The Link Between Identity and Role Performance

Author(s): Peter J. Burke and Donald C. Reitzes

Source: Social Psychology Quarterly , Jun., 1981, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun., 1981), pp. 83-92
Published by: American Sociological Association

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 Social Psychology Quarterly
1981, Vol. 44, No. 2, 83-92

The Link between Identity and Role Performance

PETER J. BURKE
Indiana University

DONALD C. REITZES
Georgia State University

Despite interest in the influence of self-concept on behavior, research has been limited by (I)
the need to better understand the mechanism by which self influences role behaviors, (2) a
reliance on self-esteem as the only measure of self-concept, and (3) the absence of quantitative
measures of self-concept. The research reported here is designed to test one formulation of the
link between identity and behavior. It is based on recent theoretical conceptions of identity,
advances in its measurement, and the assumption that identities motivate behaviors that have
meanings consistent (isomorphic) with the identity. Data obtainedfrom 640 college students are
used to discover and measure four dimensions of meaning pertaining to the college student
identity, and to assess the impact of student identities on the two "performance" variables of
educational plans and participation in social activities. The findings strongly support the
hypothesized link of identity and performance through common meanings.

INTRODUCTION Though fewer in number, there have been

studies of the self as agent or cause of
This research began with the question,
behavior (e.g., McGuire, 1968; Backman
"What is the connection between identity
and Secord, 1968; Walster, 1970; Alexan-
and role performance?" As Stryker
der and Knight, 1971; Wells, 1978), and
(1980:385) has noted, "An adequate social
there has been work dealing with various
psychology of the self must eventually
conceptualizations of the self and its com-
seriously ask whether the assertion that
ponents (e.g., McCall and Simmons, 1966;
the self is an active creator of social be-
Turner, 1968; Gordon, 1968, 1976; Rosen-
havior and relationships is more than a
berg, 1979; Schwartz and Stryker, 1970).
statement of faith." Indeed, the relation-
But in spite of all of this work, we have
ship between identity (self) and behavior
not yet achieved any clear understanding
is complex and probably reciprocal. "The
of the self-behavior relationship. Findings
issue in analyzing relationships between
are quite varied and often inconsistent;
self-conception and behavior is where to
measurement procedures are (with the ex-
focus analysis within this sequence, ex-
ception of self-esteem measures) not well
tracting and abstracting out a set of ele-
developed quantitatively; and the link
ments to represent the basic causal links"
between measurement procedures and
(Wells, 1978:198).
theory is weak (Wylie, 1974). To improve
A review of the literature on the re-
our understanding of the influence of
lationship between self-concept and be-
self-concepts on behavior (and vice versa)
havior indicates that there has been a
there must be two developments: (1) a
great deal of empirical work. There have
better understanding of the dynamics and
been studies of the self as an outcome of
mechanisms by which the self and behav-
some process or situation (e.g.,
iors influence each other (Cottrell, 1950;
Coopersmith, 1959, 1967; Rosenberg,
Turner, 1979); and (2) an expanded treat-
1965; Shrauger and Schoeneman, 1979). ment of self-concept beyond reliance on
self-esteem (Rosenberg, unpubl.).
An earlier version of this paper was presented at This paper makes a beginning in the
the meetings of the American Sociological Associa- filling of this gap in our understanding. It
tion, New York, 1980. We wish to thank Michael applies the theoretical formulations of
Flynn for his comments on that version. Address all
identity developed by McCall and Sim-
communications to: Peter J. Burke, Department of
Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN mons (1966) and Stryker (1968) and the
47405. advances in measurement provided by

83

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 84 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY

