Self-concept Orientation Research Articles

Psychosocial Correlates of Sexual Orientation Self-Concept Ambiguity Among Ghanaian Adolescents

Psychosocial Correlates of Sexual Orientation Self-Concept Ambiguity Among Ghanaian Adolescents

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B a c k g r o u n d . The self-concept of a person is a phenomenon that includes a person's ideas about himself and his own assessment of these ideas. Representatives of various directions in psychology emphasized that a positive self-concept of an individual is a condition for a fully functioning and prosperous individual who is fully aware of his self, knows and knows how to use his advantages and disadvantages, and strives to realize his potential (K. Rogers, R. Burns, J. Nezlek, R. Plesko, etc.). R. Burns was the first to propose the division of self-concept orientation into positive and negative. Dichotomous influence on the self-concept of an individual is carried out constantly and manifests itself in various life situations. Positive transformations of the self-concept occur under the influence of various factors, in particular, they are provoked by personal traits – benevolence, conscientiousness, neuroticism, etc. (J. Campbell, I. Tokunaga, T. Horiuchi, etc.). M e t h o d s . The following methods were used to investigate the characteristics of the transformation of the self-concept of a person: Self- actualization test SAMOAL (to study a person's attitude towards himself/herself and the desire for self-actualization), R. Kettel's 16-factor personality questionnaire (16РF) (to study personal characteristics), tolerance scale to the uncertainty of S. Badner (to study the attitude towards oneself and to changes), H. Ammon's self-structural test (to clarify the central structures of the self); projective technique "Ideal Self" (to study the cognitive component of self-concept); the projective technique "Cube in the desert" (for researching the level of comfort in current life conditions and features of the social orientation of the individual). R e s u l t s . Constructive transformation is evidenced by the presence of adequate positive self-esteem, active construction of one's own life, activity, desire to realize oneself, carefreeness, high work capacity, frankness, absence of social stereotypes, energy, satisfaction with work experience in one's specialty, ability to act adequately in relation to threatening circumstances, ability to enjoy sexual contacts , the ability to understand the feelings and interests of others, reluctance to recognize authority and pressure from others, independence, the desire for a harmonious existence and healthy relationships with other people, straightforwardness, psychological maturity, relaxation, courage, restraint, a tendency to think independently, a creative attitude to one's own life , patience, tolerance for uncertainty. A negative transformation of the self- concept is evidenced by the presence of activity, great fear of death and loneliness, high work capacity, rejection of one's own interests and needs, lack of trust in authoritative people, lack of contact with oneself, a flexible approach to one's own unconscious and feelings, emotional stability, intolerance to uncertainty, ease in relationships, independence, inability to live in the present, inability to accept criticism, unrealistic self-esteem, straightforwardness, depression, decisiveness, following generally accepted norms, courage, social hyperadaptability, tendency to benevolent social contacts, tolerance for criticism. С o n c l u s i o n . Features of the transformation of the self-concept of women aged 26 to 40 are presented. The transformation of the self- concept of an individual takes place in two directions. Constructive transformation contributes to the formation of a positive self-concept, destructive transformation – a negative self-concept. The subjective assessment of personal realization is an indicator of the orientation of the transformation of self-concept: a person with a formed positive self-concept is sure that it is realized in life; a person with a negative self-concept indicates that he is unfulfilled and has serious difficulties with self-actualization.

Identity-Consistent Self-Image Maintenance Following Leader Abuse: Integrating Self-Presentation and Self-Concept Orientation Perspectives

Although coping with an abusive boss can be psychologically demanding, those who suffer from leader abuse often stay in these unpleasant relationships, actively managing the way they are viewed in the eyes of their abusive leader (source of the abuse) and coworkers (observers of the abuse). Accordingly, the abusive supervision literature has relied almost exclusively on an emotional appraisal perspective to study the self-image implications following leader abuse. The present study seeks to add to this emerging line of scholarly conversations by presenting a novel theoretical alternative. Specifically, we integrate self-presentation and self-concept orientation perspectives to portray individuals’ identity-driven self-image maintenance following leader abuse. We argue that only those with a stronger relational self-concept are likely to be motivated to preserve their identity-consistent self-image and present themselves in positive and socially desirable ways toward both their coworkers and leader, following leader abuse. Using survey data collected from working professionals in China across two field studies, we found support for our hypotheses that when employees with a stronger relational self-concept experienced abusive supervision, they were motivated to help their coworkers as a result of their relational reputation maintenance concerns, and to use ingratiation tactics toward their leader due to their image preservation motives. We also offer insights about both the theoretical and practical implications of our research and discuss study limitations and directions for future research.

