Social Identity and Personal Identity Stereotype Threat: The Case of Affirmative Action

Laar, Colette van; Levin, Shana; Sinclair, Stacey

doi:10.1080/01973530802502200

Cited by 31 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Previous work has shown that making salient the incompatibility between social background and university identities among first-generation students reduces their well-being (i.e., increased stress levels and negative emotions; Stephens, Townsend, et al, 2012). It would be interesting in future work to examine whether social and academic concerns are indeed harmful for first-generation students’ well-being—and whether one or the other may be a more important factor (see e.g., van Laar, Levin, & Sinclair, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A social identity perspective on the social-class achievement gap: Academic and social adjustment in the transition to university

Veldman

Meeussen

Laar

2019

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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First-generation students show lower academic performance at university compared to continuing-generation students. Previous research established the value in taking a social identity perspective on this social-class achievement gap, and showed that the gap can partly be explained by lower compatibility between social background and university identities that first- compared to continuing-generation students experience. The present paper aimed to increase insight into the processes through which this low identity compatibility leads to lower academic achievement by examining first-year university students’ adjustment to university in two key domains: the academic and the social domain. These were examined as two routes through which the social-class achievement gap may arise, and hence perpetuate this group-based inequality. Adjustment was examined both through students’ actual integration in the academic and social domains, and their internally experienced concerns about these domains at university. A longitudinal study among 674 first-year university students (13.6% first-generation) showed that first-generation students experienced lower identity compatibility in their first semester, which was in turn related to lower social, but not academic, integration. Lower identity compatibility was also related to more concerns about the social and academic domains at university. Low identity compatibility was directly related to lower academic achievement 1 year later, and this relationship was mediated only by lower social integration at university. These findings show that to understand, and hence reduce, the social-class achievement gap, it is important to examine how low identity compatibility can create difficulties in academic and particularly social adjustment at university with consequences for achievement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A social identity perspective on the social-class achievement gap: Academic and social adjustment in the transition to university

Veldman

Meeussen

Laar

2019

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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“…This means that any policy initiatives that, for example, allow certain groups to enter higher education with lower grades than otherssometimes known as contextualized admissions-need to be carefully managed, not least because they can make these students feel like they are imposters who will not fit in within those institutions once they arrive (O'Sullivan, Bird, Robson, & Winters, 2019). Indeed, such affirmative action policies have been shown to reduce the academic performance of groups that are suffering from social identity threat (Van Laar, Levin, & Sinclair, 2008). Foundation year programs, in which students who have not met the grades to go straight into bachelor degree programs, seem to boost and develop students' sense of belonging, despite their often disadvantaged background (O'Sullivan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Negative Expectations Of Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling Educational Inequalities with Social Psychology: Identities, Contexts, and Interventions

Easterbrook

Hadden

2020

Social Issues Policy Review

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Some groups of students-typically those who have suffered because of historical inequality in society-disproportionately experience psychological barriers to educational success. These psychological barriers-feelings of threat to their social identity and the sense that their identity is incompatible with educational success-make substantial contributions to inequalities in educational outcomes between groups, even beyond economic, historical, and structural inequalities. A range of wise psychological interventions can help remove these barriers by targeting students' subjective interpretation of their local educational context. In this review, we outline the Identities in Context model of educational inequalities, which proposes that interactions between students' social identities and features of the local educational context-expectations about a group's academic performance, a group's representation in positions associated with academic success, and a group's orientation towards education-can trigger social identity threat and identity incompatibility in ways that vary considerably across contexts. We present an implementation process, based on the Identities in Context model, that academic researchers, policymakers, and practitioners can follow to help them choose and tailor wise interventions that are effective in reducing educational inequalities in their local context. Throughout the review, we make policy recommendations regarding how educational practices can be altered to help remove psychological barriers for underperforming groups of students and so reduce educational inequalities. Some groups of students-such as some ethnic minorities or those from lower class backgrounds-on average achieve much lower academic grades and

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“…However, despite differences in conceptualizations and methodological limitations, a positive relationship was observed between degree of ethnic identification and SE for Latinos who lived in areas where their ethnic group comprised the majority of Latin-American population. This afforded a greater possibility of ethnic in-group identification (see also Laar, Levin, & Sinclair 2008;Yasui, Dorham & Dishion, 2004). What appears significant is the strength, centrality or salience of ethnicity for a person.…”

Section: (Iii) Ethnic Identity and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self, social identity and psychological well-being

Sharma

2010

Psychol Stud

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Self and social identity are key elements in the understanding of a person's strivings for health and well-being. This review (i) examines the concepts of self, social identity, and psychological well-being; (ii) integrates empirical evidence that relates various self-aspects or social identities to psychological well-being; (iii) analyzes within a stress and coping framework the well-being consequences of socially devalued self or threatened identities, perceived discriminations, challenges of acculturation and identity management; and (iv) delineates the role of self, social identity and related psycho-social variables as moderators and mediators in pathways leading to psychological well-being. Besides listing some methodological issues and empirical deficits, major concerns for future research are also identified. An explicit self and social identity perspective of this research synthesis brings personal and social aspects together, and this interface offers exciting opportunities for research advancement.

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Social Identity and Personal Identity Stereotype Threat: The Case of Affirmative Action

Cited by 31 publications

References 65 publications

A social identity perspective on the social-class achievement gap: Academic and social adjustment in the transition to university

A social identity perspective on the social-class achievement gap: Academic and social adjustment in the transition to university

Tackling Educational Inequalities with Social Psychology: Identities, Contexts, and Interventions

Self, social identity and psychological well-being

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