STICKING TOGETHER OR FALLING APART - IN-GROUP IDENTIFICATION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANT OF GROUP COMMITMENT VERSUS INDIVIDUAL MOBILITY

Two experiments investigated how in-group identification, manipulated with a bogus pipeline technique affects group members' desire for indi vidual mobility to another group. In the first experiment (N = 88), th e in-group had low status, and group boundaries were either permeable or impermeable. Low identifiers perceived the group as less homogeneou s, were less committed to their group, and more strongly desired indiv idual mobility to a higher status group than did high identifiers. The structural possibility of mobility afforded by permeable group bounda ries had no comparable effect. The second experiment (N = 51) investig ated whether in-group identification can produce similar effects when relative group status is unknown. Even in the absence of an identity t hreat, low identifiers were less likely to see the groups as homogeneo us, felt less committed to their group, and more strongly desired indi vidual mobility than did high identifiers. Results are discussed with reference to social identity and self-categorization theories.