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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 1, 2026

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test

Published on: November 19, 2015

Global social identity and global cooperation.

Nancy R Buchan¹, Marilynn B Brewer, Gianluca Grimalda

¹Sonoco International Business Department, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, 29208, USA. roland.nancy.buchan@moore.sc.edu

Psychological Science

|May 19, 2011

Summary

Social identity psychology can drive global cooperation. Identifying with the world community motivates people to contribute to global public goods, even beyond self-interest.

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Last Updated: Jun 1, 2026

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Global Cooperation Studies
Behavioral Economics

Background:

Understanding factors that motivate cooperation in large-scale collective action is crucial.
Previous research has primarily focused on national or local group identities.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if social identity psychology can motivate cooperation within a global collective.
To determine if identification with the world community influences contributions to global public goods.

Main Methods:

Multinational study involving choice behavior in a multilevel public-goods dilemma.
Data collected from general populations in the United States, Italy, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, and Iran.

Main Results:

Inclusive social identification with the world community is a significant psychological construct.
Global social identification predicts behavioral contributions to global public goods, independent of expectations of others' contributions.
Global social identification is distinct from general attitudes toward global issues and uniquely impacts cooperative behavior.

Conclusions:

A sense of global social identity can effectively motivate cooperation that surpasses local or national interests.
Psychological identification with the global community is a key predictor of pro-social behavior on a worldwide scale.
Future interventions aimed at fostering global cooperation should consider strengthening global social identity.