The Influence of Social Identity Salience on General Self-efficacy
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)
Department
Educational Psychology
Date of Award
Summer 2018
Abstract
The overall goal of this research was to explore the effect of social identity salience on general self-efficacy. Self-efficacy and general self-efficacy have both been commonly understood as being individual difference measures. General self-efficacy has also traditionally been viewed as a stable personality trait. However, research has shown that measures assessing personality traits can change depending on social identity salience. In the first study, I explored whether salience of social identities (i.e., religious identity and university student identity) impacted ratings of general of self-efficacy, and it was predicted that participants in the religion and university student conditions would rate general self-efficacy higher than those who were not primed with an identity. The hypothesis was not supported; however, there was a significant correlation between ingroup identification and general self-efficacy, which indicates there is a relationship between the two factors. In Study 2, outgroup comparisons were manipulated to assess the degree of change in ratings of general self-efficacy when an ingroup identity was salient. From the results, I demonstrated that outgroup comparisons did significantly impact ratings of general self-efficacy. The findings indicate that ratings of general self-efficacy, and thus personality traits, may be tied to social identity processes. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Advisor
Stephen Reysen
Subject Categories
Education | Educational Psychology
Recommended Citation
Sadler, Theresa, "The Influence of Social Identity Salience on General Self-efficacy" (2018). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 870.
https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/etd/870
