Identity Theories
College Readiness Transitioning to college is a unique time for students, first time alone, first time responsible for most decisions, accountability, often experience low self-esteem, low confidence, feeling isolated or not fitting in.
Emerging Adulthood Young adults between the ages of 18-25 experience social, emotional, and cognitive growth which do not always progress at the same rate.
Mental Health such as depression, anxiety. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people aged 15-25. (CDC, 2022) Social Connectedness is a known intervention to minimize suicide and suicidal ideation.
Neurodivergent students: spectrums disorders like Autism or attention deficit disorders. lack executive functioning skills, planning, time management.
Perry theory of cognitive development. Emerging adults move from from binary to multiplistic thinking.
Role Identity: We assimilate to a certain role in a group dynamic. Think family systems theory. Birth order theory.
Socio/economic/cultural identity: ELL, im/emigrant, first-gen, etc. international students, Gender, Sexual Identities.
Identity Threats
Halo effect: An instructor’s assumptions of one student are applied to the entire class. A student is “guilty by association” (Foster & Ysseldyke, 1976, p. 37).
Impostor syndrome/phenomenon: “The term impostor phenomenon is used to designate an internal experience of intellectual phonies, which appears to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high achieving women” (Clance & Imes, 1978, p. 241). In other words, self-imposed expectancies hinder performance.
Spotlight effect: The phenomenon “that people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others” (Gilovich, et al., 2002, p. 211).
Stereotype Threat Stereotype threat is an identity theory that describes the phenomenon of the “concrete, real-time threat of being judged and treated poorly in settings where a negative stereotype about one's group applies” (Steele, 2003, p. 112).
Stigma consciousness: One’s awareness of negative stereotypes (Blaine, 2007, p. 185).
Teacher expectancy: the self-fulfilling prophecy cycle may be a product of a teacher’s expectations, that students will only reach the level of expectation set forth by the teacher rather than a self-imposed expectation (Brophy, 1983, p. 631).
