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Faith, Christianity, and Non-Affiliation in the United States
Get PDFRates of religious non-affiliation continue to rise in the United States, with roughly 20% of Americans reporting no identification with any church or religious group. Generally, scholars have assumed these religious "nones" were atheists or agnostics with an active dislike of religious faith. This study explores the demographic, family background, political and moral worldview variation among a large sample of non-affiliates using various statistical regression analyses. Additionally, using a novel coding scheme, non-affiliates were modeled according to their self-reported levels of religiosity and spirituality, revealing further differentiation within this subpopulation. Results suggest that "nones" are not homogenously atheist or agnostic and that they likely vary in terms of their moral worldview and their political attitudes towards the family, among other things
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Identity Change
Get PDFUsing identity theory, this dissertation investigates how the incongruence between reflected appraisals and identity meanings influence identity change. This study also examines the effect of status, salience, commitment, and changes in social situations on identity change. To examine how identity processes are related to identity change, three identities are examined: the gender identity, the ethnic identity, and the student identity. Data were obtained from 1,514 undergraduate students at a large western university during the 2008-09 academic school year. A longitudinal research design was used. All data were collected via the Internet to minimize class disruption, ensure easy access to the survey, and maintain privacy. A key finding is that identity meanings change in the direction of reflected appraisals. This is one way that individuals can minimize the distress created when situational meanings do not match identity standard meanings. Study limitations and areas for future research are provided
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Examining the Social Context in Identity Theory
Get PDFThis study advances identity theory, a prominent sociological social psychological theory, by investigating how the moral identity, moral behavior, and emotions operate in different social contexts, specifically when the moral identity is activated (or not activated) and when individuals are alone or in different types of groups. This extends identity theory by including key processes in social identity theory (identity activation and group membership) which have not been examined in the existing literature concerning the control systems approach to identity. A survey and experiment are administered to examine how the moral identity process operates for individuals in different social contexts. The survey measures individuals' moral identities. In the experiment, subjects are placed in a situation where they have an opportunity to behave immorally to gain an advantage over others. Results show that both the moral identity and group membership predict moral behavior in a situation. Direct activation of the moral identity is not required for it to influence moral behavior, which supports the moral identity as a principle-level identity. Implications of the study findings and recommendations for future research are discussed
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Meso-Level and Micro-Level Factors in Jewish Verification and Identification
Get PDFJews have faced increasing levels of anti-Semitism in the past five years both in the United States and abroad. Given this increase, it has become increasingly important to understand the factors that may impact Jewish identity. Recent work in social psychology has posited that the identity process exists within an embedded social structure and that factors at all three levels of this structure – macro, meso, and micro – likely impact identity. This research investigates meso-level and mico-level factors in Jewish identity verification and identification. Results show that factors at both of these levels are related to both Jewish identity verification and identification. The data show that community support at the meso-level is positively related to both Jewish identity verification and identification. Similarly, the proportion of Jews in one’s close others is important in both of these identity processes. Anti-Semitism is shown to relate to increases in Jewish identity verification and identification
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Understanding the True Self: The Effects of Self and Identity Processes on Authenticity
Get PDFOver the last decade, the social psychological study of authenticity, or the idea of “feeling like ourselves” has seen a resurgence. This research aims to advance understanding about authenticity by examining the internal, external, proximal, and distal factors that influence one’s understanding of their true self. Using a sample of 470 emerging adults, this cross-sectional study examines how the external, distal factor of parental socialization and the internal, proximal factors of identity processes and self-esteem affect individuals’ overall feelings of authenticity. This analysis shifts the conversation on authenticity away from definitional debates and into territory more concrete and applicable. I find that a flexible parenting style is best for encouraging the development of the true self in children, that identity verification plays a key role in authenticity during emerging adulthood, and that higher self-esteem is related to greater feelings of authenticity overall. This work contributes to existing authenticity scholarship by providing a better understanding of the self and identity processes that shape authenticity throughout a person’s life
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The Environment and Identity Processes: The Dancer Identity as a Case Study
Get PDFThis qualitative study uses identity theory to examine how the environment impacts the tightness of the identity control system, and how socialization impacts attitudes among dance students at a large university. I collected data through field observations and semi-structured interviews (N=30) of an intermediate ballet class and an intermediate hip-hop class. Findings suggest that the structure of the environment influences situational meanings and attitudes through socialization. In turn, the situational meanings and attitudes impact the tightness of the identity control system. Based on previous research on identities and stress, the tightness of the identity control system impacts the likelihood of experiencing identity non- verification and distress. This research contributes to identity theory by developing a better understanding of voluntary role identities, tightly- controlled identity systems, and the importance of the social environment and socialization in the identity process
