Temporal Stability and Authenticity of Self-Representations in Adulthood

Socio-Economic Status and Bullying Victimization in India: A Study About Social Misfit and Minority Perception

The Social Misfit Theory, which states that some individuals deviate from what is normative in a community and may therefore be more likely to be victimized, has mostly been studied in Western countries. The current study addresses in a longitudinal sample whether socio-economic minorities (SES) in the classroom (a contextual SES minority) are more likely to become victims of bullying in India, and whether the relation between minority status and victimization is mediated by perception of oneself as a minority. The current study used three waves separated by three month intervals. A sample of youth from Indore India (grades 7 to 9; N = 1238; M-ageT1 = 13.15, SD = 1.16, 24 percent girls) was used. It was found that being a contextual SES minority was related to more victimization, but only when the contextual status was corroborated by the perceived minority status. However, over time, being part of a contextual minority predicted decreased victimization, possibly pointing to normative beliefs and values in the Indian context. The results of this study are in contrast to the Social Misfit Theory, but do support self-perception as a mediator.

Social value at a distance: Higher identification with all of humanity is associated with reduced social discounting

How much we value the welfare of others has critical implications for the collective good. Yet, it is unclear what leads people to make more or less equal decisions about the welfare of those from whom they are socially distant. The current research sought to explore the psychological mechanisms that might underlie welfare judgements across social distance. Here, a social discounting paradigm was used to measure the tendency for the value of a reward to be discounted as the social distance of its recipient increased. Across two cohorts (one discovery, one replication), we found that a more expansive identity with all of humanity was associated with reduced social discounting. Additionally, we investigated the specificity of this association by examining whether this relationship extended to delay discounting, the tendency for the value of a reward to be discounted as the temporal distance to its receipt increases. Our findings suggest that the observed association with identity was unique to social discounting, thus underscoring a distinction in value-based decision-making processes across distances in time and across social networks. As data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, we also considered how stress associated with this global threat might influence welfare judgements across social distances. We found that, even after controlling for COVID-19 related stress, correlations between identity and social discounting held. Together, these findings elucidate the psychological processes that are associated with a more equal distribution of generosity.

The "Self" under COVID-19: Social role disruptions, self-authenticity and present-focused coping

Social role disruption is a state involving upheaval of social identities, routines and responsibilities. Such disruption is presently occurring at a global scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which poses a threat not only to health and security but also to the social roles that underlie people’s daily lives. Our collective response to combat the virus entails, for example, parents homeschooling children, friends socializing online, and employees working from home. While these collective efforts serve the greater good, people’s social roles now lack continuity from what was authentic to the roles before the pandemic began. This, we argue, takes a psychological toll. Individuals feel inauthentic, or alienated and out-of-touch from their “true” selves, to the extent their social roles undergo change. As evidence, we report survey (Studies 1 & 4) and experimental (Studies 2 & 3) evidence that COVID-19-related role changes indeed increase inauthenticity. This effect occurs independent of (a) how positively/negatively people feel about COVID-19 (Study 2) and (b) how positively/negatively people feel about the role change itself (Studies 3 & 4). Moreover, we identify two moderators of this effect. First, this effect occurs when (and ostensibly because) the social roles undergoing change are central to an individual’s sense of self (Study 2). Second, this effect depends on an individual’s temporal perspective. People can safeguard their self-authenticity in the face of changing social roles if they stay focused on the here-and-now (the present and immediate future), rather than focusing on the past (pre-COVID-19) or future (post-COVID-19) (Studies 3 & 4). This advantage for present-focused coping is observed in both the U.S.A. (Study 3) and Hong Kong (Study 4). We suggest that the reason people feel more authentically themselves when they maintain a present focus is because doing so makes the discontinuity of their social roles less salient.

Social identity continuity and mental health among Syrian refugees in Turkey

PURPOSE

Building upon social psychological work on social identity and mental health, this study among Syrian refugees in Turkey examined the importance of multiple group memberships and identity continuity for mental health and well-being.

METHOD

A survey study was conducted among the very difficult to reach population of Syrian refugees (N = 361). With path analysis in AMOS the associations were examined between multiple group memberships, social identity continuity and mental health and psychological well-being.

RESULTS

Indicate that belonging to multiple groups before migration was related to a higher likelihood of having preserved group memberships after migration (i.e., sense of social identity continuity), which, in turn, predicted greater life satisfaction and lower levels of depression. Multiple group membership, however, was also directly related to higher depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of multiple group membership and feelings of identity continuity for refugees.

Explaining young adults' drinking behaviour within an augmented Theory of Planned Behaviour: temporal stability of drinker prototypes

OBJECTIVES

Prototypes (i.e., social images) predict health-related behaviours and intentions within the context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). This study tested the moderating role of temporal stability of drinker prototype perceptions on prototype-intentions and prototype-behaviour relationships, within an augmented TPB. The study examined abstainer, moderate drinker, heavy drinker, tipsy, and drunk prototypes.

