Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self: Hierarchical Ordering Of The Tripartite Self, Constantine Sedikides, Lowell Gaertner, Erin M. O'Mara

Psychology Faculty Publications

The individual self comprise unique attributes, the relational self comprises partner-shared attributes, and the collective self comprises ingroup-shared attributes. All selves are fundamental components of the self-concept, with each being important and meaningful to human experience and with each being associated with health benefits. Are the selves, however, equally important and meaningful? We review a program of research that tested four competing theoretical views suggesting that the motivational hub of human experience is (a) the individual self, (b) the relational self, (b) the collective self, or (c) determined by contextual or cultural factors. The research furnished support to the view …