontaneously emerge and mobilise solidarity and social support. First, we show that shared social identity can emerge during floods due to experiencing a common fate, and this leads to communities mobilising social support. Second, we show that emergent shared social identity can decline due to a lack of perceived common fate, the disappearance of collective identity, or inequalities experienced after the disaster. However, social identity can be sustained by communities providing social support, by persisting secondary stressors, or intentionally by holding commemorations. Additionally, shared social identity is associated with observed unity.

A social identity explanation is used to offer insight into who is and who is not affected by trauma, using two examples from data collected after an earthquake in Nepal in 2015 and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Traumatic experience is not equally distributed across any population, and the likelihood of experiencing an extreme event is affected by group membership and particularly the status of different groups. Attributes of groups and the resources that they offer to members can be important in driving risk and resilience. The chapter offers evidence that trauma and social identities are inherently linked, and that changes in our social identity resources have substantial consequences for health and wellbeing. Derived from this approach, we can recognise those people who are likely to have short-term versus long-term impacts as a consequence of traumatic experiences. Finally, the chapter discusses how this work can inform policy and practice.

In the wake of emergencies, incidents, disasters, and disease outbreaks (EIDD), people not directly affected can help those in need to provide urgently needed assistance. As an example, the campaign that followed the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 evolved into a longer-term movement that sought to address both immediate humanitarian needs and political injustices, The psychological literature is surveyed to identify the drivers of this intergroup solidarity. We highlight the importance of identity processes in informing how communities of people who are not directly affected, or are less affected, respond prosocially to large-scale disasters, and how shared identity can promote community helping. Finally, we discuss which groups are likely to help by drawing attention to nuances that relate to privilege in advantaged groups and intraminority support within disadvantaged groups. We end with a description of how identity processes can be leveraged strategically to elicit intergroup solidarity and mitigate the impacts.

Chapter 2 introduces identity analysis and uses it to examine whether the Homo economicus conception can identify real-world individuals. It describes the self-referential, circular character of that conception, and shows that the belief that Homo economicus identifies real-world individuals rests on a fallacious inference known as affirming the consequent. The chapter reviews how the identity concept came into economics by making a person’s individual identity their utility function. This is compared with how social identity theory understands individual identity, and economics and social identity’s view of representative agents is then distinguished. Sen’s multiple selves view of individual identity is contrasted with both in light of its ontological basis. Section 4 of the chapter critically evaluates rationality theory’s two independence axioms regarding preferences, the logical basis for saying choice is context-independent and for the unembedded Homo economicus individual conception. It argues neither can be defended and that not only must choice be seen to be context-dependent, but that individuals need to be seen as socially and historically embedded.

I introduce the reader to the concept of negative partisanship and its distinction from positive partisanship. I highlight the conceptual distinction between negative and positive partisanship at the example of multi-party systems and independent voters in the United States. I then highlight the conceptual distinction between negative and positive partisanship at the example of multi-party systems and independent voters in the United States.

In this chapter, I introduce instrumental and expressive partisanship as well as its their different predictions for political behavior.