A solid conservative moves from a liberal to conservative state and then pushes back against what they perceive as extremism in their new community's conservatism. A moderately liberally academic joins a university with a liberal ideology and then is repelled by what they perceive as unsubstantiated dogma. These are some anecdotal observations that strike me as almost an opposite of group polarization. In Social Psychology studies, people in groups whose attitude leans a certain way tend to have members who become more extreme in that leaning, following discussion. After all, they share information that disproportionately supports their side and there’s a natural inclination to be a "good" group member in social comparisons. But sometimes it seems an in-group could repel someone from their pole, rather than driving them towards it. Can you help identify relevant psychological phenomena that may help explain these anecdotes? Do you know of relevant research? ~ Kevin
Note. Question edited a day later to begin with concrete examples.
Thank you for the interesting thoughts, Chris. Do you really think it doesn’t happen, or that it’s just rare? I thought this may be like the False Consensus Effect - it’s a general rule but if the issue is central to self-esteem, an opposite False Uniqueness Effect might be observed. Considering the possibility as identity, rather than an attitude, is interesting. Certainly identities change, such as developmentally (e.g., identity moratorium) or in response to threat and stereotypes (e.g., terror management), but neither of these apply to what I’m wondering about. To be more concrete, here are some examples. A solid conservative moves from a blue to red state (i.e., to a much more conservative community) and then pushes back against what they perceive as extremism in what conservatism means in the new community. An academic whose attitudes are moderately liberally, joins a university with a certain kind of liberal ideology and then is repelled by what they perceive as unsubstantiated dogma. You may be right that it simply doesn’t happen that an in-group could cause someone to be repelled from the pole, rather than driven towards it. It’s something I’ve noted anecdotally and I’m hoping someone can identify relevant psychological phenomena. Best wishes, Kevin
Hi Kevin, this might be of use: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang_effect_(psychology)
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