We studied mental representations of social categories in the context of political groups nested within national identities. Extending previous works derived from the Ingroup Projection Model, which had investigated category representations based on prototypical attributes, we examined category representations based on prototypical exemplars, focusing on group leaders. We hypothesized that the mental representation of the superordinate, national, category is more strongly associated with the mental representation of ingroup political leaders than outgroup political leaders. We tested our hypothesis in three preregistered experiments, looking at two different national-political contexts and using diverse methods. In Studies 1 (N =145) and 2 (N = 103), both conducted in Israel, we found that participants explicitly associated the national category with leaders of their own political camp more than with leaders of the rival political camp. In Study 2, we further found that participants were more likely to falsely remember that ingroup relative to outgroup political leaders were paired with the national category (versus their political wing). In Study 3 (N = 381), conducted in the USA, we found using an implicit measure of association (ST-IAT) that Democrats and Republicans sorted stimuli, representing political leaders, faster when the national category (represented by American symbols) was paired with the ingroup rather than the outgroup category. Implications for theoretical accounts of ingroup projection, as well as for the understanding of political polarization and intergroup leadership, are discussed.

Some philosophers believe this: We are every moment intimately conscious of what we call our self; we feel its existence and its continuing to exist, and are certain-more even than any demonstration could make us-both of its perfect identity and of its simplicity...Unfortunately, all these forthright assertions are in conflict with the very experience that is supposed to support them. We don't so much as have an idea of self of the kind that is here described. From what impression could this idea be derived? This question can't be answered without obvious contradiction and absurdity; yet it must be answered if the idea of self is to qualify as clear and intelligible.

Ideological differences in nationalism and patriotism are well-known and frequently exploited, but the question of why conservatives exhibit stronger national attachment than liberals has been inadequately addressed. Drawing on theories of system justification and political ideology as motivated social cognition, we proposed that increased patriotism is one means of satisfying the system justification goal. Thus, we hypothesized that temporarily activating system justification motivation should raise national attachment among liberals to the level of conservatives. Three experiments conducted in New York, Arkansas, and Wisconsin support this hypothesis. In the first two experiments, liberals exhibited weaker national attachment than conservatives in the absence of system justification activation, consistent with prior research. However, exposure to system criticism (Experiment 1) and system-level injustice (Experiment 2) caused liberals to strengthen their national attachment, eliminating the ideological gap. Using a system dependence manipulation in Experiment 3, this pattern was conceptually replicated with respect to patriotic but not nationalistic attachment, as hypothesized. Thus, chronic and temporary variability in system justification motivation helps to explain when liberals and conservatives do (and do not) differ in terms of national attachment and why.

This research investigated the motivational underpinnings of system justification tendencies. Drawing on social-cognitive approaches to motivation, four experiments tested whether information processing instigated by exposure to system criticism exhibits properties consistent with goal-directed mechanisms. Experiments 1a and 1b demonstrated heightened accessibility of legitimacy-related concepts following exposure to system criticism (vs. control conditions). Experiment 2 revealed that the heightened accessibility of legitimacy-related concepts persisted only insofar as the strength of system justification motivation was high; once system justification motivation was fulfilled through an act of system affirmation, the accessibility of legitimacy-related concepts decreased. In Experiment 3, symbols of the system's legitimacy were automatically evaluated more favorably following system criticism (vs. control). Taken together, these studies reveal that system justification operates as a goal-directed mechanism with effects on basic cognitive processes. Implications for how and when people will strive to support the societal status quo are discussed.

According to system justification theory, people are motivated to defend and legitimize the social systems that affect them. In this chapter, we review 15 years of theory and empirical research demonstrating the motivational underpinnings of system justification processes. We begin by explaining why people are motivated to system justify (i.e., it serves social and psychological needs). We then describe five lines of evidence that corroborate the motivational postulate of system justification theory: (1) Individual differences in self-deception and ideological motivation are linked to system justification; (2) System threat elicits defensive responses on behalf of the system; (3) People engage in biased information-processing in favor of system-serving conclusions; (4) System justification processes exhibit properties of goal pursuit; and (5) The desire to legitimize the system inspires greater behavioral effort. We consider the implications of this motivational approach for understanding situations- including situations involving social conflict-that facilitate resistance to vs. support for social change.

