How Identity Shapes Our Health: The Social Psychology Behind Polarized Behavior

Our new paper explains how group identification—not just misinformation—drives the deep divides in Americans’ health behaviors.

In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic took the lives of 76% more Republicans than Democrats. Why does politics so strongly impact their health and well-being?

In a new pre-print, we review how and why politics can shape health outcomes, especially in a highly polarized environment. We argue that people’s political identities ultimately shape the health decisions they make.

To explain why this happens, we answer two questions: What shapes peoples’ health decisions? And how does social identity affect these decisions?

What shapes people’s health decisions?

When we are deciding whether to get vaccinated, start a new workout routine, or quit smoking, what determines whether we take the plunge or hold back? Psychologists argue that these decisions are based on our beliefs about the behavior. In particular, we can distinguish three kinds of relevant beliefs.

First, we can have behavioral beliefs about different properties of the behavior itself. This includes beliefs like “vaccinations will …