Personal and social identity

What are the factors that shape our identity? Find out in this summary.

Who am I? This question is frequently asked but the answer is so unusual that it could be considered a rhetorical question. It's a question we regularly ask ourselves when we feel insecure or don't know how to take charge of our lives.

However, this article does not pretend to be an existential philosophical essay on the self, nor does it pretend to give a transcendental answer that will make you reinvent yourself. I will simply I will simply show what Psychology has to say about identity and how it largely determines and how it largely determines our behavior.

Identity: something that defines us

With a simple glance at different profiles on social networks we can see the little descriptions we make of ourselves. Some people define themselves as a student, soccer player, reporter, movie buff; while others will define themselves as a cheerful, nice, funny, curious, passionate, etc. person.

As can be seen, these two types of definitions are the most common and present a fundamental difference between them. Some people are defined by the groups they belong to, while others are defined by their personal traits. Psychology defines the self-concept, the self or "self" as the same construct formed by two different identities: The personal identity and the social identity.

Social identity

The social identity defines the self (the self-concept) in terms of the groups to which we belong. We have as many social identities as we have groups to which we feel we belong. Thus, the groups to which we belong determine the group an important aspect of the self-concept, for some people the most important.

Let's take a famous Latin singer as an example. Ricky Martin is part of numerous roles, and he could define himself as a man, artist, dark-haired, singer, homosexual, millionaire, son, Latin American, father, etc. He could define himself with any of them, but he will choose to identify himself with those adjectives that he feels differentiate him the most and provide him with a differential value to the rest. he will choose to identify himself with those adjectives that he feels differentiate him the most and give him a differential value from the rest..

Another representative example can be seen in the small biographies that each of us have on the social network Twitter. Defining ourselves based on the groups we belong to is as human as judging other people based on their attire and non-verbal behavior.

As they form such a large part of our self-concept, irremediably, groups determine our self-esteem. Let us remember that self-esteem is an emotional-affective assessment we make of our own self-concept. Therefore, defining oneself on the basis of groups with high social status will imply high self-esteem, while those who belong to groups with low social value will have to use personal identity support strategies to cope with the decrease in their valuation.

In this way we see the high impact that the different groups to which we belong have on our self-esteem and self-concept.

Effects of social identity

In the article in which we talked about stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, we mentioned the social identity theory which revealed the effects of social categorization on intergroup relations in the form of prejudice, stereotypes and discriminatory behavior.

Tajfel demonstrated that the mere fact of identifying oneself to a group and considering oneself different from others gave rise to differential treatment as it affects the cognitive process of perceptionThis is known in social psychology as the double accentuation effect, increasing the magnitude of similarities with those of the same group and the differences with those who are not part of our group of belonging. This perceptual effect is known in social psychology as the double accentuation effect.

As we have pointed out before, social identity and self-esteem are closely related.. Part of our self-esteem depends on our appraisal of the groups to which we belong. If we like the belonging group, we like ourselves. "Shine with the reflection of the glory" of others. We identify with the achievements of the group or one of its individuals and this is reflected in a positive mood and self-esteem. This effect can be widely seen in the love of soccer.

When the winning team is ours, we proudly go out on the streets identified with the success of our team and we attribute it to ourselves, as they are part of our identity. Did you see anyone not excited about feeling Spanish when Iniesta gave us the victory in that wonderful summer of 2010?

Personal identity

Social identity defines the self (and self-concept) in terms of social relationships and idiosyncratic traits (I am different from others). We have as many "selves" as we have relationships we are involved in and idiosyncratic characteristics we believe we possess.

But what is it that differentiates us from others when we are part of the same group? Here our traits, attitudes, skills and other characteristics that we self-attribute to ourselves come into play here.s. Those who are defined by their sympathy, solidarity, tranquility or courage have a personal identity of greater dimension than their social identity. This may be because their belonging groups do not make them feel good because of their low social status, or simply the individuality of these people is better reflected by their attributes rather than by their social roles.

I am sure that as you read this article, you were trying to figure out with which identity you make yourself known to others when you introduce yourself. You can go further, you know that the basis of promoting one's self-image is to maintain high levels of self-esteem. So nurture and nurture and cultivate those groups or traits by which you define yourself and by which you want the world to know you, because if you define yourself by them, you will be known by others.If you define yourself by them, it means that they have a high emotional value for you. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing yourself.