PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN Scheepers et al. / INTERGROUP DIFFERENTIATION Integrating Identity and Instrumental Approaches to Intergroup Differentiation: Different Contexts, Different Motives

In two experiments, the authors examined the interplay of two functions of intergroup differentiation: an identity function (obtaining a distinct and meaningful social identity) and an instrumental function (advancing group goals). In Experiment 1, in minimal and thus relatively meaningless groups, partici-pants differentiate (identity function), but those with a group goal differentiated more strongly later on than those without (instrumental function). In Experiment 2, both the possibility to differentiate and the presence of a group goal were manipulated orthogonally. Highest differentiation (and cohesion and identi-fication) resulted in the minimal condition (no goal, no prior differentiation opportunity) and in the instrumental condition (goal and prior differentiation opportunity). Mediation analy-ses and a group effort measure provided evidence for the different functions proposed to underlie differentiation in these two cases