Social Roles And Identity

Every teenager has a strong need to fit in and be part of a clique. It is hard to be an individual in high school; teens often feel that they need to conform to what their peers are doing to fit in no matter what cost. The elite group in Gossip Girl was popular based on their status in society and the designers they were wearing. In a typical high school the popular kids are the ones that are involved in sports and can afford to follow the new clothing trends. During adolescent years teens want to form an identity, Erikson’s identity crisis explains the struggle between identity achievement vs. identity confusion (Jafari, J. Identity.). Erikson believed that at each stage of life there is a particular issue or crisis, and during adolescents it is the struggle with identity (Jafari, J. Identity.). Dan and Jenny had a difficult time forming their own identities; they wanted so badly to fit in that they lost themselves along the way. I am sure there are many high school students who experience this crisis of identity achievement and confusion, when trying to find a clique to be a part of or simply trying to find

​​Gender is defined as whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females. Unlike sex, gender is something that we learn from the day we are born. “Young children begin to acquire gender role stereotypes at about the same time they develop gender identity and by the age of 3 or 4 most children” (Amanda Youmans). Peers, community, media, religion and our upbringing all play a role in the understanding of our culture and what is considered acceptable for males and females. When the sex of a child is revealed, they are automatically placed into a gender specific role with certain expectations. There are things in this world such as colors, toys, media depiction and taught behaviors that play into these gender roles.

Society has a way of making assumptions based on one’s physical characteristics. Often at times we categorize individuals to a particular social group. In regard to society’ perception of an individual this however, contributes to the development of social construction of racism. Most people want to be identified as individuals rather than a member of specific social group. As a result, our social identity contains different categories or components that were influenced or imposed. For example, I identify as a, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and a person of color. I identify racially as a person of color and ethically as Jamaican and Puerto Rican. According to Miller and Garren it’s a natural human response for people to make assumptions solely

No matter how much a person desires to live according to their personal autonomy, he or she will never escape the influence of societal forces. Explicitly or subtlety, these forces shape our individuality. One intriguing manner that these societal forces manifests itself in is our name. As Ruth Graham writes, “It’s becoming increasingly clear today that names carry a wealth of information about the world around us, the family we arrived in, the moment we were born—and that they mark us as part of cultural currents bigger than we realize.” Names alone provide evidence that individuals are made by interactions with social institutions and groups. Ultimately, the inescapable nature of society’s influence demands individuals to ponder how much personal autonomy is actually autonomous and to what extent does the pursuit of personal autonomy lead to a life of emptiness and vanity.

Social psychology, as defined by the Microsoft Bookshelf, is the branch of human psychology that deals with the behavior of groups and the influence of social factors on the individual. Social roles are one of the many sub - categories of social psychology. I believe social roles to be the way we, as individuals, act in certain situations; such as home life, educational and economic statue, peer groups, etc. The Prison Simulation by Haney, Banks & Zimbardo is just one of the vast studies in this area. In this study we will see how people take roles in life, and in simulated life situations. Social roles are not fictitious, it is in fact a very real occurrence that many people deal with ever day, whether it be

Erik Erikson named the stage of adolescents “identity versus role confusion” (Sigelman, C. & Rider, E. pg. 343). This is a pivotal time in an individual’s life where many future endeavors; personal, academic, and professional, depend on the outcome of this stage. During this time, adolescents are trying to refine the many facets of their personality such as, political, sexual, religiousness, just to name a few. This is an arduous

Every public school lunch room is filled with many tables, every day these tables are the perfect place for a student to find where they “belong”. Like Beverly Daniel Tatum states in “Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”, part of the social groups forming in high schools goes to thank adolescents. Tatum writes, “As children enter adolescence, they begin to explore the question of identity, asking ‘Who am I?’ ‘Who can I be?’”(375). At this point in their life everyone begins to see their own interests and hobbies that makes them a little different than others. Because students are starting to realize their differences, in modern day high schools there are many social groups that students can identify with and feel the most comfortable being themselves.

