This study examined peer victimization, specifically indirect peer victimization and cyber victimization, in a sample of 311 college fraternity and sorority students at a large, public university in the southwestern United States. Of specific focus was the relationship between peer victimization--both within fraternity and sorority groups and between fraternity and sorority groups and outside members--and co-occurring psychological stress (i.e., anxiety, depression, stress). The potential mediating roles of group identity and campus connectedness were also examined. This study utilized the social psychological theory of Social Identity Theory to predict the relationships between the aforementioned variables. Results indicated that a majority of college fraternity and sorority students (58%) have experienced at least one instance of indirect peer victimization since being initiated into their respective organization. Collectively, the majority of respondents reported low levels of peer victimization and high levels of group identity and campus connectedness. As hypothesized, peer victimization was significantly and positively correlated with stress. In addition, higher ratings of within-group peer victimization were related to lower ratings of group identity. However, ratings of between-group peer victimization were not significantly related to ratings of group identity, which did not support the hypothesis that there would be a significant and positive correlation between the two.It was also found that campus connectedness mediated the relationship between peer victimization and Stress. Specifically, campus connectedness served as a protective factor from stress. Alternately, group identity did not protect against stress. Lastly, a specific subgroup of participants was identified as experiencing significantly high levels of peer victimization. Participants designated as "Victims" were significantly more likely to report ethnic minority status, be male, and be a fifth-year college student. Moreover, these students reported significantly higher levels of stress, and lower levels of group identity and campus connectedness. The implications of these findings for university and educational settings are discussed.

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Despite some gains, improving secondary mathematics instruction remains an area of concern of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Recitation, also known as lecturing, prevails as the practice of choice of mathematics teachers in the United States. However, the report of the NCTM Research Advisory Committee 2000 indicates that the mathematical proficiency of students increases when the practice of choice includes more than recitation. Therefore, changes in instruction in the mathematics classroom should occur to improve student learning. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a personalized account of one mathematics teacher’s use of reflective teaching as an agent of change. This dissertation is about a journey of change in instruction fostered by a change of identity as a mathematics teacher. This dissertation chronicles the identity construction of the teacher. This study has relevance because the process utilized by the teacher provides a method of self-examination and identity construction for other mathematics classroom teachers who want to improve their practices. This study also has relevance because it describes the process of how a classroom teacher takes ownership of self-improvement. This qualitative dissertation uses autoethnography as the methodology. Autoethnography is research, writing and story where the researcher is the subject and the researcher’s experiences are the data (Ellis and Bochner 2000). The theoretical frame for this autoethnography is identity theory as it relates to teacher identity construction. Memory, videotaped lessons, student commentary and a reflective journal serve as supporting data sources to render narratives detailing the findings. The research question guiding this dissertation is: In what ways does a teacher’s reflection on mathematics practice facilitate teacher identity construction and change of practice? The findings show that a teacher’s identity can be interwoven by many characteristics that at times work simultaneously. The findings also indicate that changing one’s practices is an arduous process but can be accomplished and the process given “voice.”

This doctoral thesis examines the construct of organizational identity of knowledge workers involved in a merger or acquisition, to gain insights into the complex social-behavioural responses of participants to perceptions of imposed integration of social groups. Following a qualitative case study methodology, this study used observation and interview data collection to capture the authentic experiences of participants from the host firm, and from the two acquired groups. The central curiosity guiding this study asked if continuity in subordinate identities, that transition relatively seamlessly from acquired to host organizations, offers the same adaptive or insulating effect against identity threat as superordinate identification. The central thesis proposed that despite the relative consistency between subgroup identities, the involuntary introduction of new members into a work team would continue to arouse perceptions of identity threat and provoke associated efforts to resist assimilation through withholding cohesion-building behaviours. The data were analysed using Atlas-ti to draw out key themes and patterns. The results suggested a relationship between the different integration strategies applied to the two acquisitions, and the participants’ perceptions of the integration. The data also suggested a relationship between levels of identity and reluctance to extend and engage in cohesion-building behaviours among host and adopted participants. Serendipitous findings pointed to potential triggers for the identity-related resistance, that most notably included status and dominance confusion that interfered with perceptions of identity continuity, and resistance to over-inclusion in superordinate and principle identities that lacked salience and distinctiveness. This paper introduced two new concepts to the field of identity research, including principle identity, and resistance to cohesion building behaviors. This paper also examined the perspectives of knowledge workers, as a distinctive cohort, to gain some insights into if and how a merger of like-professionals is experienced uniquely. Finally, the qualitative case study methodology offered an opportunity to examine the macro-economic contexts of the two acquisitions for relevance, and these contexts were found to be significant to a holistic understanding of the experiences of the integrations. / qualitative case study

