It’s about valence: Historical continuity or historical discontinuity as a threat to social identity
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Roth, Jenny
Huber, Michaela
Juenger, Annkatrin
Liu, James H.
Abstract / Description
National identity is underpinned by historical representations. Recent research shows that narratives presenting an in-group’s history as discontinuous rather than continuous raise collective angst, suggesting that historical discontinuity threatens social identity. This previous research has focused on positive aspects of an in-group’s past. The present research aims to extend the findings to go beyond positive histories. We suggest that when the in-group’s actions in the past are presented as negative, historical continuity instead of discontinuity will increase perceived identity threat because a negative, continuous history threatens group members’ need for a positive social identity in the present. In an experiment with a sample size of N = 316, we manipulated the narrated valence of in-group actions during the historical event of the approval of the German constitutional law by framing the group’s actions in either positive or negative terms. In addition, we presented the in-group’s history as connected or disconnected to the in-group’s present. Results demonstrate that historical continuity only decreased identity threat compared to historical discontinuity when the in-group’s past behavior was presented as positive. When the in-group’s past was presented as negative, continuity even increased identity threat compared to historical discontinuity. These results were particularly pronounced for people who strongly identified with their national in-group. We discuss implications of the findings for political communication and managing a nation’s perception of social identity threat.
Keyword(s)
historical narratives historical continuity historical discontinuity valence of the past social identity threat national identification identity centralityPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2017-08-02
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
5
Issue
2
Page numbers
320–341
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Roth, J., Huber, M., Juenger, A., & Liu, J. H. (2017). It’s about valence: Historical continuity or historical discontinuity as a threat to social identity. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5(2), 320–341. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v5i2.677
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Roth, Jenny
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Huber, Michaela
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Juenger, Annkatrin
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Liu, James H.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:45:17Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:45:17Z
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Date of first publication2017-08-02
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Abstract / DescriptionNational identity is underpinned by historical representations. Recent research shows that narratives presenting an in-group’s history as discontinuous rather than continuous raise collective angst, suggesting that historical discontinuity threatens social identity. This previous research has focused on positive aspects of an in-group’s past. The present research aims to extend the findings to go beyond positive histories. We suggest that when the in-group’s actions in the past are presented as negative, historical continuity instead of discontinuity will increase perceived identity threat because a negative, continuous history threatens group members’ need for a positive social identity in the present. In an experiment with a sample size of N = 316, we manipulated the narrated valence of in-group actions during the historical event of the approval of the German constitutional law by framing the group’s actions in either positive or negative terms. In addition, we presented the in-group’s history as connected or disconnected to the in-group’s present. Results demonstrate that historical continuity only decreased identity threat compared to historical discontinuity when the in-group’s past behavior was presented as positive. When the in-group’s past was presented as negative, continuity even increased identity threat compared to historical discontinuity. These results were particularly pronounced for people who strongly identified with their national in-group. We discuss implications of the findings for political communication and managing a nation’s perception of social identity threat.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationRoth, J., Huber, M., Juenger, A., & Liu, J. H. (2017). It’s about valence: Historical continuity or historical discontinuity as a threat to social identity. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5(2), 320–341. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v5i2.677en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1439
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1775
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v5i2.677
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Keyword(s)historical narrativesen_US
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Keyword(s)historical continuityen_US
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Keyword(s)historical discontinuityen_US
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Keyword(s)valence of the pasten_US
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Keyword(s)social identity threaten_US
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Keyword(s)national identificationen_US
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Keyword(s)identity centralityen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleIt’s about valence: Historical continuity or historical discontinuity as a threat to social identityen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue2
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers320–341
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Volume5
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record