Identity-based motivation and health.

TLDR

Many individuals fail to adopt healthy behaviors, often attributing this to health fatalism. Identity‑based motivation, whereby social identity content shapes beliefs about in‑group goals and strategies, underlies these health behavior patterns. Seven studies show that identity‑based motivation shapes health behaviors: minorities view health promotion as White middle‑class and unhealthy behaviors as in‑group defining, priming race and low socioeconomic status increases fatalism and limits health knowledge, and perceived efficacy of health actions drops when minorities are prompted to see themselves as similar to middle‑class Whites.

Abstract

People do not always take action to promote health, engaging instead in unhealthy habits and reporting fatalism about health. One important mechanism underlying these patterns involves identity-based motivation (D. Oyserman, 2007), the process by which content of social identities influences beliefs about in-group goals and strategies. Seven studies show the effect of identity-based motivation on health. Racial-ethnic minority participants view health promotion behaviors as White middle class and unhealthy behaviors as in-group defining (Studies 1 and 2). Priming race-ethnicity (and low socioeconomic status) increases health fatalism and reduces access to health knowledge (Studies 3 and 4). Perceived efficacy of health-promoting activities is undermined when racial-ethnic minority participants who identify unhealthy behavior as in-group defining are asked to consider their similarities to (middle-class) Whites (Studies 5-7).