The impact of social identity integration on well-being, performance, and information behavior

• Applicant: Dr. Christina Matschke
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology ; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 319447569

The human self-concept is flexible and capable of adaption to diversity in the social world. The current research proposal sets out to investigate the intrapersonal diversity management of an individual who possesses several social identities. More specifically, it is investigated (1) how the organization of the self-concept affects well-being and performance, (2) whether the self-concept organization can be situationally changed and (3) how the self-concept organization affects information behavior. Research has demonstrated that when an individual makes experiences on the basis of one social identity, these experiences can be reduced by an alternative social identity. Based on findings from the personal self-concept, it is proposed that only independent social identities are suitable to reduce or amplify single-identity experiences. Social identities are, however, more or less integrated in the self-concept. The first part of the research proposal investigates whether the integration between two social identities has an impact on the potential buffering or amplifying effect of an alternative social identity when one social identity is affected. Based on network theories of the self-concept and on social identity complexity models, it is predicted that positive as well as negative experiences based on one social identity spill over to integrated parts of the identity and therefore influence affect and self-appraisal more strongly, compared to when the social identity is independent. In the educational domain, it is predicted that the effect of stereotype threat can only be buffered by independent alternative social identities. The second part of the research proposal investigates how identity integration can be situationally changed. It is assumed that activating knowledge about similarities and differences between the social identities can tune the situational self-concept organization and thereby change the effect of single identity experiences. The third part of the research proposal sets out to investigate the consequences of identity integration on information behavior. It is predicted that when identity integration is high, individuals will be less biased in information preference, interpretation, their learning from heterogeneous information and their media behavior than when identity integration is low. Eleven studies, including field studies and experiments, and a variety of samples are proposed to systematically test the predictions. Taken together, the research project contributes to a better understanding of the adaptation of the self-concept organization to a heterogeneous social world and its consequences for well-being, performance, and information behavior. With this knowledge, circumstances can be actively designed to support people in their intrapersonal diversity management as an adaptation to a complex social environment.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants