Social Self and Group Identification †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Social Self and Group Identification. Answer: Introduction: The concept of self-identity plays a major role in peoples day to day functions. The idea of identity is believed to be the foundation in which an individuals daily life is anchored. Self-identity gives an individual the path to follow and a sense of belonging by being in a given social group. The hypothesis of social identity dons that ones identity is determined by the social group to which the individuals belongs (Hattie, 2014). The concept of social identity claims that any individual belonging to ascertain social group will always think the same way as the community and perceives thing just like the group. As a result of the social group theory, people categorize themselves about the group they belong to and other people as outsiders as they belong to another group. This hypothesis of categorization is grounded in a process known as self-categorization. The theory suggests that the core factor of categorization is the behavior which one adopts as a result of seeing things in the groups perspective. However, other scholars have developed and proposed a new idea of self-identity (Strauss, 2017). These scholars claim that self-identity is composed of three basic elements that are the collectives self which is defined by self-categorization, individual self which is attained by the unique qualities of an individual that differentiates the individual from the group and the relational self which is defined individual relationship others (Triandis, 1999). To come up with a review based on individual or collective identity, I have organized my action to capture the activities of my best friends architect activities by observing his Facebook account. My friend has 5000 friends on Facebook who likes and follow all of his posts. This architect friend posts pictures of houses which he designs and unlocks for people who would like to see the house plan. Through this activity, I came to discover his collective, individual self and relational self (Sedikides Brewer, 2015). Various posts on the architectures page attract likes from people of all ages and gender. Based on the analysis of his Facebook activities, he can be classified as relatable to his followers leading to a high number of followers who like and share his posts. My friend also has a personal account where he posts are personal, family and group pics which attracts likes and comments as well. As a result of this, this individual can be classified as a collective and relational individual. In the above action, the architect uses his collective and relational self through sharing the house plans and group photos. Through the architects activities, this individual categorizes himself as a good architect who provides house plans admirable to every one of his follower. Apart from the collective-self portrayed through the posting of the house designs, the architecture can be defined as relational based on activities in his account where he posts group photographs (Brewer Pickett, 2014). However, the individual can be defined as individual self since he opens his house plans at a fee. This suggests that ones self-identity cannot be defined based on ideas portrayed in social media as people only allow the ideas they want to be seen and hide their true self (Ellemers, Spears Doosje, 2002). In conclusion, it is best to define an individual as collective, relational or individual through personal observation but not social media. References Brewer, M. B., Pickett, C. L. (2014). The social self and group identification. The social self: Cognitive, interpersonal and intergroup perspectives, 4, 255. Hattie, J. (2014). Self-concept. Psychology Press. Sedikides, C., Brewer, M. B. (Eds.). (2015). Individual self, relational self, collective self. Psychology Press. Strauss, A. L. (2017). Mirrors and masks: The search for identity. Routledge. Triandis, H. C. (1999). Cross?cultural Psychology.Asian Journal of Social Psychology,2(1), 127-143. Ellemers, N., Spears, R., Doosje, B. (2002). Self and social identity.Annual review of psychology,53(1), 161-186.