Can a values-affirmation intervention bolster academic achievement and raise critical consciousness? Results from a small-scale field experiment

Abstract

This small-scale field experiment tests whether an adapted values-affirmation intervention enhances youths’ academic achievement and mitigates social identity threat while simultaneously raising capacity to promote social change via the development of critical consciousness (CC). CC is the critical analysis of inequitable social conditions, motivation to effect change, and the action taken to change perceived inequities. Participants included 53 ninth and tenth grade students from the Midwestern United States (Mage = 14.97). Results suggested that the intervention may bolster academic performance and raise critical motivation, a subcomponent of CC. Because CC has been thought to be slow to develop, this study provides new insight into how CC can be fostered to support the social mobility and inclusion of youth experiencing marginalization.