The period of adolescence is crucial in the development of identity and social integration, and for many teens can be very trying. From the moment children begin attending programs such as daycare and elementary schooling, they are transferred from an environment that no longer exclusively contains their parents, to one where they are integrated with other children who are similar in age; also known as peers. In the United States, adolescents spend twice the amount of time within peer groups from a day to day basis than with their parents (Dijkstra & Veenstra 2011). The socialization that occurs within these peer groups plays a large role in influencing the behaviors of adolescents during this developmental period; whether reinforcing positive behaviors such as academic achievement or encouraging questionable behavior and delinquency. The importance of peer groups in contemporary society is accurately represented in the 2004 movie Mean Girls, adapted from self-help book The Queen Bee’s and Wannabees, depicting the life of a young adolescent who struggles to prove herself worthy of being accepted by the dominant social group. Whether it is deciding on identifying with the ‘Brains’ or choosing to imitate the ‘Cheerleaders’ in hopes of obtaining status, overall adolescent behavior is greatly influenced by their peer groups.

Culture, ethnicity, family, sexuality, and society are all factors that can influence a person’s identity. A combination of all these elements usually result in the successful discovery of self-identity. Preadolescents and adolescents often find themselves in a constant battle attempting to find who they are or who they want to be. Adolescents are faced with questions like, What do you want to be when you grow up? What colleges are you looking into? What are your plans after high school?. In a normal process of growth, teens experiment with new activities in order to find their identity, but this is not the case for every teen. Some adolescents do not go through the normal process of experimentation for various reasons.

“Identity Development “ Identity is most simply defined as a person's own sense of self; their personal sense of who they are. Identity development is intrinsically linked with adolescence because, according to John Santrock author of the book entitled Adolescence 15th edition, "...for the first time, physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development advance to the point at which the individual can sort through and synthesize childhood identities and identifications to construct a viable path toward adult maturity.” We often see the results of this sorting process in behaviors of adolescents such as adopting and shedding different personas, including speech patterns, clothing styles and peer groups. Although these transitions

Adolescents, a time of transition from child to adulthood (Jackie, Psych 220, 2012). It gives us the sense of what creates the self and our roles in society by building social groups and relationships with our peers (Jackie, 2012). It is a time in stage where we ask ourselves questions of what characteristics, values, and norms help understand the self (Jackie, 2012). The identity is built around our interactions with clique’s (Saeta, Soc.

As adolescents go through an identity crisis, they are able to “discover themselves”. They can also discover occupations, religion, etc. by organizing their needs, abilities, talents, interests, background, culture, and peer demands. This allows them to figure out what they like and help figure out their expectations on topics. In doing this, they are able to figure out their identity.

Stereotypes and labels exist all throughout human life, but viewing them at the teenage scale helps to explain the impossibility of escaping placement into a tiny, neat societal

This client’s name is Tyler Harker. (He is a fourteen-year-old male student who has type 1 diabetes mellitus. Tyler’s primary caregiver is himself and his mother. He is in the psychosocial stage of identity versus role confusion. The cognitive stage of this client is formal operational. Tyler is the learner. He speaks English and does not have any disabilities related to learning, has no other pre-existing health conditions, and no sociocultural factors that may impede learning. The client identifies his strengths as being able to take care of himself and being independent. His motivation to learn seems to be strong as evidenced by behaviors of listening, nodding, and sitting straight up in a chair with arms open. The client has good reading and comprehension at his age level as indicated by him reading out of his school history book. Indications that suggest the client has the ability to problem solve include him being able to come up with concepts and alternatives. The home environment is very clean, uncluttered and organized and requires no modifications. If the client cannot carry out his care, his mom and dad are both available and in-tune with how to give Tyler’s care. Other support available for Tyler include his peers, church group, and diabetes camp he attends yearly. Tyler is ready to deal with his own self-care and motivated to learn [Hunt, 2009].)

Social identity theory, it is a person’s sense that is based around the group they are in, either by their personal identity or with different kinds of social identities. That is, people will try to improve their own image of themselves. The theory was proposed by Henri Tajfel. People can increase their self-esteem by both their own achievement and interaction with a successful group of people. This shows the importance of social belonging. This theory is based around three mental processes, social categorization, social identification and social comparison.