Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jan;63(1):205-233.
doi: 10.1111/bjso.12674. Epub 2023 Aug 2.

Connecting groups and behaviours: A network analysis of identity-infused behaviours

Emily A Hughes  1 , Samuel Ellis  1 , Joanne R Smith  1
Affiliations

Connecting groups and behaviours: A network analysis of identity-infused behaviours

Emily A Hughes et al. Br J Soc Psychol. 2024 Jan.

Abstract

Research in the social identity tradition acknowledges the multiplicity of our identities and the implications that identity compatibility has for our health and well-being. However, current measures of multiple group membership have not yet captured the richness and complexity of our social identity networks at the wider sample level, and data regarding the different behaviours typically associated with different group memberships are scarce. Adopting a network approach, we explore the co-occurrence of different group memberships within an individual (identity-by-identity network), the behaviours that are shared among identities (behaviour-by-identity network), and whether identities that are shared also share common behaviours (identity-by-behaviour network). An online survey asked participants (N = 286) to list the groups they are part of, as well as the behaviours viewed to be typical of group members. The networks identified several identities and behaviours to significantly co-occur at a rate both higher and lower than chance. Networks were found to be low in modularity; there was no evidence of clustering within the data. Permutation analyses demonstrated the overall structure of the networks to be significantly different than expected by chance. The co-occurrences identified serve as a meaningful resource for those conducting research into identities, group norms and their associated behaviours.

Keywords: group membership; network analysis; social identity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Identity‐by‐identity networks.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Behaviour‐by‐identity networks.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Identity‐by‐behaviour networks.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alvarez, A. B. K. (2015). ForceAtlas2: ForceAtlas2 layout for a network.
    1. Amiot, C. E. , & de la Sablonnière, R. (2010). Facilitating the development and integration of multiple social identities: The case of immigrants in Québec. In Crisp R. J. (Ed.), The psychology of social and cultural diversity (pp. 34–61). Wiley Blackwell.
    1. Amiot, C. E. , de la Sablonnière, R. , Terry, D. J. , & Smith, J. R. (2007). Integration of social identities in the self: Toward a cognitive‐developmental model. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(4), 364–388. 10.1177/1088868307304091 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ashforth, B. E. , & Johnson, S. A. (2001). Which hat to wear? The relative salience of multiple identities in organizational contexts. In Hogg M. A. & Terry D. J. (Eds.), Social identity processes in organizational contexts (pp. 31–48). Psychology Press.
    1. Ashforth, B. E. , Rogers, K. M. , & Corley, K. G. (2010). Identity in organizations: Exploring cross‐level dynamics. Organization Science, 22(5), 1144–1156. 10.1287/orsc.1100.0591 - DOI