The Psychology of the Affirmed Learner: Spontaneous Self-Affirmation in the Face of Stress

Autor/inn/en	Brady, Shannon T.; Reeves, Stephanie L.; Garcia, Julio; Purdie-Vaughns, Valerie; Cook, Jonathan E.; Taborsky-Barba, Suzanne; Tomasetti, Sarah; Davis, Eden M.; Cohen, Geoffrey L.
Titel	The Psychology of the Affirmed Learner: Spontaneous Self-Affirmation in the Face of Stress
Quelle	In: Journal of Educational Psychology, 108 (2016) 3, S.353-373 (21 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-0663
DOI	10.1037/edu0000091
Schlagwörter	Stress Variables; Grade Point Average; College Students; Hispanic American Students; Academic Achievement; Achievement Need; Student Motivation; White Students; Stereotypes; Intervention; Values; Psychological Patterns; Student Attitudes; Minority Group Students; Individual Characteristics; Self Esteem; Coping; Statistical Analysis; Time Management; Measures (Individuals) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Collegestudent; Hispanic; Hispanic Americans; Student; Students; Hispanoamerikaner; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Schulleistung; Schulische Motivation; Klischee; Wertbegriff; Schülerverhalten; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Self-esteem; Selbstaufmerksamkeit; Bewältigung; Statistische Analyse; Zeitmanagement; Messdaten
Abstract	A key question about achievement motivation is how to maintain it over time and in the face of stress and adversity. The present research examines how a motivational process triggered by a social-psychological intervention propagates benefits over a long period of time and creates an enduring shift in the way people interpret subsequent adversity. During their first or second year of college, 183 Latino and White students completed either a values affirmation intervention or control exercise as part of a laboratory study. In the affirmation intervention, students wrote about a core personal value, an exercise that has been found in previous research to buffer minority students against the stress of being negatively stereotyped in school. This single affirmation improved the college grade point average (GPA) of Latino students over 2 years. Students were re-recruited for a follow-up session near the end of those 2 years. Results indicated that GPA benefits occurred, in part, because the affirmation shifted the way Latino students spontaneously responded to subsequent stressors. In particular, in response to an academic stressor salience task about their end-of-semester requirements, affirmed Latino students spontaneously generated more self-affirming and less self-threatening thoughts and feelings as assessed by an open-ended writing prompt. They also reported having a greater sense of their adequacy as assessed by measures of self-integrity, self-esteem, and hope, as well as higher academic belonging. Discussion centers on how and why motivational processes can trigger effects that persist over surprisingly long periods of time. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01