Measuring associations among British national identification, group norms and social distancing behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: Testing a Social Identity Model of Behavioural Associations (SIMBA)

Abstract

Social identification and group norms have been identified as key social psychological determinants of engagement in protective public health behaviours, such as social distancing, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing upon both social identity and balanced identity theories, the research tests the utility of a Social Identity Model of Behavioural Associations (SIMBA)—which proposes reciprocal, interactive associations among self-group, group-behaviour and self-behaviour concepts—for the measurement of British national identification, group norms and social distancing behaviour at two different points during the pandemic. An online study asked participants (Time 1 N = 151, Time 2 N = 136) to complete implicit and explicit (i.e. self-report) measures both during and post-lockdown. Results demonstrated associations to be relatively stable across time and found strong correlational confirmation that the strength of any one association in the SIMBA could be predicted by the interactive strength of the remaining two—both implicitly and explicitly. However, the strength of any one association, as measured post-lockdown, was not predicted by the interaction between the change scores of the remaining two—suggesting that the constructs may not be long-range predictors of one another. Findings are discussed in terms of the value of the SIMBA for the measurement and modification of novel, emergent group-based associations.