Identity Theory and Personality Theory: Mutual Relevance

Exploring the Impact of an Integrated Trauma-Informed HIV and Vocational Intervention for Black/African American Women Living with HIV

Given the increased recognition of the role of social determinants of health on the prevalence of HIV in the United States, interventions that incorporate and address social determinants of HIV are essential. In response to the health disparities facing Black/African American women living with HIV, HIV activists and mental health specialists developed an innovative integrated HIV prevention and vocational development intervention, Common Threads, that underscores and addresses key economic and other social determinants of health experienced by Black/African American women within a trauma-informed care (TIC) framework. This research study applied grounded theory methods to conduct a qualitative study of Common Threads based on interviews with 21 women who participated in the Common Threads intervention. Participants shared several critical aspects of program components that reflected the TIC principles, endorsing a safe environment, trust building, and a sense of belonging. These components also encouraged transparency and promoted autonomy. Additionally, participants shared perceived program outcomes, including changes of knowledge and skills in four considering work domains (i.e., medical, psychosocial financial/legal resources, and vocational) that facilitate health and vocational development.

Generic foresight model in changing hygiene habits with the pandemic: use of wet wipes in next generations

The vast use of wet wipes has now become a habitude, particularly following the altered perception of cleanliness during the pandemic and the encouragement towards using WW (wet wipe) to ensure parent's and children's hygiene. This study primarily aims to create a projection of the WW waste that will emerge in Turkey as a result of the promoted consumption by children who are predicted to retain the WW usage practices of their parents. In line with this habit adopted by children, the number of daily WW usage which is currently around 210 million is expected to rise to over 250 million between the years 2040 and 2060, depending on how the children are guided by their parent's existing habits. In this study, related calculations were made with FT-IR spectroscopy, taking into account the functional bond structure and percentage distribution of polymers in WWs. In this way, it is detected that 360 T, 568 T, and 623 T polymer materials would be thrown into the environment per day in 2021, 2040 and 2060, respectively. The damage of chemicals in WW content, employed at various concentrations, to the ecosystem structure is predicted and measures to be taken are outlined.

Being a parent, emotional stability, and adjustment disorder symptoms in the face of COVID-19

Objective

The current study examines the correlation between emotional stability and symptoms related to adjustment to the stresses related to the pandemic for parents and nonparents at the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in Israel.

Background

At the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, governments prohibited public gatherings and demanded social distancing. These challenges may be especially difficult for individuals with low levels of emotional stability as adaptation difficulties may lead to stress-related outcomes, such as adjustment disorder symptoms. Additionally, in the face of a significant external threat and the demand for intensive joint familial time at home, the parental role becomes especially salient.

Methods

Two hundred forty-four Israeli adults filled in self-reported e-version questionnaires regarding emotional stability, adjustment disorder symptoms, and background variables. A cross-sectional design was used to examine the association between emotional stability and adjustment disorder symptoms, as well as the potential moderation by parenting status.

Results

The findings revealed that the levels of emotional stability were negatively correlated with adjustment disorder symptoms, while being a parent mitigated this correlation. This correlation was nonsignificant among parents.

Conclusion and Implications

It appears that the identity salience of parental role in the current stressful situation and its associated strain may have overcome the advantage of emotional stability. The identity of being a parent has the potential to dismiss it. Here, the social role emerges as more forcible than the personality trait. Recommendations for practice are discussed.

A dynamic reframing of the social/personal identity dichotomy

For decades, scholars in organizational and social psychology have distinguished between two types of identity: social and personal. To what extent, though, is this dichotomy useful for understanding identities and their dynamics, and might a different approach facilitate deeper insight? Such are the guiding questions of this article. I begin by reviewing framings of the social/personal identity dichotomy in organizational psychology, and tracing its origins and evolution in social psychology. I then evaluate the strengths and limitations of this dichotomy as a tool for understanding identities. In an attempt to retain the dichotomy’s strengths and overcome its limitations, I present a modified conceptualization of the social and personal dimensions of identity, one that defines these dimensions based on psychological experience (not identity content), and treats them as two independent continua (not two levels of a dichotomy, or opposing ends of a continuum) that any given identity varies along across contexts.

