Perceiving and responding to the personal/group discrimination discrepancy

To explain why minority group members recognize less personal than group di scrimination research has focused on cognitive processes. Although within s elf-categorization theory it may be argued that the discrepancy is a functi on of a salient social self that perceptually discounts the personal self; it can also be argued that depersonalization allows for the cognitive possi bility of perceiving similar amounts of personal and group discrimination. The present study suggests that, consistent with group consciousness theori es, the social self may serve to both discount as well as integrate the soc ial self, depending on the way in which the social self is defined. Using s tructural equation modeling the present study finds that defining the socia l self along social experiences is associated with lower personal/group dis crimination discrepancy scores, which in turn are associated with greater p articipation in collective action. Implications for different definitions o f the social self are discussed.