DESIGN AND METHODS

An online prospective study with 1-month follow-up was conducted among 410 young adults (18-25 years old, Mage = 21.0, SD = 2.14, 21.7% male). Assessed were prototype perceptions (favourability and similarity, T1, T2), stability of prototype perceptions, TPB variables (T1), intentions (T2), and drinking behaviour (T2). Intention analyses were corrected for baseline behaviour; drinking behaviour analyses were corrected for intentions and baseline behaviour.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regressions showed that prototype stability moderated the relationships of drunk and abstainer prototype similarity with intentions. Similarity to the abstainer prototype explained intentions to drink sensibly more strongly among individuals with stable perceptions than among those with unstable perceptions. Conversely, intentions were explained stronger among individuals with stable perceptions of dissimilarity to the drunk prototype than among those with unstable perceptions. No moderation effects were found for stability of favourability or for relationships with behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

Stable prototype similarity perceptions were more predictive of intentions than unstable perceptions. These perceptions were most relevant in enhancing the explanation of young adults' intended drinking behaviour. Specifically, young adults' health intentions seem to be guided by the dissociation from the drunk prototype and association with the abstainer prototype. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Prototypes have augmented the Theory of Planned Behaviour in explaining risk behaviour. Temporal stability has been shown to successfully extend the TPB in explaining intentions. Temporal stability of TPB variables can moderate the relationships with behaviour and intentions. What does this study add? Stability of prototype perceptions moderates the prototype-intentions relationship. Stability of abstainer and drunk prototype similarity enhances the explanation of (intentional) drinking. Stable prototype perceptions are more explanatory than unstable perceptions.

The cognitive process of identity reconstruction after the onset of a neurological disability

PURPOSE

Rehabilitation professionals and researchers underscore the impact of an acquired disability on identity. However, the cognitive process by which identity is transformed is understudied. The present study aims to explore the cognitive process by which personal identity is reconstructed following disability onset.

METHODS

A template organizing style of interpretation was used to perform a qualitative analysis based on the Cognitive-Developmental Model of Social Identity Integration (CDMSII) using interview data from 10 participants with traumatic brain injury or traumatic spinal cord injury.

RESULTS

As suggested by the CDMSII, following the accident, participants initially tend to emphasize distinctions between their pre- and post-injury conditions. Eventually, individuals are able to create cognitive connections between pre-injury self-knowledge and how they understand their new condition. Finally, in the last stage of the identity integration process, the various identity components are recognized as part of the self. Organizing data based on the three stages of this theory was found to resonate with participants and aided the comprehension of how every stage in the identity reconstruction process is intertwined with the need for continuity through life.

CONCLUSIONS

The CDMSII offers a useful heuristic for understanding long-term identity reconstruction and the present research emphasizes the importance of a sense of continuity following disability onset.

Evaluative Organization of the Self-Concept in Younger, Midlife, and Older Adults

Showers’s model of evaluative organization is a fruitful way to conceptualize the self-concept and is related to self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and emotion regulation. In this study, the authors developed and piloted a card-sort measure to compare the evaluative organization of the self-concept in healthy older, midlife, and younger adults (approximately two thirds of participants were women). The results support the primary hypothesis that older adults would exhibit greater compartmentalization of the self-concept than younger and middle-aged persons. Older adults may think about their positive and negative self-aspects in a more differentiated fashion (i.e., categorize positive and negative self-aspects into separate roles) than younger and midlife persons, who are more integrative (i.e., categorize positive and negative self-aspects under the same role heading) in their self-concepts. The results are consistent with cognitive priming, memory, and emotion regulation studies, which suggest that the way persons organize information about themselves may be different in younger, midlife, and older adults.

Self-Concept Consistency and Culture: The Differential Impact of Two Forms of Consistency

Self-concept consistency is viewed as central to authenticity and adjustment in Western cultures. The authors propose that the implications of self-concept consistency depend on both the cultural background of the individual and the type of consistency involved. Specifically, although consistency of the self-concept across different contexts may be less important in East Asian than Western cultures, East Asians may still benefit from consistency within specific social contexts over time (i.e., maintaining stable, distinct relational selves). Supporting these ideas, across three studies, inconsistency of trait self-perceptions across different relationship contexts was linked to lower subjective authenticity and relationship quality for European Americans but not East Asian Americans. However, inconsistency within the same relationship context over time showed similar negative associations with these outcomes in both groups. Overall, the results suggest that inconsistency may be less consequential for East Asians relative to Westerners only if it reflects culturally prescribed adjustment to different social contexts.

Getting to know me: social role experiences and age differences in self-concept clarity during adulthood

The current research had 2 aims: (1) to determine the cross-sectional age differences in self-concept clarity during adulthood and (2) to examine the importance of social role experiences for age differences in self-concept clarity. These aims were addressed in 2 large samples of adults ranging in age from 18 to 94 years. In both studies, self-concept clarity had a curvilinear relation to age such that self-concept clarity was positively related to age from young adulthood through middle age and negatively related to age in older adulthood. This relationship was moderated by annual income and community investment. In addition, annual income and health-related social role limitations mediated age differences in self-concept clarity. Findings are discussed in terms of modern theories of identity development.

A Cross-Sectional Survey of Age and Sense of Authenticity among Japanese

This study examined age differences on the sense of authenticity and its relation with mental health measured on the General Health Questionnaire. Participants were 963 Japanese ( M age = 51.5 yr., SD = 19.5). Scores on the Sense of Authenticity Scale increased across age cohorts. Correlations of –.45 to –.75 were observed between the sense of authenticity and mental health in all age groups.

Contextualized self-representations in adulthood

Theorizing has focused on individuals' self-representations as a psychological resource for coping with life stress and developmental challenges in adulthood. Many of the prominent theories have conceptualized self-representations with regard to specific social contexts (e.g., role-specific self-representations) and have examined specific structural organizations of the self-concept with regard to psychological adjustment. This article describes research on the associations between self-concept structures and psychological well-being in adulthood. Specific emphasis is given to the feature of self-concept differentiation (SCD). Most research suggests that a high level of SCD tends to indicate self-fragmentation and tends to be associated with poorer adjustment and psychological well-being. Findings from a daily diary study with adults of all ages are reported showing that different levels of SCD were in a consistent and meaningful way related to the daily endorsement of positive and negative self-attributes. Daily self-representations, in turn, were significantly related to individuals' level of daily negative affect and to intra-individual variation in negative affect. These findings suggest that SCD may exert its effect on adjustment and psychological well-being through specific ways of processing self-related information.