Three experiments integrated insights from achievement goal theory, social identity threat, and stress and coping research, to develop a theory-based strategy individuals can use to navigate social identity threat in high stakes achievement settings. In all experiments women were asked to adopt a mastery goal (focus on learning and building skills) or a performance goal (perform well; avoid errors) before a mock job interview. In Experiment 1, women expected their interviewer to be either sexist (creating identity threatening situation) or not sexist (a non-threatening situation). Women who focused on mastery rather than performance goals felt more challenged and less threatened while anticipating a job interview in an identity threatening situation; goals did not affect their appraisals of a non-threatening interview. Moreover, women who focused on mastery rather than performance intended to be more assertive (Experiment 2) and ultimately performed better in the interview (Experiment 3). Mediational analyses showed that a focus on mastery led women to appraise the identity threatening situation as a challenge they could overcome rather than a threat they were helpless to combat; challenge, in turn, enhanced performance.

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Baseado na Teoria da Identidade Social, este trabalho investigou os efeitos da ameaça à identidade social (AIS) nas reações do consumidor. Estudos da psicologia e sociologia mostram que o contexto social de um indivíduo implicará em mudanças em aspectos psicológicos e comportamentos individuais. Este trabalho abordou o tipo de estratégia de enfrentamento utilizada por indivíduos com identidades sociais vinculadas a estereótipos negativos, como resposta a situações de falha de serviço; o efeito da identificação do indivíduo para com o grupo social como moderador; o papel das emoções como mecanismo explicativo deste efeito; a relação entre as estratégias de enfrentamento e a intenção de reclamação do consumidor e por fim o papel do tipo de falha neste contexto. Através de dois estudos experimentais feitos com pessoas de baixa renda, os resultados desta pesquisa indicam que em situação de AIS, estratégia de enfrentamento emocional (i.e. distanciamento) será menos utilizada, levando à maior intenção de reclamação do consumidor após a falha de serviço. Este efeito é maior, quanto maior for a identificação do indivíduo com o grupo. Adicionalmente, foi explorado o papel das emoções como mecanismo explicativo e do tipo de falha (interpessoal vs de resultado) nesta relação. 9Continua) Identificou-se que o efeito da AIS na estratégia de enfrentamento emocional será maior quando a falha de serviço for do tipo interpessoal (vs falha de resultado). Baseado nisto, esta dissertação contribui para a literatura de marketing, de identidade social e de falha de serviços ao evidenciar que indivíduos que sofrem de ameaça optam menos por estratégias emocionais e possuem, por consequência, maior intenção de reclamação; que este efeito ocorre devido ao maior sentimento de raiva sentido pelo indivíduo e quando o mesmo se identificar com o grupo social estigmatizado e a falha for interpessoal (i.e. de tratamento). / Based on the theory of Social Identity, this dissertation aims to understand the effects of the Social Identity Threats (SIT) on the consumer’s Coping Strategies, after a service failure. Studies in psychology and sociology show that one’s social context will imply in changes on psychological aspects and individual behavior. This dissertation investigates what kind of coping strategies will be used by individuals with social identities linked to negative stereotypes, in response to situations of service failure with high levels identity threat; the effect of one’s identification with the social group as a moderator; how emotions can explain the effect of SIT in the coping strategies; the relation between the coping strategies used by consumers and theirs’s complaint intention and at last, the role of the kind of failure in this context. To achieve this purpose, two experimental studies were done with low-income population. The results of this work indicate that situations with higher levels of SIT (vs situations with lower levels of SIT) will cause the individual to use less emotional coping (i.e. distancing), after a service failure. This effect will be moderated by one’s identification with the stereotyped social group and will result on a greater complaint intention. Additionally the role of the emotions in the explaining was approached. Furthermore, results also show that the effects of SIT on the increase of the emotional coping will be higher when the type of failure is related to an interpersonal deviation (vs an outcome failure). Based on that, this dissertation contributes to the marketing, service failure and servicescape literature by showing that: individuals who suffers from SIT will cope to service failures more emotionally; this effect will be more powerful when individual’s have a higher identification with the negative stereotyped group and will result on a greater complaint intention; this will happen because of a higher feeling of the angry emotion and will occur more when the type of failure is related to and interpersonal deviation (vs an outcome failure).

