Zach Hohman:
Uncertainty Identity Theory, Health Interventions, and More
External factors can affect individuals’ self-concept, even so far as to influence how much they identify with their own nationality. While this might seem a self-evident fact, when taken in conjunction with the potential of leaders to intentionally manipulate by rhetoric, the relation between external influence and self-identity can become deadly serious. Zach Hohman (currently a second-year doctoral student) is researching how leaders manipulate feelings of uncertainty in group members. Specifically, Zach compared the degree of American identity felt by conservative and liberal respondents after reading a speech given by President George W. Bush. The results of this research will feed into Zach’s Master’s thesis, and possibly into future publications.
In addition, Zach is assisting Dr. Michael Hogg (a pioneer of social identity theory) and fellow doctoral student Robert Blagg in their research. This project looks at American identity in relation to support for different types of foreign policy measures under conditions of low or high uncertainty. According to uncertainty-identity theory, people who feel uncertain, particularly in relation to the self, are motivated to identify with groups that have the capacity to lower uncertainty and protect the self from ambiguity.
Not restricting himself to identity theory, Zach is also aiding Dr. Eusebio Alvaro and Dr. William Crano in their work analyzing drug use by adolescents. This work uses data collected from the National Survey of Parents and Youth.
As if these three research projects were not enough to keep a graduate student busy, Zach Hohman was instrumental in helping to develop and coordinate a Spring 2007 symposium on Implementing and Evaluating Health Behavior Interventions. This installment in the annual Claremont Colleges Symposium Series on Applied Social Psychology covered the topic of organ donation from many perspectives, from the initial idea for a program all the way through the evaluation of programs already implemented. (Follow this link to watch videos from the event.) A volume is being produced from the event by Drs. Alvaro and Siegel, for which Zach will serve as an assistant editor.
Finally, during the 2007-2008 school year, Zach will be a Teaching Associate for Dr. Crano’s Research Methods class and for the four-part Statistics series.
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