IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2018 - 37

The social context-and in particular the groups people
are part of-play an important role in how people think
and behave, even though they often don't realize this.

other groups (i.e., different and better than other groups) make certain group memberships stand out. people are
and may, under certain conditions, compete with or come into more likely to be seen as a group when they are perceived as
conflict with other relevant groups. as an example, imagine similar to each other and different from other people. this
you and your colleague have been invited to an interdisciplin- is why in the debates around climate change and climate
ary climate change conference, and you are debating with social change believers and sceptics are increasingly seen as two
scientists about the best solutions to address the issue. in this clearly distinct and opposing groups, in which members of
situation, your social identity as an electrical engineer ("we") each group are seen as increasingly alike and as increasingly
will likely come to the fore, and the arguments you make will be different from members of the opposing group.
the social context can also influence the perceived conconsistent with your electrical engineering identity. You might
even find yourself thinking that electrical engineers are more tent of the group's identity. depending on the characteristics
concrete and rational than social scientists, hampering the likeli- of other group(s) in a particular social context, the group's
hood that you and the social scientists will reach an agreement distinctive features can be fluid. for example, when the British compare themselves to americans (whom they perceive
(see figure 2 for an illustration of this social identity salience).
the extent to which a social identity influences our sus- to be less pro-environmental than they are), they are more
tainable-energy-related attitudes and behavior will depend on likely to see themselves as pro-environmental and engage
the extent to which the issue is relevant to the identity. the in behaviors aligned with this normative position than when
take away message from the social identity approach is that, they compare themselves with, for example, scandinavians.
furthermore, processes within the group can foster the
to the extent that sustainability is relevant to it, social identity
can strongly influence our sustainable attitudes and behaviors experience of shared membership. through interactions
as well as who we collaborate or come into conflict with over among members, individuals actively contribute to what
energy-related issues. Which social identity becomes self- the group is about and develop a consensus about important
defining and influential depends on the person as well as the aspects of their group's identity. particularly in new groups,
interactions among group members are needed to establish
particular situation he or she is in.
With regard to the person, certain social identities (i.e., what a membership entails and enable people to identify
group memberships) may be more accessible to a person with the group. for example, interactions among commuthan other social identities, depending on the person's prior nity members may facilitate setting up or becoming engaged
experiences with the group and his/
her motivations. for example, the
strength of identification that a person
has with a group is important. individuals who identify strongly with
a particular group are more likely to
define themselves in terms of this
membership and be influenced by
it than individuals who identify more
weakly with the group. in the context of sustainable energy, research
suggests, for example, that the more
one identifies with a community
energy group, the more willing he
(a)
(b)
or she is to engage in sustainableenergy behaviors, independent of figure 2. Whether people define themselves in terms of their personal identity,
one's personal motivation to engage (a) "I" (or social identity) or (b) "we," is dependent on the social context they are in.
in these behaviors.
(© Marlies Bouman, used with permission, inspired by S.A. Haslam, S.D. Reicher,
With regard to the social con- M.J. Platow, (2011). The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence and
text, specific social contexts can Power. New York: Psychology Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1-84169-610-2.)
january/february 2018

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