Children's subjective identification with social groups:A group-reference effect approach

A study is reported that seeks to examine 5-, 7-, and 10-year-old children's internalization of in-groups within the self-concept. Methodologically, the study draws upon the self-reference effect, extending it to the group-level identity. In particular, it was found that participants' encoding of information with reference to in-groups (family, age, gender) facilitated recall to the same degree as when information had been encoded with reference to the personal self. Both self- and group-reference encoding were associated with higher levels of recall than were control conditions. These findings suggest that group memberships are integral parts of children's self-concepts.