Toward an assessment of social identity: The structure of group identification and its effects on in‐group evaluations

Two studies were conducted to explore relations among different aspects of group identification and their effects on in-group evaluations. Two aspects of identification were differentiated, namely, identification with the group membership (IDgroup) and with other group members (IDmember). The first of these was assumed to be further divided into its cognitive and affective subcomponents. An identification scale was developed and administered to students of a Japanese vocational school. Factor analyses in Studies 1 and 2 distinguished IDgroup and IDmember, but the cognitive and affective components of the former were not separated. Experimental studies concurrently undertaken confirmed many of the predictions and contentions by social identity theorists. Of particular importance was the result from Study 1 that members with low IDgroup deprecated the in-group when their negative social identity became salient, whereas those with high IDgroup (but not IDmember) did not. Both theoretical and applied implications are discussed.