Whether people hold dual identities depends on the comparison type used to judge inclusiveness

Evidence

Previous applications of optimal distinctiveness theory to nested category contexts (Brewer, 1993; Hornsey & Hogg, 1999) reveal that individuals are more likely to identify with a subgroup over a superordinate group as the superordinate category’s inclusiveness increases. Our review of the literature leads us to conclude that this effect depends on the kind of social comparison used to determine the superordinate category’s inclusiveness. Furthermore, we argue that one type of social comparison—horizontal comparisons—allows for the possibility that group members might perceive both their subgroup and superordinate categories as optimally distinct, thereby allowing individuals to engage a dual identity. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 752

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates the reader’s thread: the familiar subgroup-over-superordinate tendency is conditional on comparison framing, not universal.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 752