Inside the Black Box of Self-Affirmation: Explaining the Effects on Achievement

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Division C Section 2a Poster Session 1: Motivational Processes

Abstract

Despite numerous findings demonstrating that self-affirmation writing exercises improve academic outcomes for stereotyped groups, the mechanisms underlying the effects remain unclear. In this paper, we use data from a district-wide scale-up of a self-affirmation intervention to explore these mechanisms. We examine 1) how what students write about in self-affirmation exercises mediates the treatment effects, and 2) the extent to which these initial treatment effects on academics and behavior mediate long-term academic improvements. Our results show that complying with exercise instructions by engaging in perspective broadening writing is essential for the effectiveness of the exercises, and is associated with initial academic and behavioral improvements that explain the majority of the long-term academic treatment effects.

Authors

• Alex Schmidt, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Chris Rozek, University of Chicago

• Paul Hanselman, University of California - Irvine

• Rachel Feldman, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Erin Quast, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Evan Crawford, University of Wisconsin

• Geoffrey D. Borman, University of Wisconsin - Madison