Group identification is optimal when differentiation and assimilation needs balance

Evidence

Brewer’s (1991) Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, for example, has proposed that social identification should be considered as deriving from two opposed psychological needs: differentiation and assimilation. According to this account, identification with a group will be “optimal” when these two needs balance each other out, and this is most likely to occur in groups of intermediate size – neither so large as to threaten the need to see oneself as “different,” nor so small as to challenge the need to see oneself as connected to others. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 433

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Optimal Distinctiveness Theory as a two-need balancing framework.
• XREF: Parallels the tension between individual distinctiveness and belonging also found in social identity and conformity research. — connects to: Ingroup and outgroup salience combine to maximize identification only when both are activated. — Brandon Randolph-Seng, Darcy A. Reich, and Kenneth G. DeMarree, On the Nonconscious Antecedents of…, 39
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 433