Children's subjective identification with social groups: A group‐reference effect approach

Abstract

A study is reported that seeks to examine 5‐, 7‐, and 10‐year‐old children's internalization of in‐groups within the self‐concept. Methodologically, the study draws upon the self‐reference effect, extending it to the group‐level identity. In particular, it was found that participants' encoding of information with reference to in‐groups (family, age, gender) facilitated recall to the same degree as when information had been encoded with reference to the personal self. Both self‐ and group‐reference encoding were associated with higher levels of recall than were control conditions. These findings suggest that group memberships are integral parts of children's self‐concepts.