Abusive Supervision and Employee Relational Reputation Maintenance: A Self-Verification Perspective

While the current literature has largely maintained that one’s experience of abusive supervision can trigger their engagement in interpersonal deviance against coworkers, our research breaks new theoretical ground by showing such experience under certain circumstances could also produce positive prosocial outcomes. We do so by integrating self-verification theory and self-concept orientation theory to explain why and under what conditions victims of abusive supervision are motivated to maintain their relational reputation in the work group. Using time-lagged multi-source survey data from 253 employees and their supervisors working at a large convenience store chain, we found support for our proposed model. Our findings showed that those abused employees with a stronger relational self-concept had heightened relational reputation maintenance concerns and therefore were motivated to maintain their relational reputation by engaging in more helping behaviors and less interpersonal deviance directed towards their coworkers. Our findings further showed that the positive prosocial consequences of abusive supervision were the strongest when the abused employee had stronger relational self-concept and perceived a higher level of leader reputation in the work unit. We discussed theoretical implications of our research and limitations and directions for future research.

Structural and Functional Approach to Study of Psychological Loneliness

The article discusses the possibility of studying the psychological aspects of loneliness in the context of problems of personality adaptation and the risks of adaptive chokes. Loneliness is the result of a low level of adaptation or the result of disadaptation processes. Personality is considered functionally as a means of adaptation primarily to the social environment. The basic components of the personality structure arealso considered functionally as tools for adaptation. The socio-psychological version of the personality structure is taken as the basis, which includes social roles, selfconcept, and personality orientation in their interrelationship. The experience of loneliness is associated with adaptive dysfunctions of individual components of the personality. The risks that are carried by a social role as a possible factor in the complication of relations or the emergence of acute conflicts with surrounding people and personalities themselves and, as a consequence, the experience of a feeling of loneliness, are considered. Dysfunctions of the self-concept are associated with crises or identity deformation, self-esteem deformation, contradictions, the discrepancybetween external, public self, and inner self. Orientation as the main vector of personality activity is considered as an important factor of adaptation, harmonization of relationships with the social world. Difficulties in this area, difficulties in working out a life programme, its correction, or radical changes under the influence of lifeexperience also carry risks of disadaptation and psychological loneliness. For a certain period of time, the purposeful activity of the individual can be blocked, which is a serious psychological problem and a destructive factor of social alienation and self-alienation. Dysfunctions of one of the components of the personality structure will not create radical problems if they are not observed in other components of the personality structure. The greatest risks of social isolation and loneliness are associated with the destabilisation of the structure of the individual as a whole. This leads to a full-scale disorder of the person with the surrounding world and himself/herself, which guarantees disadaptation and intense experiences of loneliness.
 Keywords: psychological loneliness, adaptation and disadaptation of personality, socio-psychological structure of personality, social roles, self-concept, personality orientation, dysfunctions in personality structure.

Self-concept orientation and organizational identification: a mediated relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test a mediated model of the relationship between self-concept orientation (individualist and collectivist) and organizational identification (OrgID, Cooper and Thatcher, 2010), with proposed mediators including the need for organizational identification (nOID, Glynn, 1998) as well as self-presentation concerns of social adjustment (SA) and value expression (VE, Highhouse et al., 2007).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 509 participants in seven countries. Direct and mediation effects were tested using structural equation modeling (AMOS 25.0).FindingsIndividualist self-concept orientation was positively related to VE and collectivist self-concept orientation was positively related to nOID, VE and SA. VE mediated the relationship between both self-concept orientations and OrgID. In addition, nOID mediated the relationship for collectivist self-concept orientation.Practical implicationsThis study identifies underlying psychological needs as mediators of the relationship of self-concept orientation to OrgID. Understanding these linkages enables employers to develop practices that resonate with the self-concept orientations and associated psychological needs of their employees, thereby enhancing OrgID.Originality/valueThis study provides a significant contribution to the OrgID literature by proposing and testing for relationships between self-concept orientations and OrgID as mediated by underlying psychological needs. The results provide support for the mediated model as well as many of Cooper and Thatcher’s (2010) theoretical propositions, with notable exceptions.

