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STATUS AND IDENTITY: AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC APPROACH

Pfeiffer, Matthew A.
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0785-5602
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1479144965378597

Abstract Details

2016, MA, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology.
Research within the perceptual control paradigm of identity theory continues to demonstrate the importance of context by examining the effect of situational factors on identity processes. We contribute to this agenda by taking a neurosociological approach to examining the effect of status on identity non-verification. We conducted a two-condition laboratory experiment focusing on whether identity-relevant, non-verifying feedback from a higher status source produces a greater (neurological) response than the same feedback from a lower status source. Our findings are mixed. On the one hand, self-report data show that participants did not perceive feedback from the higher status source as more accurate. In fact, they seem to have dismissed the higher status source’s expertise in the end. On the other hand, neurological data reveal that participants paid more attention to non-verifying feedback from the higher status source during its presentation. Together these findings point to the unfolding of cognitive dissonance. That is, the neurological data reveal that participants seem to have been more open to influence from the higher status source during feedback presentation, but ultimately were more likely to consciously dismiss what may have been regarded by them as more “serious” non-verifying feedback (i.e., given its greater credibility). As we discuss, this finding has potentially important theoretical and practical implications for the future of research on the synergy of identity, status, and influence.
Will Kalkhoff (Committee Chair)
Carla Goar (Committee Member)
Richard Serpe, T (Committee Member)
49 p.
Sociology
Identity, Identity Theory, Status, Neurology, Neurosociology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pfeiffer, M. A. (2016). STATUS AND IDENTITY: AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC APPROACH [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1479144965378597

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pfeiffer, Matthew. STATUS AND IDENTITY: AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC APPROACH. 2016. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1479144965378597.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pfeiffer, Matthew. "STATUS AND IDENTITY: AN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC APPROACH." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1479144965378597

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.