Racism persists individually and institutionally in the U.S. and race-based comedy prevails in media, accepted by diverse audiences as jokes. Media priming and Social Identity Theory theoretically ground this two-part experimental study that examines Latino participants' judgments of in-group (Latino) and out-group (White) alleged offenders in judicial cases after being primed with race-based stereotype comedy performed by an in-group (Latino) or out-group (White) comedian. First, participants read race-based stereotype comedy segments and evaluated them on perceptions of the comedian, humor, enjoyment, and stereotypicality. Second, participants read two criminal judicial review cases for alleged offenders and provided guilt evaluations. Importantly, a distinction was made between high and low Latino identifier participants to determine whether racial identity salience might impact responses to in-group and/or out-group members in comedy and judicial contexts. The results reveal that the high Latino identifiers found the race-based comedy segments more stereotypical than did the low Latino identifiers. Latino participants rated the comedy higher on enjoyment when the comedian was perceived to be a Latino in-group member as opposed to a White out-group member. The high Latino identifiers rated the White alleged offender higher on guilt than the Latino alleged offender after being primed with race-based comedy. Simply projecting in-group or out-group racial identity of comedians and alleged offenders with name manipulations in the study influenced how participants responded to the comedy material, and persisted in guiding guilt judgments on alleged offenders in the judicial reviews based on participants' Latino identity salience. A Latino comedian's position as popular joke-teller in the media overrides in-group threat, despite invoking in-group stereotypes in humor. Even with greater enjoyment expressed for Latino comedians' performing stereotypical race-based material, the tendency to react more harshly against perceived out-group members as a defense strategy to maintain positive in-group salience remained in real-world judgments on alleged offenders. Despite the claim that light-hearted comedy is meant to be laughed at and not taken seriously, jokes that disparage racial groups as homogeneous, simplistic, and criminal impact subsequent responses to out-group members in a socially competitive attempt to maintain positive in-group identity, to the detriment of out-groups.

identity play an important role in how they communicate and interact with other individuals. One group in which identity construction and navigation is a difficult process is the hearing impaired population. In an effort to understand how these individuals construct their identity and navigate their hearing impairment, this study utilizes Communication Theory of Identity. Through the use of interactive interviews, the researcher was able to examine how 11 participants manage their identity as hearing impaired individuals. The interviews provided insight into the four layers of identity proposed by CTI – personal, relational, enacted, and communal – in the hearing impaired individual. The author discusses the themes within each of the four layers and the gaps present between the layers that emerged as the hearing impaired participants discussed how they navigate their hearing impairment. Furthermore, the implications of these themes and gaps within the hearing impaired individual’s identity, such as feeling disconnected from both the Deaf and hearing communities, are examined.

Abstract This study examines the connection between power and identity in three Gothic novels, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams, and Charles Robert Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer. Following the identity theories of Erik Erikson, I argue that identity has biological, psychological, and social aspects that are subject to change over time. As individual agency—the ability to function as a person—depends on a relatively certain and stable sense of personal identity, Gothic villains—both individuals and institutions—gain and maintain their power by disempowering their victims. In order to do so, they work to compromise these victims’ sense of personal identity, causing them to suffer identity crises that greatly reduce their ability to function. Employing various means—including threats of rape, destruction of reputation, imprisonment, forced exile, denial of freedom of thought, torture, and others—Gothic villains attempt to weaken their victims by placing them in situations that cause the fears that Erikson argues all people share to become paralyzing and debilitating states of anxiety, states in which the victims suffer from a temporary, or, in extreme cases, permanent loss of agency. These Gothic victims’ paranoia, identity crises, and subsequent loss of agency underscore the importance of individuals’ identity and constitute the horror that is at the heart of Gothic fiction.