Plain language summary

A single person can identify with lots of different aspects of their life: their family, community, job, and hobbies, to name but a few. In the same way it helps to group different items in a shop into sections, it can be helpful to group the different identities available to people into categories. And for a long time, this is what researchers have done: calling certain identities “social identities” if based on things like race and culture, and “personal identities” if based on things like traits and habits. In this paper, I explain that for various reasons, this might not be the most accurate way of mapping identities. Instead of categorizing them based on where they come from, I suggest it’s more helpful to focus on how identities actually make people feel, and how these feelings change from one moment to the next. I also point out that many identities can make someone feel like a unique person and part of a broader group at the same time. For this reason, it’s best to think of the “social” and “personal” parts of an identity not as opposites—but simply different aspects of the same thing.

Linking personality states, current social roles and major life goals

Employing an experience‐sampling design, the interplay between personality states, social roles and major life goals was examined as it unfolds in the stream of people's daily lives. Multilevel analyses revealed a considerable amount of both within‐ and between‐person variability in state expressions of personality traits justifying further examination of predictors at both levels of analyses. Roles proved as predictors of current personality states albeit effects differed significantly between individuals. Life goals accounted for between‐person differences in average personality states but were not effective in predicting differences in relations between personality states and roles. Altogether, findings testify to the viability of the employed research strategy to analyse the interplay between both dispositional and fluctuating influences on individuals' trait expressions in behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Differences in healthcare utilisation between users and non-users of homeopathic products in Spain: Results from three waves of the National Health Survey (2011-2017)

OBJECTIVE

To compare the differences in the use of healthcare services: visits to the doctor and hospitalisation, performance of routine tests, and preventive influenza vaccination, between users and non-users of homeopathic products.

METHODS

We used the microdata for adults over 15 years old from three waves of the Spanish National Health Survey, corresponding to the years 2011, 2014 and 2017. We proposed a comparative design of a quasi-experimental type, considering as the treatment group the respondents who said that they had used homeopathic products in the past two weeks; and another group, for control, comprising respondents who said that they had not used this type of products, but only conventional medicines, with observable characteristics similar to those of the treatment group. We used a model for rare events logistics regression (relogit) to estimate the probability of using homeopathy. From the propensity score and a vector of control variables, we used techniques of genetic matching to match individuals from the treatment group with similar individuals belonging to the control group.

RESULTS

There are no statistically significant differences between users and non-users of homeopathy in visits to the general practitioner (P>|z| 0.387), to the specialist (P>|z| 0.52), in hospitalisations (P>|z| 0.592) or in the use of emergency services (P>|z| 0.109). Nor were there any statistically significant differences in the performance of routine tests, except for the faecal occult blood test, which is more prevalent in users of homeopathic products. 20.9% of users of homeopathy had done this test compared with 15.3% of non-users (P>|z| 0.022). There are also significant differences in vaccination against influenza with 12.6% of homeopathy users stating that they had been vaccinated in the last influenza campaign, against 21.0% of non-users (P>|z| <0.001). The health conditions which homeopathy users reported were constipation (OR: 1.65 CI: 1.16-2.36), malignant tumour (OR: 1.60 CI: 1.09-2.36) osteoporosis (OR: 1.49 CI: 1.05-2.10), varicose veins (OR: 1.35 CI: 1.05-1.74) and allergy (OR: 1.35 CI: 1.06-1.72).

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in the use of healthcare resources between users and non-users of homeopathic products have not been found to be statistically significant in Spain. It has been shown that most homeopathic products are used as a complement to treatment with conventional medicine. Nevertheless, our results highlight some warning signs which should raise the attention of healthcare authorities. The use of these therapies in patients with malignant tumours and the rejection of vaccines are warning signs of a possible health hazard in the long term.