Burke and Tully (1977) to the study of the of self-presentation and altercasting
relationship between self-concept and be- (Goffman, 1959; Weinstein, 1969).
havior. The central argument is that indi- Second, identities are self meanings that
viduals are motivated to formulate plans are formed in particular situations and or-
and achieve levels of performance or ac- ganized hierarchically to produce the self
tivity that reinforce, support, and confirm (Stryker, 1968). The meanings of an iden-
their identities. Note that this is a two-way tity are, in part, the products of the par-
process. We are saying that the self oper- ticular opportunities and demand charac-
ates in choosing behaviors and that the 'teristics of the social situation, and are
behaviors reinforce and support the self. based on the similarities and differences of
Our hypothesis is that the mutual link a role with related, complementary, or
between identities and behaviors occurs counter-roles (Lindesmith and Strauss,
through their having common underlying 1956; Merton, 1957; Turner, 1968).
frames of reference. We propose that the Third, identities are symbolic and re-
frame of reference one uses to assess his flexive in character. It is through interac-
or her identity in a situation is the same tion with others that these self meanings
frame of reference used to assess his or come to be known and understood by the
her own behavior in that situation. individual. In role relevant situations
Further, we hypothesize that this common others respond to the person as a per-
frame of reference lies in the meaning of former in a particular role. The meanings
the identity and the meaning of the per- of the self are learned from responses of
formance. A link exists to the extent that others to one's own actions. One's actions
these two meanings are the same. To test develop meaning through the responses of
this hypothesis, therefore, we must de- others, and over time, call up in the per-
termine both the meanings of identities son the same responses that are called up
and the meanings of behaviors. Once in others. One's actions, words, and ap-
these are known, we should be able to pearances thus become significant sym-
predict both the direction (positive or bols (Mead, 1934). Indeed, it is the sym-
negative) and strength of the effects of bolic and the reflexive character of an
identity on behaviors. identity (and self-concept) that integrate
self-as-subject and self-as-object (Stryker,
1968; Burke, 1980; Wells, 1978). Further,
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND it is the symbolic nature of the self that led
Burke and Tully (1977) and Heise (1977a,
1977b, 1979) to apply Osgood et al.'s
Identity
(1957) semantic differential technique for
Following the work of McCall and the measurement of meaning to the mea-
Simmons (1966), Stryker (1968), and surement of identity.
Burke and Tully (1977), self-concepts are
thought to be composed, in part, of role/
The Link between Self-Concept and Role
identities, often abbreviated below as
Performance
identities. Identities are meanings one
attributes to oneself in a role (and that The reflexivity of an identity, implied in
others attribute to one). This definition the notion of significant symbol, allows
suggests three characteristics of an iden- the occurrence of a link between identity
tity. First, identities are social products. and performance. An identity provides an
Identities are formed and maintained individual with a standpoint or frame of
through the social processes of (a) nam- reference ini which to interpret both the
ing, that is, locating the self in socially social situation and his or her own actions
recognizable categories (Foote, 1951; or potential actions (Foote, 1951; Rosen-
Stryker, 1968); (b) interaction with others berg, 1979; Wells, 1978). Wells (1978:198)
entailing the processes of identification notes
and exchange (Stone, 1962; McCall and that self-conception is fundamentally an in-
Simmons, 1966); and (c) the confirmation terpretive process and it is relevant to the
and validation of self-concepts by means explanation of behaviors as it relates to the

