Kitty Dumont

Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception

People’s self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies—specifically, relative levels of economic inequality—play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/collectivism. These results indicate that macrosocial differences in the distribution of economic goods are linked to microsocial processes of perceiving the self.

Psychosocial Factors Predicting Academic Performance of Students at a Historically Disadvantaged University

The aim of the present study was twofold: firstly, to replicate another model proposing that psychosocial factors, such as academic motivation, self-esteem, perceived stress, academic overload, and help-seeking, predict academic performance via adjustment to university. Secondly, the study aimed to identify those psychosocial predictors most relevant for a historically disadvantaged university context. The study was conducted among 101 first- and second-year students at the University of Fort Hare. The results revealed that both the model structure, as suggested in earlier work, and some predictors could be replicated. The results also point to specifics of the university context under investigation.

Identity leadership going global : validation of the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) across 20 Countries.

Recent theorizing applying the social identity approach to leadership proposes a four‐dimensional model of identity leadership that centres on leaders’ management of a shared sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’. This research validates a scale assessing this model – the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI). We present results from an international project with data from all six continents and from more than 20 countries/regions with 5,290 participants. The ILI was translated (using back‐translation methods) into 13 different languages (available in the Appendix S1) and used along with measures of other leadership constructs (i.e., leader–member exchange [LMX], transformational leadership, and authentic leadership) as well as employee attitudes and (self‐reported) behaviours – namely identification, trust in the leader, job satisfaction, innovative work behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, and burnout. Results provide consistent support for the construct, discriminant, and criterion validity of the ILI across countries. We show that the four dimensions of identity leadership are distinguishable and that they relate to important work‐related attitudes and behaviours above and beyond other leadership constructs. Finally, we also validate a short form of the ILI, noting that is likely to have particular utility in applied contexts.

Reparation Demands and Collective Guilt Assignment of Black South Africans

The present research studied reparation demands of born-free Black South African adolescents as members of a former victimized group from a social psychological perspective. Two cross-sectional studies tested whether identification indirectly predicts reparation demands via assignment of collective guilt to White South Africans; and whether this indirect relation is moderated by cross-group friendship. The results support both hypotheses and show a stronger link between identification with the victimized group and collective guilt assignment in a segregated rather than a desegregated context (Study 1: N = 222) and for participants reporting lower levels of cross-group friendship (Study 2: N = 145). Reparation demands are important for strongly identified members of a victimized group in a postconflict situation. Their mediation by collective guilt assignment, mitigated by cross-group friendship, indicates that one major function is to insure recognition of the victims’ past suffering and to repair the relationship rather than ostracizing the transgressor group or gaining access to resources.