groups or various personal identities depends partly on the social context. Group identities are more salient in the intergroup contexts. Group size The size of the group affects the salience of group-identities. Minority groups are more distinctive, so group identity should be more salient among minority group members than majority group members. Group status Group status interacts with group size to affect the salience of social identities. Social context and self-evaluation The social environment has an influence on the way people evaluate themselves as a result of social-comparison processes. The contrast effect People regard themselves as at the opposite end of the spectrum of a given trait to the people in their company. However, this effect has come under criticism as to whether it is a primary effect, as it seems to share space with the assimilation effect, which states that people evaluate themselves more positively when they are in the company of others who are exemplary on some dimension. Whether the assimilation or contrast effect prevails depends on the psychological closeness, with people feeling psychologically disconnected with their social surroundings being more likely to show contrast effects. Assimilation effects occur when the subject feels psychologically connected to their social surroundings. Significant others and self-evaluations Imagining how one appears to others has an effect on how one thinks about oneself. Recent events Recent events can cue particular views of the self, either as a direct result of failure, or via mood. The extent of the effect depends on personal variables. For example people with high self-esteem do not show this effect, and sometimes do the opposite. Memory for prior events influence how people think about themselves. Fazio et al. found that selective memory for prior events can temporarily activate self-representations which, once activated, guide our behavior. Deficiencies Specific types Misperceiving Deficiency in knowledge of the present self. Giving reasons but not feelings disrupts self-insight. Misremembering Deficiency of knowledge of the past self. Knowledge from the present overinforms the knowledge of the past. False theories shape autobiographical memory. Misprediction Deficiency of knowledge of the future self. Knowledge of the present overinforms predictions of future knowledge. Affective forecasting can be affected by durability bias. Miswanting See also References Further reading Brown, J. D. (1998). The self. New York: McGraw Hill. Sedikides, C., & Brewer, M. B. (2001). Individual self, relational self, collective self. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press. Suls, J. (1982). Psychological perspectives