Special Issue: System Justification Theory: Motivated Social Cognition in the Service of the Status QuoIdo Liviatan and John T. JostIdo LiviatanCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ido Liviatan, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Green Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540. E-mail: [email protected] and John T. Jost1 Princeton University.2 New York University.Published Online:July 2011https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2011.29.3.231PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations About Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Cited byCited by1. Socioeconomic status predicts children's moral judgments of novel resource distributionsOnline publication date: 19 January 2022. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar2. Optimism and System Justification Tendency of University StudentsOnline publication date: 31 May 2022. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar3. The relationship between political ideology and current earthquake and tsunami preparednessOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar4. Let them eat cake? Contextualizing support for religious right to discriminate lawsOnline publication date: 14 December 2020. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar5. Neuroscientific approaches to the study of system justificationOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar6. Análisis psicométrico de la escala Orientación hacia la Dominancia Social (SDO) mediante un Modelo de Ecuaciones Estructurales Exploratorias (ESEM).Online publication date: 16 August 2020. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar7. System justification: Experimental evidence, its contextual nature, and implications for social changeOnline publication date: 19 September 2018. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar8. Friend and foe? Self-deception in organisationsOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar9. A critical review of the (un)conscious basis for system-supporting attitudes of the disadvantagedOnline publication date: 28 September 2018. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar10. The Happy Culture: A Theoretical, Meta-Analytic, and Empirical Review of the Relationship Between Culture and Wealth and Subjective Well-BeingOnline publication date: 3 August 2017. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar11. Sistematični pregled literature s področja ambivalentnega seksizmaOnline publication date: 12 March 2017. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar12. La Creencia en un Mundo Justo como Trasfondo Ideológico de la Representación Social de la JusticiaOnline publication date: 7 October 2015. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar13. The inherence heuristic: An intuitive means of making sense of the world, and a potential precursor to psychological essentialismOnline publication date: 15 May 2014. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar14. Neuroticism and State Differences in Partisanship in the USA: Emotional Stability, Ideological Orientation, and Republican PreferenceOnline publication date: 30 September 2014. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar15. Toward More Interesting Research Questions: Problematizing Theory in Social JusticeOnline publication date: 24 July 2014. Go to citation Crossref Google ScholarIdo Liviatan and John T. Jost16. A Social-Cognitive Analysis of System Justification Goal StrivingOnline publication date: 19 March 2014. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar17. Capitalism at a Crossroads: Unfulfilled Expectations and Future ChallengesOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar18. The Appropriation Process of the Belief in a Just WorldOnline publication date: 7 September 2013. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar19. When Going Along Gets You Nowhere and the Upside of Conflict BehaviorsOnline publication date: 1 August 2013. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar20. Affect and marketing stimuli in consumer loyalty decisions to automobile insurersOnline publication date: 25 March 2013. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar Volume 29Issue 3Jun 2011 Information© 2011 Guilford Publications Inc.PDF download

Drawing on theories of shared reality, symbolic self-completion, and social identity, we suggest that group identity can be considered a goal toward which group members strive by seeking out socially recognized identity symbols, such as property that relates to group history. Three studies build on past research to suggest that when group identity goals are strong, people strive to ensure social recognition of a group's identity symbols, and place greater value on means that are effective at communicating group identity to other people. In Study 1, group members' commitment to an identity goal predicted their desire to publicize a property's relationship to group identity. In Studies 2 and 3, individual and situational variations in goal strength increased the value placed on property (a potential means) only when the property's symbolic significance was socially recognized. Implications for shared reality and conflict resolution are discussed.

Building on the assumption that interpersonal similarity is a form of social distance, the current research examines the manner in which similarity influences the representation and judgment of others’ actions. On the basis of a construal level approach, we hypothesized that greater levels of similarity would increase the relative weight of subordinate and secondary features of information in judgments of others’ actions. The results of four experiments showed that compared to corresponding judgments of a dissimilar target, participants exposed to a similar target person identified that person’s actions in relatively more subordinate means-related rather than superordinate ends-related terms (Experiment 1), perceived his or her actions to be determined more by feasibility and less by desirability concerns (Experiment 3), and gave more weight to secondary aspects in judgments of the target’s decisions (Experiment 2) and performance (Experiment 4). Implications for the study of interpersonal similarity, as well as social distance in general, are discussed.

According to previous research conducted mainly in the United States, psychological needs pertaining to the management of uncertainty and threat predict right-wing conservatism, operationally defined in terms of resistance to change and acceptance of inequality. In this study, we analyze data from 19 countries included in the European Social Survey (ESS) to assess two sets of hypotheses: (1) that traditionalism (an aspect of resistance to change) and acceptance of inequality would be positively associated with right (versus left) orientation, and (2) that rule-following (an aspect of the need for order), high need for security, and low need for openness to experience would be associated with right (versus left) orientation, adjusting for quadratic effects associated with ideological extremity. In addition, we determine the extent to which the pattern of relations among needs, values, and political orientation was similar in Eastern and Western European contexts. Results from regression and structural equation models indicate that traditionalism and, to a lesser extent, rule-following predict right-wing conservatism in both regions, whereas acceptance of inequality predicts right-wing orientation in the West only. Although openness to experience was associated with preferences for greater equality in both regions, it was associated with left-wing orientation in Western Europe and right-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Needs for security, conversely, were associated with right-wing orientation in Western Europe and left-wing orientation in Eastern Europe. Thus, we find evidence of both universal and context-specific effects in our analysis of the cognitive and motivational antecedents of left-right political orientation.

Building on symbolic self-completion theory, we conceptualize group identity as a goal toward which group members strive, using material symbols of that identity. We report four studies showing that the value placed on such material symbols (e.g., a building) depends on commitment to group identity, the extent to which a symbol can be used to represent in-group identity, and situational variability in goal strength induced through group-identity affirmation or threat. Our results suggest that property derives value from its capacity to serve as an effective means in the pursuit of group-identity goals. Implications for intergroup conflict are discussed.

The authors examined the relationships between 2 modes of national identification (attachment to the in-group and the in-group's glorification) and reactions to the in-group's moral violations among Israeli students. Data were collected during a period of relative calm in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as during a period of great intensification of this conflict. As expected, in Study 1, the 2 modes of identification had contrasting relationships with group-based guilt: Attachment was positively related whereas glorification was negatively related to group-based guilt for in-group's past infractions. Glorification suppressed the attachment effect but not vice versa. Both relationships were mediated by the use of exonerating cognitions. In Study 2, group-based guilt for the in-group's current wrongdoings was increased by priming critical rather than conventional attachment to the in-group, suggesting a causal effect of mode of identification on the experience of negative group-based emotions.