School or Work? The Choice May Change Your Personality

According to the social-investment principle, entering new environments is associated with new social roles that influence people’s behaviors. In this study, we examined whether young adults’ personality development is differentially related to their choice of either an academic or a vocational pathway (i.e., entering an academic-track school or beginning vocational training). The personality constructs of interest were Big Five personality traits and vocational-interest orientations. We used a longitudinal study design and propensity-score matching to create comparable groups before they entered one of the pathways and then tested the differences between these groups 6 years later. We expected the vocational pathway to reinforce more mature behavior and curtail investigative interest. Results indicated that choosing the vocational compared with the academic pathway was associated with higher conscientiousness and less interest in investigative, social, and enterprising activities.

Contextualizing personality: Personality within and across social roles and conceptual levels

OBJECTIVE

Personality psychologists have begun to consider the predictive ability of comparable personality characteristics at the levels of traits, goals, and narrative identity. Here, we build upon and extend this work by adopting a contextualized personality approach. Doing so entailed exploring the implications of personality characteristics within three social roles and at each level of personality in relation to role-specific and generalized measures of psychological adjustment.

METHODS

Undergraduates (N = 155) rated traits and specified goals and narratives pertaining to their roles as friends, students, and sons/daughters. Measures of trait-based, goal-based, and narrative-based approach orientation were subsequently derived.

RESULTS

Within personality levels, mean-levels of approach orientation differed significantly across social roles. Goal-based and narrative-based approach orientation showed inconsistent associations with role-specific psychological adjustment. When approach orientation was aggregated across roles, however, it demonstrated positive relations with adjustment at each personality level.

CONCLUSIONS

There exists contextual variability among and between personality characteristics and adjustment. In addition, in certain cases, aggregating across contextualized personality measures (within conceptual levels) may provide a more reliable indicator of the underlying psychological construct. These results contribute to an evolving understanding of personality coherence and the relation between personality characteristics and context.

Advancing the assessment of cultural orientation: A developmental and contextual framework of multiple psychological dimensions and social identities

This paper aims to advance the scientific understanding of the role of culture, particularly cultural orientation, in development and psychopathology. We advance a theoretical framework that conceptualizes cultural orientation as a developmental construct represented by multiple psychological dimensions and social identities, and influenced by the contexts in which individuals are embedded. This perspective suggests that cultural orientation changes within individuals over time as a function of their experiences with and memberships in multiple groups, including the mainstream and ethnic culture groups, as well as a function of their normative developmental changes (i.e., the development of cognitive, social, and emotional capabilities). In addition, this framework places the development of an ethnic culture social identity (e.g., an ethnic identity) and a mainstream culture social identity in broader developmental perspectives that recognize these as two of the many social identities that are simultaneously embedded within the individual's self-concept and that simultaneously influence one's cultural orientation. To support the successful integration of culture into the study of development and psychopathology, we describe how highly reliable and valid measures of cultural orientation, indexed by individuals’ social identities, are essential for generating a scientifically credible understanding of the role of cultural orientation in development and psychopathology. Further, we detail some best research practices associated with our developmental and contextual framework, and note some important considerations for researchers interested in studying cultural orientation, development, and psychopathology.

Biological and Behavioral Mechanisms of Identity Pathology Development: An Integrative Review

Although identity disturbance is a transdiagnostic mental health problem, modern explanatory models for its emergence are limited. To date, the social, developmental, clinical, and neuropsychological literatures exploring identity processes are also largely disconnected. Existing theories have laid the foundation for understanding important components of identity pathology, yet many overlook biological, behavioral, and interactive processes by which these difficulties may emerge. In this integrative review, we explore how broad transdiagnostic vulnerabilities for psychopathology and more specific risky behavioral processes may reciprocally interact and be refined over time into an identity disturbance profile. Our primary purpose is to review behavioral and biosocial theories and derive a testable conceptual framework for how identity disturbance emerges over the course of development. We aim to describe and integrate several disparate lines of theory and research in order to illuminate potential etiological pathways to identity pathology.

Decisions at the Boundary

Individuals in a firm tend to operate within a unifying set of organizational role expectations, but this is rarely the case in strategic alliances where different organizations’ interests and expectations are involved. In this conceptual article, we consider how alliance managers (AMs), the boundary spanners responsible for alliance success, navigate receiving firm-sent role expectations while also receiving legitimate partner-sent expectations. Role theory is incomplete regarding how AMs cope with this increasingly common, mixed-motive context and how the pull of the focal firm on AMs is affected. We address this theory gap by conceptualizing how the limiting nature of firm-sent expectations is affected by AMs’ receipt of legitimate partner-sent roles, and is moderated by AMs’ entrepreneurism and the structure of the interfirm collaborative environment.

