Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity
Social norms guide humans’ everyday behavior, and previous research has shown that social norms consistently predict some forms of political participation. Failure to conform to norms may lead to deviation and possible rejection, which humans innately seek to avoid since it threatens their need for...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Social Psychological Bulletin |
| Online Access: | https://spb.psychopen.eu/article/26427/download/pdf/ |
| _version_ | 1797967997246111744 |
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| author | Emma A. Renström Hanna Bäck Holly M. Knapton |
| author_facet | Emma A. Renström Hanna Bäck Holly M. Knapton |
| author_sort | Emma A. Renström |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social norms guide humans’ everyday behavior, and previous research has shown that social norms consistently predict some forms of political participation. Failure to conform to norms may lead to deviation and possible rejection, which humans innately seek to avoid since it threatens their need for belongingness. Following an episode of rejection, individuals are therefore likely to become increasingly willing to conform to norms in order to re-establish a position in their social group. In an experiment, we show that 1) individuals conform to a perceived political engagement norm, and that 2) when rejection associations are made salient, they become increasingly willing to conform to a political engagement norm. We also show 3) that this effect is moderated by individual-level need for belongingness, such that rejection primed participants with a high need to belong, showed the highest levels of conformity to the perceived political engagement norm. The results imply that social pressure is a strong motivating factor in political engagement, which is an important result suggesting that basic social affiliation needs may in fact have an impact on politics and political outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:40:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-78f97e7a2c3a426fab9f0fb25643e42e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1896-1800 2569-653X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T02:40:05Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Psychological Bulletin |
| spelling | doaj.art-78f97e7a2c3a426fab9f0fb25643e42e2023-01-02T19:20:45ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologySocial Psychological Bulletin1896-18002569-653X2018-12-0113411710.32872/spb.v13i4.2642726427Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest ActivityEmma A. Renström0Hanna Bäck1Holly M. Knapton2University of GothenburgLund UniversityLund UniversitySocial norms guide humans’ everyday behavior, and previous research has shown that social norms consistently predict some forms of political participation. Failure to conform to norms may lead to deviation and possible rejection, which humans innately seek to avoid since it threatens their need for belongingness. Following an episode of rejection, individuals are therefore likely to become increasingly willing to conform to norms in order to re-establish a position in their social group. In an experiment, we show that 1) individuals conform to a perceived political engagement norm, and that 2) when rejection associations are made salient, they become increasingly willing to conform to a political engagement norm. We also show 3) that this effect is moderated by individual-level need for belongingness, such that rejection primed participants with a high need to belong, showed the highest levels of conformity to the perceived political engagement norm. The results imply that social pressure is a strong motivating factor in political engagement, which is an important result suggesting that basic social affiliation needs may in fact have an impact on politics and political outcomes.https://spb.psychopen.eu/article/26427/download/pdf/ |
| spellingShingle | Emma A. Renström Hanna Bäck Holly M. Knapton Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity Social Psychological Bulletin |
| title | Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity |
| title_full | Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity |
| title_fullStr | Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity |
| title_short | Conforming to Collective Action: The Impact of Rejection, Personality and Norms on Participation in Protest Activity |
| title_sort | conforming to collective action the impact of rejection personality and norms on participation in protest activity |
| url | https://spb.psychopen.eu/article/26427/download/pdf/ |
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