Mere belonging
The power of social connections
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6201102 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gary M Walton (0000-0002-6194-0472, Stanford University), Gregory M Walton, Geoffrey L Cohen (Stanford University), David Cwir (University of Waterloo), J Spencer (0000-0002-1732-5261, University of Waterloo), Steven J Spencer |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 513-532 |
| Publication date | 2012-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/a0025731 |
| PMID | 22023711 |
| OpenAlex | W2042254016 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 137 |
| References cited | 63 |
Four experiments examined the effect on achievement motivation of mere belonging, a minimal social connection to another person or group in a performance domain. Mere belonging was expected to increase motivation by creating socially shared goals around a performance task. Participants were led to believe that an endeavor provided opportunities for positive social interactions (Experiment 1), that they shared a birthday with a student majoring in an academic field (Experiment 2), that they belonged to a minimal group arbitrarily identified with a performance domain (Experiment 3), or that they had task-irrelevant preferences similar to a peer who pursued a series of goals (Experiment 4). Relative to control conditions that held constant other sources of motivation, each social-link manipulation raised motivation, including persistence on domain-relevant tasks (Experiments 1-3) and the accessibility of relevant goals (Experiment 4). The results suggest that even minimal cues of social connectedness affect important aspects of self
Affect (linguistics) · Domain (mathematical analysis) · Field (mathematics) · Need for achievement · Persistence (discontinuity) · Social comparison theory · Social connectedness · Task (project management) · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Communication · Cultural Differences and Values · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
How Personal Factors Influence Academic Behavior and GPA in African American STEM Students
Nearby Nature ‘Buffers’ the Effect of Low Social Connectedness on Adult Subjective Wellbeing over the Last 7 Days
Giving back or giving up
The Watercooler Phenomenon
The effects of psychological distance on abstraction
And the winner is . . . ? Forecasting the outcome of others’ competitive efforts
Are single people a stigmatized ‘group’? Evidence from examinations of social identity, entitativity, and perceived responsibility
Your heart makes my heart move
Social group membership increases STEM engagement among preschoolers
Peer influence on gender identity development in adolescence
Effects of a brief psychological intervention on students' sense of belonging and educational outcomes
Leisure, Social Space, and Belonging
Wise interventions
Automaticity in social-cognitive processes
When Trying Hard Isn’t Natural
Sense of relatedness boosts engagement, achievement, and well-being
School Belonging
State Authenticity as Fit to Environment
Belonging and loneliness in cyberspace
Intergroup Perception and Cognition
A Goal Congruity Model of Role Entry, Engagement, and Exit
I'll trade you diamonds for toilet paper
Affectionate Touch to Promote Relational, Psychological, and Physical Well-Being in Adulthood
Social Safety Theory
Attainable and Relevant Moral Exemplars Are More Effective than Extraordinary Exemplars in Promoting Voluntary Service Engagement
Longing for home
The Impact of Discrimination Beyond Sense of Belonging
Charismatic Leadership and Team Strain
Self-Construal, Family Context, and the Cortisol Awakening Response in First- and Second-Generation Asian American College Students
Power Distance Belief and Workplace Communication
Challenging fixed mindsets fosters belonging in leadership among adolescents from historically excluded groups
Sense of belonging and professional identity in first year students’ peer networks
Women—particularly underrepresented minority women—and early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance
An integrative review of success factors and pitfalls in youth sports talent identification and development for elite performance
Finding Satisfaction in Belonging
Mentoring, Academic Belonging, and Imposter Phenomenon Among Undergraduate Women
Short- and Long-Term Outcomes of Community-Based Art Education among Students in Higher Education
Does a Strong Bicultural Identity Matter for Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Engagement
Hawker Centres
Online and Offline Social Activity and Sociability Effects on Wellbeing and Social Influence
Considerations for effective use of moral exemplars in education
Belonging in the American Orff-Schulwerk Association
Using self-affirmations to improve achievement in fourth-grade students
Children's exploration of the concepts of home and belonging
Friendship and support networks among students with disabilities in middle school
Showing with whom I belong
How music education students embrace pre-performance rituals to enhance their craft
High-pressure in music education
Influence of sexist language on motivation and feelings of ostracism ( La influencia del lenguaje sexista en la motivación y el sentimiento de ostracismo )
The Ripple Effect
Developing a Pilot Curriculum to Enhance Undergraduate Student Well-Being
Putting Belonging in Context
Defining School Belonging
Gender integration and elementary‐age students' classroom belongingness
Early and slow weight loss responders’ perceptions of an adaptive diabetes prevention trial
Professors Who Signal a Fixed Mindset About Ability Undermine Women’s Performance in STEM
Perceived Closeness to Multiple Social Connections and Attachment Style
How social norms are often a barrier to addressing climate change but can be part of the solution
New Routes to Recruiting and Retaining Women in STEM
The Influence of Affirming Kindness and Community on Broadening Participation in STEM Career Pathways
A social innovation approach to programming to address social issues
The role of student background characteristics and sense of belonging in the development of peer networks at the transition to higher education
Are they like me?”