Sexual Orientation Self-Concept Ambiguity and Alcohol Use Disorder Symptomology: The Roles of Motivated Psychological Distancing and Drinking to Cope

Sexual Orientation Self-Concept Ambiguity and Alcohol Use Disorder Symptomology: The Roles of Motivated Psychological Distancing and Drinking to Cope

Sexual Orientation Self-Concept Ambiguity and Alcohol Use Disorder Symptomology: The Roles of Motivated Psychological Distancing and Drinking to Cope.

Women whose sexual identity is not exclusively heterosexual are at risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and problematic drinking. A textual analytic approach focusing on motivated psychological distancing in language style use was used to detect sexual minority women who are at greatest risk for an AUD. Young adult women (N = 254) were asked to complete a self-report measure of sexual orientation self-concept ambiguity as well as free-write about their sexuality. In addition, they completed a questionnaire assessing AUD symptoms according to criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program assessed language markers within participant-written essays that reflected acute states of aversive self-focus (i.e., fewer first-person pronouns, fewer present-tense verbs). Drinking to cope with negative affectivity mediated the relationship between sexual orientation self-concept ambiguity and AUD symptomology. This indirect effect was conditional, moderated by higher use of language reflecting motivated psychological distancing, such that the indirect effect was significant only for women whose writing included fewer instances of first-person pronouns and present-tense verbs (-1 SD) compared with those with greater instances of first-person pronouns and present-tense verbs (+1 SD), reflecting motivated psychological distancing. Sexual minority women are at an increased risk for AUD. Further, this study suggests mechanisms that may exacerbate the relationship between sexual identity uncertainty and problematic drinking. The study presents a novel method of identifying individuals most at risk for alcohol misuse: detecting aversive self-focus in language style and word choice.

Sexual Orientation Self-Concept Ambiguity: Scale Adaptation and Validation.

The current article describes the adaptation of a measure of sexual orientation self-concept ambiguity (SSA) from an existing measure of general self-concept clarity. Latent "trait" scores of SSA reflect the extent to which a person's beliefs about their own sexual orientation are perceived as inconsistent, unreliable, or incongruent. Sexual minority and heterosexual women ( n = 348), ages 18 to 30, completed a cross-sectional survey. Categorical confirmatory factor analysis guided the selection of items to form a 10-item, self-report measure of SSA. In the current report, we also examine (a) reliability of the 10-item scale score, (b) measurement invariance based on respondents' sexual identity status and age group, and (c) correlations with preexisting surveys that purport to measure similar constructs and theoretical correlates. Evidence for internal reliability, measurement invariance (based on respondent sex), and convergent validity was also investigated in an independent, validation sample. The lowest SSA scores were reported by women who self-ascribed an exclusively heterosexual or exclusively lesbian/gay sexual identity, whereas those who reported a bisexual, mostly lesbian/gay, or mostly heterosexual identity, reported relatively higher SSA scores.

Explaining variation in conspicuous luxury consumption: An individual differences' perspective

This article examines the impact of various individual differences on consumers' propensity to engage in two distinct forms of conspicuous (publicly observable) luxury consumption behavior. Status seeking is an established driver, but other managerially relevant drivers can also explain conspicuous consumption of luxuries. The study develops and empirically confirms a conceptual model that shows that bandwagon and snobbish buying patterns underlie the more generic conspicuous consumption of luxuries. In addition to status seeking, the self-concept orientation regulates which of these two patterns is more prominent. Both susceptibility to normative influence and need for uniqueness mediate the influence of self-concept. The modeled psychological constructs explain a large part of the variance in conspicuous luxury consumption patterns and can be used as input in the development of marketing strategies.

