The Influence of Normative Differences among Group Members on Group Identification in a Social Dilemma

Abstract

Research into the effect of normative differences about how much to contribute to the public good among group members on the feeling of group identification has been scarce in the field of sociology. This thesis is an attempt to shed light on the way normative differences influence group identification. The theoretical framework suggests that there is a negative influence between the differences on normative views of group members about how much one should contribute to the public good and group identification. This hypothesis is being tested using a computerised experiment with 192 students from Utrecht University, where students play repeated rounds of the public good game. Several analyses were performed to research the expected influence. The results show that there is indeed a negative influence between the differences on normative views of group members and the feeling of group identification. However, the results differ when different measurements of normative differences about contributions are being used. The results imply that group norms are both a cause and consequence of group identification as the self-categorisation theory states. This thesis has contributed to the sociological field by finding that there is such a negative effect in a laboratory experiment. The smaller the normative differences about contributing to the public good, the higher the feeling of group identification among group members.