Grasso and Dazet. The Social Identity Theory.

http://monadnock.keene.edu/~alg1/ January 4, 2000

This article is a web page created by Alyssa Grasso and Alyssa Dazet that seems to be a class assignment. The site presents the basic definition of Social Identity Theory and other concepts dealing with the theory. The text begins with information regarding the development of the theory by Henri Tajfel and John Turner in 1979 and the reasons for its development. The article continues with definitions of the concepts of categorization, identification and comparison.

The importance of this web site as a starting point for me was critical. The concept of Social Identity, even though familiar, needed to be defined in the academic setting and not only my own understanding of it. This site gave succinct definitions of the basic concepts, and of the importance of Social Identity Theory as a tool for the understanding of social dynamics.

The definitions of categorization, identification and comparison demonstrated a progressive understanding of concepts that build on one another. The examples used were easy to comprehend and allowed questions to follow about the validity of social identity in each of the examples.

By not overstating (except possibly in one example of "weird personality disorder") the writers allow the reader to interpret the information for themselves. The writers also introduce additional concepts in context such as, personal identity, prestige, status, self-esteem and differentiation.

The writers also seemed to have a good time with graphics, including animation, photography and art to spice up the sight.

Gardner, Macintyre, and Lalonde. The Effects of Multiple Social Categories on Stereotyping

http://www.cpa.ca/cjbsnew/1995/october/gardner4.html January 4, 2000

This is a research paper on stereotyping by age, gender and ethnicity. This paper is a result of a university study conducted on introductory psychology students that are English speaking Canadians between the ages of 17 and 29. The students received course credit as a result of their involvement.

The study was done of the three differing social identity categories of each 'individual'. An individual would be introduced consistently by Gender, ethnicity and age, i.e. "the individual is a male, French Canadian, age 20. The idea of the study was to analyze the time it took for each category to be assessed in combination with the three. By timing the response of each question (ex. Is the individual polite or impolite?) it was assessed whether the answer was a stereotype or an assessment. It was believed that stereotypes would take less time to decide than assessments.

A large part of the article went into the statistical analysis of the research. The professional acceptability of the report as scientific would hinge on this, but was more than I could analyze.

The discussion of the findings is of interest in the types of characteristics that were chosen to be considered as potential stereotypes, as well as the results of which characteristics actually were shown to be considered as stereotypical behaviors. Of the three major categories of social identity, the group with the highest disparity was the one most commonly remembered and of the highest priority in the selection of traits. For example, the disparity of age, either 20 years or 70 years was the biggest difference perceived by the participants followed by gender, male or female and finally by ethnicity, either French Canadian or English Canadian.

Additional pertinent information in the article includes footnotes, a list of reference sources, Tables and graphs and a note about where the funding for the study originated.

It would be interesting to see the study done with different social Identity categories such as sexual preference or possibly hotter ethnicity issues.

Rosenfels, Paul. Love and Power: The Psychology of Interpersonal Creativity [1966].

http://eserver.org/gender/rosenfels/LAP.htm January 4, 2000

This is the complete text of a book by Paul Rosenfels published in 1966. In this book he discusses his theories on gender identity. This seems to me to be a milestone book because of both the date of publication and his description of Social Identity politics.

The book consists of 78 chapters divided into three sections; PART I. The Mechanisms of Psychological Growth, PART II. Creative Maturity and PART III. Individual Growth and Social Progress. This makes it rather lengthy for an in-class review, however the titles of the chapters caught my attention enough that I wish to read the complete article at a later time.

The editor of the site says that Rosenfels is "the first American social scientist to defend homosexuality in print as a valid lifestyle. Rosenfels is also known for having made a conscientious lifelong effort to develop the foundations of a "science of human nature."

After skimming the article, I found it very interesting to find that Rosenfels described some of the same attitudes towards sexuality that I had developed to help me understand myself. For example the concept of development of dominance and submission in the relation of sexuality and as part of the family structure.

Other concepts that are discussed in the first section of the book include; roles of gender, family position and social position, the dichotomies of; truth and right, security and freedom and aggression and passivity. In the second section of the book he discusses the maturation process especially in the overview of sexuality. This is where I find that I strongly differ in opinion with the article. Too much emphasis on sex rings too strongly of Freudian theory. This makes sense in a way because Rosenfels was highly influenced by Jung according to Dean Hannotte. The third section of the book seems to develop in a hierarchical way towards a goal of self awareness of both the reader and the

Just for information...

A good link about the work of Paul Rosenfels in action is found at:

The Ninth Street Center Website--

http://www.geocities.com/~nscenter/

A link to the written works of Paul Rosenfels is found at:

The EServer at Carnegie Mellon--

http://eserver.org/gender/rosenfels/Default.html

Eserver is also a great link for arts and humanities