People differ in how they integrate their multiple group memberships into self-identity.

Evidence

Multiple-categorization approaches are receiving ever more attention in social psychological theory and research on intergroup relations. The basic premise underlying such approaches is that individuals typically belong to and identify with multiple social groups. Moreover, these approaches underline the notion that multiple social categories can become salient simultaneously, affording individuals the capacity to attend to and make judgments about others based on their multiple group memberships. This is, of course, not a new idea. Social psychologists have long recognized the importance of multiple categorization processes for understanding intergroup relations (see Crisp & Hewstone, 2007, for a detailed review), as have scholars in other fields (e.g., Murphy, 1957). What is new, however, is the notion advanced by Marilynn Brewer and colleagues that individuals differ in the way in which they incorporate their multiple group memberships into their sense of self. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 514

What is new, however, is the notion advanced by Marilynn Brewer and colleagues that individuals differ in the way in which they incorporate their multiple group memberships into their sense of self. Individuals may thus perceive their multiple social categories in more or less complex and differentiated ways, based on the subjectively perceived interrelationships between their multiple in-group identities (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). Importantly, the extent to which individuals differ in social identity complexity is said to have important consequences for intergroup perception and attitudes. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 514

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the core premise of social identity complexity as distinct from earlier multiple-categorization work.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 514
• XREF: connects to: People vary in how much they define themselves through others. — Brandon Randolph-Seng, Darcy A. Reich, and Kenneth G. DeMarree, On the Nonconscious Antecedents of…, 13; Different identity motives drive Mixed individuals toward different target groups. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 105