Brewer’s relational vs. collective self distinction resolved gender and culture debates.

Evidence

Among many important contributions Marilynn Brewer has made to theory and research in social psychology and human behavioral research is the trichotomization of self identities—individual, relational, and collective selves (Brewer & Gardner, 1996; Brewer & Chen, 2007; Sedikides & Brewer, 2001). The important distinction between the relational self, defined in terms of connections and role relationships with significant others, and the collective self, defined in terms of prototypical properties that are shared among members of a common in-group, has fundamentally changed our understanding of gender difference in interdependence (Cross & Madson, 1997; Gabriel & Gardner, 1999) and clarified decades of confusion in the cross-cultural dimension of individualism and collectivism (Brewer & Chen, 2007). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2314

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the relational self (connections to significant others) versus collective self (shared in-group prototypes).
• XREF: Connects to Brewer & Gardner self-construal literature and to procedural justice research highlighted throughout this chapter.