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 IDENTITY BEHAVIOR LINK 85

meanings that those behaviors have for the This hypothesis is much like the consis-
enacting person. While self-concept may be tency hypothesis of other writers. Rosen-
theoretically linked to "objective" states or berg (1979), for example, has noted two
outcomes, this linkage is indirect and medi- ways self-conceptions motivate behavior:
ated through interpretive events.
(1) self-esteem striving or the wish to think
It is one's actions that others judge as well of oneself, and (2) self-consistency or
being appropriate or inappropriate for the the wish to maintain one's self-picture
identity one has, and appropriateness can (identity) and to protect self-conceptions
only be gauged in terms of the meaning of against change. Earlier work by Backman
the behavior relative to the meaning of the and Secord (1968) had suggested a similar
identity and alternative counter-identities mechanism whereby self influenced role
(cf. Heise, 1979). From a control systems through the processes of role selection
point of view (Powers, 1975), the self and role portrayal in order to achieve a
maintains control by altering perfor- state of congruence. This state was said to
mances until there is some degree of cor- exist when the actor's behavior and that of
respondence between one's identity and others implied definitions of self that were
the identity that is implied by one's actions congruent with aspects of the actor's self-
interpreted (in part through reflexiveness) concept. Our hypothesis builds upon
within a common cultural framework. these other conceptions of the link be-
To reiterate, a role/identity is a set of tween identity and performance by
meanings that are taken to characterize specifying more clearly that congruence
the self-in-role. Following Osgood (1957), or consistency refers to the semantic
these meanings may be thought of as similarity between the identity and the
mediational responses that are charac- performance. To the degree that they are
terized by direction (e.g., toward being identical in meaning, we have consis-
active or toward being passive) and inten- tency.
sity or strength of response. The meaning The degree of consistency is a function
of a role/identity lies in the direction and of the relevance and importance of the
intensity of the mediational response to it. common dimension of meaning. First, the
Similarly, the meaning of a behavior lies in -dimensions of meaning used to assess an
the direction and intensity of the media- identity may be irrelevant to the dimen-
tional response to it. If the directions and sions of meaning used to assess the be-
intensities of the mediational responses to havior in question. In this case the ques-
the self and to one's behavior are the tion of consistency never arises, and
same, then the meanings of the identity whether a person with the given identity
and the performance are the same. engages in the behavior in question will
The important point here is that the link depend upon other factors entirely. Sec-
between identity and performance is ond, although both the identity and the
through common meanings. The mean- behavior may be assessed along the same
ings of the self (as object) are established dimension of meaning, it may be that the
and assessed in terms of the meanings of dimension is more important for assessing
the performances generated by that self behavior than for assessing identity (or
(as subject) within the culture of the in- vice versa). In this case the question of
teractional situation. This leads to our hy- consistency does arise, but it is not the
pothesis that variations in role perfor- only relevant factor. Hence, the corre-
mance can be predicted from variations in spondence between identity and behavior
role/identities provided those variations in
performance and identities are measured
out, there is reason to believe that the influence of
along the same dimensions (directions of identity on behavior is far greater than the reverse.
the mediational response) of meaning.1 In any case, our argument is less about the direction
of the effect than the nature of the link between
identity and behavior. Regardless of whether the
I Although much of our presentation is in terms of
correlations are the result of the influence of identity
the influence of identity on performance, we recog- on performance or vice versa, these relationships do
nize that there is also some influence in the opposite exist where and to the magnitude expected by our
direction as well, although, as Burke (1980) points hypotheses.

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 86 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY

need not be strong. Finally, if the identity selected from the first category. Non-
and the behavior are assessed along the College Peer was selected as possibly be-
same, important dimension of meaning, longing to the second category, but more
then the question of consistency becomes likely to the third. We had contemplated
very salient and there should be a strong additional representatives from category
correspondence between the two. Thus, two (Professor, Counselor, etc.) but space
in addition to the main hypothesis linking limitations precluded their inclusion.
identity and behavior through common We thus began by measuring the mean-
meanings, we have a corollary hypothesis, ings of the college student role/identity
which states that the relative strength of with respect to the counter-identities of
the identity-behavior link is related to the graduate student, high school student,
relevance and importance of common di- non-college peer, and employed college
mensions of meaning. graduate, for a sample of 640 under-
graduates at a large midwestern university
(Reitzes and Burke, 1980). For this we
PROCEDURES used the semantic differential and discri-
Measuring Identities minant function analysis as suggested by
Burke and Tully (1977).
For this research we chose the college This technique essentially involves
student role/identity for investigation. The self-administered paper and pencil
Burke-Tully method of measuring iden- methods to measure something that is by
tities requires the assessment of the iden- its nature an internal psychological pro-
tity in question relative to other relevant cess, and hence it suffers from the relia-
counter-identities that serve to anchor the bility and validity limitations of any such
identity in question (cf. Lindesmith and paper and pencil test. One might argue
Strauss, 1956). In their investigation of the that such methods fail to tap the kinds of
gender identities of elementary school choice behaviors that would be made in a
children, Burke and Tully (1977) began by "real" interaction setting. There are two
collecting sets of adjectives that children responses to such an argument. First, the
used to describe the roles of boy and girl. question is empirical and is the object of
These adjectives, together with their op- investigation in this paper. Second, lower
posites, were placed in a semantic dif- reliability in the measurement of identity
ferential format to form measures of the means that any test of its relationship to
meanings of the male and female roles. overt performance is that much more con-
Discriminant analysis was then used to servative, and any findings are that much
locate the adjective items which maxi- more significant.
mally distinguished the role meanings. Fi- The results of the discriminant analysis
nally, the adjective items and their (presented in Table 1) yielded four dimen-
weights were applied to self descriptions sions of meaning that are important in dis-
to form a measure of gender identity. tinguishing among the five roles in ques-
For the Burke-Tully study the counter- tion (i.e., college student, graduate stu-
roles of male and female seem fairly obvi- dent, etc.). Based on the coefficients for
ous. For the present study potential each adjective-pair in the semantic dif-
counter-roles and their attendant counter- ferential, these dimensions of meaning
identities were less obvious. Three were labeled (1) Academic Responsibility,
categories of potential counter-identities (2) Intellectualism,2 (3) Sociability, and (4)
were considered: (1) prior and subsequent
identities (for role/identities that are part 2 This dimension was originally labeled "in-
tellectual curiosity" on the basis of large coefficients
of a developmental sequence); (2) role/
for studious, competitive, open-minded, and cre-
identities of others with which the main ative. The fact that there are also large coefficients
role/identity might interact; and (3) role/ for lazy (as opposed to hard working) and group-
identities one might have had if choices oriented suggests that the kind of intellectual curios-
ity being tapped is not the bookish, withdrawn sort.
had been made differently. The role/
Rather, there seems to be a kind of social facade
identities of High School Student, Gradu- involved, which is better captured by the term "in-
ate Student, and College 'Graduate were tellectualism."

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 IDENTITY BEHAVIOR LINK 87

Table 1. Standardized Classification Coefficients for Adjective-Pairs from the Discriminant Analysis of the
Five Roles*

Academic
Item Responsibility Intellectualism Sociability Assertiveness

Pressured (Not Pressured) .22 -.12 .56 - .20

Competitive (Non-competitive) -.01 .44 -.04 .26
Studious (Non-studious) .33 .64 -.44 -.57
Ambitious (Non-ambitious) .03 .07 .09 .48
Motivated (Non-motivated) .23 .09 .00 .32

Dedicated (Undedicated) .10 .01 - .20 - .08

Hardworking (Lazy) .10 - .40 - .23 - .06
Responsible (Irresponsible) .25 - .16 .38 - .11
Critical (Accepting) .00 .09 - .01 - .15
Social (Antisocial) -.21 .12 .53 - .01

Apathetic (Interested) - .04 .03 .22 .05

Involved (Uninvolved) - .02 .12 - .14 .34
Friendly (Unfriendly) -.17 -.08 .15 .09
Concerned (Unconcerned) .01 .02 .08 - .20
Aggressive (Non-aggressive) - .04 - .02 - .12 .37

Sensitive (Insensitive) -.19 - .12 .01 - .02

Dependent (Independent) - .24 .16 .22 .15
Open-minded (Close-minded) .09 .37 .42 -.13
Mature (Immature) .32 -.21 .11 .00
Realistic (Idealistic) .14 - .25 .02 .45

Individualistic (Group Oriented) .34 - .30 -.16 -.17

Inquisitive (Bored) .06 .17 - .16 .03
Optimistic (Pessimistic) -.08 .07 .04 .24
Creative (Pull) -.07 .25 .09 .19
'q2 .62 .44 .14 .09
p .001 .001 .001 .001

Note: The direction of the coefficient is toward the adjective on the left.
* College Student, Graduate Student, High School Student, Non-College Peer, Employed College Gradu-
ate.

