Social Identity Framing

Social Identity Framing Theory

Social Identity Moving

Social Identity Unfreezing

Social Identity Freezing

Render group membership salient

Increase identification with leader, thereby building trust and credibility

Create perceptions of leader prototypicality

Underline uncertainty and dissatisfaction with status quo

Highlight main group problems that need to be addressed

Present new vision of social change that addresses group problems

Negate components of previous framing of social identity

Relay new social identity content including norms, values, attitudes, and behavior

Positively affirm new framing of social identity content

Positively affirm new framing of social identity content

Reaffirm vision and tie it to utopian outcomes

Encourage vision commitment and follower action

To decrease followers' resistance to social change and

unfreeze the group's attachment with its current conception of who it is and what it stands for

Why?

Goals

Goals

Goals

create an emotional stir-up in followers (Lewin, 1951)

How?

by emphasizing the group's problems and the uncertainties it

faces (Seyranian, 2012).

link these problems with the group's current social identity and cultivate a perceived need for change by outlining the negative consequences that await the group if no changes are made

the leader should first seek to build a sense of legitimacy and credibility in followers'

eyes.

the leader should be an in-group member because individuals are more likely to favor and be influenced by their fellow in-group members than out-group members

Ways

While ingroup membership alone will help leaders to gain some sense of legitimacy, it is not sufficient to convince

a group to engage in social change

to promote

follower identification with the group and to project a sense of group prototypicality

Inclusive language directly pertains to group members and characterizing social identity

similarity language: increase their perceived prototypicality and charisma by stressing their

similarity to followers and the group

rhetorical tool for ingroup

members to help construct a sense of “who we are” and “how we differ from them”.

helps to highlight the leader's common group membership with

followers and promote follower identification with the group

Inclusive language in leader communication will promote more identification with social identity than non-inclusive

language.

Language that stresses the leader's

similarity to followers highlights a sense of shared experience and mutual understanding between the leader and follower to

accentuates joint adherence to group prototypes

Leaders who employ similarity language will be given higher ratings of prototypicality, charisma, liking,

trustworthiness, persuasiveness, and effectiveness than leaders who do not employ similarity language.

Prototypical leaders embody the central attributes of group membership that define who the group is and distinguish the

ingroup from other groups. Speaking with inclusive language may also increase prototypicality by creating the perception that the

leader is centrally invested in the group

Inclusive language in leader communication will lead to higher follower ratings of leader prototypicality, charisma,

liking, trustworthiness, persuasiveness, and effectiveness than non-inclusive language

directly speak about their vision of change

How?

If the leader's vision of social change seems incompatible with group prototypes, the leader will need to reframe the group's prototypes so that they are in line with their vision of social change

Reframing group prototypes will require the leader to continue to speak about group membership

through inclusive language to render social identity salient in followers' mind and increase social identification

According to social categorization theory, when a particular social identity is made salient, people tend to see themselves in group-based terms (Hogg & Turner, 1987) and their perception of themselves becomes depersonalized.

That is, they see themselves less in terms of their personal self (“who I am”) and more in terms of the prototypical attributes, attitudes, stereotypes, norms, and values that helps to define “who we are”

As group prototypes become salient in followers' mind, the leader has the opportunity to redefine and realign group prototypes in line with his or her vision of social change

prototypical leader is perceived to most closely embody the

central features of the group, he or she is given substantial leeway in bringing about change in social identity definitions and

in reframing the group's predominant values, norms, stereotypes, and attitudes (prototype content

The more followers perceive that the leader is prototypical of the group, the more likely they will be to accept the leader's framing of prototype content.

Followers who perceive the leader as highly prototypical will be more likely to identify with the group and evidence changes in prototypes (values, norms, attitudes, stereotypes) than followers who perceive the leader as low in prototypicality.

To frame alternate prototype content for the group, the leader may need to negate pre-existing group prototypes – policies,

stereotypes, norms, attitudes, values, group attributes, behavioral intentions – that are incompatible with their vision

the leadermay engage in rhetoric that reframes the group's sense

of “who we are” in line with his or her vision of the future.

The communication process that may help realign prototypes with the leader's vision of change builds on the rhetorical component of Shamir and colleagues' (1993) self-concept theory of charismatic

leadership.

