The Psychology of Intervention and Engagement Following Crisis, 2012
ABSTRACT (from the chapter) The UK government's "Prevent" strategy, whi... more ABSTRACT (from the chapter) The UK government's "Prevent" strategy, which aims to "prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support", is underpinned by this conceptualization of the crisis we face. Under the umbrella of "Prevent" a raft of initiatives has been funded to build resilient communities, challenge extremist ideology and support mainstream voices, and support young people who have been identified as vulnerable. In this chapter we focus on just one of these initiatives, the Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP), which is designed for public sector professionals who have a duty of care (e.g., teachers, youth workers, health workers), as well as those in the private sector (e.g., shopping centre security officers). For us, WRAP is significant because it provides a clear explication of the dominant model of the radicalization process that informs national policy and practice. In this chapter we consider how the underlying assumptions of the dominant model fit with current social psychological theorizing and research. In doing so, one of our aims is to untangle our own tongues. Over the last two years we have been conducting research with Muslim communities in Scotland. We have been looking at interactions with societal authorities and how these may contribute to processes of alienation, and indeed, to rendering people open to the influence of "radical" voices. In the course of our work, we have met many senior police officers, including some centrally involved in counter-terrorism measures. In these meetings, we have been struck by the extent to which we share a common language. Like us, they speak about the importance of identity and the pernicious effects of prejudice and discrimination. Moreover, there is a willingness to acknowledge that the processes that radicalize are quite normal and intelligible. Our aim in this chapter is to analyze precisely how a common language divides us as researchers from the authorities. We will compare and contrast the official analysis of how identity, influence, and discrimination combine to drive alienation and radicalization, with our own analysis of these things. We hope this is not mere self-indulgence, but can serve the serious purpose of elucidating how we, as social psychologists, can contribute to the understanding of alienation and radicalization. The importance of this has been driven home to us by an awareness of how social psychological theories are not simply used to explain the world. Rather, they are used in official policies to shape the world that people—especially minorities—occupy and experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)
... In particular, James MacGregor Burns's work on transformational leadership in the la... more ... In particular, James MacGregor Burns's work on transformational leadership in the late 1970s rekindled the view ... Our new psychological analysis tells us that for leadership to function well, leaders and ... a shared identity and by the quest to use that identity as a blueprint for action ...
In this chapter, we address the relationship between collective action and politicized identities... more In this chapter, we address the relationship between collective action and politicized identities. This question of the impacts of collective action on identities can be broken down into two component parts. First, how does collective participation affect the strength and depth of identification? Second, how does participation affect the content and meaning of identification? These are both questions of fundamental importance, not only for social psychology but also for the social sciences in general–although in different disciplines ...
Not everyone was an angel on 9/11. But accounts of the Twin Towers evacuation show that there was... more Not everyone was an angel on 9/11. But accounts of the Twin Towers evacuation show that there was none of the “mass panic” that many emergency planners expect to see in a disaster. In fact, when researchers look closely at almost any major disaster, they find little to support the assumption that ordinary people lose their heads in these extraordinary situations. Instead they find that individuals not only behave sensibly in emergencies but also display a solidarity that can be a valuable asset. These results have important ...
ABSTRACT Ordinary people can commit atrocities simply by following orders, iconic experiments fro... more ABSTRACT Ordinary people can commit atrocities simply by following orders, iconic experiments from the 1960s concluded. But this notion of the “banality of evil” is wrong, argue psychologists Alexander Haslam and Stephen Reicher
... Guy Elcheroth University of Lausanne Willem Doise University of Geneva Stephen Reicher Univer... more ... Guy Elcheroth University of Lausanne Willem Doise University of Geneva Stephen Reicher University of St Andrews ... This common wisdom was been substantially challenged by Baker andOneal (2001), who argued that, when appropriately sampled and operationalized, effects ...
Attempts to revisit Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' (OtA) paradigm present serious... more Attempts to revisit Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' (OtA) paradigm present serious ethical challenges. In recent years new paradigms have been developed to circumvent these challenges but none involve using Milgram's own procedures and asking naïve participants to deliver the maximum level of shock. This was achieved in the present research by using Immersive Digital Realism (IDR) to revisit the OtA paradigm. IDR is a dramatic method that involves a director collaborating with professional actors to develop characters, the strategic withholding of contextual information, and immersion in a real-world environment. 14 actors took part in an IDR study in which they were assigned to conditions that restaged Milgrams's New Baseline ('Coronary') condition and four other variants. Post-experimental interviews also assessed participants' identification with Experimenter and Learner. Participants' behaviour closely resembled that observed in Milgram'...
