Individuals' social relationships influence their self-concepts. Both dyadic and group relationships alter the self during the relationship, and dyadic relationships alter the self when they end. The current research investigated whether collective relationships would do the same across 3 studies. In Study 1, participants imagined losing or retaining group membership. Imagining group membership loss predicted reduced self-concept clarity, with greater group identification resulting in greater reductions. In Studies 2 and 3, participants reported on their psychological identification with a self-chosen group (Study 2) or their university (Study 3) before experiencing a threat to their group membership or not. Participants who experienced a threat to their group membership and were strongly identified with the group reported reduced self-concept clarity (Studies 2 and 3), greater self-concept change (Studies 2 and 3), and reduced self-esteem (Study 3) compared with other participants. Additionally, self-concept change mediated the relationship between the group threat by identification interaction and self-concept clarity.
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