Showing papers on "Social psychology (sociology) published in 1993"

Constructing Social Identity: A Language Socialization Perspective

Abstract: (1993). Constructing Social Identity: A Language Socialization Perspective. Research on Language and Social Interaction: Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 287-306.

The Nature of Deference and Demeanor

Abstract: of modern society have learned to look for the symbolic meaning of any given social practice and for the contribution of the practice to the integrity and solidarity of the group that employs it. However, in directing their attention away from the individual to the group, these students seem to have neglected a theme that is presented in Durkheim's chapter on the soul (1954: 240-272). There he suggests that the individual's personality can be seen as one apportionment of the collective mana, and that (as he implies in later chapters) the rites performed to representations of the social collectivity will sometimes be performed to the individual himself. In this paper I want to explore some of the senses in which the person in our urban secular world is allotted a kind of sacredness that is displayed and confirmed by symbolic acts. An attempt will be made to build a conceptual scaffold by stretching and twisting some common anthropological terms. This will be used to support two concepts which I think are central to this area, deference and demeanor. Through these reformulations I will try to show that a version of Durkheim's social psychology can be effective in modern dress. Data for the paper are drawn chiefly from a brief observational study of mental patients in a modern research hospital.' I use these data on the assumption that a logical place to learn about personal proprieties is among persons who have been locked up for spectacularly failing to maintain them. Their infractions of propriety occur in the confines of a ward, but the rules broken are quite general ones, leading us outward from the ward to a general study of

Social psychology across cultures

Abstract: Preface Introduction Some First Steps in Extending the Database Culture: The Neglected Concept The Search for Universals of Social Behaviour Social Cognition Communication and Interpersonal Relations Inter-group Relations Organizational Behaviour Indigenous Psychologies The Characteristics of Cross-Cultural Interaction The Consequences of Cross-Cultural Contact Discerning the Future

Implicit Stereotyping in Person Judgment.

Abstract: Three experiments demonstrated implicit gender stereotyping. A target's social category determined the use of previously primed stereotyped information, without Ss' awareness of such influence. After unscrambling sentences describing neutral or stereotyped behaviors about dependence or aggression, Ss evaluated a female or male target. Although ratings of female and male targets did not differ after exposure to neutral primes, Ss exposed to dependence primes rated a female target as more dependent than a male target who performed identical behaviors (Experiment 1A). Likewise, Ss rated a male, but not a female, target as more aggressive after exposure to aggression primes compared with neutral primes (Experiment IB). Experiment 2 replicated the implicit stereotyping effect and additionally showed no relationship between explicit memory for primes and judgment of target's dependence. I consider extremely fruitful this idea that social life should be explained, not by the notions of those who participate in it, but by more profound causes which are unperceived by consciousness, and I think also that these causes are to be sought mainly in the manner according to which the associated individuals are grouped. —Emile Durkheim (1897, translation in Winch, 1958, pp. 23-24) Essential to social psychology is the question of how people are evaluated. Hence, social psychologists have placed person judgment at the center of the research agenda of the discipline. Among the various components of person judgment is the process of stereotyping, whereby beliefs about a social group are used in judgments of the group or individual members of the group. Because stereotyped judgments simplify and justify social reality, they are among the most fundamental psychological events that determine the course of social relations. Our approach to stereotyping draws on theoretical analyses of unconscious processes that have emerged in contemporary writing about cognition. In particular, we build on recent observations and experimental discoveries that (a) unconscious influences on behavior are common rather than rare (Greenwald & Banaji, 1993; Jacoby & Kelley, 1987), (b) examining the processes involved in unconscious learning and memory can advance the understanding of social behavior (Bargh, 1984; Lewicki & Hill, 1987; Smith, in press), and (c) stereotypes and attitudes can operate unconsciously (Banaji & Greenwald, in press; Bargh, 1992; Bargh, Chaiken, Govender, & Pratto, 1992;

Power and the Emergence of Commitment Behavior in Negotiated Exchange

Abstract: Dans cet article, les AA. examinent l'impact du pouvoir sur le developpement de l'engagement affectif dans les relations entre deux personnes. Lorsque l'engagement se developpe, les acteurs tendent a rester en relation en depit des alternatives et a utiliser les benefices necessaires au maintien de la relation.

The Sad Demise, Mysterious Disappearance, and Glorious Triumph of Symbolic Interactionism

Abstract: Symbolic interactionism has changed over the past two decades, both in the issues that practitioners examine and in its position within the discipline. Once considered adherents of a marginal oppositional perspective, confronting the dominant positivist, quantitative approach of mainstream sociology, symbolic interactionists find now that many of their core concepts have been accepted. Simultaneously their core as an intellectual community has been weakened by the diversity of interests of those who self-identify with the perspective. I examine here four processes that led to these changes: fragmentation, expansion, incorporation, and adoption. I then describe the role of symbolic interactionism in three major debates confronting the discipline: the micro/macro debate, the structure/agency debate, and the social realist/interpretivist debate. I discuss six empirical arenas in which interactionists have made major research contributions: social coordination theory, the sociology of emotions, social constru...

