Principal Investigator: projektu: dr hab. Marcin Bukowski, prof. UJ

 

Funding Agency: National Science Centre

Program: HARMONIA

Awarded Sum: 390 364 PLN

The main objective of this research project is to identify the socio-psychological conditions in which experiences of personal lack of control can lead to constructive coping strategies on a social level. We plan to investigate whether a threatened sense of personal control can enhance positive intergroup perceptions and evaluations and what factors can facilitate this process. Based on previous literature (Fritsche et al., 2013) we assume that membership in an agentic group can aid to restore a personal sense of control. However, in this project we want to focus on a new idea that cooperating with outgroups, joining them or even categorizing oneself on a superordinate social level can serve as a valid means to restore a sense of control. We predict that two processes can account for those effects – one is coalition formation and the other recategorization. Our main research hypothesis claims that in situations of deprived personal control people might turn to outgroups and reveal more positive perceptions and evaluations of them when joining efforts with them and focusing on a common goal can help to restore a perception of ingroup agency and thus also personal sense of control. Still, when the ingroup’s agency is initially perceived as low and stable, ingroup members might be motivated not only to cooperate with the outgroup but to recategorize with them on a superordinate level forming a new, potentially more agentic group.