Personal Assertiveness. It should be that the results are based on the shared
noted that these results are similar to the perceptions of characteristics of persons
factors found by Borgatta (1969) in his in role positions. Second, the procedure
study of college students using a different has incorporated and is based on the re-
sample and a different technique (factor lationship between various counter-iden-
analysis). Finally, a score on each of the tities in semantic space. Third, the proce-
four dimensions was calculated for each of dure recognizes and incorporates the link
the 640 students in the sample by applying between identities and roles since it is the
the discriminant function weights to the self-in-role that is being assessed. And
self-as-college-student ratings provided by fourth, it results in a measure of individual
the respondents. These scores provide our role/identities along each of the shared
measure of the respondents' identities as underlying dimensions of meaning, which
students. For each dimension the individ- distinguish among the counter-roles in
ual's score is a measure of the intensity of question.
the mediational response, while its sign
(+,-) is a measure of the direction of that
response. Thus, each score includes indi-
Measuring Performance and Its
cations of both,direction and intensity of
Meanings
the mediational response or meaning of
the identity. The means for the self-ratings Two different kinds of "performance
of each of the four dimensions are given in variables" were selected for this study.
Table 2. The first, more of an attitudinal measure,
Assessing this procedure, we see first concerns the educational plans of the re-

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88 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY

Table 2. Identification with the College Student Role: Mean score for the self description "as a college
student I am" on each of the underlying dimensions of meaning

Academic Personal
Responsibility Intellectualism Sociability Assertiveness

As a college student I am 0.94 0.22 0.43 -0.29

spondent. This is a single item measure in rants, sports events, and parties is ,"
which individual responses were classified and (2) "A student who does not engage in
into one of three categories: (1) less than a social activities like going to the movies,
B.A.; (2) B.A.; and (3) an advanced de- restaurants, sports events, and parties is
gree. The second variable, participation in
student social activities, was measured by The average meaning of each of these
constructing a scale from questions deal- behaviors on each of the four student
ing with the frequency of participation in identity dimensions was assessed by ap-
the following set of social activities: (1) plying the weights used to measure iden-
going to the movies; (2) going to restau- tities (see Table 1). The results are given
rants, bars, coffee houses, or pizza parlors; in Table 3. We see in these results that
(3) going to sports events; and (4) going to there are large3 differences in the meaning
private or sponsored parties (reliability of "continuing on for an advanced degree"
a= 0.93). and "getting a job" only on the dimensions
Since our hypothesis concerning the of Academic Responsibility and Personal
link between identity and role perfor- Assertiveness, with getting an advanced
mance suggests that it is through common degree associated with high levels of Aca-
frames of reference in underlying mean- demic Responsibility but with low levels
ings of identity and behavior, we cannot of Assertiveness. The meanings of "par-
test this hypothesis simply by relating the ticipating" and of "not participating" in the
students' identity measures to their per- various kinds of social activities are dif-
formances. We must first know the extent ferent on all four dimensions, with " par-
to which each of the four dimensions of ticipation" being associated with low
meaning relevant to assessing the identity levels of Academic Responsibility, but
of college student (i.e., Academic Re- high levels of Sociability, Personal Asser-
sponsibility, Intellectualism, Sociability, tiveness, and Intellectualism.
and Personal Assertiveness) is relevant to Given these results from the auxiliary
assessing the performances we have mea- sample concerning the relevance for stu-
sured (educational plans and participation dent identities of each of the four dimen-
in student social activities). sions of meaning of the activities, our hy-
To get this information, a separate, ad- pothesis that the link between identities
ditional sample of 95 undergraduate stu- and behavior lies in their having corre-
dents was given a questionnaire contain- sponding meanings leads to the following
ing, in semantic differential format, the predictions:
same 24 adjective pairs that were used to 1. Persons whose identities as college
measure college student identity mean- students are high on Academic Responsi-
ings. The concepts to be rated, however, bility will be (a) more likely to plan for an
were not the roles of college student, advanced degree, and (b) less likely to
graduate student, etc., but were activities. participate in the measured student activ-
For the educational plans variable, two ities than college students with identities
"concepts" were rated: (1) "A student who low on Academic Responsibility.
plans to go to graduate school is 2. Persons whose identities as college
and (2) "A student who plans to get a job students are high on Sociability will be (a)
after college is __." For the participa- neither more nor less likely to plan for an
tion in social activities variable, two ad-
ditional "concepts" were rated: (1) "A stu- 3Large is taken here to be larger than one stan-
dent who frequently engages in social ac- dard deviation. We investigate below the actual
tivities like going to the movies, restau- magnitudes of these differences.

