Social psychology of identity and the self concept

Abstract

This volume presents state-of-the-art reviews of social psychological theories and empirical research on the self-concept bringing together researchers from a variety of theoretical traditions to debate current issues. It attempts to allow conflicting perspectives to be voiced and some syntheses to be achieved and aims to provide a framework for theorizing the self-concept which will be at the centre of research in the 1990s. The focus in the papers is upon the social and psychological processes which act to shape the structure and content of the self-concept. Contributors examine the effects of social identification and group membership, the motivated historical reconstruction of self-representations, the relationship between decision-making and self-conceptualization, the role of stereotyping in self-concept development and the way self-evaluation is reflected in social beliefs and activities. Most discuss problems in measuring the self-concept and self-evaluation and a broad range of methodologies will be described. They additionally explore how the self-concept responds to various threats of challenges emanating from the social environemnt (eg being stigmatized, for instance, as a result of breaking key social norms or intergroup hostility). Dimensions of the self-concept which will be considered directly include gender, age, ethnicity and religion.

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