Recognize and Accept Me: Consequences of the Drive for Social Identity Validation

According to uncertainty-identity theory (Hogg, 2021a) one of the benefits of group identification is uncertainty-reduction. To reap this benefit fully, it is posited that people also are motivated to have their identities validated, especially if the identity is one that is important to a person’s sense of self. However, people receive various feedback about their identities, and feedback about one’s identity does not come solely from one’s ingroup. While past research has demonstrated that feedback and source of feedback are important factors in social identity validation processes (see Choi & Hogg, 2020b), the current research proposes that uncertainty also may be a key factor in these processes; specifically, those with greater self-uncertainty will have a greater desire for identity validation for identities that are central to their sense of self. Furthermore, such desires can have consequences for how individuals evaluate and interact with their ingroup as well as their outgroup. Three studies were conducted to examine this. Study 1 (N = 139) showed that those with greater self-uncertainty and those whose identity is more central to their sense of self have a greater desire for identity validation. Study 2 (N = 142) showed that there is less ingroup bias when individuals evaluate feedback sources after imagining receiving identity validation from an outgroup source, and self-uncertainty moderates the effect of the feedback source’s group when evaluating the ingroup and outgroup as a whole. Study 3 (N = 142) showed that those who receive ingroup invalidation have a greater desire for identity validation from the outgroup compared to those who receive ingroup validation. Implications for intra- and intergroup dynamics and future research are discusse