Identity Theories 

College readiness  social, academic and life skills. 

 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).