Niklas Altermark
Docent
The Quest for Significance : Attitude Adaption to a Radical Group Following Social Exclusion
Författare
Summary, in English
It is a human fundamental to desire to be valued, loved and respected - to be significant. Social exclusion induce significance loss which elicits a 'quest for significance' - the search for opportunities to re-gain significance. The present article establishes this relation in a laboratory experiment (N = 71, mean age = 28, SD = 10.42, 65% women, 35% men), showing that socially excluded individuals who are subsequently included by a radical group, adapt their attitudes in line with this group. We use a modified version of the well-known paradigm 'Cyberball' to elicit the quest for significance. The results show that when experiencing social exclusion, highly rejection sensitive individuals tend to adapt to the radical group's opinions. The results are important, highlighting a mechanism in the radicalization process and the importance of taking social factors into account in this process.
Avdelning/ar
- Statsvetenskapliga institutionen
- Institutionen för psykologi
Publiceringsår
2018
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
25-36
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
International Journal of Developmental Sciences
Volym
12
Issue
1-2
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
IOS Press
Ämne
- Social Psychology
Nyckelord
- conformity
- Cyberball
- Radicalization
- social exclusion
Aktiv
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 2192-001X