Does big-fish–little-pond effect always exist? Investigation of goal orientations as moderators in the Hong Kong context

The big-fish–little-pond effect (BFLPE) posits that students with the same ability will have higher academic self-concepts when they are in low-ability classes than in high-ability classes. Our research puts the BFLPE under scrutiny by examining goal orientations as the moderators that may affect the size of the BFLPE. We collected data on mathematics self-concept, mathematics ability and goal orientation from 7334 Hong Kong junior secondary school students in 201 classes. We hypothesised that the BFLPE would be exacerbated for students who endorsed high extrinsic goals while the BFLPE would be attenuated for students who endorsed high intrinsic goals. However, the results did not fully support the hypothesis. We found that students who were highly motivated in general (both intrinsic and extrinsic) experienced stronger BFLPE. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Identification in organization: Role of individuals self-concept orientation and identification motives

The self-concept orientation of individuals to achieve multiple targets of organization identification- coworker, workgroup and organizational identification is evaluated with mediating role of individuals associated motives. The study sample is consisted of 74 educational specialists from renowned universities of Pakistan. Result shows that, Self-concept orientation has a positive but insignificant impact (∆R2 =0.023, β=0.121, P=0.199) on organization identification targets. Self-motives of individuals positively but partially mediates between self-concept orientation and organizational identification targets (∆R2 =0.004, β=0.052, P=0.59). The overall result supports the view that associated motives; self-consistency, self-enhancement and self-expansion play an intervening role in individuals’ self-concept orientation to identifying organizational targets. Key words: Identification, motives, self-orientation.

The “Real Self” and Inauthenticity: The Importance of Self-Concept Anchorage for Emotional Experiences in the Workplace

I examine the utility of self-concept anchorage (as described by Turner 1976) in the analysis of inauthenticity in the workplace. As controlling internally felt emotion may distance the worker from her true feelings or true self, the management of emotion in the workplace can produce feelings of inauthenticity in the worker. This relationship has been demonstrated in previous research. However, as noted by some researchers, the relationship between emotion management and inauthenticity assumes that workers experience spontaneous, unmanaged emotions as representative of their true self (an impulsive orientation to emotion). I analyze a worker's self-concept orientation as a moderator of the relationship between emotion management in the workplace and feelings of inauthenticity. The results reveal the importance of considering self-concept anchorage in analyses of inauthenticity in the workplace; however, the effect appears at the level of emotional feeling rather than display.

Beyond gender differences: Self-concept orientation and relationship-building applications on the Internet

Research concerning gender differences in Internet usage suggests greater interest among females in applications with relationship-building implications, and commonly refers to agentic and communal gender roles to explain such behaviors. However, a regression analysis of Web-based survey data collected from 386 respondents concerning their use of such Internet applications found that usage was better predicted when agentic (Self-Orientation) and communal (Other-Orientation) self-concept characteristics were measured rather than assumed from biological sex. With the exception of instant messaging, Other-Orientation was a positive predictor of usage rates for relational applications including email, greeting cards, and finding new friends or relationships. Furthermore, Other-Orientation either added to or superseded the prediction afforded by biological sex.

Exploring the self-concept in an African culture.

Self-concept orientations (individualistic, collectivistic, and moralistic) were examined for 210 Zimbabwe college students of a Shona cultural background. Although the students tended to endorse an individualistic self-concept orientation to a significant extent, the women and the older students were more inclined to perceive of the self-concept as collectivistic and moralistic in orientation. Implications for self-concept models for African cultures and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Self-Concept and Sex-Role Orientation: An Investigation of Multidimensional Aspects of Personality Development in Adolescence.

A total of 354 6th through 12th grade adolescents completed both a measure of self-concept and a revised version of the Bem Sex Role Inventory in order to assess relationships between sex-role orientation and self-concept during adolescence. It was hypothesized that sex-role orientation and self-concept were systematically related multi-dimensional aspects of personality. The results confirmed the major hypotheses. Overall, Masculine and Androgynous adolescents scored significantly higher than did Feminine and Undifferentiated adolescents on the instrumental self-concept dimension of Achievement/Leadership. In contrast, Feminine and Androgynous adolescents scored significantly higher than their Masculine and Undifferentiated peers on the expressive self-concept dimension of Congeniality/Sociability. Feminine adolescents exhibited significantly higher adjustment self-concepts than did their Undifferentiated peers, but both groups scored lower on this aspect of self-concept than did Androgynous and Masculine adolescents. Finally, on the dimension of Masculinity/Femininity, Masculine adolescents scored significantly higher, and Feminine adolescents significantly lower, than did their Androgynous and Undifferentiated peers. Regression analyses indicated a significant Masculinity component for the instrumental, and a significant Femininity component for the expressive, dimension of self-concept. In addition, only Masculinity contributed significantly to the regression predicting overall Adjustment scores. No age differences emerged from any of the analyses. The results illustrate the utility of the notion that self-concept and sex-role orientation are multidimensional constructs.