Individuality and the Group

Tom Postmes is professor of Social Psychology. He completed his PhD at the University of Amsterdam, and was professor at the University of Exeter from 2004 to 2008. Postmes has won several international prizes, including research fellowships from the KNAW (1998) and the British ESRC (2003). His publications have appeared in renowned journals across multiple disciplines, such as psychology, communication and management.Postmes studies how people influence each other′s ideas and behaviour. Even though people in the Western world like to see themselves as independent individuals, we continually conform to fashions, norms and social structures. This is apparent in many different forms of collective behavior: on the stock exchange, at work, during an old-fashioned demonstration or in a modern flashmob organized via Internet. In his research Postmes shows how everyday interactions can lead to such collective behavior. This is more than mere imitation: communication initiates the formation of new norms, values and social identities. Jolanda Jetten is Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Queensland. She has an exceptional profile due to her research in the areas of social identity, social groups, and group dynamics, with a H-index of 97. She recently co-authored Sage’s Together apart: The psychology of COVID-19 (2020) and was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Association of Social Psychology in part for being ‘an incredible woman who’s been at the frontline for true social change against injustice…[and] for representing the people who have not had much space in academia so far’ (Tweet/X here).

"For researchers in social psychology, and particularly those familiar with SIT and related theories, this book will make for congenial and straightforward reading. For someone outside the field, some of the terminology might take some getting used to, but I would not hesitate to recommend the book to anyone interested in the interplay of individual and social forces in settings ranging from work life to national and international politics. The text is friendly in the sense that terms are defined and theory is placed in larger social and historical context throughout. Also, the book in its entirety is fewer than 300 pages, and most chapters are between 15 and 25 pages in length, so each "bite" of theory and research, so to speak, is easily digestible. All of the chapters are well written, and each contributes an important part to the whole."

• Introduction - Jolanda Jetten and Tom PostmesThe Puzzle of Inidividuality and the GroupPART ONE: EXPRESSING AND EXPERIENCING INDIVIDUALITY IN THE GROUPReconceptualizing Personality - John C Turner et alProducing Individuality by Defining the Personal SelfActing Like an Individual versus Feeling Like an Individual - Deborah PrenticeUsing Collective Identities for Assimilation and Differentiation - Cynthia L Pickett and Geoffry J LeonardelliIngroup Critics and Their Influence on Groups - Matthew J HornseyPART TWO: SHAPING INDIVIDUALITY THROUGH CULTURE AND SOCIAL IDENTITYGroup Status and Individual Differentiation - Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi"I Did It My Way" - Jolanda Jetten and Tom PostmesCollective Expressions of IndividualismCulture, Social Identity and the Individual - Michael J Halloran and Emiko S KashimaInterobjectivity - Fathali M MoghaddamThe Collective Roots of Individual Consciousness and Social IdentityPART THREE: THE INDIVIDUAL-GROUP DYNAMICThe Individual Within the Group - Russell Spears et alRespect!Psychological Need Satisfaction through Social Roles - B Ann Bettencourt et alThe Dynamics of Personal and Social Identity Formation - Tom Postmes et alOn the Agency of Individuals and Groups - Stephen Reichel and S Alexander HaslamLessons from the BBC Prison StudyReconciling Indiviuality and the Group - Tom Postmes and Jolanda Jetten