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Owner: Amanda Neuber
Owner Email: aneuber@temple.edu
Paper Title: The Meaning of Being Smart: An Identity Study of First-Year Honors College Students
Session Title: Motivational Trajectories Across Adolescence: Studies of Change and Development During High School and College
Paper Type: Paper
Presentation Date: 4/21/2020
Presentation Location: Online
Descriptors: Higher Education, Identity, Motivation
Methodology: Qualitative
Author(s): Amanda Neuber, Temple University; Avi Kaplan, Temple University
Unit: SIG-Motivation in Education
Abstract: The current study investigated the meaning of being labeled smart as part of the identity development of honors students in the first year of college. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of life story interviews with 24 students followed a combined deductive and inductive analysis framed by the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI). Findings demonstrate the similar and unique ways by which students’ different meanings of smartness has been incorporated into each of their identity systems within the particular educational context, its interplay with peer relationships, and its complex psychosocial implications. The findings can inform researchers, educators, parents, and students themselves about the important role of educational contexts in meaning-making and identity formation processes.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/1582326