ppt_ch05_socialpsychology

Social Psychology: Sociological PerspectivesDavid E. RohallMelissa A. MilkieJeffrey W. LucasThis multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image of a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program

Copyright (c) Allyn Bacon 2007

Social Psychology: Sociological PerspectivesChapter 5: Self and Identity


The Sociology of Self and IdentitySociologists rarely study personality per se, but the self, self-concept, and identitiesThe self is a process in which we construct a sense of who we are through interaction with others The self process at a given point in time is the self-concept


Dimensions of the selfScholars examining the self-concept focus on self-identities, the kind of person we see ourselves as and self-evaluations, the judgments we make of ourselvesThree self-evaluations often studied include:Self-esteemMasteryMattering


SI: The Self as a ProcessFrom the symbolic interactionist perspective, the self is a process, just like the construction of any social realityWe give meaning to our self in many different ways during our interactions with others by asking the questions like:Are we good or bad people? How well do we do the tasks we set out to do?


SI: The I and the MeWe use symbols and language to communicate with other people, but we also use language to think internally, a process Herbert Blumer calls self-indicationAccording to George Herbert Mead, a large part of our internal dialogue occurs as interplay between the Me, the organized set of attitudes toward the self, and the I, our active self


SI: Identity and Identity TheoryIdentity refers to our internalized, stable sense of who we are, including role identities, social categories, and personal characteristics Identity theory examines the ways society shapes how we view ourselves, and how those views, or identities, affect our behavior


SI: Principles of Identity TheoryIdentity theory is rooted on five basic principles: Behavior is based on an already classified worldPositions in society are among the things classified People develop their identities based on their positions in society We incorporate our social positions into our sense of identitySocial behavior is derived from the shaping and modifying of the expectations of our positions


SI: Emotions and Identities David Heises affect-control theory incorporates elements of identity theory; it states that emotions serve as signals about how well we are producing our identities Congruence between our self-perceived identity and the information we receive about ourselves generally produces positive emotions


SI: Dramaturgical SociologyFrom an interactionist perspective, individuals have the ability to choose how to act, above-and-beyond their inclinationsThe study of how we present ourselves, playing roles and managing impressions during interactions with other people, is called dramaturgical sociology Dramaturgical sociology is most closely associated with Erving Goffman (19221982)


SI: Goffman and Impression ManagementErving Goffman believed that we use information from others presentations to help establish expectations of our behavior and that of the people around us Impression management refers to the ways individuals seek to control the impressions they convey to other people, however, there are impressions given and impressions given offthe impression you believe that you are giving and the impression the other person has of you


SI: Motivations Behind Impression ManagementGoffman argued that we are driven to maintain positive impressions, probably because outcomes of interactions serve as a source of self-esteem Supporting others impressions is important because we may need support in our own impression management efforts later in the interaction


SI: Regions of Impression FormationThere are two regions of impression formation that affect how we interact with people: The front stage, the place where we present ourselves to others, and the backstage, the region where we relax our impression management efforts and we may practice our performancesPeople regularly move in and out of these regions


SI: The Situated SelfIn the interactionist framework, the self changes as quickly as our social environmentsSocial forces like globalization and technological advances lead to rapid changes in our social worlds Scholars to argue that we have a much more situated self, a temporally based sense of who we are, associated with a lack of clear sense of identity


SSP: The Self and Social StructureScholars from the social structure and personality perspective focus on how our social positions and relationships affect our self-evaluationsResearchers from this tradition often study the relationship between social positions and the self-concept in the form of self-esteem, mastery, and mattering


SSP: Evaluative Dimensions of the SelfThree of the most studies forms of the self-concept include self-esteem, mastery, and matteringSelf-esteem is the positive or negative evaluation of our self as an objectMastery refers to our perceptions of our ability to control our environments Mattering refers to our sense that we are important to other people in the world


SSP: Self-EsteemSelf-esteem is considered a foundational aspect of the self; it answers the question: How good am I? There are four sources of the self-concept, including self-esteem: Social comparisons Reflected appraisals Psychological centrality Self-perceptions Research generally shows that reflected appraisal are most central to our self-esteem


SSP: MasteryMastery addresses the question: How powerful am I to do the things I would like to do?Personal accomplishments are the most important source of efficacy in adulthoodSeveral studies show that higher levels of mastery is associated with fewer mental and physical health problems


SSP: MatteringMattering answers the question: How much do I matter to others?Morris Rosenberg argued that we have an intrinsic need to feel that we are needed by the people around us Research show that mattering is positively related to self-esteem and negatively related to depression and anxiety


SSP: Measuring the Self-ConceptSSP scholars rely on a number of common methods to assess the self-conceptManford Kuhns Twenty-Statements Test (TST) is a popular way to measure the selfMorris Rosenbergs Self-Esteem Scale is a popular method of assessing self-esteem


SSP: Class and Self-EsteemRosenberg and Pearlin (1978) used data from surveys of children, adolescents, and adults from Baltimore and Chicago to compare levels of self-esteem at different class levelsThe researchers found that social class position begins to affect self-esteem as children enter adolescence, when occupation, income, and education become more important to ones identity


SSP: Ethnicity and Self-IdentitiesEthnicity not only affects self-evaluations, it is an integral to self-identitiesJoanne Nagel (1995), for instance, found that there were very large increase in the number of residents identifying themselves as American Indian in the 1970s and 1980s yet there had been no increase in birthrates She found that societal changes made being of American Indian ancestry less stigmatized and more acceptable, leading more people to accept that identity


GP: Identity and Group ProcessesGroups serve as a way to establish and maintain our sense of selfGroups can also serve to give you an identity that is a collective one


GP: Social Identity TheorySocial identity theory argues that we carry self-definitions that match all the categories to which we belongIn the theory, these self-definitions are called social identitiesOriginally developed in psychology, social identity theory proposes that our social identities describe to us who we are, provide us with information about how to behave, and tell us how we should evaluate other people


GP: Social Identity Theory and InteractionsSocial identity theory says that we will perceive ourselves according to that identity and behave in ways that are stereotypical of that identity We also engage in a process of categorization, the process through which we draw sharp dividing lines between group membership categories and assign people to relevant categories Once categorized, we engage in self-enhancement, the process through which we make comparisons that favor our group


Chapter 5: Bringing It All TogetherThe three perspectives in social psychology approach the study of self and identity in different ways Interactionists emphasize how our sense of self is actively constructed Social structure and personality scholars focus on the ways that our social positions impact the self-conceptGroup processes work emphasize the important role of group memberships in our sense of identity


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