Emotional identification with a group, not mere membership, drives group-based fear and anger

Evidence

Evidence also suggests that identification with, rather than mere cognitive categorization in, the group produces intergroup emotions. Shortly after the September, 2001, attacks on the US, Mackie, Silver, Maitner, and Smith (2002) measured students’ identification as “Americans” and asked about their emotions in reaction to a hypothetical future terrorist attack on their country. Group identification with “Americans” strongly predicted both fear and anger responses. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2267

Future research should be undertaken to specifically test whether the affective commitment component is a better predictor of follower perceptions than the social categorization or group self-esteem elements. We hypothesize that social categorization and group evaluation may be necessary precursors in order for followers to develop affective commitment, but it may be affective commitment that drives follower perceptions and behavior. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1863

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the Allport ingroup/outgroup mechanism thread the reader is building—categorizing oneself as a group member is a precursor, but the felt attachment (‘affective commitment’) does the causal work. Parallels work on ‘the minimal group paradigm’ showing categorization alone can bias allocation even without affect. — connects to: Group membership socializes paranoia by collectivizing shared delusion — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 156; Emotion overturns individuated structures only through communal resonance. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 273; Affective group attachment, not mere membership perception, drives non-linear responses to collective guilt — Torsten Masson and Markus Barth, The identification-guilt paradox…, 26 (+6 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 2267; Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1863