Negative characterisations of social groups threaten group members’ social identities evoking various group-protective responses. Drawing on research about the functions of lay conceptions of humanness in social perception, the current research investigated a novel group-protective strategy: believing that an in group’s negative traits (flaws) are fundamental aspects of ‘human nature’ (HN). A similar protective strategy has been documented when acknowledging flaws in the individual self; this was extended to the acknowledgement of in group flaws in the current studies. In Study 1 (N = 77),participants’ in group-descriptiveness ratings of flaws were most strongly predicted by their HN ratings of flaws, suggesting that people may selectively acknowledge HN flaws as in group-descriptive. Study 2 (N = 51) demonstrated that flaws were rated higher on HN when attributed to an in group than to an out group. However, this effect was not found for positive traits, suggesting that it may reflect a motivation to protect a threatened in group-identity. Study 3 (N = 79) replicated this asymmetrical ‘humanising of in group flaws’ effect, and found that it was independent of desirability. In addition in group-identification was measured in Study 3 and found not to moderate the humanising of in group flaws. / Finally, in Study 3 participants also rated traits on an alternative sense of humanness, known as ‘human uniqueness’ (HU). The asymmetrical humanising of in group flaws effect was not found for the HU dimension, indicating that HN may be better suited to the protective function of mitigating flaws. These studies indicate that HN beliefs are systematically related to in group flaw-acknowledgement and suggest that in order to mitigate their in group’s flaws and thus protect the value of their social identities, people may be motivated to (a) selectively acknowledge HN flaws as in group-descriptive; and (b) ‘humanise’ flaws attributed to their in group Further more, the current research supports the claim that HN is an important dimension of social perception (e.g., Haslam et al., 2008); extends the relevance of this dimension to perceptions of in groups; and suggests that the HN concept should be understood as dynamic and flexible, rather than fixed.

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Background: The football industry is a giant economic driver in the world with the English Premier League being the one with the largest following worldwide. Recently, the Premier League club Manchester City FC got charged with over 100 breaches of the leagues financial fair play rules invoking discussion and reactions among fans. This provides an opportunity to conduct research of social identity threat situations of a real-time event. Therefore, the study of Manchester City FC fans is a valid case to contribute to the understanding of British football fans´ reactions to social identity threats and coping strategies.  Purpose: This study aims to explore the reaction and coping mechanisms of football fans as their supported club has been accused of potential rule-breaking activities. Method: The study is following an interpretivist approach through a single case study. A qualitative content analysis method is used to analyse the data gathered through a Manchester City online forum. The data is analysed through manual coding, where the sub-categories emerge from the raw codes gathered from the Manchester City online forum. Conclusion: This study suggests that social mobility is not prominent amongst Manchester City FC fans in the occurrence of this Social Identity Threat, while aggressive coping strategies such as Social Competition and Social Creativity are prominent in the analysis of the sample. The study also supports previous research identifying humour as a prominent coping strategy and identifies similarities between British sports fan and sports fans in other cultures.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Although interviews are a widely used and popular selection technique, when they lack clear structure and a predetermined set of questions, bias can permeate the interview selection process. In particular, illegal interview questions (i.e., questions that cannot legally be asked, such as marital status or children) may be particularly threatening for female applicants. Justice and social identity theory were used to explain the applicant reactions to illegal interview questions in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four hypothetical interview conditions – a control of four low face-valid interview questions, four non-gender relevant illegal interview questions, or four gender-relevant illegal interview questions. There was a significant gender by condition interaction on all outcome measures. Illegal interview questions had a significant negative effect on women’s organizational reactions (job pursuit intentions, organizational attractiveness, belonging, trust & comfort) but not on men’s organizational reactions. In contrast both women and men had significantly lower procedural justice perceptions of the gender-relevant illegal interview condition compared to the two other conditions. However, women perceived the illegal interview questions (both the gender relevant and gender non-relevant questions) as lower in face validity (i.e., were less relevant to the job), whereas men perceived all the interview questions as equally face-valid. Thus, although men believed the illegal interview questions were low in procedural justice and unfair, men still perceived these questions as valid and job-relevant. Overall, an indirect effect of procedural justice perceptions on organizational reactions was significant for both men and women, indicating that lower procedural justice did have a significant negative effect on applicants’ organizational reactions. Taken together, the following study demonstrates that illegal interview questions (both those related to gender and unrelated to gender) act as a social identity threat for women and harm women’s attraction to the organization, whereas men are primarily unaffected by these illegal interview questions in their reactions.

