Supporting College and Career Readiness through Social Psychological Interventions

Abstract

This chapter reviews examples of social psychological interventions that improve the readiness, persistence, and success of students and professionals— with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms by which these interventions effectively address social identity threat concerns and improve outcomes for stigmatized people. It discusses one of the most popular person-focused interventions— the growth mindset intervention— that communicates that people can grow their intelligence and abilities. Next, the chapter focuses on interventions that confer adaptive construals of the social environment and its relationship to the self. It examines how social belonging and utility value interventions change students’ relationships with their social context. The utility value intervention improved the performance of all students in the treatment group, while having a particularly positive effect on first-generation racial minority students. Finally, the chapter discusses how insights from these interventions can be used to improve college and career readiness.