The Influence of Identity Recognition with “I-Person/E-Person” Labels on Individuals’ Social Behavior

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-609-3_45How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Identity Recognition; Autonomy Threat; Social Avoidance

Abstract

This study examined how identity recognition with “I-person/E-person” labels relates to social avoidance among young people, and whether autonomy threat mediates this relationship. Data from 356 participants (aged 18–35) were analyzed using SPSS. Results showed that identity recognition positively correlated with social avoidance (r = 0.18, p < 0.01), and autonomy threat showed a stronger positive correlation with social avoidance (r = 0.61, p < 0.01). Autonomy threat fully mediated the link between identity recognition and social avoidance. Compared to E-persons, I-persons scored significantly higher on autonomy threat (4.33 vs. 3.65) and social avoidance (3.73 vs. 2.65). Regression analyses revealed that autonomy threat predicted social avoidance (R² = 0.638) much more strongly than identity recognition did (R² = 0.365). These findings indicate that the effect of personality labels on social behavior is not direct but operates through perceived pressure to conform to label-based expectations—i.e., autonomy threat. The study uncovers a “label disciplining” mechanism among youth and provides empirical evidence for promoting rational use of personality labels without being trapped by them.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Chengxin Wei
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - The Influence of Identity Recognition with “I-Person/E-Person” Labels on Individuals’ Social Behavior
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 3rd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 405
EP  - 418
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-609-3_45
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-609-3_45
ID  - Wei2026
ER  -