Identity

Identity:

• core issue for most people

• it is about who we are and who others think we are

• how do we come to understand who we are

• and how do we communicate our identity to others

• impression management: how people present themselves and how they guide the impression others form of them

social and cultural identities: there are multiple kinds

sexual identity

• heterosexual

• gay or lesbian

• bisexual/asexual

gender identity:

• cisgender

• transgender

• third gender

age identity:

• the identification with the cultural conventions of how we should act, look, and behave according to our age

  • e.g how people talk or dress at a certain age

racial identity:

• many scientists now recognize that race is constructed in fluid social and historical contexts

multicultural identities:

• third culture kids: people who grow up in many different cultural contexts because their parents relocated

• aka global nomads

• culture brokers: individuals who act..

stereotypes:

• widely held beliefs about a group of people

• can come from negative experiences and media

prejudice:

• an attitude (usually negative) toward a cultural group based on little to no experience

why do people hold prejudice?

• utilitarian function (rewards)

• ego defensive function (refusing to believe unpleasant things about themselves)