How do global citizens respond to a global health emergency? The present research examined the association between global citizen identification and prosociality using two cross-national datasets—the World Values Survey (Study 1, N = 93,338 from 60 countries and regions) and data collected in 11 countries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Study 2, N = 5,427). Results showed that individuals who identified more strongly as global citizens reported greater prosociality both generally (Study 1) and more specifically in the COVID-19 global health emergency (Study 2). Notably, global citizen identification was a stronger predictor of prosociality in response to COVID-19 than national identification (Study 2). Moreover, analyses revealed that shared ingroup identity accounted for the positive association between global citizen identification and prosociality (Study 2). Overall, these findings highlight global citizenship as a unique and promising direction in promoting prosociality and solidarity, especially in the fight against COVID-19.
AdlerN. E.EpelE. S.CastellazzoG.IckovicsJ. R. (2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, White women. Health Psychology, 19, 586–592. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.19.6.586
BatesD.MächlerM.BolkerB.WalkerS. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
4.
BiddlestoneM.GreenR.DouglasK. M. (2020). Cultural orientation, power, belief in conspiracy theories, and intentions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59, 663–673. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12397
5.
BonettoE.DelouvéeS.MahfudY.Adam-TroianJ. (2020). National identification, a social cure for COVID-19? Evidence from 67 countries. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/294r5
6.
BrewerM. B. (1999). The psychology of prejudice: Ingroup love and outgroup hate?Journal of Social Issues, 55, 429–444. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00126
7.
BuchanN. R.BrewerM. B.GrimaldaG.WilsonR. K.FatasE.FoddyM. (2011). Global social identity and global cooperation. Psychological Science, 22, 821–828. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611409590
DoosjeB.BranscombeN. R.SpearsR.MansteadA. S. R. (1998). Guilty by association: When one’s group has a negative history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 872–886. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.872
11.
DovidioJ. F.GaertnerS. L.ValidzicA.MatokaK.JohnsonB.FrazierS. (1997). Extending the benefits of recategorization: Evaluations, self-disclosure, and helping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33, 401–420. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1997.1327
12.
DruryJ. (2018). The role of social identity processes in mass emergency behaviour: An integrative review. European Review of Social Psychology, 29, 38–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2018.1471948
13.
DruryJ.CockingC.ReicherS. (2009). Everyone for themselves? A comparative study of crowd solidarity among emergency survivors. British Journal of Social Psychology, 48, 487–506. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466608X357893
14.
DruryJ.CockingC.ReicherS.BurtonA.SchofieldD.HardwickA.GrahamD.LangstonP. (2009). Cooperation versus competition in a mass emergency evacuation: A new laboratory simulation and a new theoretical model. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 957–970. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.3.957
FaulknerN. (2018). “Put yourself in their shoes”: Testing empathy’s ability to motivate cosmopolitan behavior. Political Psychology, 39, 217–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12411
17.
FedericoC. M.de ZavalaA. G.BaranT. (2020). Collective narcissism, in-group satisfaction, and solidarity in the face of COVID-19. Social Psychological and Personality Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620963655
18.
GaertnerS. L.DovidioJ. F.AnastasioP. A.BachmanB. A.RustM. C. (1993). The common ingroup identity model: Recategorization and the reduction of intergroup bias. European Review of Social Psychology, 4, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14792779343000004
GollwitzerA.MartelC.BradyW. J.PärnametsP.FreedmanI. G.KnowlesE. D.van BavelJ. J. (2020). Partisan differences in physical distancing are linked to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour, 4, 1186–1197. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00977-7
HjermM. (1998). National identities, national pride and xenophobia: A comparison of four Western countries. Acta Sociologica, 41, 335–347. https://doi.org/10.1177/000169939804100403
KhanS. S.HopkinsN.ReicherS.TewariS.SrinivasanN.StevensonC. (2015). Shared identity predicts enhanced health at a mass gathering. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 18, 504–522. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430214556703
32.
LeachC. W.van ZomerenM.ZebelS.VliekM. L. W.PennekampS. F.DoosjeB.OuwerkerkJ. W.SpearsR. (2008). Group-level self-definition and self-investment: A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 144–165. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.144
33.
LeungA. K. Y.KohK.TamK.-P. (2015). Being environmentally responsible: Cosmopolitan orientation predicts pro-environmental behaviors. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 43, 79–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.05.011
34.
LevineM.ProsserA.EvansD.ReicherS. (2005). Identity and emergency intervention: How social group membership and inclusiveness of group boundaries shape helping behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 443–453. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167204271651
35.
LuJ. G.JinP.EnglishA. S. (2021). Collectivism predicts mask use during COVID-19. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 118, Article e2021793118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021793118
36.
