Social Identity Theory of Leadership Marisa Manzi and Eliza Worcester

Discussion ●What qualities are associated with an American identity? ●How does the leader of America, President Obama, effect how we understand our national identity? ●What are the implications of instating a new leader (Clinton, Sanders, Trump)?

Discussion ●What qualities are associated with being a student at the University of Richmond? How does the president of the school affect this identity?(Ayers vs. Crutcher) Start at 16 sec

Discussion ●What qualities do all leadership majors possess? ●How strongly do you identify with the Jepson School of Leadership? ●Did you vote in the most recent JSGA election? Do you know who was running and who was elected? What effect does this have on the relationship between leadership students and JSGA?

Discussion How did the leader of the country in which you studied abroad affect the identity of its citizens? Was there a strong correlation between national identity and the identity of the leader?

Social Identity vs. Personal Identity Social ID - a definition/evaluation of oneself in terms of the shared defining attributes of specific groups to which one belongs (collective self) Personal ID - a definition/evaluation of oneself in terms of personal attributes and personal relationships (personal self)

Social Identity Theory Definition “Social identity theory, more accurately the social identity perspective or approach, is a social psychological theory of the self-concept, group- membership, group behavior and intergroup relations.” - Michael Hogg

Significant Terms Salience Prototypes Categorization Motivation Influence Social Attraction Attribution/Charisma Leader Behavior

Salience “When a social categorization, self-conception, or identity is psychologically salient, it becomes real in the sense that it is one’s subjective reality in that context.” - Michael Hogg Personal/Social Identities resulting from chronic self-conceptual accessibility, situational cues, and deliberate personal or group goals are used to categorize oneself and others (Social and Self Categorizations) → Used to make sense of situations → When it makes sense to people, it becomes salient.

Prototypes “People cognitively represent groups in terms of prototypes - these are complex (fuzzy) sets of interrelated attributes that simultaneously capture similarities within each group and differences between two groups.” - Hogg Result of motivations for uncertainty reduction and self-enhancement Social hierarchy among groups and within groups b/c of prototyping > prototypicality = more + in-group feelings (social attraction)→likely to be group leader, have more influence over the group Group members attribute charismatic traits to the most prototypical Paradox: conforming strictly to prototypes gets you to the top, and then allows you to push the boundaries of these prototypes once you get there. Edwin Hollander’s “idiosyncrasy credit”

Prototypicality as a Tool in the Current Presidential Election Effective tool for leader behavior in high-salience groups, ineffective tool for leadership of low-salience groups.

Intergroup LDST/Subgroup Identity Start video at 40 seconds

Empirical Evidence BBC - The Experiment Start Video at 3:45

Connecting Theory to Actuality

Relation to Other Theories: Neo-Charismatic and Transformational Leadership Theories Leadership Categorization Theory Leader Member Exchange

Resistance to Theory Shortfalls of Theory