Local Reasons to Give Globally: Identity Extension and Global Cooperation

Abstract

Recent political events across the world suggest a retrenchment from globalization and a possible increase in parochialism. This inward-looking threat from parochialism occurs just as the global community faces growing challenges that require trans-national cooperation. In this research, we question if strong identification with an in-group necessarily leads to parochialism and ultimately is detrimental to global cooperation. Building on research on global social identification, we explore whether strong local identification can expand in inclusiveness to global identification, and among whom this is likely to happen. The results of our global public goods study – conducted in South Korea and the United States – show that high levels of social identification with a local group can extend to the global collective, particularly for individuals who are also high in concern-for-others. Furthermore, this identification translates into behavior that benefits the global, anonymous group at a cost to oneself. These results shed light on how to avoid the trap of parochialism and instead engender cooperative behavior with the broader global community.

Self-Transcendent Emotions and Their Social Effects: Awe, Elevation and Kama Muta Promote a Human Identification and Motivations to Help Others

“…In other words, that the three STEs motivate a superordinate identification, and through that, the helping intention in the form of collective action is possible. Even though the path including a superordinate identity and prosociality has been demonstrated (e.g., Buchan et al, 2017 ; McFarland et al, 2019 ), the present study clearly shows direct effects of these emotions on collective action intentions. This suggests that, in the case of the activation of a superordinate identity, helping intentions are not intrinsically identity-dependent.…”

“…In the context of a highly inclusive human identification (Turner et al, 1987), studies consistently show that this form of self-categorization is associated to different forms of prosocial behaviors (see McFarland et al, 2013McFarland et al, , 2019Buchan et al, 2017), where both the helper and the helpee could be the members of the same group. Therefore, the study of ST related to superordinate identities raises a question about the nature of the motivation to engage in collective action toward the common good: Is a highly shared identity a fundamental pre-requisite for helping others, or can it be an outcome of STEs?…”

Eventos locales, efectos globales: emociones trascendentes e identificación con toda la humanidad

“…En detalle, las correlaciones y análisis de ecuaciones estructurales mostraron que es el aspecto emocional -en oposición a una perspectiva que explique la identificación o la ayuda prosocial en base a rasgos de personalidad o diferencias individuales-lo que motiva la identificación con todas las personas. Además, a través de esta identificación, es posible ayudar a otras personas (Buchan et al, 2017) y también nos reporta una mejora en el bienestar (Curry et al, 2018). Así, se puede confirmar el carácter transcendental de awe (ver Pizarro et al, 2018) a la vez que se analiza su rol en una serie de variables de gran relevancia para la vida individual y social.…”

“…De manera específica, proponemos que la experiencia emocional de awe tendrá un efecto positivo sobre la identificación global (e.g., Bai et al, 2017), la conducta prosocial (e.g., Prade & Saroglou, 2016), y el bienestar psicológico (e.g., Rudd, Vohs, & Aaker, 2012) (H1). Además, tras analizar diferentes como dichas variables se pueden relacionar en un modelo más complejo, se espera un efecto secuencial desde la identificación con la humanidad a la conducta prosocial (Buchan, Jeong, & Ward, 2017) y, a su vez, se prevé que proporcionar ayuda a otros se relacione con el bienestar de las personas (Curry et al, 2018).…”

Motives relate to cooperation in social dilemmas but have an inconsistent association with leadership evaluation

“…Furthermore, being able to distinguish these motive variants from related motive variants (dysfunctional affiliation motive, functional power motive) may sharpen our understanding of the boundaries of each motive variant. Previous research has already predicted cooperation from personality 14,47 (which can be seen as closely related to motives 48 ) and from values or motives 21,46,49–51 . However, the relative importance of multiple motives for cooperation in social dilemmas seems less clear (but see refs 21,46 ).…”