RAPID: Situationally Motivated Self-Construal and Collective Action: Do Collective Threats Motivate Prioritization of Group Goals via Heightened Interdependent Self-Construals?

心理学研究表明，人类的许多社会行为是由自我调节的，并受自身利益的驱动。然而，人类物种的繁荣，部分原因是由于复杂的群体功能，人们暂时把眼前的个人利益放在一边，追求更广泛的集体目标。关于集体行动的动机基础的理论和研究尚未充分考虑到自我是如何牵连到将更广泛的社会关注置于直接自身利益之上的行为的。如果自我驱动了大量的人类社会行为，并且是由自身利益驱动的，那么如何调动自我去追求集体目标呢？本研究在2010年北达科他州法戈洪水这一预期自然灾害的背景下考察了这个问题。具体来说，这项研究提供了一个不断变化的自我模型，表明自我概念是灵活的，集体威胁（预期的洪水）会触发更广泛的自我概念，以规范为集体目标服务的行为。具体来说，有人预测，威胁社区的自然灾害的前景将使人们以群体成员身份（相互依赖的自我解释）来定义自己，而不是以独特的身份（独立的自我解释）来定义自己。此外，这种高度的相互依存的自我解释感有望增加社区参与（例如，志愿去扔沙袋，无论洪水发生与否，这都会发生），这反过来会导致一些积极的心理状态（例如，自尊感的增强）。为了验证这些预测，来自洪水威胁社区的参与者和来自未受洪水威胁社区的参与者将在预期洪水之前，预期洪水期间和预期洪水之后不久完成感知集体威胁，自我定义（独立和相互依赖的自我解释），社区参与（例如，志愿服务）和其他相关心理状态（例如，自尊，意义）的测量。如果一个严重的集体威胁如预期的那样影响了自我定义，那么受威胁社区的参与者应该比未受威胁社区的参与者更大程度上以相互依赖的方式定义自己。此外，在受洪水威胁的社区内，越多的参与者认为洪水是对社区的严重威胁，他们就越应该以相互依存的方式定义自己。此外，如果这种自我定义的转变激发了集体行动，相互依存的自我解释水平应该预测受威胁社区内的社区参与水平。如果没有洪水，一旦确定不会发生洪水，自我评价就会回到基线水平。这项研究将使我们更深入地了解个人是如何被激励作为一个集体行动的，为了有效地面对更广泛的社区威胁，他们把自己眼前的个人问题放在一边。社区和国家面临着许多威胁（例如，自然灾害、犯罪、气候变化），需要个人作为一个集体共同努力。因此，任何获得的关于社区参与心理学的知识对于城市、政府机构和其他希望激励人们为公共利益奉献自己的组织来说都是至关重要的。

Psychological research indicates that much of human social behavior is regulated by the self and motivated by self-interest. However, the human species thrives, in part, because of sophisticated group functioning in which people put immediate self-interests aside temporarily to pursue broader collective goals. Theory and research regarding the motivational underpinnings of collective action have yet to consider fully how the self is implicated in behavior that places broader social concerns over immediate self-interest. If the self drives a great deal of human social behavior and is driven by self-interest, how could the self be mobilized to pursue collective goals? This research examines this question in the context of an expected natural disaster, the 2010 Fargo, North Dakota flood. Specifically, this research offers a shifting self model that suggests that the self-concept is flexible such that a collective threat (the expected flood) triggers broader conceptions of self to regulate behavior in the service of collective goals. Specifically, it is predicted that the prospect of a natural disaster that threatens a community will cause people to define themselves in terms of group membership (interdependent self-construal) instead of unique identity (independent self-construal). Furthermore, this heightened sense of interdependent self-construal is expected to increase community engagement (e.g., volunteering to put out sandbags, which will take place whether the flood occurs or not) which will in turn lead to a number of positive psychological states (e.g., increased feelings of self-esteem). To test these predictions, participants from the flood threatened community and participants from an unthreatened community will complete measures of perceived collective threat, self-definition (independent and interdependent self-construal), community engagement (e.g., volunteering), and other related psychological states (e.g., self-esteem, meaning) before the expected flood, during the time of the expected flood, and shortly after the expected flood. If a severe collective threat impacts self-definition as predicted, then participants in the threatened community should define themselves in interdependent terms to a greater extent than participants in unthreatened communities. Further, within the flood threatened community, the more participants perceive the flood as a serious threat to the community, the more they should define themselves in interdependent terms. In addition, if this shift in self-definition motivates collective action, level of interdependent self-construal should predict level of community engagement within the threatened community. If there is no flood, self-evaluations are expected to return to baseline levels once it is clear that no flood will occur. This research will provide a deeper understanding of how individuals are motivated to act as a collective, putting aside their own immediate personal concerns in order to effectively confront a broader community threat. Communities and nations face a number of threats (e.g., natural disasters, crime, climate change) that require individuals to work together as a collective. Thus, any gained knowledge on the psychology of community engagement may prove vital for cities, government agencies, and other organizations wishing to inspire people to give of themselves to help the common good.