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Identity Processes and Self-Injury
Get PDFSelf-injury is a growing public health concern that impacts individuals of all ages, genders, and racial-ethnic backgrounds. While research on self-injury has primarily been conducted from a psychological and clinical perspective, this dissertation takes a social psychological approach to examine the role of identity verification on self-injury and the anticipation of rejection and internalization of stigma that ensues. Using cross-sectional survey data from 487 college students, I examine how identity verification of six different identities (student, friend, child, dominant, gender, and moral) might be related to self-injury and its outcomes (anticipation of rejection and internalization of stigma) through one’s affective state. I also consider how factors such as attitudes towards self-injury, life events, self-injury ideation, and demographic factors (gender, race/ethnicity, income, and religion) might be associated to self-injury and its outcomes. I perform a logistic regression to assess identity verification as a precipitator of self-injury. Results indicate that verification of the dominant, moral, and friend identity have a negative effect on the affective states that are associated with self-injury. Furthermore, to assess the effect of identity verification on the anticipation of rejection and internalization of stigma, I use multiple regression analyses. The findings indicate similar results to self-injury for anticipation of rejection; verification is negatively related to anticipating rejection through one’s affective state. However, results indicate that affective state is not related to internalization of stigma. Rather, anticipation of rejection is a strong contributor of internalization of stigma, which suggests that identity verification may indirectly effect internalization of stigma through affective state and anticipation of rejection. Additional analyses provide support for this relationship. These findings extend work on self-injury by highlighting the role of identity verification on self-injury and its outcomes of anticipating rejection and internalizing stigma. The final chapter of the dissertation provides a greater discussion of the key insights from the results and describes recommendations for future research
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The Effect of Gender as Status Versus Gender as Identification on Abortion Attitudes
Get PDFThis study uses a sociological social psychological perspective to examine abortion attitudes among self-identified men and women. The study of abortion attitudes is important because abortion has remained an ongoing, controversial political topic for decades. Identity theory suggests that people’s attitudes are guided by their identities. I predict that the more that someone identifies with his/her gender, the more that s/he opposes abortion. Although exceptions exist, people’s gender identification is often shaped by traditional, cultural meanings associated with gender that typically do not support abortion access. By analyzing the Identity Module in the 2014 General Social Survey through ordinary least squares regression among self-identified men and women, the findings indicate that the more that someone identifies with his/her gender, the more they are likely to oppose abortion. The strength of gender identification has a greater impact on abortion attitudes than gender identity, measured in terms of whether respondents identify as male or female. Future research must consider the self and how individuals view themselves, especially in relation to gender, in an analysis of abortion attitudes
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Examining the Mother Identity and Maternal Depression
Get PDFThis study aims to examine whether maternal depression in mothers of young children are associated with identity processes. Using identity theory, it considers how an identity is processed between the self and others in situations so that situational meanings match the standards regarding the mother identity. Ordered logistic regression analyses of data gathered from the Early Head Start program in a southwestern town between December 2017 and January 2018 revealed two important findings about low-income mothers. First, consistent with identity theory, mothers reported higher depression when their mother identity was not verified by others. Second, contrary to identity theory, identity prominence and identity salience was positively associated with maternal depression. These contrary findings may be due to mothers not feeling that they are an adequate “financial provider.” This explanation is speculative and future research needs to examine this more closely
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Identity Development in Identity Theory
Get PDFThe purpose of this dissertation is to further develop the concept of identity development in identity theory. Identity development is the process of change that occurs in identities during which the meanings that are contained in identities become less inconsistent. Individuals will work to reduce the amount of inconsistencies between their identity meanings so that they may verify their identities in situations. Identities will be verified more frequently the more they are developed. I suggest that the hierarchical control system in identity theory, which is a complex model that explains how multiple identities interact in situations, can model identity development among multiple identities. Using the hierarchical control system, I attempt to integrate the concept of identity development into established theory in identity theory.I also suggest that there are three phases of identity development: the pre-formative, formative, and transformative phases. The pre-formative phase of identity development occurs as identities begin to emerge from having not existed. Little is known in identity theory with respect to how identities emerge, but this early phase in identity development is important to understand from where identities and identity meanings derive. The formative phase takes place after identities have already emerged and begin to interact with one another in situations. The formative phase explains how the meanings that are contained in identities that define who persons are in social positions, such as the categorical/group and role identities, will influence more abstract person identity meanings that are attached to the individual. Finally, the transformative phase explains how person identity meanings influence categorical/group and role identity meanings. A focus on identity development advances identity theory in several ways, which I discuss in the conclusion of this dissertation
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