Nationally vehicle theft is associated with approximately 40 fatalities per year with an estimated annual cost of one billion dollars. During 2000 - 2001 almost 139,000 motor vehicles (cars, motor cycles, campervans, and trucks) were stolen across Australia. Vehicle theft is an overwhelmingly adolescent male crime yet gender has not been considered in either policy or program initiatives.----- This thesis used Spence's Multifactorial Gender Identity theory to examine the relationships between vehicle theft, offending, and adolescent male gender identity. Four central research questions were posed:----- 1. Is vehicle theft a gendered behaviour, that is, do some adolescent males engage in vehicle theft to create a particular adolescent male gender identity?----- 2. Do vehicle theft offenders engage in other offending behaviours?----- 3. Are these other offences also used to create a particular adolescent male gender identity and----- 4. Will the use of a variety of gender-related scales to measure gender identity support Spence's Multifactorial Gender Identity Theory that gender identity is multifactorial?----- Study One Parts A and B provided the empirical basis for Studies Two and Three. Part A of Study One examined the &quotmaleness" of vehicle theft and two other problem behaviours: problem drinking and traffic offence involvement. Cross-sectional and longitudinal methodologies were used to investigate a representative sample of 4,529 male high school students in relation to vehicle theft, problem drinking, and traffic offence involvement as a novice driver. Results indicated that &quotmaleness" was significantly related to vehicle theft, problem drinking, and traffic offence involvement. Subsequent analyses, based on Jessor's Problem Behaviour Theory, found a significant relationship between vehicle theft offenders and problem drinking. Study One Part B examined the relationship between masculinity as measured by the Australian Sex Role Scale (ASRS) and problem drinking in a rural sample of 1,248 male high school students. Using a cross sectional methodology, Masculine students were more likely than students in the other gender trait groups to report a range of problem drinking behaviours. Contrary to previous research, both socially desirable and socially undesirable masculine traits were significantly related to most problem drinking behaviours.----- Having established significant relationships between &quotmaleness" and vehicle theft and masculinity and the adolescent problem behaviour of underage drinking, Study Two qualitatively examined the perceptions of adolescent males with histories of vehicle theft in relation to &quotdoing masculinity". Using semi-structured interviews, 30 adolescent males, clients of the juvenile justice system were asked &quotwhat do you have to do to be a man?" Vehicle theft was clearly identified as a masculine defining behaviour as were other offending behaviours. Overall, participants nominated very traditional behaviours such as having a job and providing financially for families as essential behaviours in &quotdoing masculinity". It was suggested that in the absence of legal options for creating a masculine gender identity, some adolescent males adopted more readily accessed illegal options. Study Two also canvassed the driving behaviour of adolescent males in stolen vehicles. Crash involvement was not uncommon. Speed, alcohol, and the presence of other adolescent males were consistent characteristics of their driving behaviour. Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants were similar in their responses.----- Study Three compared the gender identity of offender and non-offender adolescent males as measured by three gender-related measures: the ASRS, the Toughness Subscale of the Male Role Norm Scale (TSMRNS) and the Doing Masculinity Composite Scale (DMCS). While the ASRS measured gender traits, the TSMRNS measured masculinity ideology. The DMCS was developed from the responses of participants in Study Two and sought to measure how participants &quotdo masculinity". Analyses indicated vehicle theft was endorsed by just over a third of the sample as a masculine defining behaviour. Overall, offenders were again very traditional in the behaviours they endorsed. When compared to non-offenders, offenders were more likely to endorse illegal behaviours in &quotdoing masculinity" while non-offenders were more likely to endorse legal behaviours. Both offenders and non-offenders strongly endorsed having a car and the ability to drive as masculine defining behaviours.----- In relation to gender traits, non-offenders were more likely than offenders to be classified as Masculine by the ASRS. Surprisingly offenders were more likely to be classified as Androgynous. In relation to masculinity ideology, offenders and non-offenders were similar in their results on the TSMRNS however offenders were more likely to endorse beliefs concerning the need to be tough. Overall Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders were similar in their responses though Indigenous males were more likely to endorse beliefs concerning the need to be tough. Spence's Multifactorial Gender Identity theory was supported in that the relations between the three gender-related measures were significant but low.----- Results confirmed that vehicle theft was endorsed by a minority of participants as a gendered behaviour. Other offending behaviours were also endorsed by some adolescent males as means to create masculine gender identity. Importantly though both offenders and non-offenders endorsed very traditional behaviours in relation to &quotdoing masculinity". The implications for policy and program initiatives include the acknowledgement of gender identity as an important component in relation to vehicle theft and offending and the desire of adolescent male offenders to engage in legal, traditional male behaviours. In the absence of legal avenues however, some adolescent males may use illegal behaviours to create gender identity. Cars and driving also feature as important components of gender identity for both offenders and non-offenders and these needs to be considered in relation to road safety initiatives.

