Psychology and Social Cohesion

Abstract

Humans determine who they can trust in a few different ways: by learning from ongoing social relationships, cultivating shared group identities, and building effective social institutions. All three can produce forms of social cohesion, but the latter (institutions) may prove crucial for broad cohesion in pluralistic societies. In this special issue, we present six articles on the psychology of social cohesion. They represent a wide range of contexts and scales; examining, for example, social cohesion among Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer youth within school environments, volunteering behavior and community solidarity, the influence of different forms of intergroup contact on cohesion versus social change, and using wise reasoning to reduce conflict. Broadly, these six articles highlight the nuanced antecedents of social cohesion and its relationships with belongingness, cooperation, and intergroup conflict. Taken together, we hope this special issue highlights the importance of social cohesion for psychological research, as well as addressing major societal challenges.