Social Psychology: Social Identity

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Psychology - Social Psychology, ( Atlantic International University ), language: English, abstract: The content of this paper discusses three separate, yet in my opinion, interlinked aspects of social development. We begin with the concept of social identity, the development of one's identity almost from birth, through adolescence into adulthood. The identity as a result of our interactions with those around us creates our self-concept and ultimately our self-esteem. Our gender and gender role development adds to our concept of self and determines our concept of who we are in relation to others and the world. As we grow our interactions with those around us, commencing with the family unit gives credence to our understanding of our self-value. We learn about people's perceptions of us through their dealings with us. As such, our self-esteem has the potential to promote or hinder healthy relationship development as we move through life from the core family relationships to our peer, significant other and spousal relationships. The success or failure of our relationships can be linked to our self-esteem. We learn about our self-perception, how others perceive us and what kind of responses we expect from those we come into contact with. Dealing with our self-esteem as we move through life, suggests that interactions are tainted or coloured by a positive or negative self-concept respectively. We will see that perception is a key determinant in the generation of frustration when dealing with those around us. These frustrations are just one component of factors that may lead to the expression of inappropriate levels of aggression. We discuss other causes of aggression and ultimately seek to outline techniques that can assist individuals to create a less aggressive or more appropriate form of anger display. As an educator, the focus of this paper has pertinence for the school environment but is not limited and moves beyond that into the world of work.