The who and how of STEM career models in high school
It will (never) stop hurting
More than just belonging? Uniqueness’ role in inclusion experiences
The impact of fleeting exposure to female exemplars of success in STEM
Wise psychological interventions to improve gender and racial equality in STEM
Student belonging
Intercultural relationships and students’ sense of social connectedness in a South African university
Fitting in to Move Forward
Maybe She Is Relatable
Gender Bias in STEM Fields
They’re Comparing Me to Her
Reviving Androgyny
Male Graduate Students at a “Women’s College”
Dynamicity of language teacher motivation in online EFL classes
Can the poor organize? Public goods and self-help groups in rural India
When skinfolk are kinfolk
Belonging in Engineering for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Students
Evolutionary Social Cognition
The Future of Work
Power and the pursuit of a partner’s goals
Feeling in with the outgroup
Development and Evaluation of a Littering Intervention Program Among a Group of South African University Students
Exploring the Role of Sewing as a Leisure Activity for Those Aged 40 Years and Under
Managing HIV During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Faces and Voices of Real People
Phronesis, affordance, and executive function
The ties that belong
There are Rules only for Life but not for Freedom
Fueling the future
Voting like a human
Non-engagement of Mid-aged and Elderly Residents in Rural Civic Livability Initiatives
Risk and resiliency in the academy
First-Year Latinas’ Acculturation Experiences While Enrolled in a Predominantly White Institution
From “we” to “me
Cultivating identity through private land conservation
Seeking Harmony Rather Than Efficiency
Precarity of belonging? Belongingness and race of ethnically diverse young people in Hong Kong
A Collective Fear of the Collective
A Solution to the Effect of Sample Size on Outlier Elimination
Can Instructional and Emotional Support in the First-Grade Classroom Make a Difference for Children at Risk of School Failure?
Cooperative Activities in Young Children and Chimpanzees
A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students
Using Nonconscious Behavioral Mimicry to Create Affiliation and Rapport
Sense of relatedness as a factor in children's academic engagement and performance.
Self-Efficacy
The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I
The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism
A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects.
Understanding and sharing intentions
Social learning theory
Obedience to authority
The psychology of interpersonal relations.
The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior
The Psychology of Self‐defense
The Group Engagement Model
A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept
Signaling Threat
Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being
Including others in the self
A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation
Minimal conditions for the creation of a unit relationship
Black students' school success
Ambient belonging
Couples' shared participation in novel and arousing activities and experienced relationship quality
Attribution versus persuasion as a means for modifying behavior
Communication within infant social games
Understanding the intentions of others
Your heart makes my heart move
Accessibility from active and fulfilled goals
Vicarious goal satiation
The influence of social groups on goal contagion
Persistence and Change
Culture and the self
Emotional convergence between people over time
When you and I are "we," you are not threatening
Math = male, me = female, therefore math ≠ me
Superstars and me
Goal Contagion
Interacting with sexist men triggers social identity threat among female engineers
Interpersonal attraction in exchange and communal relationships
A focus theory of normative conduct
Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness
Thinking of you
Social Tuning of the Self
Party Over Policy
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Js
Effect of forced association upon voluntary choice to associate
Salience of ethnicity in the spontaneous self-concept as a function of one's ethnic distinctiveness in the social environment
Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem
Cultivating competence, self-efficacy, and intrinsic interest through proximal self-motivation
Reinterpreting the empathy–altruism relationship
A question of belonging
Stereotype Threat and Women's Math Performance
Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition
Incidental Similarity Facilitates Behavioral Mimicry
The need to belong
An Overview (and Underview) of Research and Theory within the Attraction Paradigm
The Persuasive Role of Incidental Similarity on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in a Sales Context
| Unique citing works | 137 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9,13 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2026 (16) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 127 |