The self-relevant implications of the group-value model: Group membership, self-worth, and treatment quality

Past research demonstrates that quality of treatment is linked to support of authorities and acceptance of their decisions, particularly when the authority represents a valued ingroup. The group-value model suggests that the group membership effect occurs because people derive important self-relevant information from evaluations of how they are treated by ingroup authorities. Two experiments and a correlational study tested whether the group membership of the authority moderates the effect of treatment quality on participants' views of themselves. The results show that better treatment quality is more closely related to feelings of respect and positive self-esteem when the authority represents an ingroup than when the authority represents an outgroup. Moreover, there is some suggestive evidence that the effect of treatment quality on self-esteem is mediated by perceived respect. These findings supper? the argument that treatment quality in an ingroup context is particularly important because people derive their sense of self, in part, from knowing that a group they value regards them as respected members. (C) 1998 Academic Press.