PSYC1005 Chap.11 Social Identity and the Social Context
Social Identity and the Social Context
Social identity is the last topic and the course’s critique of its own focus on the individual. This chapter sets out three responses to inequality between groups, individual mobility, social creativity and social change, and the conditions of permeability and legitimacy that decide which is possible.
It works through the lecture’s case analysis of optimism and forgiveness in abusive relationships, where a positive psychological state can be linked with a riskier choice, and Rusbult and Martz’s argument for changing material options. It ends with how attributions in exercises such as Three Good Things can shift attention away from social change, and with the lecture’s balanced conclusion.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Personal and social identities
- 02
Individual mobility
- 03
Social creativity
- 04
Social change
- 05
Permeability and legitimacy
- 06
Optimism and forgiveness case analysis
- 07
Attributions and social change
Worked example · free
Routing three groups through the inequality decision tree
- 1For (a), boundaries are permeable, so individual mobility through the personal identity is possible.
- 1For (b), boundaries are impermeable and status seems legitimate, so social creativity, reframing the group, is expected.
- 1For (c), boundaries are impermeable and status is seen as illegitimate, so social change, collective action, is expected.
Key terms
- Social identity
- A representation of the self as part of a group, bound to others, which is why people say we.
- Individual mobility
- Trying to leave a low-status group for a higher-status one through personal effort.
- Social change
- Collective action by a low-status group to change a system it sees as illegitimate.
- System justification
- Believing that existing inequalities between groups are legitimate and fair.
- Group permeability
- How easily individuals can move from one social group into another.
Social Identity and the Social Context FAQ
What are the three responses to group inequality?
Individual mobility relies on the personal identity and needs permeable boundaries, so a person can move into a higher-status group. Social creativity relies on the social identity and reframes the group’s position when boundaries are closed and status seems legitimate. Social change relies on the social identity and collective action when status is seen as illegitimate.
Why does the lecture use domestic violence as a case?
It tests whether positive states always help. Optimism can be taught and forgiveness therapy improved women’s psychological outcomes after emotional abuse, yet forgiveness was linked with greater intention to return to an abusive partner. The case shows that material reality can limit purely psychological interventions.
What do Rusbult and Martz recommend?
They argue that removing an abused woman’s real helplessness may matter as much as therapy, through interventions that widen her economic options, such as job training, further education, legal advocacy, transport and short-term money. The point is to change her situation as well as her outlook.
How can Three Good Things discourage social change?
The exercise directs attention to the personal self and asks for a causal explanation of each good thing. Optimistic attributions are internal, stable and global, and internal attributions for one’s own success reduce support for social change, so the focus can move toward individual responsibility and away from group inequality.
What is social creativity, and is it good for people?
Social creativity is reframing a low-status group’s position more favourably, essentially positive thinking at the group level, used when boundaries are closed and status seems legitimate. In a merger study the lower-status group favoured itself on dimensions status ignores. The lecture says it can help for a while but, if material conditions stay poor, becomes self-deception.
What is the difference between personal and social identity?
A personal identity represents the self as a unique individual, different from others even within relationships, and is the self positive psychology usually addresses. A social identity represents the self as part of a group, bound to others, which is why people say we and can feel a group’s successes and failures personally.
Exam move
Draw the decision tree from memory, with permeability first and legitimacy second, and write which identity each response uses. Then summarise the case analysis as a chain of four findings ending in the Rusbult and Martz recommendation. Learn the attribution argument against Three Good Things in two sentences.
Because this lecture critiques the rest of the course, practise linking it back to optimism, forgiveness and the weekly exercises when you revise earlier weeks.
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