The intersection of self-evaluation maintenance and social identity theories: Intragroup judgment in interpersonal and intergroup contexts

In two studies, the authors explore the integration of the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model and social identity theory (SIT) by focusing on eac h perspective's predictions for the evaluation of members of one's ingroup. SEM's predictions apply to personal identity concerns, whereas SITS predic tions are applicable to concerns for a group identity. In Study I, particip ants evaluated an ingroup member who highly outperformed them. High- and lo w-identified participants did not differ in their ratings of the target in an interpersonal context but high identifiers did like the target more than lows in an intergroup context. In highly identified participants preferred a poorly performing target in an interpersonal context, but in an intergro up context, they preferred the one who outperformed them. Results are discu ssed in terms of the theoretical overlap between SEM and SIT and how self-c ategorization theory can help integrate interpersonal and intergroup perspe ctives on self-evaluation.