Reducing within-group overconfidence through group identity and between-group confidence judgments

Individuals belonging to a social group make judgments about their relative standing within the group as well as about the relative standing of their group among other groups. On average, individuals exhibit overconfidence bias in both types of judgments in a variety of settings. We hypothesize, however, that the latter bias counteracts the former; therefore, the salience of between-group judgments should mitigate within-group overconfidence. Our second hypothesis is that within-group overconfidence is reduced in the presence of group identity. Using a 2 × 2 between-subject design, we test, and find strong support for, these hypotheses in a laboratory experiment.     

Subcultural Identity Work in Social Movements: Barriers to Collective Identity Changes and Overcoming Them

Over time, social movements must contend with a vast array of forces that can lead to changes in the movement's collective identity. As such changes may impact the alignment of movements and their membership, this study explores how changes are perceived by members and how they are interactively addressed. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered from two Native American social movement organizations, this study specifically asks why some changes suggested by movement members might be pursued and others are not. While movement members felt that there were a number of barriers to changes in their movements, the study revealed that it was the resonance of collective memories – presented during interactions as narrative commemorations – that encouraged the pursuit of suggested changes or the maintenance of a status quo.     

Virtual journey coupled with face‐to‐face exchange: enhancing the cultural sensitivity and competence of graduate students

This study attempted to enhance cultural sensitivity for graduate students at an American and a South African university, using a six‐week online List Serv, email buddy exchange, and two‐week face‐to‐face experience. After the course was over, results of the intercultural developmental inventory, using t‐tests for related samples, showed that there was a significant difference (alpha equals .04) in the universalism and cognitive frame shifting clusters as well as the overall developmental cultural level of sensitivity. Positive trends were noted in the areas of cultural self‐identity enhancement, and a decrease in inflation in the area of perceived intercultural sensitivity was noted.     

Deconstructing place identity? Impacts of a “Racino” on Elora,Ontario, Canada

The heritage-scape is a socially constructed place that provides locally crafted products, cuisine, and experiences to satisfy consumers’ desire for authenticity. In this paper we question if the introduction of a functionally non-conforming structure causes an existing heritage-based place identity to dismantle (i.e. deconstruct). In 2003, a pari-mutuel racetrack and gaming parlour (a “racino”) was introduced to the historic village of Elora, Ontario, Canada. Through content analysis we unravel (i.e. deconstruct) the social processes that lay behind this development. We find that this profit-oriented venue was widely contested by preservation-minded residents, who expressed concern that this structure would compromise Elora’s heritage image. Our survey finds, however, that the majority of visitors believe that the Grand River Raceway and Slots has not impacted Elora’s existing place-based identity. Key informants further reveal that image management, spatial placement and visual coherence are largely responsible for its maintenance. We conclude that a heritage-based place identity may be retained, and even enhanced, in the presence of a hegemonic discourse that is underlain by a long-standing preservationist ideology.     

Sexual Identity Formation of Women Who Love Women: A Contextual View Point

Nonheterosexuals experience oppression and discrimination that affect personal development on all levels. An increased awareness of sexual identity development could create more inclusive sexual identity models, better understanding for counselor educators, and better training for counselors on issues of sexual identity. The purpose of this study was to identify the life experiences that influence sexual identity in women who love women. This study required that participants attach meaning to sexual identity formation. From the data collected, four themes emerged: I was just different, information seeking, view of self as a woman within the context of culture, and contextual relationships. Findings of this study did not support a stage model of sexual identity development. Instead, this study supported the view that sexual identity is fluid and strongly related to relationships with peer groups.     

Fabricating Japaneseness? The Identity Politics of Young Designers and Artists in Global Cities

The present study explores the identity politics of young Japanese designers and artists working across national boundaries today. It addresses the following research questions: (i) Do young designers and artists aim to produce works with “universal” appeal or strategically make use of “Japaneseness”? (ii) Do they develop new transnational identities or regard themselves as “Japanese”? and (iii) Who do they think has the power to label their works as “Japanese” in the art worlds? For this purpose, I conducted in‐depth interviews with professional designers and artists who have migrated from Japan to London, New York, or Paris. The results show that most designers and artists who were interviewed indeed aim to produce works with “universal” appeal, while only a few respondents attempt to strategically express “Japaneseness” in their works. However, regardless of whether they make use of “Japaneseness” or not, all respondents regard themselves as “Japanese” without developing new transnational identities. Even so, they do not search for or hold onto Japaneseness; but rather the media, as well as a certain part of the art world, persistently attempt to emphasize “Japaneseness,” due to the structure of the art world, where whiteness continues to be the “norm.” While designers and artists are increasingly oriented toward creating works with new forms and values through the transnational production system, gatekeepers and legitimators of the art world continue to fabricate “the nation” and reinforce boundaries of national culture.     

Occupational Identity in Administrative Service Work: The Aspect of Carefulness

This article explores ‘carefulness’ as a salient aspect of occupational identity in two administrative service occupations. Drawing on empirical data obtained through interviews with medical secretaries and post‐office cashiers, and on a theoretical perspective sensitive to different bases of identification and classification, the meanings and ambiguities of carefulness are discussed in a wider context of gender, modernity and office work. The empirical material indicates that the theme of carefulness is closely connected to issues of competence and power. It is the author's argument that a closer focus on competence‐related themes and concepts central to working individuals themselves, combined with an occupational identity approach that takes modernity as well as gender into consideration, will contribute to a better understanding of the contested realities of administrative service work.     

‘I am not poor. Poor children live in Africa’: Social identity and children's perspectives on growing up in contexts of poverty and deprivation in the Netherlands

This study focuses on problems children living in contexts of poverty face in daily life and how they perceive poverty. Findings are based on research with children (8–12 years) from impoverished areas in the Netherlands. Besides the problems as identified by the children, such as the poor quality of playgrounds and the lack of money for activities, we identified a striking paradox, namely the taboo on or denial of poverty versus the pervasiveness of poverty. To understand and handle this contradiction, we reflect on representation of children growing up in contexts of poverty through a social identity framework.     

Reallocation of pronouns through contact: In‐the‐moment identity construction amongst Southern California Salvadorans

This study uses natural, everyday social interaction within Salvadoran families living in Southern California to examine the use of the 2nd‐person singular pronouns tú and vos (and their corresponding morphologies) in this contact variety of Spanish. An in‐depth, qualitative analysis reveals that the employment and significance of these forms of address do not conform entirely to Salvadoran norms, nor to those of the surrounding Mexican‐based Spanish koiné. Accommodation to the pronominal repertoire of the region's majority serves as a communicative resource driven by questions of U.S./Los Angeles identity and solidarity with speakers in‐the‐moment interlocutor(s), a process which has caused the original Salvadoran pronouns to also be reallocated and refunctionalized (Britain and Trudgill 1999 ) as resources for accomplishing Salvadoran identity. Members of this community make active use of their pronominal options in real‐time interaction as they navigate the fluid, multifaceted identities that they and their interlocutors now embody in the U.S. context.