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1 IDENTITY: STEREOTYPES AND SELF-CONCEPT

Identity: Stereotypes and Self-concept 03/08/2019

2 IDENTITY: STEREOTYPES AND SELF-CONCEPT Identity: Stereotypes and Self-Concept The purpose of this report is to discuss how personal, situational, role, and relationship schemas effect on the identity of ourselves. Plenty of factors can alter the way which people use to selfcategorisation: we live, study, work, join social groups and change them. Each person classified himself or herself under groups to socialise and communicate. Belonging to a group, being a part of our self-awareness, can increase or decrease our self-esteem. Also, behaviour depends on other group members - human most often tries to be similar to others. According to J. Turner works (1994), self-definitions as group members that social influence occurs and that social belief systems come to share what we think, what we care about, and what we do - affect, behaviour, cognition. His theory of self-categorisation is based on the cognitive processes involved in the process of self-determination and self-interpretation. For a defined social identity to become dominant, out-group differences must be greater than in-group, but also objective differences between groups must coincide with the expected stereotyped characteristics of these groups - the principle of normative compliance. For this assignment, I interviewed twelve people through face-to-face conversations. Furthermore, as a consequence of the fact that participations were my neighbours, classmates, and friends, the age range is people in their 20s. Four of the contestants are European females aged twenty to twenty-one, one Asian female aged twenty, two Maori females aged twenty, five are males aged twenty-one to twenty-six. Moreover, most of them are ex or current sportsmen, 40% respectively, one office worker, one businessman, and one psychologist. As a result, all participations said about their occupation such as student, athlete, businessman, some also noticed their previous activities. 54% indicated their gender and put it at the top of the list. besides, for all males, it was important to call themselves as a man, not just a «boy» or «male». To describe personalities, all people used positive characteristics and only 27% (3 people) noticed their negative sides: depressions, stubbornness, and impatience. Only one person pointed out her orientation - homosexuality. All of the people used their hobbies or things which they like to identify themselves. In this case, it is clear that people trying to show their best sides: they call themselves open, generous, enthusiastic. Also, participants noticed their hobbies as well as things, which they do satisfactory, for example, cooking, travelling, guitar playing, sport. Moreover, the occupation has a direct impact on how a person identifies herself/himself. In this survey, one of the participants is a psychologist. He used psychological terms to describe his identity such as hedonism, empathy, self-criticism, critical thinking, while others used more simple, basic statements. At the same time, most of the sportsmen pointed out their appearance as good-looking people. It shows that belonging to the «sporty» social group can increase self-esteem, athletes think that they are healthier, look better, more attractive. Besides, certain participants said identity factors which could connect interviewer with them to the same groups using «I am also… as you». People are trying to find something in common with each other to feel more comfortable. According to J.Turner works, social identity is what allows group behaviour to occur at all. Several contestants pointed out their specificities to be more unique than others and belong to specific, smaller groups such as orientation, owner of particular vehicle model, birthplace. Also, it should be noted, that females told more about their appearance and personal characteristics, while males told more about occupation, things which they like. It can be caused by gender stereotype that all woman should be beautiful and caring, though all man should be smart and hard-working. To conclude, this essay describes how people in their 20s identify themselves. Taking into consideration mentioned above, identity is perceptions of self that are largely influenced by personal experiences, culture, roles and relationships in everyday life. Each person desires to

3 IDENTITY: STEREOTYPES AND SELF-CONCEPT show him/herself best and positive sides, belong to comfortable and satisfactory groups, be more similar to group members. References: 1. S.Basow (1992) Gender: Stereotypes and Roles 2. D.Heise, N.MacKinnon (2010) Self, Identity and Social Institutions 3. J.Turner, P.Oakes, A.Haslam (1994) Stereotyping and Social Reality...