Putting the group in your pocket: Using collective identity to enhance personal and collective self-esteem.

Social identity theory argues that individuals rely on group memberships to form and protect their self-concepts. The authors tested this assumption in therapy groups by teaching members to rely on their group membership during their day-to-day activities. Participants in the control condition received general information about therapy, whereas those in the experimental condition were guided through an examination of the value of their therapy group and carried a card with them that symbolized their group membership. After 1 week, group members who received the intervention had greater private collective self-esteem than those who did not receive the intervention. The authors' findings support both social identity theory and the utility of interventions designed to enhance the psychological impact of the therapeutic group. When the group therapy session ended, the therapist closed the session by saying, Put the group into your pockets and carry us with you: Rely on us when you need support, guidance, and feel alone. The therapist was aware that the group provided more than a useful context for carrying out explorations of members' interpersonal and psychological difficulties. The group, when incorporated in group members' identities, provided them with resources that they could draw upon outside of the therapy session in times of stress and adversity. Does putting the group in your pocket— expanding the private, individualistic self to include a component derived from one's membership in a therapeutic group—help group members cope with threats to their personal adjustment? Studies conducted in a number of diverse theoretical and empirical domains, such as examinations of minority groups, groups in conflict with other groups, and change promoting groups, all attest to the beneficial consequences of a positive social or group identity