Patterns of Self- and Intragroup Evaluations in Two Different Israeli Preadolescent Peer Groups

Abstract

To examine the influence of kibbutz socialization on patterns of self- and intragroup evaluations, 456 kibbutz and 768 middle-class city pre-adolescents evaluated themselves and a group of same-sex peers on positive and negative traits. As predicted, the kibbutznik evaluated his various peers as more similar to one another than did his city counterpart, and there was also more consensus among his peers in their evaluations of him. Moreover, as compared to his city agemate, the kibbutznik's self-evaluation (SE) more closely resembled both his evaluation of his peers and their evaluation of him. Within both settings, SEs were more positive than evaluations given to or received from peers. While in the kibbutz peer evaluations were more positive than in the city, no systematic differences in SEs were found between the settings. Implications for personality development and social behavior are discussed.