Global Human Identification and Citizenship: A Review of Psychological Studies

Abstract

We review psychological research on global human identification and citizenship, Thomas Paine's belief that "The world is my country, and all mankind are my brethren." In turn, we review the theoretical foundations that guided our work, research with measures that preceded our own, and our own work with our correlated scales. We review its foundations, its effects upon attitudes and behaviors, and how it might be enlarged. Global human identification and citizenship is related negatively to ethnocentrism, authoritarianism, the social dominance orientation, and self-centeredness, but positively to dispositional empathy, openness to experience, and the values of universalism, care, and justice. It is expressed in attitudes and behaviors that support human rights and work to reduce global suffering and inequalities. It is associated with greater global knowledge and with efforts to acquire that knowledge. Childrearing that emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and awareness of others' suffering may promote global human identification and citizenship, as does education that encourages global mindedness. Environments that support global human identification also induce it, as does envisioning it as a moral ideal.

Reactions to Environmental Changes: Place Attachment Predicts Interest in Earth Observation Data

“…Regional and national place attachment did not relate with policy support although it was operationalized on different geographical levels. This is in line with previous literature finding global identity – a concept closely related to global place attachment – to be an important predictor for pro-environmental behavior and policy support ( Rosenmann et al, 2016 ; Joanes, 2019 ; Loy and Reese, 2019 ; for an overview, see McFarland et al, 2019 ).…”

Human and Global Identities: Different Prototypical Meanings of All‐Inclusive Identities

“…In particular, while our findings support the statement that identification with humanity and global citizenship partly share a common meaning (McFarland et al, 2019), they also provide evidence to the claim that they might be better represented as separate constructs.…”

“…In general, research has yielded mixed findings regarding the effects of all-inclusive identities. Some studies revealed positive responses from high identifiers with humans and with all humanity, such as less hostility toward asylum seekers (Nickerson & Louis, 2008), less threat towards religious groups (Dunwoody & McFarland, 2018), less dehumanization towards minority groups (Albarello & Rubini, 2012;Hamer, McFarland, & Drogosz, in prep., as cited in McFarland et al, 2019), less ethnocentrism (McFarland et al, 2012, less collective narcissism (McFarland et al, 2019), more solidarity and collective action (Barth et al, 2015), more commitment to human rights (McFarland et al, 2012), and forgiveness of former national enemies (Hamer, Penczek, & Bilewicz, 2018). Likewise, high identifiers with the world population and with a global community, also revealed more intentions to act against global inequality (Reese et al, 2014), promotion of social justice and helping (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013), as well as social responsibility and global activism (Reysen & Hackett, 2017).…”

“…The import of this question largely flows from the fact that, so far, research has identified many positive effects of all-inclusive superordinate identification (McFarland et al, 2019), but also some negative effects (Morton & Postmes, 2011a). However, since studies have often relied on different labels and operationalizations, differences in meanings for participants could partly account for variations in effects.…”

How Do Religiosity and National Identity Relate to Cosmopolitanism? An Empirical Study Using Representative Samples in Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist Societies

“…conceptually like cosmopolitanism. Both religiosity (Ysseldyk et al, 2010) and nationalism (Mummendey et al, 2001) can be understood as powerfully existing systems of power and identification that may offer resistance to cosmopolitanism (McFarland et al, 2019). But the exact relationship between them is still not well known.…”