Research article

Social identity and personality processes: Non-Aboriginal Australian identity and Neuroticism

  1. Katherine J. Reynolds1,*,
  2. Boris Bizumic1,
  3. Emina Subasic1,
  4. John C. Turner1,
  5. Nyla Branscombe2,
  6. Kenneth I. Mavor1,
  7. Luisa Batalha1

Article first published online: 23 JAN 2012

DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.1841

Issue

European Journal of Social Psychology

European Journal of Social Psychology

Volume 42, Issue 2, pages 252–262, March 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Reynolds, K. J., Bizumic, B., Subasic, E., Turner, J. C., Branscombe, N., Mavor, K. I. and Batalha, L. (2012), Social identity and personality processes: Non-Aboriginal Australian identity and Neuroticism. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 42: 252–262. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.1841

Author Information

  1. 1

    The Australian National University, Australia

  2. 2

    University of Kansas, USA

*Kate Reynolds, Department of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200 Australia.
E-mail: Katherine.Reynolds@anu.edu.au

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 FEB 2012
  2. Article first published online: 23 JAN 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 30 NOV 2011
  4. Manuscript Received: 19 AUG 2010

Funded by

  • Australian Research Council

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Abstract

There are ongoing debates both in personality psychology and social psychology on the causes and consequences of personality stability and change. Recent work on social roles suggests that as people change roles (e.g. employee to manager), different experiences and demands are internalised into one's self-concept shaping identity and personality. In this paper, the emphasis moves beyond ‘roles’ to other group memberships (e.g. ethnicity) in shaping one's self-view and self-rated personality (e.g. Neuroticism). The results of two experiments demonstrated that the salience of a particular group membership (as a Non-Aboriginal Australian) did significantly impact on Neuroticism. Such findings suggest that social identity processes may offer a hitherto neglected avenue for helping to explain personality (dis)continuity. Implications of these findings for both fields are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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