The more prototypical the better? The allure of being seen as one sees oneself

Abstract

Whereas past research has emphasized people’s desire to be a prototypical group member within valued groups, this research explores people’s competing desire to be seen as prototypical as they see themselves. Results of three studies show that evaluations that verified participants’ self-perceived prototypicality were seen as especially credible and were accepted without evoking compensatory activity. We found evidence for compensatory activity whereby participants labeled as underprototypical were most likely to express similarity to other ingroup members and a desire to engage in behaviors designed to promote the ingroup. Those labeled as overprototypical were less likely to express similarity to other ingroup members and a desire to engage in progroup behaviors. A similar pattern was found on a behavioral measure whereby participants were asked to choose a majority or a minority pen. Contrary to the assumption that people are primarily motivated by a desire for self-enhancement, these findings emerged independent of perceived group desirability. These findings indicate the importance of the alignment between self-perceptions and ingroup perceptions when examining responses to intragroup position. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical predictions derived from self-verification, self-categorization, and optimal distinctiveness theorizing.