Shared group membership enables depersonalized trust and cooperation
Evidence
By that time, my focus on in-group identity and loyalty turned toward investigating the role of group membership in motivating more positive aspects of human social behavior, exploring further how shared group membership provides a basis for depersonalized trust and cooperation that is essential for much social exchange and collective action. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2510
Drawing on Brewer’s previous work on in-group stereotyping and favoritism, we reasoned that individuals within small, cohesive social groups might possess a generalized or “depersonalized” form of trust that extends to other in-group members. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1954
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Brewer & Gardner’s social identity work and the trust literature the reader has been curating (impersonal trust, reputation systems). — connects to: Shared identity generates expectations of support and trust among group members — John Drury, The role of social identity processes…, 16; Chapter-based groups retain members through personal ties rather than mission — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 517
- DEFINE: Introduces ‘depersonalized trust’ - trust based on shared category membership rather than personal relationship.
- ADDENDUM: Strengthens the ingroup/outgroup mechanism claim that mere categorization produces differential trust — relevant as supporting material for how group boundaries (like religious/ethnic divisions in the dress-panic or sacrifice essays) are drawn and enforced.
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2510; Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1954