Optimal distinctiveness needs drive individuals to join or leave groups by size

Evidence

Because simplicity is a virtue in the world of agent-based modeling, our first attempt at examining individual-level social identification processes and subsequent macrolevel outcomes centered on the relatively simple question of how the individual-level desire for membership in an optimally distinct group influences group formation and dissolution processes. In existing experimental tests of ODT, arousal of inclusion and distinctiveness needs led study participants to exhibit a preference for groups that were most likely to meet those needs (e.g., groups that were at an optimal level of inclusiveness). However, a group’s level of inclusiveness is not static and, in fact, may be in a constant state of flux particularly when group boundaries are relatively permeable. This led us to the assumption that the desire for optimal distinctiveness at the individual level pushes individuals toward joining or leaving the groups based on the size of the group and the individual’s preferred level of group inclusiveness. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 835

Categorization

• QUESTION: If groups change size dynamically and boundaries are permeable, does the equilibrium described actually arise in the model, or does it never stabilize? Follows into the next paragraph’s warning.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 835
• XREF: connects to: Uncertainty reduction pushes Mixed individuals toward whichever group offers the clearest prototype — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 86; Mixed individuals strategically select contextual identity to jointly satisfy affiliation and uniqueness. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 92