Individual differences in the chronic accessibility of social identities

According to self-categorization theory (SCT), environmental context is the key factor in determining whether or not a social identity will be activated. Blanz (1999) has extended SCT by suggesting that there are certain social categories (i.e., race and gender) that people will chronically use to categorize individuals. However, neither of these two perspectives addresses the notion that individuals could differ in the chronic accessibility of a given social identity. The present research explored this hypothesis. By adapting Higgins and colleagues' (1982) methodology for studying the chronic accessibility of personality traits, three studies were conducted to determine if there are differences in chronicity of female (Experiments 1 and 3) and anglophone (Experiment 2) social identities. Results suggest that individual differences in accessibility appear to exist. However, differences in chronicity of female and anglophone social identities were not related to discrimination, an important variable in social identity theorizing. Theoretical and real-world implications are discussed along with suggestions for future research