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 IDENTITY BEHAVIOR LINK 89

Table 3. Mean Score for Each Rated Behavior on Each of the Underlying Dimensions of Meaning Relevant
to the College Student Identity

Semantic Dimension

Academic Personal
Behavior Responsibility Intellectualism Sociability Assertiveness

Plan Graduate School 1.11 0.51 -0.86 -0.04

Plan Job -0.62 0.11 -0.20 1.38
Difference* 1.73 0.40 -0.66 -1.42
Social Activities -0.64 0.43 0.19 0.36
No Social Activities 0.61 -0.71 -1.48 -1.63
Differencet -1.25 1.14 1.67 1.99

* The magnitude of the difference indicates the degree of relevance of the semantic dimension for the
behavior in question.

advanced degree, but (b) more likely to money, and persons with higher family
participate in the measured student activ- incomes could be expected to participate
ities than college students with identities more simply on that account. Again, in-
low on Sociability. come may also influence student identity
3. Persons whose identities as college and hence needs to be controlled in the
students are high on Intellectualism will analysis.
be (a) neither more nor less likely to plan
for an advanced degree, but (b) more
RESULTS
likely to participate in the measured stu-
dent activities than college students with To test the above hypotheses about the
identities low on Intellectualism. nature of the link between student iden-
4. Persons whose identites as college tities and various role "performances,"
students are high on Personal Assertive- each of the performance measures was re-
ness will be (a) less likely to plan for an gressed on the identity measures and on
advanced deg-ree, and (b) more likely to the two control variables (father's educa-
participate in the measured student activ- tion and family income). These results are
ities than college students with identities given in Table 4.
low on Personal Assertiveness. Beginning with the effects of college
student identities on educational plans,
the results of the analysis are entirely sup-
Additional Measures

As control variables in the assessment

Table 4. Standardized Regression Coefficients from
of the relationship between student iden-
the Regression of the Performance Vari-
tities and role performance in the areas of ables on the Identity and Background
educational plans and participation in so- Variables
cial activities, two measures were in-
Performance Variables
cluded: Father's Education (in eight
categories ranging from "eighth grade or Participation
Educational in Social
less" to "graduate or professional
Plans Activities
school"), and Family Income (in six (N = 560) (N = 579)
categories ranging from "less than $3,000"
Identity Dimensions
to "$25,000 or more"). It is well known Academic
that educational plans are affected by Responsibility .2 ** 13**
educational level of the parents, and it Intellectualism .06 .12**
may well be that individual student iden- Sociability - .08 .19**
Personal
tities are in part influenced by these same
Assertiveness -.II* .1**
factors. Thus to assess the influence of Controls
identity on performance these background Father's Education .12** .05
factors should be controlled. Additionally, Family Income .01 .12**
participation in most of the social activi- p .05.
ties listed in the questionnaire requires p .01.

