Determinants of collective behavior, as suggested by the social identity or self-categorization approach and social movement research, were examined in 2 field studies. Study 1 was conducted in the context of the older people's movement in Germany and Study 2 in the context of the gay movement in the United States. Both studies yielded similar results pointing to 2 independent pathways to willingness to participate in collective action; one is based on cost-benefit calculations (including normative considerations), and the other is based on collective identification as an activist. Study 2 included an experimental manipulation and provided evidence for the causal role of collective identification as an activist. Directions for future research on the proposed dual-pathway model are suggested.

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In this article, the authors introduce and test a group-level perspective on the role of empathy and interpersonal attraction in helping. In line with our predictions, Study 1, a longitudinal field study of 166 AIDS volunteers, confirmed that empathy was a stronger predictor of helping when the recipient of assistance was an in-group member than when that person was an out-group member. Also as hypothesized, attraction was a stronger predictor of helping when the recipient was an out-group member than when that person was an in-group member. Study 2 replicated and further extended these results in a laboratory experiment on spontaneous helping of a person with hepatitis. Strengthening the validity of the findings, in both studies the effects of empathy and attraction held up even when the authors statistically controlled for potential alternative predictors of helping. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for helping in intergroup contexts are discussed.

In this article, the authors present two laboratory experiments testing a group-level perspective on the role of empathy in helping. Experiment 1 tested the authors' predictions in an intercultural context of helping. Confirming their specific Empathy x Group Membership moderation hypothesis, empathy had a stronger effect on helping intentions when the helper and the target belonged to the same cultural group than when they belonged to different groups. Experiment 2 replicated these findings in a modified minimal group paradigm using laboratory-created groups. Moreover, this second experiment also provides evidence for the hypothesized psychological mechanisms underlying the empathy-(ingroup) helping relationship. Specifically, analyses in the ingroup condition confirmed that the strength of the empathy-(ingroup) helping relationship systematically varied as a function of perceived similarities among ingroup members. The general implications of these findings for empathy-motivated helping are discussed.

The authors conducted a panel study with two points of measurement throughout a 12-month interval in the context of the German gay movement to test the predictive power of collective identification in subsequent actual social movement participation. Regression analyses including cross-lagged panel analyses clearly confirmed the hypothesized unique predictive value of identification with a formal social movement organization above and beyond the role the collective, normative, and reward motives traditionally considered in social movement research. Of the three motives, the normative motive was particularly predictive. Moreover, data from an additional telephone follow-up (3 years after the initial measurement) suggests that when the conflict with political opponents becomes particularly fierce, identification with the broader recruitment category, which was previously ineffective as a unique predictor, can politicize to such an extent that it also becomes a strong predictor of participation.

This experiment examined how (disrespectful vs. respectful) treatment and (negative vs. positive) performance evaluation, both received from the same fellow group members, affects collective identification and willingness to engage in group-serving behavior. It was predicted and found that respectful as opposed to disrespectful intragroup treatment increased collective identification and willingness to engage in group-serving behavior in the immediate group situation, irrespective of whether intragroup evaluation was positive or negative. There was also evidence of a mediating role of collective identification. Regression analyses based on the measurement of perceived intragroup treatment and perceived intragroup evaluation as continuous variables corroborated these findings but also pointed to limits of the positive effects of respectful intragroup treatment. Finally, the interrelation of treatment and evaluation by fellow group members as two possible components of intragroup respect are discussed as well as the political dimension of research on intragroup respect.

The dual-pathway model of collective action proposes two motivational pathways to collective protest, one is based on cost-benefit calculations and another is based on collective identification. The present research examined the role of feelings of group-based anger as an additional path. Study 1, a field study in the context of students' protest in Germany (N = 201), provided evidence for a unique effect of anger. Study 2, a laboratory experiment (N = 182), examined the desire to release aggressive tension as a psychological process underlying this effect. As hypothesized, analyses confirmed that anger affected participants' willingness to protest only to the extent that this behavior provided the opportunity of cathartic reduction in aggressive tensions. Moreover, an experimental manipulation providing an alternative means to release tension reduced the relationship between anger and willingness to protest to nonsignificance. The implications of these findings for reconceptualizing the role of anger in collective protest are discussed.Although typically many members of disadvantaged groups sympathize with the goals of social movements fighting injustice against their in-group often only a small percentage of them actually participate in collective activities staged to realize these goals. In social movement research, the social psychological processes that determine group members' motivation for participating in social movement

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