Embracing leadership: a multi-faceted model of leader identity development

Purpose

– Leadership development has been replete with a skill-based focus. However, learning and development can be constrained by the deeper level, hidden self-knowledge that influences how people process information and construct meaning. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question of how people construct and develop their leader identity. The authors intend to shed light on the critical facets of identity changes that occur as individuals grapple with existing understanding of the self and of leadership, transform them, and absorb new personalized notions of leadership into their identity, resulting in a higher level of confidence acting in the leadership domain.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors conducted a grounded theory study of participants and their mentors in a lay leadership development program in a Catholic diocese. The authors inductively drew a conceptual model describing how leader identity evolves.

Findings

– The findings suggested that leader identity development was not a uni-dimensional event. Rather, it was a multi-faceted process that encompassed three key facets of identity development: expanding boundaries, recognizing interdependences, and discerning purpose. Further, it is the co-evolvement of these three facets and people’s broadening understanding of leadership that led to a more salient leader identity.

Research limitations/implications

– The model addresses the gap in literature on how leader identity develops specifically. It enriches and expands existing knowledge on leader identity development by answering the question of what specific changes are entailed when an individual constructs his or her identity as a leader.

Practical implications

– The findings could be used to guide leadership development professionals to build targeted learning activities around key components of leader identity development, diagnose where people are in their leadership journey, set personalized goals with them, and provide pointed feedback to learners in the process of developing their leader identity.

Originality/value

– The authors provide an in-depth and integrative account of the contents and mechanisms involved in the construction of the leader identity. The authors zero in on the critical transformations entailed in the process to establish and develop a leader identity.

Contextualized Personality, beyond Traits

Personality psychologists have become increasingly interested in how personality varies across social roles. Within this ‘contextualized’ approach, researchers almost invariably focus on assessing personality traits. Although these characteristics are no doubt important components of personality, there are many aspects of the person that are not adequately represented by traits. This article fleshes out the nature of these additional personality characteristics relevant to contextualized personality. I argue that, just as the study of personality in its generalized form has benefitted from recognition of three conceptual levels (viz. traits, goals and life narratives), so too would contextualized approaches to personality. Evidence of the predictive ability of context–specific goals and narratives is provided, as is discussion of the functional relations among variables at personality's three conceptual levels, and the interplay between contextualized and generalized self–representations. During this discussion, I argue for adoption of a relational meta–theory in the study of personality. Considerable gains can be made in understanding personhood by uniting appreciation of context with a multilevel conception of personality. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

Assessing cultural intelligence, personality and identity amongst young white Afrikaans-speaking students: A preliminary study

Orientation: Cultural intelligence (CQ) is a relatively new construct to academia that has recently gained increasing attention. Its relevance in a multicultural context like South Africa is apparent since cultural interaction between different ethnic groups is unavoidable.Research purpose: The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between personality, identity and CQ amongst young Afrikaans-speaking South Africans.Research approach, design and method: A quantitative research design was used in this study. This study was cross-sectional in nature. For the purpose of this study, a sample of young South African university students (N = 252) was used. The personal identity subscale from the Erickson Psychosocial Stage Inventory, the Multi-Ethnic Identity Measure, the Religious Identity Short Scale, the South African Personality Inventory questionnaire and the Four Factor Model of Cultural Intelligence Scale were applied as the measuring instruments.Main findings: Religious identity and ethnic identity have a relationship with cognitive CQ. Soft-heartedness and conscientiousness have a relationship with behavioural CQ. Also, soft-heartedness, facilitating, extroversion and religious identity have a relationship with motivational CQ.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations within South Africa will gain a better understanding of CQ and the benefits of having a culturally intelligent workforce as a strengths-based approach. Culturally intelligent employees will be able to adjust to working with co-workers from another culture, not feel threatened when interacting with co-workers and clients and be able to transfer knowledge from one culture to another, which will aid the organisation in completing overseas assignments, cross-cultural decision-making, leadership in multicultural environments and managing international careers.Contribution/value-add: CQ is a relatively new concept and empirical research on positive subjects is still very limited. Research on personality, identity and CQ within the South African context is still very limited. Therefore, this study will contribute to literature on positive psychology and cultural intelligence.

