The Role of Clarity of the Self in Adolescent Self-Concept Change
Date
1995
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
This study examined the effect of clarity and consistency of the self-concept on adolescent self-concept change. Television commercials were used as stimuli to influence the subject's self-concept in terms of gender. Commercials were chosen that were either highly traditionally stereotyped in terms of gender, counter-traditionally stereotyped, or neutral. The hypothesis was that subjects who had more clear self-concepts would have a contrast result while the subjects with ambiguous self-concepts would assimilate the commercials into their self-concepts. A contrast effect would mean that the subject would move their self-concept away from the model in order to reaffirm their own beliefs, whereas assimilation would mean that the subject would adjust their self-concepts to accommodate in information. The subject's self-concept clarity and consistency was measured by the Consistency and Clarity of the Self Measure (Campbell, 1990). The subjects scores on the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974) were measured before and after to determine the amount and the direction of change. None of the studies' hypotheses proved to be significant. This was attributed the defects in the study's design and to problems incurred during the testing.