Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

6.2 The Function of Culture
Learning
interpersonal communication.
3. Summarize the implications of ethnocentrism in interpersonal
Outcomes
communication.
Henri Tajfel originally coined the term “collective self” as “that aspect of an individual’s self-concept
which derives from his knowledge of his membership in a social group (or groups) together with the
value and emotional significance attached to that membership.” 8 Jennifer Crocker and Riia Luhtanen
took Tajfel’s ideas one step further and discussed them as an individual’s , or
the aspect of an individual’s self-worth or self-image that stems from their interaction with others and
evaluation of their various social groups. 9 Based on their research, Crocker and Luhtanen found four
different factors related to an individual’s collective self-esteem: private collective esteem, membership
esteem, public collective esteem, and importance to identity.
The first factor of collective self-esteem is the individual’s , or the degree
to which an individual positively evaluates their group. Every individual belongs to a wide range of groups,
and we can evaluate these groups as either positive or negative. Imagine you’ve been brought up in a
community where gang membership is a very common practice. You may have been forced into gang life
at a very early age. Over time, you may start to see a wide array of problems with gangs, so you may start
to devalue the group. In this case, you would have low private collective esteem.
The second factor of collective self-esteem is , which is the degree to which
an individual sees themself as a “good” member of a group. Maybe you’ve belonged to a religious
organization your entire life. Over time, you start to find yourself wondering about the organization
and your place within the organization. Maybe you see yourself as having ideas and opinions that are
contrary to the organization, or maybe your behavior when not attending religious services is not what
the organization would advocate. In this case, you may start to see yourself as a “bad” member of this
organization, so your membership esteem would be lower than someone who sees themself as a “good”
member of this organization.
The third factor of collective self-esteem is , or the degree to which
nonmembers of a group evaluate a group and its members either positively or negatively. Maybe
you’re a lesbian college student at a very progressive institution where students overwhelmingly support
LGBTQIA rights. In this case, the collective views the group that you belong to positively.
The final factor of collective self-esteem is , or the degree to which group
membership is important to an individual. As mentioned earlier, we all belong to a wide range of
cultural groups. Some of these groups are near and dear to us, while others are ones we don’t think
about very often, so they just aren’t very important to us. For example, if you’re someone who has
always lived in Charleston, South Carolina, then being a member of the Southerner cultural group may
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Interpersonal Communication