Pretty Little Liars- Psychology Analaysis Paper

The Social Identity theory (SIT) was proposed by Henry Tajfel. It was then later developed by Tajfel and Turner in 1971 to help them understand inter group relations. The Social Identity theory assumes that individuals strive to improve their self-image by trying to enhance their self-esteem, through social (in and out groups) and personal identities. There are 4 main concepts within the social identity theory all of which will be discussed in the essay.

Augoustinos and Walker (1995) stated that social identity theory is based on the concept of social identity, the part of a person’s self-concept that derives from membership in-groups that are important to the person. Such groups can include one’s family, college, nation, and so forth. This theory can be applied when the brown-eyed students were established as the in-group instead of their usual out-group. As indicated in their attitude components, self-esteem of the brown-eyed students increased when the blue-eyed students were treated in a bad

Social identity theory states that the ‘in-group’ will discriminate against the ‘out-group’ and show favouritism towards their group to boost their self-esteem. Tajfel also proposed that there are 3 mental processes involved in putting people in to the ‘us’ and ‘them’ groups: social categorisation (putting objects in order to understand them), social identification (adopting the identity of the group we categorised ourselves as belonging to) and social comparison (showing favouritism towards the ‘in group’ and hostility towards the ‘out group’; comparing them).

Pretty Little Liars is finally coming to an end after seven seasons. There have been plenty of twists and turns and the final mystery is set to be revealed on the series finale tomorrow night. A.D. has been tormenting the liars for several years and now, everything is going to be put out in the open. Theories have been tossed around by avid Pretty Little Liars fans. Some wanted the big reveal to include Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale), but that appears to have been blown when she decided to play for the A-team several episodes ago. The latest theory has fans talking and if it plays out this way, it could be one of the most epic finales among teenage dramas.

The changed identities show up differently in each character Andrew struggles with his new reality, Sarah confronts guilt and loss, Charlie uses his Batman disguise, and Little Bee cloaks her identity as a woman of Nigeria. In this story identity is complicated and it is hard to discern the parts of it that are mere camouflage and what are parts are actually them. We see how differently each character deals with tragedy and how it changes their identity. The book

Social identity is a theory which explains how people develop a sense of belong and membership to a group. Individual’s social identity is part of their self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group together with the emotional significance attached to that membership (Forsyth, 13). People are influenced on the group they belong to. Belonging to the in-group makes a person feel good because they belong somewhere in this group and allows them to feel important. The out-group is where people feel to be, they do not belong to a group and have feeling of exclusion and are often times treated more harshly than someone who belongs to the ingroup. This bias of favoring the ingroup relative to the outgroup leads to false impressions being made and stereotypes forming. Stereotypes help us navigate the world around us by providing a quick representation of what we think a person is like. This does not mean our perceptions are always correct and occasionally, this quick mental shortcut can get us into trouble. For example, the film 12 Angry Men stereotyping was rampant among the jury. When a stereotype is used it can cause a disruption of procedures. Instead, of inspecting all the evidence with an objective eye a bias can allow for systematic

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 59-86). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

The difference between prejudice and discrimination is that a prejudiced person may not act on their attitude; prejudice includes the affective, behavioral, and cognitive components of an attitude, whereas discrimination only involves behavior. Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s). Henri Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory proposed that “the groups (social class, family, football team, etc.) which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world.” In order to increase our self image we enhance the status of the group to which we belong. We can also increase our self image by discriminating and holding prejudice views against the

But it seems that someone refuses to let go of her memory. Alison was consider to be the leader of the group of five girls until her disappearance. Labeled the ‘it’ girls is how her character is perceived to be with the beauty, most popular girl in school. Beauty and appearance Always been a factor while being friends with Allison. She gathered as much dirt on each girl in her clique in order to keep them doing exactly what she wanted. while all the long holding some of the darkest and ugliest secrets of her own. Alison is desperate to keep to keeping up the perfect life what everyone thinks she living but all the wild hiding the secret that can destroy her forever but in Rosewood deadly secrets have deadly consequences. It reworks the "mean girl" narrative and puts us on the side of the popular group of girls, who been dealing with a tragedy that only keep persistently abused

One could argue that this then inflates our sense of belonging in the world if we feel that there are others who share similar values to us. This then strengthens our resolve by essentially confirming that we are engaging in the right behaviours and holding the right ideals as we associate ourselves with others who feel the same as we do. This then leads them to strengthen our tenacity of in-group favouritism by rewarding our prejudiced behaviours. A positive outcome of this is that it can have a flow on effect to our altruistic nature as human beings and we would be more likely to help those with whom we feel a certain affiliation. It is in this regard that the Social Identity Theory can yield positive results through a framework of philanthropic behaviour and support for in-group members. The converse of this behaviour is that we see an increase in negative behaviours towards those with whom we feel have conflicting goals and essentially belong to an “out group”.

Social Identity Theory has a considerable impact on social psychology. It is tested in a wide range of

The name of this show is truly fitting, pretty little liars, everything is about their physical attractiveness, families, homes, cars and their lives. The show is about a group of five best friends Ally, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily, all of the girls are teenagers. The show follows Spencer, Hanna, Aria and Emily as they try and find out what happened to Ally who went missing, and they find her dead as the show progresses. As they look harder, a person named “A” treats them like the mean girls they are. This shows demographic is 14-30, and I fit into this demographic. I like to watch thriller and dramas, usually relating to cop or mystery shows, so this show appeals to me. However when I started to analyze this show I see how it portrays a negative imagine on teenage girls. There are so many negative societal norms in this show from men having more power,

Social construction theory explains human behaviour and identities as the product of society and history (Vance 29). This theory is the opposite of biological determinism and essentialism which suggest that genetic, physiological, and biological traits determine human behaviour (Vance 29). As mentioned in lecture (Klement), identities are unique to every person; they are the values, norms, values, and images in society that are combined, constructed, or created. Societal pressures and the media offer racial, gender, and sexual biases which society uses to form a complete portrayal of each group.

This particular theory views identity as conditional and self motivated as well as being related to one’s culture. Although other theories on identity consider the personal and social identity to be separate, SCT considers the personal and social identity to be

“Social identity motivations encourage people to act in ways congruent with their beliefs about group membership and about their relationships with significant others” (2).