fei75766_ch19_610-639.indd 632  02/06/20 01:53 PM
Part VI    Learning-Cognitive Theories632
perceive undesirable aspects within theself,these gayandlesbian participants who
hadhighguiltwere more denigrating ofgayandlesbian identity. 
Moradi andcolleagues (2009) offer suggestions forpersonal construct therapy 
interventions tospecifically address threat andguiltinindividuals withinternalized 
prejudice. Forexample, counselors might draw outcontrasts inclients’ construals, 
asking them toimagine what kindofperson would notbeanxious about being gay,
enabling ashiftfrom aself-construal thatisunacceptable toonethatisacceptable. 
Guilt reduction techniques would focus onreplacing negative self-construals with
more positive ones. Threat reduction might focus onenabling gayandlesbian clients 
toseethatintegrating being homosexual intotheirdesired self-construal might not
mean theymust change whotheyareinfundamental ways. Thiswork represents 
trulyexciting ways thatKelly’s personality theory maybeapplied toenable heal-
inginthose whosuffer from theinternalization ofculturally prejudiced construals 
within themselves. 
Reducing the Threat to Feminist Identification
Apuzzling phenomenon insocial justice research isthewidespread tendency ofmany 
people toagree withfeminist values butnottoidentify asfeminists. Often thisisreferred 
toasthe“I’mnotafeminist but”phenomenon, wherein individuals denyfeminist iden-
tification butfollow upimmediately withstated agreement withmany specific feminist 
values suchasthebelief thatmenandwomen andboysandgirlsshould haveequal 
opportunities andchoices (e.g., Zucker, 2004). Whyshould thismatter? Studies show 
thatfeminist identification isassociated withahostofpsychosocial benefits. Those 
whocallthemselves feminists, compared withnonfeminist self-labelers, arelesssocially 
dominant, havelesshostile andbenevolent sexist attitudes, havegreater self-efficacy, 
andhaveabetter capacity toreject sexist andbody objectifying attitudes (e.g., Leaper &
Arias, 2011; Zucker &Bay-Cheng, 2010). 
Moradi, Martin, andBrewster (2012) sought tousepersonal construct theory’s 
notion ofthreat topredict whodoesanddoesnotidentify withbeing afeminist. To
understand this,theauthors provided theexample thatifaperson considers being 
assertive asadesirable character trait,views him-orherself asassertive, andcon-
strues feminists asassertive, thenintegrating feminist identity intotheself-concept 
would notbethreatening. If,ontheother hand, theperson thinks ofassertiveness 
asundesirable andincongruent withherorhisideal selfandconstrues feminists as
assertive, thenintegrating feminist identity intotheself-concept would introduce 
Kelly’s notion ofthreat because itwould beperceived asanintolerable challenge to
thatperson’s existing coreconstruct ofself.
Intheirfirststudy, Moradi andcolleagues (2012) usedthesame Reptestmethod 
asintheirprevious study ofinternalized homophobia. Inthiscase,91college students 
rated the30bipolar constructs three times: first,interms oftheiractual self,second in
terms oftheirpreferred oridealself,andthird, “ifyouwereafeminist.” So,imagine 
thatonepoleis“selfish versus unselfish.” Students firstcircled whether theyassoci -
atedthemselves more withthetermselfish orunselfish. Next, theycircled whether 
theywould prefer toseethemselves asassociated withthetermselfish orunselfish. 
Finally ,theycircled whether, iftheywereafeminist, theywould associate themselves 
withthetermselfish orunselfish. Asintheother study, threat scores werecalculated byFinal PDF to printer