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The implicit identity effect: Identity primes, group size, and helping
Author(s) -
Levine Mark.,
Cassidy Clare.,
Jentzsch Ines.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466609x480426
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , identity (music) , social identity theory , bystander effect , collective identity , mediation , group (periodic table) , social group , moderated mediation , sociology , social science , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , politics , political science , acoustics , law
Three studies consider the implicit bystander effect in the light of recent advances in social identity approaches to helping. Drawing on the social identity model of deindividuation effects we argue that the implicit bystander effect is shaped not by the number of others imagined, but by who those others are imagined to be. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that, when group membership is primed, increasing group size can facilitate helping in line with the norms and values of the group. Study 3 explores mediation processes in group level helping. As group size increases, female participants react faster to words associated with communalism when others are imagined as women rather than strangers. The paper demonstrates that group size and helping behaviour is qualified by an implicit identity effect.