Social identity shifts across nationality and race in response to socio-political events

Rosner, Jennifer L.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/26049 Copy

Description

Title

Social identity shifts across nationality and race in response to socio-political events

Author(s)

Rosner, Jennifer L.

Issue Date

2011-08-25T22:10:42Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hong, Ying-Yi

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hong, Ying-Yi

Committee Member(s)

• Cohen, Dov
• Preston, Jesse L.
• Srull, Thomas
• Vargas, Patrick T.

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Social identity
• Black Americans
• White Americans

Abstract

Two studies investigated the idea of social identity dynamicism, that social identity is flexible, context dependent, and strategic, at the intersection of nationality and race in the United States. In Study 1, following exposure to a stimulus intended to induce feelings of vicarious shame in the American identity, both Black and White Americans indicated their levels of four types of collective self-esteem: public American, public racial, private American, and private racial (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992). Findings showed that only Black Americans were able to shift between their national and racial identities in response to American shame, such that the relative valuation of their private racial identity over their private American identity was increased, compared to the control condition. Study 2 extended the idea of a social identity shift to the concept of target-shifting of a racially ambiguous American target. We found that in response to a threatening American identity associated with President Obama, Black Americans high in White American Centrism perceived the President to be physically “Whiter,” compared to Blacks low in White American Centrism. We discuss the apparent differences between the racial groups in both studies as a function of varying degrees of perceived association between the American identity and each of the racial identities (Study 1) and societal norms and constraints at play in the United States (Study 2).

Graduation Semester

2011-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/26049

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2011 Jennifer L. Rosner

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