Aligning identities, emotions, and beliefs to create commitment to sustainable social and political action

Pers Soc Psychol Rev. 2009 Aug;13(3):194-218. doi: 10.1177/1088868309341563. Epub 2009 Jul 21.

Abstract

In this article the authors explore the social psychological processes underpinning sustainable commitment to a social or political cause. Drawing on recent developments in the collective action, identity formation, and social norm literatures, they advance a new model to understand sustainable commitment to action. The normative alignment model suggests that one solution to promoting ongoing commitment to collective action lies in crafting a social identity with a relevant pattern of norms for emotion, efficacy, and action. Rather than viewing group emotion, collective efficacy, and action as group products, the authors conceptualize norms about these as contributing to a dynamic system of meaning, which can shape ongoing commitment to a cause. By exploring emotion, efficacy, and action as group norms, it allows scholars to reenergize the theoretical connections between collective identification and subjective meaning but also allows for a fresh perspective on complex questions of causality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Culture*
  • Emotions*
  • Group Processes
  • Humans
  • Judgment
  • Models, Psychological
  • Motivation*
  • Politics*
  • Power, Psychological
  • Self Efficacy
  • Social Change
  • Social Conformity
  • Social Identification*
  • Social Justice