Violent instances of intergroup conflict in recent memory have usually involved cultural groups, but theory and research on the psychology of intergroup relations is largely culture free. The two most prominent theories, realistic group conflict theory (RGCT) and social identity/self-categorization theory (SIT/SCT) provide fundamental insight into basic processes in intergroup relations: (1) th...

What is ‘religious identity’ and how may schooling impact upon it? In this paper, I present an elementary theory of religious identity construction and negotiation, drawing upon the theoretical framework that emerged from extensive fieldwork as part of a study of adolescent Christians, Jews and Muslims in England undertaken for my DPhil at the University of Oxford. I suggest that a conception o...

The impact of a major life transition on identity change is examined in this longitudinal study. Drawing on a framework provided by symbolic interactionism and identity theory (Stryker, 1968, 1987), we examined global self-esteem, interactional commitment and the identity hierarchies of a group of students while they were in secondary school and, again one year later, when they had made the tra...

This poster reports an investigation of children’s perceptions of their own and one other religious group. 242 5to 11-year-old children living in south-east England took part in the study. The children came from two religious groups, Muslim and Christian. The children were questioned in order to elicit their descriptions of members of the two religious groups, and to assess the perceived variab...

Professional identity development, seen as essential in the transition from student to professional, needs to be owned by the universities in order to ensure a workforce appropriately prepared to provide global health care in the future. The development of professional identity involves a focus on who the student is becoming, as well as what they know or can do, and requires authentic learning ...

An extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used to understand the factors, particularly control perceptions and affective reactions given conflicting findings in previous research, informing younger people’s intentions to join a bone marrow registry. Participants (N = 174) completed attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control [PBC], moral norm, anticipated regret, self-identit...

This study examines direct, interactive, and indirect effects of racial identity and depression in a sample of 379 African American women. Results indicated that higher racial private and public regard were associated with lower depression. The relationship between private regard and depression was moderated by racial centrality, such that higher private regard was more strongly related to lowe...

This study aimed to explore the relationships between foreign language learners’ self-identity changes, motivation types, and Foreign Language proficiency associated with learning English in private language schools in Iranian context. Based on a stratified sampling, 204 English as a foreign language learners from three language schools in Tehran were selected to participate in the study. The i...