07 Jun 2015
In an invited commentary, SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan discussed three types of commitment, namely instrumental, normative and emotional, and related them to citizenship and local-foreigner relations. On the commitment to one’s country, Prof Chan noted that citizens with high levels of normative or emotional commitment are more likely to support policies that benefit the nation, even if they mean some personal cost, while the reverse is true for citizens dominated by the “need to” instrumental commitment.