As social creatures, our social encounters matter. They matter for how we experience the world, as well as ourselves. The role of psycho-social experiences has recently been recognized in the neurocognitive literature on the sense of agency. Defined as the experience of control over one’s actions and outcomes, researchers have begun exploring how social interactions and contextual cues modulate this experience, using an implicit task known as intentional binding. This task claims to capture the sense of agency by assessing differences in perception of time across conditions that are theoretically considered to be higher in sense of agency as compared to those that are lower. Drawing inspiration from this new literature, this thesis explores, across five studies, the impact of different psycho-social experiences, particularly those related to stigmatized racial minority groups, on the sense of agency. Our first two studies (n= 36, n=123) indicate that reflection on both negative and positive psycho-social experiences, including racial stigma, bias, and acceptance, reduces the sense of agency, as indexed by lower action-effect interval estimates. Further, our latter three studies (n=45, n=44, n=44), which focus on North American and international samples, suggest that expectations of racial bias reduce the sense of agency and that this reduction is greatest amongst people who experience a threat to their identity because of the event, as well as people who are low-self monitors. Insights from these studies are used to advance neurocognitive and social cognitive work, including psycho-social modulates of intentional binding and psychological mechanisms that affect racial minorities. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / One of the most fascinating aspects of human consciousness is our ability to feel in control of our actions and their outcomes. This experience, better known as a sense of agency, allows us to distinguish our own actions from others and feel responsible for the events we cause in the world. As an important psychological phenomenon, many researchers have taken an interest in understanding how this experience is shaped within our subjective minds. This work has revealed that individual characteristics, as well as social/environmental processes, can affect the sense of agency, at times, even disrupting/impairing the experience. Extending these early findings, this thesis aims to explore the role of psycho-social factors, namely, racial stigma, on the sense of agency. Across five experiments, we reveal that race-based experiences, including perceived and expected racial bias as well as racial acceptance, decrease the sense of agency. With replication and further inquiry, these studies have important implications for the neurocognitive and social-cognitive literature, as well as society at large.

Submitted by JORGE JACOB FILHO (jorgejacob@gmail.com) on 2016-05-24T18:36:39Z No. of bitstreams: 2 ~$e price of the threat - dissertação 06.05 (completo).docx: 162 bytes, checksum: 2ae824f3602b738b79fd94cffe5d470f (MD5) Dissertação final para biblioteca 24.mai.pdf: 1505142 bytes, checksum: ed1c813b8dd0d5ad8dadcd26d9c6ebac (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2016-06-03T12:36:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 ~$e price of the threat - dissertação 06.05 (completo).docx: 162 bytes, checksum: 2ae824f3602b738b79fd94cffe5d470f (MD5) Dissertação final para biblioteca 24.mai.pdf: 1505142 bytes, checksum: ed1c813b8dd0d5ad8dadcd26d9c6ebac (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-06-07T14:42:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 ~$e price of the threat - dissertação 06.05 (completo).docx: 162 bytes, checksum: 2ae824f3602b738b79fd94cffe5d470f (MD5) Dissertação final para biblioteca 24.mai.pdf: 1505142 bytes, checksum: ed1c813b8dd0d5ad8dadcd26d9c6ebac (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-07T14:42:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 ~$e price of the threat - dissertação 06.05 (completo).docx: 162 bytes, checksum: 2ae824f3602b738b79fd94cffe5d470f (MD5) Dissertação final para biblioteca 24.mai.pdf: 1505142 bytes, checksum: ed1c813b8dd0d5ad8dadcd26d9c6ebac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-26 / In field experiments with subjects living either inside or outside Brazilian slums (n=955), we show that consumers living in slums are less price sensitive, in opposition with recent price sensitivity research. Comparing slum and non-slum dwellers, we found that negatively stereotyped consumers (e.g. slum dwellers) were more likely to pay higher amounts for friendlier customer service when facing social identity threats (SITs) in marketplaces such as banks. The mechanism which makes them less price sensitive is related to the perception of how other people evaluate their social groups, and we argue that they pay more because they are seeking identity-safe commercial relationships. This work, besides extending the literature in SITs, presents a perspective for the exchange between economics and psychology on price sensitivity, showing that consumers living in slums are willing to pay more to avoid possibly social identity threating experiences.