ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the research and theorizing that has traditionally been associated with reference groups. It proposes albeit reluctantly, is renunciation of fully half, perhaps more, of this accretion of work, and restriction of the concept to processes of self-and social evaluation. The chapter attempts to synthesize research on the determinants and consequences of normative and comparative reference orientations. Many of the classic investigations of reference group behavior have concerned themselves with the consequences of conformity to the perceived prescriptions of some valued group for attitude stability or change. Most of the research purporting to show the influence of a reference group on attitudes or behavior has utilized retrospective measurement of both reference groups and the attitudes of those groups, making unambiguous inferences about effects impossible. Structural factors also come into play in those situations in which individuals adopt as a point of reference a group whose values are quite dissimilar from their own.