LuttrellA.PettyR. E. (2020). Evaluations of self-focused versus other-focused arguments for social distancing: An extension of moral matching effects. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12, 946–954. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620947853
37.
MakiA.DwyerP. C.BlazekS.SnyderM.GonzálezR.LayS. (2019). Responding to natural disasters: Examining identity and prosociality in the context of a major earthquake. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58, 66–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12281
38.
McFarlandS.BrownD.WebbM. (2013). Identification with all humanity as a moral concept and psychological construct. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 194–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412471346
39.
McFarlandS.HackettJ.HamerK.Katzarska-MillerI.MalschA.ReeseG.ReysenS. (2019). Global human identification and citizenship: A review of psychological studies. Political Psychology, 40, 141–171. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12572
40.
McFarlandS.HornsbyW. (2015). An analysis of five measures of global human identification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 806–817. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2161
41.
McFarlandS.WebbM.BrownD. (2012). All humanity is my ingroup: A measure and studies of identification with all humanity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 830–853. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028724
42.
NevilleF. G.NovelliD.DruryJ.ReicherS. D. (2020). Shared social identity transforms social relations in imaginary crowds. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220936759
43.
NevilleF. G.TempletonA.SmithJ. R.LouisW. R. (2021). Social norms, social identities and the COVID-19 pandemic: Theory and recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15, Article e12596. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12596
PfattheicherS.NockurL.BöhmR.SassenrathC.PetersenM. B. (2020). The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Science, 31, 1363–1373. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620964422
48.
ReeseG.ProchJ.FinnC. (2015). Identification with all humanity: The role of self-definition and self-investment. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 426–440. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2102
49.
ReysenS.Katzarska-MillerI. (2013). A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Psychology, 48, 858–870. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.701749
50.
RosenmannA.ReeseG.CameronJ. E. (2016). Social identities in a globalized world: Challenges and opportunities for collective action. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 202–221. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615621272
51.
SchwartzS. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60281-6
52.
SchwartzS. H. (2012). An overview of the Schwartz theory of basic values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1116
53.
SteffensN. K. (2020). Compliance and followership. In JettenJ.ReicherS. D.HaslamS. A.CruwysT. (Eds.), Together apart: The psychology of COVID-19 (pp. 41–45). SAGE Publications.
54.
StürmerS.RohmannA.van der NollJ. (2016). Mobilizing the global community to combat Ebola: Psychological effects of the Band Aid 30 campaign. The Journal of Social Psychology, 156, 291–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2015.1108898
55.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–48). Brooks/Cole.
56.
TingleyD.YamamotoT.HiroseK.KeeleL.ImaiK. (2014). Mediation: R package for causal mediation analysis. Journal of Statistical Software, 59, 1–38. https://doi.org/doi:10.18637/jss.v059.i05
57.
TurnerJ. C.HoggM. A.OakesP. J.ReicherS. D.WetherellM. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell.
United Nations. (2020a). Global cooperation must adapt to meet biggest threat since Second World War, Secretary-General says on International Day, as COVID-19 transcends borders. https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm20058.doc.htm
Van BavelJ. J.BaickerK.BoggioP. S.CapraroV.CichockaA.CikaraM.CrockettM. J.CrumA. J.DouglasK. M.DruckmanJ. N.DruryJ.DubeO.EllemersN.FinkelE. J.FowlerJ. H.GelfandM.HanS.HaslamS. A.JettenJ.. . . WillerR. (2020). Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nature Human Behaviour, 4, 460–471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0884-z
62.
Van BavelJ. J.CichockaA.CapraroV.SjåstadH.NezlekJ. B.PavlovićT.AlfanoM.GelfandM. J.AzevedoF.BirtelM. D.CislakA.LockwoodP. L.RossR.StoyanovaK. K.AbtsK.AgadullinaE.AmodioD. M.AppsM. A. J.ArutaJ. J. B. R.. . . BoggioP. S. (2020). National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ydt95
63.
VignolesV. L.JaserZ.TaylorF.NtontisE. (2021). Harnessing shared identities to mobilize resilient responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Political Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12726
64.
WitA. P.KerrN. L. (2002). “Me versus just us versus us all”: Categorization and cooperation in nested social dilemmas. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 616–637. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.3.616
65.
WolfL. J.HaddockG.MansteadA. S. R.MaioG. R. (2020). The importance of (shared) human values for containing the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59, 618–627. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12401
ZagefkaH. (2021). Intergroup helping during the coronavirus crisis: Effects of group identification, ingroup blame and third party outgroup blame. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 31, 83–93. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2487
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