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 90 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY

portive of the hypotheses. Controlling for the magnitude of the differences reported
the two family background variables, stu- in Table 3 as a scaled indication of the
dents with identities high on Academic behavioral relevance of the identity di-
Responsibility and low on Personal As- mensions. For example, since engaging
sertiveness are more likely than others to and not engaging in social activities are
indicate plans to continue with their edu- very different on the dimension of Per-
cation beyond college. On the other hand, sonal Assertiveness, we take this dimen-
the identity dimensions of Intellectualism sion of meaning as being very relevant for
and Sociability, which were found to be assessing performance in social activities.
less relevant to the meanings of educa- With this we can test the corollary hy-
tional plans in this context (see Table 3), pothesis by looking at the association
are not significantly related to the depen- between the magnitudes of these dif-
dent variable. ferences and the sizes of the regression
Turning to the analysis of participation coefficients reported in Table 4, which are
in social activities, we again find results indicators of the strength of the link be-
which support the main hypothesis. Con- tween the various identity dimensions and
trolling for family income and father's the various performances. Considering all
education, students whose identities are eight of these regression coefficients, the
low on Academic Responsibility but high Pearsonian correlation between their
on Intellectualism, Sociability, and Per- magnitude and the degree of relevance of
sonal Assertiveness are more likely to fre- each of the semantic dimensions for the
quently engage in the kinds of social ac- activity (the magnitudes of the differences
tivities measured. reported in Table 3) is +0.99 (p < 0.01).
Three additional points should be The more relevant the activity to the un-
noted, which argue against the alternative derlying dimension of meaning, the
interpretation that because all the mea- greater is the strength of the link between
sures are done with the semantic dif- identity and behavior.
ferential, the observed results are due to a
method effect rather than to any real sub-
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
stantive relationship of the sort hypoth-
esized. The first point is that the meanings It was suggested that the lack of re-
of the activities were measured on a dif- search investigating the behavioral conse-
ferent sample than the one in which the quences of having some particular self-
meanings of the student identities were concept has been due to the lack of a clear
measured. Second, not all of the dimen- understanding of the mechanisms that
sions of meaning of the student identities might be involved in translating a self-
were significantly related to the perfor- concept into a behavioral performance. It
mance measures-only those that were was hypothesized here that the link be-
predicted on the basis of the relevance of tween identity and performance lies in the
the dimension (as measured on the auxil- process of assessing each on the same di-
iary sample). And third, the direction of mensions of meaning. Through this pro-
the relationship was not always the same cess individuals monitor their own be-
across the different performance mea- havior in terms of the implied meaning of
sures, but did correspond to the direction that behavior, where the relevant dimen-
predicted on the basis of the measures of sions of meaning are those that distinguish
the meaning of the activity obtained in the the individual's role/identity from coun-
auxiliary sample. ter-role/identities. In order to be (some
The second of these points, that some of identity), one must act like (some iden-
the relationships were, as predicted, not tity). In order to not be (some other iden-
significant, brings us to the corollary hy- tity), one must not act like (that other
pothesis that the strength of the relation- identity). If being feminine, for example,
ship between identity and performance is means being tender and one defines one-
a function of the relevance of the under- self as being feminine, then one must act
lying dimensions of meaning to both the in ways that will be interpreted by oneself
identity and the performance. We can take as well as by others as acting "tender" and

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 IDENTITY BEHAVIOR LINK 91

not acting "tough." In our case with the mance suggests that given an opportunity
to engage in some activity or some set of
student roles and identities, if one has a stu-
dent identity that is high in Academic Re- activities, a choice must be made. Iden-
sponsibility, then one should act in ways tities influence the choices made. The ac-
that have the same meaning. Although our tivity that results from the choice has
findings are somewhat limited by the fact meanings that correspond to, reinforce,
that they were obtained on cross-sectional and display the identity meanings of the
rather than longitudinal data, this pattern individual. The choices can fxist at the
of expected results was confirmed in our level of roles (cf. the discussion of role-
sample. Planning to go on to graduate selection by Backman and Secord, 1968),
school, and not participating in too many or at the level of items of behavior within
social activities, are both "performances" roles, as demonstrated in the present re-
that have the meaning we called high Aca- search, or at even a more micro-level,
demic Responsibility, and they are per- where the choices exist in the manner in
formances in which individuals whose which any activity is performed. Viewed
identities correspond with high Academic in this way, an identity is like a compass
Responsibility are likely to engage. helping us steer a course of interaction in a
Not only did the dimension of Aca- sea of social meaning.
demic Responsibility have an effect on
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