.:: Self-Concept/Identity ::.

Covering the section of Self-Concept/Identity in Chapter 3 Rick Casagrande


Article title: "The Effects of Concealing Academic Achievement: Information on Adolescents' Self-Concept"
Authors: Baoshan Zhang, Mo Wang, Juan Li, Guoliang Yu, Yan-Ling Bi
Summary: The content of the article deals with deals with the concealing of both positive and negative academic information by adolescents. It is an experiment held by the authors in which certain groups were told to conceal information regarding their academic performance. Students were randomly assigned to different contexts where information could be concealed. As a result of the complicated and thorough experiment, it was ultimately determined that concealing academic-achievement information can in fact cause a change of self-concept in an adolescent.


Key points:
-Adolescents with low academic achievement in the environment where achievement was concealed showed that they had higher levels of self-esteem, yet more self-representation suppression
-This was activated when they were under a high cognitive load
-Adolescents with high academic achievement in the environment where positive achievement was concealed had a lower self-esteem
-This activated positive self-representation under high cognitive load
-Results showed that concealing information causes a short-term change of self-concept


Complete Citation:

Zhang, B, Wang, M, Li, J, Yu, G, & Bi, Y. (2011). The effects of concealing
academic achievement information on adolescents' self-concept. The
Psychological Record, 61, 21-40.