The DOI matches its Crossref record; 129 of the 131 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Deflecting the trajectory and changing the narrative: How self-affirmation affects academic performance and motivation under identity threat.
Abstract
To the extent that stereotype and identity threat undermine academic performance, social psychological interventions that lessen threat could buffer threatened students and improve performance. Two studies, each featuring a longitudinal field experiment in a mixed-ethnicity middle school, examined whether a values affirmation writing exercise could attenuate the achievement gap between Latino American and European American students. In Study 1, students completed multiple self-affirmation (or control) activities as part of their regular class assignments. Latino American students, the identity threatened group, earned higher grades in the affirmation than control condition, whereas White students were unaffected. The effects persisted 3 years and, for many students, continued into high school by lifting their performance trajectory. Study 2 featured daily diaries to examine how the affirmation affected psychology under identity threat, with the expectation that it would shape students' narratives of their ongoing academic experience. By conferring a big-picture focus, affirmation was expected to broaden construals, prevent daily adversity from being experienced as identity threat, and insulate academic motivation from identity threat. Indeed, affirmed Latino American students not only earned higher grades than nonaffirmed Latino American students but also construed events at a more abstract than concrete level and were less likely to have their daily feelings of academic fit…
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“One study, for example, found that the degree of adversity that students reported experiencing on a particular day was related to lower belonging and increased social identity threat only for Latino students in U.S. schools who did not take part in an intervention aimed at buffering against social identity threat (Sherman et al., 2013).”
From Tackling Educational Inequalities with Social Psychology: Identities, Contexts, and Interventions (2021) · cites this paper as Sherman et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“Similar results have been found for Latino (but not White) middle-school students in the United States (Brady et al., 2016;Goyer et al., 2017;Sherman et al., 2013).”
From Tackling Educational Inequalities with Social Psychology: Identities, Contexts, and Interventions (2021) · cites this paper as Sherman et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, the beneficial effects of the intervention on grades have been shown to persist for at least 2 years (Cohen, Garcia, Purdie-Vaughns, Apfel, & Brzustoski, 2009;Sherman et al., 2013).”
From Tackling Educational Inequalities with Social Psychology: Identities, Contexts, and Interventions (2021) · cites this paper as Sherman et al., 2013
In the citing paper
“But several of the intervention studies to be discussed find that the effects of self-affirming writing activities can persist, for instance improving the grades of at-risk minority students years later (Cohen et al. 2009, Sherman et al. 2013).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Second, because a threat is seen in the context of an expansive view of the self, it has less impact on psychological well-being (Cohen et al. 2009, Cook et al. 2012, Sherman et al. 2013).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Third, because of subjective construal, an intervention can trigger an enduring shift in perception (Sherman et al. 2013; see also Ross & Nisbett 2011, Wilson 2011).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Two years later, affirmed African Americans and Latino Americans continued to earn higher GPAs than their nonaffirmed peers (Cohen et al. 2009, Sherman et al. 2013).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“The values affirmation intervention significantly improved the grade point average (GPA) of the identity-threatened groups, African American students in one school (Cohen et al. 2006(Cohen et al. , 2009) ) and Latino American students in two others (Sherman et al. 2013), in their core courses (English, math, social studies, and science).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“The closure corresponded to roughly 30% for Latino and African American students at two school sites (Cohen et al. 2009;Sherman et al. 2013, study 2) and 22% for economically disadvantaged Latino American students at another (see Figure 2) (Sherman et al. 2013, study 1).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Among nonaffirmed minority students, a poor grade or a stressful day predicted a lower sense of belonging in school and a higher sense of racial threat (see Cook et al. 2012, Sherman et al. 2013).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Consistent with this, several findings suggest that self-affirmed minorities were more likely to see adversity as an isolated event rather than a threat to self (see Cook et al. 2012;Sherman et al. 2013, study 2).”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“The long-term effects of an affirmation on middle school minority students underscored the recursive, interactive processes that turn early performance outcomes in school into enduring advantages and disadvantages”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Self-affirmed individuals narrate adversity in a manner that better maintains the adequacy of the self and helps them to adaptively engage with threats; this narrative can build on itself over time”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“For instance, months after the intervention had commenced, affirmed minority students had a more robust identity as a person who belongs in school and were resilient to ongoing threats”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Affirmed students experienced many of the same stressors and slights as others but without the detrimental impact that nonaffirmed students experienced.”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Over large time scales, early outcomes matter more because their consequences can compound”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
In the citing paper
“Performance across the school year as a function of ethnicity and affirmation condition, with means and error terms adjusted for baseline covariates and grade level.”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Sherman et al. 2013
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Metadata
- Authors
- Sherman, D. K., Hartson, K. A., Binning, K. R., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Garcia, J., Taborsky-Barba, S., Tomassetti, S., Nussbaum, A. D., & Cohen, G. L.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 591-618
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2120040207
- Cited by
- 371
- References
- 131
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 9
- FWCI
- 106.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0720427)
- University of California
- National (0723909)
- Spencer Foundation (200800068)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Career Development and Diversity
- Keywords
- self-affirmation, identity threat, academic performance, academic motivation, achievement gap, construal level, stereotype threat, junior high school students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Educational Status, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Motivation, Self Care, Self Concept, Social Values, Students, United States, Writing, Mexican Americans, White People, Emigrants and Immigrants, Narrative Therapy
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