Virtues in action - the new look of character traits

The present study aimed to take fresh look at the nature and psychological meaning of consistency in character traits and virtuous behaviour as manifested in everyday life. To this end, a 10-day experience-sampling study was conducted. Using smartphone technology, a sample of 83 working mothers and fathers provided a total of 4,342 momentary behavioural reports while being in the role of the parent versus being in the job role. Consistent with recent research on personality traits, the findings of the present study showed that people express a wide range of virtue states in their everyday lives. Within-person changes in virtue states were not random but were contingent on people's current role context and also meaningfully related to their momentary affective experiences. At the same time, people's average level of virtue states, their degree of variation in virtue states, and their signature ways of reacting to role contexts turned out to be stable, trait-like individual difference characteristics. Discussion focuses on the implications for the conception of character traits in scientific psychology and beyond.

Structural Precursors to Identity Processes

This research investigates how participation in college-based science-training programs increases student intention to pursue a scientific career. Using identity theory, we delineate three levels of social structure and conceptualize science-training programs as proximate social structures. Results from a sample of 892 undergraduate science students are supportive of identity theory and indicate that participation in proximate social structures leads to increased commitment to a science identity, increased salience of a science identity, and increased intention to pursue a scientific career. This study contributes to the literature on identity theory by demonstrating how participation in proximate social structures can lead to subsequent identity processes, thus refining the understanding of how society shapes the self and clarifying how social positioning affects choices for behavior. Additionally, the conceptualization of proximate social structures provides an avenue for applications of identity theory to investigations of other social interventions as well as mechanisms leading to social inequality.

Injunctive social norms primacy over descriptive social norms in retirement savings decisions

Consistent with the global trend to shift responsibility for retirement income provision from the public purse to individuals has been encouragement to save more and to manage investment strategy. Analyzing data from 2,300 respondents to a randomly distributed questionnaire, this article focuses on the motivational importance of social norms. The study finds injunctive social norms (what is commonly approved or disapproved of) exert greater influence than descriptive social norms (what is commonly done) in predicting retirement savings intentions. Modeling employs the theory of planned behavior, and also finds injunctive social norm has predictive primacy over attitude and perceived behavioral control. Discussion advocates a balanced approach to intervention design, and identifies opportunities for the further study of normative message framing.

Intersubjective Culture

Intersubjective perceptions refer to shared perceptions of the psychological characteristics that are widespread within a culture. In this article, we propose the intersubjective approach as a new approach to understanding the role that culture plays in human behavior. In this approach, intersubjective perceptions, which are distinct from personal values and beliefs, mediate the effect of the ecology on individuals’ responses and adaptations. We review evidence that attests to the validity and utility of the intersubjective approach in explicating culture’s influence on human behaviors and discuss the implications of this approach for understanding the interaction between the individual, ecology, and culture; the nature of cultural competence; management of multicultural identities; cultural change; and measurement of culture.

Network-Domains in Combat and Fashion Organizations

This article adapts and extends the ‘network-domain’ concept from Harrison White’s Identity and Control in order to consider how social ties are interwoven with domains of meaning in organizations. Our interpretation claims that modalities of behaviour in organizations are consequences of identities’ persistent movements among positions in network-domains as well as organizational efforts to manage these movements. This idea is outlined through discussion of two organizational antipodes: combat operations and fashion design. While combat operations require internal group cohesion and constrained individuality, the fashion industry is based on the distinctiveness of designs and the display of personal tastes. Despite clear differences, however, we trace how attempts at managing movements among network-domains are central to identities in both contexts. This effort builds on the generally accepted understanding of identities in organizations as labile and socially constituted and thereby contributes to bridging micro/macro and structural/cultural gaps in organizational theorizing.