Predicting others' actions is crucial to successful social interaction. Previous research on ... more Predicting others' actions is crucial to successful social interaction. Previous research on joint action, based on a reaction-time paradigm called the Joint Simon Task, suggests that successful joint action stems from the simultaneous representation of the self with the other. Performance on this task provides a read-out of the degree of intrusion from a partner that participants experience from acting jointly compared to acting alone, which in turn is a measure of the degree to which participants mentally represent their co-actors during the task. To investigate the role of perceived group membership in this type of joint action and its influence on the representation of others, we first subjected participants to a minimal group paradigm while manipulating differences in social competition. We then asked participants to do the Joint Simon Task in pairs with an in-group or out-group member. Only participants who acted with an "in-group" partner on the joint task showe...
ABSTRACT A key issue for political psychology concerns the processes whereby people come to inves... more ABSTRACT A key issue for political psychology concerns the processes whereby people come to invest psychologically in socially and politically significant group identities. Since Durkheim, it has been assumed that participation in group-relevant collective events increases one's investment in such group identities. However, little empirical research explicitly addresses this or the processes involved. We investigated these issues in a longitudinal questionnaire study conducted at one of the world's largest collective events—a month-long Hindu festival in north India (the Magh Mela). Data gathered from pilgrims and comparable others who did not attend the event show that one month after the event, those who had participated (but not the controls) exhibited heightened social identification as a Hindu and increased frequency of prayer rituals. Data gathered from pilgrims during the festival predicted these outcomes. Specifically, perceptions of sharing a common identity with other pilgrims and of being able to enact one's social identity in this event helped predict changes in participants' identification and behavior. The wider significance of these data for political psychology is discussed.
... self-categorization 45 Social identity and group behavior 46 Social identity and collective p... more ... self-categorization 45 Social identity and group behavior 46 Social identity and collective power 60 Defining social identities 64 ... importance of standing for the group 78 Prototypicality and leadership effectiveness 82 Prototypicality and leadership stereotypes 94 Prototypicality ...
The Psychology of Intervention and Engagement Following Crisis, 2012
ABSTRACT (from the chapter) The UK government's "Prevent" strategy, whi... more ABSTRACT (from the chapter) The UK government's "Prevent" strategy, which aims to "prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support", is underpinned by this conceptualization of the crisis we face. Under the umbrella of "Prevent" a raft of initiatives has been funded to build resilient communities, challenge extremist ideology and support mainstream voices, and support young people who have been identified as vulnerable. In this chapter we focus on just one of these initiatives, the Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP), which is designed for public sector professionals who have a duty of care (e.g., teachers, youth workers, health workers), as well as those in the private sector (e.g., shopping centre security officers). For us, WRAP is significant because it provides a clear explication of the dominant model of the radicalization process that informs national policy and practice. In this chapter we consider how the underlying assumptions of the dominant model fit with current social psychological theorizing and research. In doing so, one of our aims is to untangle our own tongues. Over the last two years we have been conducting research with Muslim communities in Scotland. We have been looking at interactions with societal authorities and how these may contribute to processes of alienation, and indeed, to rendering people open to the influence of "radical" voices. In the course of our work, we have met many senior police officers, including some centrally involved in counter-terrorism measures. In these meetings, we have been struck by the extent to which we share a common language. Like us, they speak about the importance of identity and the pernicious effects of prejudice and discrimination. Moreover, there is a willingness to acknowledge that the processes that radicalize are quite normal and intelligible. Our aim in this chapter is to analyze precisely how a common language divides us as researchers from the authorities. We will compare and contrast the official analysis of how identity, influence, and discrimination combine to drive alienation and radicalization, with our own analysis of these things. We hope this is not mere self-indulgence, but can serve the serious purpose of elucidating how we, as social psychologists, can contribute to the understanding of alienation and radicalization. The importance of this has been driven home to us by an awareness of how social psychological theories are not simply used to explain the world. Rather, they are used in official policies to shape the world that people—especially minorities—occupy and experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)
... In particular, James MacGregor Burns's work on transformational leadership in the la... more ... In particular, James MacGregor Burns's work on transformational leadership in the late 1970s rekindled the view ... Our new psychological analysis tells us that for leadership to function well, leaders and ... a shared identity and by the quest to use that identity as a blueprint for action ...
