How appraisals of an in-group’s collective history shape collective identity and action: Evidence in relation to African identity

This research tested the impact of how group members appraise their collective history on in-group identification and group-based action in the African context. Across three experiments (Ns = 950; 270; and 259) with Nigerian participants, we tested whether the effect of historical representations–specifically the valence of the in-group’s collective history–on in-group engagement, in turn, depends on whether that history is also appraised as subjectively important. In Study 1, findings from exploratory moderated-mediation analyses indicated that the appraised negative valence of African history was associated with an increase in identification and group-based action when African history was appraised as unimportant (history-as-contrast). Conversely, the appraised positive valence of African history was also associated with an increase in identification and group-based action when African history was also appraised as important (history-as-inspiration). Studies 2a and 2b then orthogonally manipulated the valence and subjective importance of African history. However, findings from Studies 2a and 2b did not replicate those of Study 1. Altogether, our findings suggest that the relationship between historical representations of groups and in-group identification and group-based action in the present is more complex than previously acknowledged.