Group Cohesiveness: A Critical Review and Some New Directions

Abstract: Since its introduction in the early 1950s the concept of group cohesiveness has been modified so that it now accounts for the social group largely in terms of interpersonal attraction. Although widely criticized and no longer a major focus of mainstream social psychological research, group cohesiveness remains an important concept in applied social psychology. This chapter summarizes the still unresolved conceptual controversies surrounding group cohesiveness. It is argued that the chief problem with group cohesiveness is that it is a reductionist concept. The major part of the chapter proposes and evaluates a new, non-reductionist perspective—that of social identity and self-categorization—on cohesiveness.

Basic Research and Practical Problems: The Promise of a "Functional" Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract: In this article, based on the 1992 presidential address to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the author illustrates how research in personality and social psychology can address problems that confront society. To do so, he draws on a program of research on volunteerism. Every year; millions of people volunteer to devote much time and energy to helping others by volunteering, for example, to provide companionship to the elderly, tutoring to the illiterate, or health care to the sick. Guided by a functional approach to motivation, the author and his colleagues are engaged in a coordinated program of basic and applied investigations, conducted in the field and the laboratory, to examine personal and social motivations that give rise to the sustained, ongoing helping relationships of volunteerism. Then, applying lessons learned from building such bridges between basic research and practical problems, the author examines the practical and theoretical promises of a functionally orient approach ...

The Sociocultural Self

Abstract: A social psychological perspective on the self begins with the assumption that the responses of others are critical in defining the self. The self in social psychology is invariably described as a social product whose content derives from its relevant social contexts (Baldwin, 1911; Baldwin & Holmes, 1987; Brewer, 1990; Cool­ ey, 1902; Mead, 1934; Rosenberg, 1965; Stryker, 1987). The emergent selfconcept and how one feels about the self is a function of how the individual is viewed and responded to by important others in his or her significant life do­ mains. Even within a highly individualistic Western psychological framework, it is immediately evident that one cannot be a self by one’s self. Following Baldwin and Holmes (1987), we suggest that “the private as well as the public self is ultimately a social self” (p. 1090). As the social identity literature has shown, people experience their worlds and define themselves in terms of their socio­ cultural contexts (as Americans, as Israelis, as Southern Californians, as psy­ chologists, as middle class, as women, as Blacks, as students, etc.) (Asch, 1952; Gurin & Markus, 1988; Tajfel & Turner, 1985; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987; Zavalloni, 1971). Moreover, individuals who belong to ethnic groups whose language, physical, and cultural characteristics make them distinc­ tive with respect to the dominant group (e.g., in North America those who are not White, male, English-speaking, middle class, and urban) are likely to be responded to in terms of this group membership even if these categories are not particularly personally salient (Hughes & Demo, 1989; Jackson, Antonucci, & Gibson, 1989; Milner, 1984). Thus, a Japanese American boy and a Korean American boy may both be seen as Asians and as good in math and science even though these boys may not think of themselves in these ways at all. Similarly, notall women define themselves in terms of their gender (Gurin & Markus, 1988), but as reflected in many recent well-publicized sexual harassment cases, others often respond to them in this way.

The social construction and subjective reality of activity settings: Implications for community psychology

Abstract: A major focus of the article is the idea that activity settings are in part social constructions of the participants. The socially constructed “meaning” of an activity setting is a complex mix of ecological, cultural, interactional, and psychological features. These features may be observed and assessed, directly and indirectly, in terms of personnel, cultural values, tasks, scripts for conduct, and motives and purposes of actors. Empirical illustrations and extensions to community psychology are drawn from research with different populations: Native Hawaiian children and families, Spanish-speaking children and Mexican and Central American immigrant parents, Euro-American families with a developmentally delayed child, and Euro-American families who intentionally adopted nonconventional child-rearing values and practices.

Structural Social Psychology and the Micro-macro Problem*

Abstract: A unique multilevel perspective is explicated to help build theorical bridges between micro and macro levels of analysis in sociology. The perspective portrays actors as having minimal properties of purposiveness and responsiveness, encounters as interaction episodes between multiple actors, microstructures as local patterns of interaction emerging from and subsequently influencing encounters, and macrostructures as networks of social positions. These levels of analysis are connected via mutually contingent process. We illustrate the ability of the framework to strengthen the macrosociological import of micro theories of power, status, and justice. We argue that structural social psychology is an important metatheorical strategy for developing testable connections between individual and collective units of sociological analysis

The Social Psychology of Sport

Abstract: This textbook on the psychology of various sports and the psychological dynamics that underlie sports behaviour, includes chapters on performance, social influence, group dynamics, leadership, heroes, personality and aggression, as in the dangerous collective action of fans.

