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- Personal identity (see [Personal] Identity Theory), the most elementary of the four identities, was pioneered by American sociological social psychologists (SSPs), particularly Sheldon Stryker. SSPs emphasize how demographic, social, and cultural factors affect human social interaction.
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Apr 24, 2012 · Personal identity is what makes every person unique, defining them through their specific biographies (e.g., name, birthplace), unique characteristics (e.g., intelligent, athletic), role identities (e.g., daughter, employee), and particular combination of private and public experiences.
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Later, George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) studied the self, a person’s distinct identity that is developed through social interaction. Mead argued that our selves have two components, an “I” and a “Me.” The “I” is our creative, novel response to a situation. Our “Me” is the part of our self that accounts for the larger social world.
- Overview
- History
- Cognitive processes
- Motivation
- Strategies for status improvement
social identity theory, in social psychology, the study of the interplay between personal and social identities. Social identity theory aims to specify and predict the circumstances under which individuals think of themselves as individuals or as group members. The theory also considers the consequences of personal and social identities for individ...
Social identity theory developed from a series of studies, frequently called minimal-group studies, conducted by the British social psychologist Henri Tajfel and his colleagues in the early 1970s. Participants were assigned to groups that were designed to be as arbitrary and meaningless as possible. Nevertheless, when people were asked to assign points to other research participants, they systematically awarded more points to in-group members than to out-group members.
The minimal-group studies were interpreted as showing that the mere act of categorizing individuals into groups can be sufficient to make them think of themselves and others in terms of group membership instead of as separate individuals. That finding deviated from a common view at the time, namely, that an objective conflict of interest is a central factor in the emergence of intergroup conflict.
Thus, social identity theory originated from the conviction that group membership can help people to instill meaning in social situations. Group membership helps people to define who they are and to determine how they relate to others. Social identity theory was developed as an integrative theory, as it aimed to connect cognitive processes and behavioral motivation. Initially, its main focus was on intergroup conflict and intergroup relations more broadly. For that reason, the theory was originally referred to as the social identity theory of intergroup relations.
Later elaborations by Tajfel’s student John Turner and his colleagues on the cognitive factors relevant to social identification further specified how people interpret their own position in different social contexts and how that affects their perceptions of others (e.g., stereotyping), as well as their own behaviour in groups (e.g., social influence). Those elaborations constitute self-categorization theory, or the social identity theory of the group. Together, self-categorization theory and social identity theory can be referred to as the social identity approach.
Social identity theory was developed to explain how individuals create and define their place in society. According to the theory, three psychological processes are central in that regard: social categorization, social comparison, and social identification.
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Social categorization refers to the tendency of people to perceive themselves and others in terms of particular social categories—that is, as relatively interchangeable group members instead of as separate and unique individuals. For example, one can think of a certain person, Jane, as a feminist, a lawyer, or a football fan.
Social comparison is the process by which people determine the relative value or social standing of a particular group and its members. For instance, schoolteachers may be seen as having higher social standing than garbage collectors. Compared with university professors, however, schoolteachers can be seen as having lower social standing.
Social identification reflects the notion that people generally do not perceive social situations as detached observers. Instead, their own sense of who they are and how they relate to others is typically implicated in the way they view other individuals and groups around them.
According to social identity theory, social behaviour is determined by the character and motivations of the person as an individual (interpersonal behaviour) as well as by the person’s group membership (i.e., intergroup behaviour).
People generally prefer to maintain a positive image of the groups to which they belong. As a result of social identity processes, people are inclined to seek out positively valued traits, attitudes, and behaviours that can be seen as characteristic of their in-groups.
The motivation to establish a positive social identity is thought to lie at the root of intergroup conflict, as members of disadvantaged groups strive for improvement of their group’s position and social standing and members of advantaged groups aim to protect and maintain their privileged position.
According to the individual-mobility belief system, individuals are free agents who are capable of moving from one group to another. The defining feature of the system is the notion that group boundaries are permeable, such that individuals are not bound or restricted by their group memberships in pursuing position improvement. Thus, individuals’ opportunities and outcomes are viewed as dependent on their talents, life choices, and achievements rather than on their ethnic origin or social groups.
A very different belief system, known as the social change belief system, holds that changes in social relations depend on groups modifying their positions relative to each other. Status security depends on the perceived stability and legitimacy of existing status differences between groups. Stability and legitimacy tend to mutually influence each other: when positions are subject to change, existing intergroup differences in status appear less legitimate. Conversely, when the legitimacy of existing status differences between groups is questioned, the perceived stability of such relations is likely to be undermined.
The two belief systems, in turn, determine what people are most likely to do when they pursue a more positive social identity. Social identity theory distinguishes between three types of strategies for status improvement: individual mobility, social competition, and social creativity.
Individual mobility allows people to pursue individual position improvement irrespective of the group. It can also be an individual-level solution for overcoming group devaluation.
Social competition is a group-level strategy that requires group members to draw together and combine forces to help each other improve their joint performance or outcomes.
- Naomi Ellemers
Jun 6, 2013 · In this chapter, we provide an overview of the central ideas within the theory such as identity verification and identity salience, the different methodological approaches (survey and...
Dec 3, 2020 · This chapter provides an outline of identity theory as it has developed out of its structural symbolic interaction origins. Identities are sets of meanings that define who we are in terms of the roles we have, the groups or social categories to which we belong, or the unique characteristics that make us different from others.The chapter reviews ...
Aug 7, 2013 · Identity Theory. An identity is an “internal positional designation” that represents meanings actors use to define themselves as unique individuals (person identities), role occupants (role identities), or group members (social identities) (Stets 2006; Stryker [1980] 2002).
We believe that three areas are central to linking the two theories. First are the differ- ent bases of identity in the two theories: cate- gories or groups for social identity theory, and roles for identity theory. A related issue is the place of person identities.
