Premium
Increasing the predictive validity of identity fusion in leading to sacrifice by considering the extremity of the situation
Author(s) -
Paredes Borja,
Briñol Pablo,
Petty Richard E.,
Gómez Ángel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2727
Subject(s) - sacrifice , psychology , social connectedness , social psychology , identity (music) , feeling , consistency (knowledge bases) , aesthetics , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , archaeology , history
Identity fusion is a strong feeling of connectedness that is capable of predicting willingness to self‐sacrifice. The current research explores whether considering the extremity of the situation improves the ability of identity fusion to predict willingness to engage in life self‐sacrifice. Participants first reported their level of identity fusion with a value (Study 1) or with their country (Study 2). Then, participants were randomly assigned to engage in an extreme versus non‐extreme situation of sacrifice for the value (Study 1) or for their country (Study 2). These two variables (identity fusion and situation extremity) were used to predict willingness to self‐sacrifice. Situation extremity moderated the effects of fusion on willingness to self‐sacrifice, with greater consistency between fusion and sacrifice obtained for extreme versus non‐extreme situations. In conclusion, taking into consideration the extremity of the situation can be useful to predict the association between identity fusion and willingness to self‐sacrifice.