People join groups out of inclusion needs, mortality awareness, and uncertainty reduction

Evidence

According to Hogg, Hohman, and Rivera (2008), three social psychological theories-the sociometer theory (Leary, 1999), terror management theory (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991), and uncertainty-identity theory (Hogg, 2007)-offer insights as to why people join and identify with groups. The sociometer theory argues that people have a need to be socially included by others, and that 368 • Ya-Ru Chen, Guozhen Zhao, and Jean Lee self-esteem is a meter of successful social inclusion and belonging. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2336

Categorization

• DEFINE: Three named theories — sociometer, terror management, uncertainty-identity — each giving a distinct reason for group identification.
• XREF: Links to the reader’s Julia Galef-style motived reasoning interests on why people identify with groups — uncertainty reduction is a strong driver of belief rigidity.