Specifically, social identity reframing may be accomplished through a leadership communication process that describes a positive vision of the future, raises the salience of specific group-level values that are in line with the vision, relates group values to social identity, connects specific attitudes, norms, policies, and behaviors that are relevant to the values with the social identity, and stresses the positivity of this altered social identity

Inclusive language is an indispensable tool to achieve vision articulation and prototype redefinitions. When leaders speak about their vision of change, they will depend on inclusive language to align prototype content to their vision of social change

it is particularly important for leaders to concurrently represent

themselves as embodying the new group prototypes in order to sustain their influence potential during social change and to avoid

jeopardizing their leadership position

Overall, inclusive language may facilitate alterations in prototype content and help to maintain perceptions that the leader is prototypical of the reframed social identity

Followers who are exposed to inclusive language will show more changes in prototype content (self-stereotypes, attitudes, values, norms) in line with those espoused by the leader compared to followers who are exposed to non-inclusive language.

In summary, inclusive language is predicted to promote social identification during social identity unfreezing. Both inclusive

language and similarity language can help the leader to gain legitimacy and credibility by creating positive leadership perceptions,

which includes leader prototypicality. Prototypical leaders will have earned enough credibility during social identity unfreezing to

paradoxically deviate fromthe group prototype (Hogg, 2010) during the next stage and introduce innovation and social change to the

group.

In summary, social identity moving strives to present the group with a vision of social change and to reframe prototype

content so that it is in line with the leader's vision. Perceptions of prototypicality and inclusive language are predicted to increase

social identification and change prototype content in line with leader communication. However, moving followers towards a

reframed social identity based on the leader's vision is insufficient to secure long-term change. In the next phase, leaders must

ensure the permanency of the changes set during the social identity moving phase

solidify the reframed prototype content and channel

motivations set up in social identity moving into follower commitment and action to bring the vision into fruition

Why?

How?

Leaders may seek to affirm the group's newly framed social identity with positive social identity language.

stresses the positive aspects of social identity and group membership

expresses praise (e.g., greatest) and satisfaction (e.g., like) with the group.

emphasizes positive group

values (e.g., “wisdom”) and ingroup attributes (e.g., “intelligent”).

According to social identity theory, one reason that individuals

identify with groups is to satisfy their need for self-esteem

Being a member of a high status group with valued attributes may be especially likely to boost group members' self-esteem

ensure that the newly

framed social identity and the leader's vision of social change are associated with positivity and high status to satisfy followers'

need for self-esteem.

If followers' collective self-esteem needs are not met through the reframed social identity, they may exit the

group and attempt to gain membership in a higher status group

Followers who are exposed to positive social identity language will report higher collective self-esteem compared

to followers who are not exposed to positive social identity language

Inclusive language employed during social identity freezing may help to arouse positive emotional reactions in followers and

confidence associated with social change

Language

because inclusive language directly refers to the group

and may make group membership salient in followers' minds

a salient social

identity can activate group-based emotions. Group-based emotions are:

(a) distinct from individual emotions;

(b) socially shared

within the group;

(c) more likely to emerge for high identifiers; and

(d) able to motivate attitudes and behavior.

it is purported here that leaders may encourage group-based emotions in followers by getting them to

think about group membership, that is, by using inclusive language

however, will

depend on the context that inclusive language is used

Followers who are exposed to inclusive language will evidence more positive emotion compared to followers

exposed to non-inclusive language.

Followers who are exposed to inclusive language will express more confidence in social change compared to

followers who are exposed to non-inclusive language.

Followers who are exposed to inclusive language will be more willing to engage in collective action than followers

who are exposed to non-inclusive language

encourage follower commitment and collective action. Group prototypes not only provide normative information concerning the stereotypes, values, norms and attitudes of typical group members, but they also

provide information about the prototypical behaviors and actions of group members

In summary, social identity freezing strives to solidify the reframed social identity by using positive social identity language to

ensure that followers feel a sense of collective self-esteem associated with their group membership. Using inclusive language may

also help to mobilize followers to engage in collective action and to solidify the reframed social identity by promoting positive

group-based emotions and confidence in social change. Thus, the leader's vision of social change becomes a part of “who the

group is” and “what it means to be a group member”. Through communication, the reframed social identity that is in line with the

leader's vision permanently replaces the former conceptualization of social identity and becomes the status quo.