Social identification peaks in groups of intermediate size balancing two opposing needs

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. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 433

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains Optimal Distinctiveness Theory’s core mechanism of two opposing identity needs.
• XREF: Connects to existing vault claims on self-categorization and ingroup bias from the prejudice-psychology thread. — connects to: Humans balance opposing needs for belonging and uniqueness through group identification. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 96
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 433