Journal
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 95, Issue 3, Pages 593-607Publisher
AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.95.3.593
Keywords
culture; diffusion; identity; social influence; intergroup processes
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People often diverge from members of other social groups: They select cultural tastes (e.g., possessions, attitudes, or behaviors) that distinguish them from outsiders and abandon tastes when outsiders adopt them. But while divergence is pervasive, most research on the propagation of culture is based on conformity. Consequently, it is less useful in explaining why people might abandon tastes when others adopt them. The 7 studies described in this article showed that people diverge to avoid signaling undesired identities. A field study, for example, found that undergraduates stopped wearing a particular wristband-when members of the geeky academically focused dormitory next door started wearing them. Consistent with an identity-signaling perspective, the studies further showed that people often diverge from dissimilar outgroups to avoid the costs' of misidentification. Implications for social influence, identity signaling, and the popularity and diffusion of culture are discussed.
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