In this chapter, we address the relationship between collective action and politicized identities... more In this chapter, we address the relationship between collective action and politicized identities. This question of the impacts of collective action on identities can be broken down into two component parts. First, how does collective participation affect the strength and depth of identification? Second, how does participation affect the content and meaning of identification? These are both questions of fundamental importance, not only for social psychology but also for the social sciences in general–although in different disciplines ...
Not everyone was an angel on 9/11. But accounts of the Twin Towers evacuation show that there was... more Not everyone was an angel on 9/11. But accounts of the Twin Towers evacuation show that there was none of the “mass panic” that many emergency planners expect to see in a disaster. In fact, when researchers look closely at almost any major disaster, they find little to support the assumption that ordinary people lose their heads in these extraordinary situations. Instead they find that individuals not only behave sensibly in emergencies but also display a solidarity that can be a valuable asset. These results have important ...
ABSTRACT Ordinary people can commit atrocities simply by following orders, iconic experiments fro... more ABSTRACT Ordinary people can commit atrocities simply by following orders, iconic experiments from the 1960s concluded. But this notion of the “banality of evil” is wrong, argue psychologists Alexander Haslam and Stephen Reicher
... Guy Elcheroth University of Lausanne Willem Doise University of Geneva Stephen Reicher Univer... more ... Guy Elcheroth University of Lausanne Willem Doise University of Geneva Stephen Reicher University of St Andrews ... This common wisdom was been substantially challenged by Baker andOneal (2001), who argued that, when appropriately sampled and operationalized, effects ...
Attempts to revisit Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' (OtA) paradigm present serious... more Attempts to revisit Milgram's 'Obedience to Authority' (OtA) paradigm present serious ethical challenges. In recent years new paradigms have been developed to circumvent these challenges but none involve using Milgram's own procedures and asking naïve participants to deliver the maximum level of shock. This was achieved in the present research by using Immersive Digital Realism (IDR) to revisit the OtA paradigm. IDR is a dramatic method that involves a director collaborating with professional actors to develop characters, the strategic withholding of contextual information, and immersion in a real-world environment. 14 actors took part in an IDR study in which they were assigned to conditions that restaged Milgrams's New Baseline ('Coronary') condition and four other variants. Post-experimental interviews also assessed participants' identification with Experimenter and Learner. Participants' behaviour closely resembled that observed in Milgram'...
Predicting others' actions is crucial to successful social interaction. Previous research on ... more Predicting others' actions is crucial to successful social interaction. Previous research on joint action, based on a reaction-time paradigm called the Joint Simon Task, suggests that successful joint action stems from the simultaneous representation of the self with the other. Performance on this task provides a read-out of the degree of intrusion from a partner that participants experience from acting jointly compared to acting alone, which in turn is a measure of the degree to which participants mentally represent their co-actors during the task. To investigate the role of perceived group membership in this type of joint action and its influence on the representation of others, we first subjected participants to a minimal group paradigm while manipulating differences in social competition. We then asked participants to do the Joint Simon Task in pairs with an in-group or out-group member. Only participants who acted with an "in-group" partner on the joint task showe...
ABSTRACT A key issue for political psychology concerns the processes whereby people come to inves... more ABSTRACT A key issue for political psychology concerns the processes whereby people come to invest psychologically in socially and politically significant group identities. Since Durkheim, it has been assumed that participation in group-relevant collective events increases one's investment in such group identities. However, little empirical research explicitly addresses this or the processes involved. We investigated these issues in a longitudinal questionnaire study conducted at one of the world's largest collective events—a month-long Hindu festival in north India (the Magh Mela). Data gathered from pilgrims and comparable others who did not attend the event show that one month after the event, those who had participated (but not the controls) exhibited heightened social identification as a Hindu and increased frequency of prayer rituals. Data gathered from pilgrims during the festival predicted these outcomes. Specifically, perceptions of sharing a common identity with other pilgrims and of being able to enact one's social identity in this event helped predict changes in participants' identification and behavior. The wider significance of these data for political psychology is discussed.
... self-categorization 45 Social identity and group behavior 46 Social identity and collective p... more ... self-categorization 45 Social identity and group behavior 46 Social identity and collective power 60 Defining social identities 64 ... importance of standing for the group 78 Prototypicality and leadership effectiveness 82 Prototypicality and leadership stereotypes 94 Prototypicality ...
Uploads
Papers by Stephen Reicher