DIFFERENTIATING SELF FROM GROUP--IS IT SELF PROTECTIVE

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DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): The proposed research is part of a larger attempt to understand the psychological processes by which members of socially devalued groups protect and maintain a positive view of themselves in the face of societal rejection. In particular, this research explores a particular process of self-protection, positive differentiation. For members of socially devalued groups, defining oneself in terms of group attributes can have negative consequences for personal self-esteem. By positively differentiating oneself from other members of one's group, however, the individual is able to avoid these negative consequences and maintain a positive view of him or herself. Although previous findings suggest that members of socially devalued groups do differentiate themselves from fellow group members by rating themselves more positively on a variety of personal attributes, almost no research has specifically examined cognitive process which mediate positive differentiation and the self-protective function of utilizing this strategy. Two studies are proposed which address these issues. Study 1 utilizes participants' reactions times to test the hypothesis that attributes which positively differentiate individuals from a socially devalued group are more cognitively accessible than those which are equally shared by the individual and the group. Study 2 tests the self-protection hypothesis by varying the availability of positive differentiation as a strategy and measuring resulting changes in self-esteem.