A Shared Fluency Theory of Social Cohesiveness

The main goal of the theoretical part is to develop a shared fluency theory of group cohesiveness. This is a large-scale, long-term theoretical project, like the fluency and beauty project which has resulted in our article on the perceptual fluency theory of beauty. The core hypothesis is that people who define themselves as being a member of a group expose themselves to experiences and beliefs within this group, which increases processing fluency for group-specific experiences and beliefs. As a conseque nce, they begin to share a similar feeling of fluency for different group-relevant experiences and beliefs, which facilitates communication among group members. Finally, ease of interaction increases the feeling of affiliation to the group, and cohesivene ss among group members. In order to review the body of evidence regarding this theory, we rely on literature from cognitive and social psychology, but also from the humanities and social sciences. This theory helps explain how different cultures may deve lop different beliefs and habits which individuals of a culture process fluently, and why there exist problems when different cultures meet. The empirical part starts with the claim by Karl Popper that Plato's political views, mainly stated in his Republi c, appealed to intellectuals because the unity of a collective has more aesthetic qualities than the apparent chaos of individualism. We shall develop empirical paradigms that examine this claim. Our research would shed new light on the efforts of totalit arian systems to unify artistic style and provide insights into the stunning phenomenon that ideas of totalitarian rule attract a wide audience, even among educated people. The whole project tries to connect group phenomena studied in humanities and socia l sciences with mental processes of individuals. This relates to my earlier work on processing fluency, experienced affect, and truth, and extends this work in a meaningful way.