THE IMPACT OF SALIENT SELF-IDENTITIES ON RELATIVE DEPRIVATION AND ACTION INTENTIONS

Salient self-identities and their impact upon feelings of relative dep rivation (RD) and subsequent action intentions were examined Eight exp erimental conditions (Personal/Group Salience x Large/Small Intragroup Inequalities x Large/Small Intergroup Inequalities) were created util izing a role-play design. Significant main effects for both salience a nd social inequalities were found to influence both RD and action inte ntions. In accordance with self-categorization theory, when group comp ared to personal identities were made salient, stronger feelings of gr oup RD and greater likelihood of collective action intentions were rep orted Alternatively, when personal compared to group identities were m ade salient, greater likelihood of individual actions were reported In accordance with relative deprivation theory, when intergroup inequali ties were large compared to small, stronger feelings of group RD and l ess likelihood of collective action were reported. Alternatively, when intragroup inequalities were large compared to small, stronger feelin gs of personal RD were reported.