Self-Selected Social Identification Measure (SSIM): A Survey Assessing Identity Based on Group Membership

Social categories based on physical differences are of special interest to society and in research. Gender and ethnicity differences are commonly discussed in psychology research and are often the main hypotheses tested in psychological and sociological research. The psychology of women and cross-cultural psychology are just two areas focused on differences between social groups. Social self-categorization is defined as use of a cognitive framework to separate people into different groups (Bandura, 1986). These categories can be activated by qualities of the person being categorized such as outward appearance and observable behaviors. Yet, when social categories are defined by beliefs and attitudes, the measurement of these variables becomes problematic (Peterson, 1994). Membership in self-selected social groups, such as sports team affiliations and clubs, are defined by behaviors, internal attitudes, and beliefs, and are harder to quantify compared to ethnicity or gender. These more malleable groups depend less on globally identifiable characteristics readily obvious to outside perceivers. Instead, they rely more on specific, purposeful connections within groups (McGregor, Reeshma, & So-Jin, 2008). Easily outwardly identifiable social groups do influence psychological processes and behaviors (Brannon, 2011; Galliano, 2003); however, self-selected social groups have been found to impact personal identity and behavior as well (Branscombe & Wann, 1992; Dimmock & Gucciardi, 2008; Melnick & Wann, 2004). Billig and Tajfel (1973) found that even randomly assigning people to meaningless teams resulted in positive ingroup bias and negative outgroup bias. Self-selected social groupings have been examined with general measures of group affiliation. The purpose of the presented studies was to design a general purpose measure of self-selected social categorization that is designed to be adapted to specific groups. An adaptable scale could then be used to provide additional validity support to group categorization in social science research. Social Identity Social psychologists have found significant findings regarding peoples' tendencies to form social groups leading to differential treatment by individual's ingroups and outgroups (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971). Social identity has several implications for the explanation of human behavior because of the various processes and consequences resultant of group membership. Research in social psychology often examines group differences based on enduring social categories such as gender and ethnic identity. Because these social categories depend on fundamental characteristics shared by all group members, they are considered an important component of self identity (McGregor, Reeshma, & So-Jin, 2008). Macionis and Gerber (1993) refer to these categories as master status variables. Studying social categories that are easily identified by outward appearance and self-identification provides valuable information on intergroup conflict and cooperation; however, these fascinating social processes are still robust with more subtle self-selected or assigned categorizations (Billig & Tajfel, 1973; Cialdini, Borden, Thorne, Walker, Freeman, & Sloan, 1976; Locksley, Ortiz, & Hepburn, 1980; Miller, Downs, & Prentice, 1998; Tajfel, 1982). Social Identity and Self-Selected Groups Lickel et al., (2000) examined the perceived differences between social categories like master status variables and dynamic groups. They found four separate types of groups that can be distinguished by lay perceivers: intimacy groups (e.g. families), task groups (e.g. project teams), social identities (e.g. race and gender), and (e.g. fan clubs; 2000). If perceivers can distinguish different types of groups, then impressions and behaviors towards and within these groups may vary. Self-selected groups may vary in levels of association and identification resulting in the term loose associations to be a misnomer. …