Social identification in a political transition: the role of implicit beliefs

Abstract

The optimal distinctiveness model posits that social identificaion is a social psychological expression of the universal needs for connectedness and differentiation. We propose that compared to individuals who believe that the social world is malleable (malleable theorists), individuals who believe that the social world is a fixed reality (fixed theorists) may feel more strongly that people should harmonize the self with, rather than differentiate it from, the fixed social world. Fixed theorists may thus have a relatively stronger connectedness motivation and a relatively weaker differentiation motivation. This proposal was tested in an experimental study (Study 1) and a longitudinal study (Study 2), both set in the context of the 1997 political transition in Hong Kong, in which Hong Kong people faced the social identification issue of whether to identify themselves with the more inclusive Chinese group or to affirm their distinctive Hong Konger identity. The results supported our proposal and were discussed in terms of their implications for several theoretical models of social identification and for the social identification processes in transitional Hong Kong.