Ethnic categorization and outgroup exclusion: Cultural values and social stereotypes in the construction of ethnic hierarchies

Abstract: In this article three approaches to define and explain negative ethnic attitudes are discussed: the anthropology of cultural misunderstanding, the sociology of how differences in group positions are justified ideologically, and the social psychology of maintaining self‐esteem through intergroup differentiation. The‐ aim is to integrate these approaches into an interdisciplinary model. Social identity theory is used as a frame for this integration. The argument developed is that ingroup values are used for intergroup differentiation and evaluation. This leads to the development of stereotypes. Stereotypes reflect misunderstanding, but also anchor social representations of a hierarchy of group positions (ethnic hierarchy). Depending on the ethnic composition of the larger society, majority and minority groups will differ in their ethnic hierarchies. Discrepancies between ethnic hierarchies will lead to ethnic tension. From the perspective developed, a number of hypotheses is derived about how chang...

Activity settings as the unit of analysis: A theoretical basis for community intervention and development

Abstract: Theory, methods, and action develop within context, one of which is the intellectual climate of an era. Community psychology is directly and indirectly interactive with many intellectual currents, such as postmodernism, semiotics, hermeneutics, and dialogism. These ideas are discussed as they impact on community psychology, with an emphasis on the reemergence of meaning as a central condition of psychology and community. Meaning is of key importance to the unifying concept in the transactional theoretical model which is presented. How this model might serve as a conceptual framework for an asset approach to community intervention and development is discussed. Increasingly, it is recognized that the development of theory to guide community research and action is necessary to advance intervention and to realize the potential of community psychology. It is argued that community psychology is positioned by concepts and practice squarely at the point of emerging thought, and can make fuondational contributions to general social science. The next article in this special section illustrates concepts of this model in an early education program and the remaining article illustrates the influence of ecocultural factors.

The measurement of social well-being

Abstract: This paper provides a conceptual framework for viewing social well-being as composed of two elements: social adjustment and social support. Social adjustment is a combination of satisfaction with relationships, performance in social roles and adjustment to one's environment. Social support is composed of the number of contacts in one's social network and satisfaction with those contacts. Through the pioneering work of McDowell and Newell, comparative ratings of measures of social adjustment and social support are available. It appears that Weissman's Social Adjustment Scale and Sarason's Social Support Scale are currently the best measures in terms of validity and reliability. But, they are merely starting points for future measurement of these concepts.

Common sense, science and social representations:

Abstract: The theory of social representations is perfectly suited to the empirical investigation of the public's understanding of science. A sharp distinction is drawn between a scientific theory and its social representation corresponding, respectively, to the contrasting worlds of science and of common sense. Representations of science are to be found in the media as well as in people's minds and need to be sampled and studied in both locations. Moscovici initiated this French tradition of research with his study, in the late 1950s, of psychoanalysis. It is a sociological form of social psychology with close affinities to the sociology of knowledge. The applicability to the natural sciences of a theory developed in relation to the social and human sciences is discussed. The views of Moscovici and of Wolpert are compared and contrasted, especially in regard to the relations between science and common sense. It is argued that the study of social representations is a form of social science that natural scientists n...

Principles Of Social Psychology

Abstract: The contexts of social interaction conversation and communication interacting with others perceiving others attitudes conflict and co- operation.

Gender differences in conversation topics, 1922–1990

Abstract: Gender differences in conversation topics were first systematically studied in 1922 by Henry Moore, who theorized that the gender differences in topic choice he observed in a field observation study would persist over time, as they were manifestations of men's and women's “original natures.” In this paper, I report a 1990 replication of Moore's study, in which similar but smaller gender differences in topic choice are found. In order to explore further the apparent trend toward smaller gender differences, reports of quantitative observation studies conducted between 1922 and 1990 are examined. Other explanations besides change over time—such as variations in conversation setting and audience, target populations, and researcher's intentions—may account for the decline in gender differences in topic choice. Social influences are seen more clearly in the discourse about gender differences in conversation than in gender differences in conversation topics themselves.

Discourse, Dynamics, and Social Change:

Abstract: The Problem of Cultural Dynamics Which aspects of social and cultural change are in principle predictable and which are not? How can we usefully model the dynamics of such complex systems as human communities? What is the role of discourse, and of culturally and historically specific semiotic formations generally, in co-determining the processes of social change? How are discursive, semiotic practices and material, ecosystem processes inextricably linked in the dynamics of social systems?

Transpersonal Social Work: A Theory for the 1990s

Abstract: Transpersonal psychology contains a growing body of literature and theory related to the spiritual dimension of human nature and "higher states of consciousness." This approach is especially relevant for social work practitioners who are combating the social ills of the 1990s that manifest as violence, addiction, and spiritual malaise. Other theories do not recognize higher levels of consciousness, and thus their exclusive use may inhibit the optimal development of the spiritual dimension. Transpersonal theory is the only theory that focuses on the spiritual dimension and legitimates the development of higher states of consciousness as being exceptionally healthy or as representing the epitome of human potential. The practice challenges facing social workers in the postmodern age call not only for the development of a more complex and inclusive understanding of what it means to be fully human, but also for a transpersonal theory "big" enough to allow and facilitate quantum leaps in human consciousness.