The impact of identity on brand loyalty has taken precedence as an area of focus in recent marketing research. This has taken place in an era defined by technological revolution, which has created market disruptions and there are implications for customer–brand relationships. Nonetheless, the extant literature on brand loyalty does not extensively acknowledge the impact of socio-psychological attributes but rather functional utility maximisation. The brand loyalty literature has the notion that the perceived value of a brand is conceptualised and operationalised as a functional utilitarian value. Knowledge that illuminates how firms can reposition themselves to sustain brand loyalty when disruptions occur in today’s complex and globalised business environment is explored in this study, through empirical investigation into the phenomenon of brand switching behaviour among consumers in a specific competitive market, namely, the Smartphone Industry. The current study explores how resistance could be built from an identity theory perspective. As highlighted above, much emphasis has historically been placed on the functional utility of products at the expense of social meanings. Given the relative paucity of literature on identity and brand loyalty, this study adopts a grounded theory methodology based on a survey and a series of in-depth interviews across Ghana and the UK to access consumers’ insights and experiences of specific brands in the Smartphone industry. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded, utilising the three-stage process of analysing data; specifically, open, axial and selective coding. This study is the first to combine brand loyalty literature, identity theory and grounded theory to study the behaviour of brand switching in the Smartphone Industry. This study identified a gap in knowledge in the brand loyalty literature, as it focuses only on how brands perform under normal market conditions. Hence, this study provided consideration for market disruptions in the Smartphone industry. Empirical data from Smartphone users confirmed in this study that underlining factors which are non-utilitarian factors such as socio-psychological benefits, motivate consumers to continue buying the brands they buy. The study also established that the sustainability of brand loyalty could be accomplished from an identity theory perspective by adapting and advancing a customer–brand identification (CBI) model, to examine the phenomenon of brand switching in the Smartphone industry at a more matured and competitive stage.

Uppsatsen undersöker studenters åsikter om CSR, misstanke om grönmålning och dess påverkan på studenters benägenhet att söka arbete hos ett företag som arbetar med CSR i Sverige. Grönmålning adderades till undersökningen då det inte undersökts inom forskningsområdet tidigare men har uppmärksammats inom andra områden. En kvantitativ undersökning i form av en enkät genomfördes och kompletterades med kvalitativa intervjuer. Resultaten visade att studenter som tycker att CSR är viktigt kommer vara mer benägna att söka arbete hos företaget som arbetar med CSR. Enkätundersökningen visade att det fanns en skillnad mellan könen där kvinnor var mer benägna jämfört med övriga. Misstanke om grönmålning hade en negativ påverkan på benägenheten att söka arbete hos företag som arbetar med CSR. Vid fortsatt forskning är intressant att undersöka misstanke om grönmålning och dess påverkan i exempelvis en mer experimentell miljö.