Socail Identity Theory and the Discursive
From a social psychological point of view, group membership ‘is primarily a cognitive matter’. Discuss this statement in relation to social identity theory and discursive psychology.
Social psychology deals with how people make sense of the social aspects of the world they live in and how they make sense of themselves and others. This sense of being and belonging is not only about themselves and others but also how and why social interactions take place and how these interactions influence individual’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Group membership is not a definite attribution to an individual’s social identity as there are different versions of group membership. The default memberships e.g. Family and local communities and the intra group memberships eg groups that are formed with other individuals on a small scale or large scale. This could be based on an individual’s identity with a small group or it can take on a more societal dimension such an ethnicity or class. Group membership for the purpose of this essay, is where the individual comes together with the social. It is through social psychology that the concepts and processes are researched to access why such processes occur. Cognitive psychologists believe that categorisation is a cognitive shortcut. The way individuals stereotype and group individuals is a by product of this process. To say that group membership is primarily a cognitive matter is not wholly disputed by other avenues of research in this area. Social identity theory (SID) and discursive psychology approach do take into account other concepts and processes of individuals’ influences to their uptake of group memberships.
Social identity theory had its origins in the work by Henry Tajfel, a British based Polish psychologist in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The social identity theory is mainly based on the distinction between personal and social identity. Turner 1982 stated that individuals have many social identities as groups
Social psychology deals with how people make sense of the social aspects of the world they live in and how they make sense of themselves and others. This sense of being and belonging is not only about themselves and others but also how and why social interactions take place and how these interactions influence individual’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Group membership is not a definite attribution to an individual’s social identity as there are different versions of group membership. The default memberships e.g. Family and local communities and the intra group memberships eg groups that are formed with other individuals on a small scale or large scale. This could be based on an individual’s identity with a small group or it can take on a more societal dimension such an ethnicity or class. Group membership for the purpose of this essay, is where the individual comes together with the social. It is through social psychology that the concepts and processes are researched to access why such processes occur. Cognitive psychologists believe that categorisation is a cognitive shortcut. The way individuals stereotype and group individuals is a by product of this process. To say that group membership is primarily a cognitive matter is not wholly disputed by other avenues of research in this area. Social identity theory (SID) and discursive psychology approach do take into account other concepts and processes of individuals’ influences to their uptake of group memberships.
Social identity theory had its origins in the work by Henry Tajfel, a British based Polish psychologist in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The social identity theory is mainly based on the distinction between personal and social identity. Turner 1982 stated that individuals have many social identities as groups
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