Reflection on Self and Identity in Social Psychology

This document explores the concepts of self and identity in social psychology and their impact on individual perception and behavior. It discusses the role of social groups and stereotypes in shaping self-identity and the importance of social identity theory in promoting self-esteem and positive social interactions. The document also delves into the topics of prejudice, discrimination, and ways to reduce them. Additionally, it covers attraction and close relationships and the factors that influence them. Overall, it aims to enhance the reader's understanding of human psychology and its implications in society.

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents...........................................................................................................................1
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................2
Reflective Learning Journal.............................................................................................................3
Self and Identity...........................................................................................................................3
Prejudice and Discrimination......................................................................................................4
Attraction and Close Relationship...............................................................................................6
Understanding..................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Reflection
Self-reflection is an important part of social psychology to determine how social
influence can affect people to think, feel, and act accordingly. Working on reflection theories
require to outline the way in which individual perceive their relationship based on their
individual choices, behaviour, and beliefs. While I started working on learning journal articles so
that it can be useful for others and me as well. By understanding the standards of social
psychology, individuals are required to understand the group impact to have a better appreciation
of social elements, especially while interacting with other people. My focus on this element is
focused on fulfilling individual needs while looking at the common goal. My desire to maintain
this status while protecting an individual’s attraction level (Campbell & Twenge, 2013).
I believe that working on social reflection using different theories are required to seek
friends, work with collaborative options. It strives to gain social status in attempting to
understand the motivation in seeking guidance with other people’s behaviour. I am focused
towards the reflective theory is based on social interaction to work with different methods, I have
taken self-concept to work on reflected appraisal process to imagine how people work with
people in comparing the experience with other peer groups. The common phenomena with self-
reflection theory are helping individuals like us to skew our perception while contributing
towards stereotyping. This influence the perception of other people while corresponding their
inferences with their actions and behaviour to align them with intentions and personalities
(Nelson et al., 2011).

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Reflective Learning Journal
Self and Identity
Self-identity is playing a significant role in shaping individual life and self-reflection. As
determined in social identity theory, an individual can characteristics, religious, or individual
believes. It includes social identity based on social groups and perception which relate to history
with this theory setup. Self-identity theory works with other elements such as self-esteem, social
context, and others as it follows individual and collective elements. It is assumed that individuals
are working with the social group to plan personal and social categorical element in representing
different self and social context (Vaughan & Hogg, 2014). While I was studying this theory, I
have involved various elements following the social realities of collective life. I have studied the
principles of the social identity theories considering the value to social groups. It is believed by
researchers that social identity theory helps the individuals to boost self-esteem, it also
encourages a sense of certainty to form understanding related to how individuals can promote
self-esteem in meeting their objectives (Vaughan & Hogg, 2014:Language and Communication).
I wonder how individual support self-esteem following theory and a determined
framework. I have learned and researched how this theory can be linked with another element;
for example, it can be involved with an emotional attachment to individual identification of a
group in outlining their self-esteem. This closely links individual groups with self-esteem and
theories to follow up with a concept of the social status of out-group. It is determined in the
theoretical framework of Social identify in looking forward to seeking elements in flourishing
their skills in emphasising on group features to adopt new opportunities, understand their
strengths, and overcome their weaknesses. I have learned that working on social identity theory
support in-group that engage social creativity rather than social conflict as it will promote

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individual and collaborative development. I am studying social identity theory based on different
perceptions. However, I found that most of them are a biased social group so that stereotype
elements can be avoided (Nelson et al., 2011).
The claim can be supported in illustrating social group members in considering high self-
esteem standards in engaging discriminatory behaviour towards other individuals. From what I
have found while learning about these theories that the theory include problematic group
influence, it is assumed that having a positive environment result in positive outcomes,
meanwhile in a negative situation, the elements have its aligned results. Therefore, it is important
to follow group identification of level based on the in-group bias to test different attitude (Nelson
et al., 2011). For future research, I am planning to work on self-categorisation theory in order to
study intergroup differentiation in looking for cognitive theory based on different behaviour in
working towards different processes. I think that social categories can often lead to
discrimination, it is the reason that studying this theory is important in taking over meta-
contrasting principles to learn new thing about people, and it has previously help me to improve
my focus towards individuals. In future, this theory will help me highlight ways in which
stereotyping can be broken while providing the right opportunity sources to every individual
(Vaughan & Hogg, 2014).
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudices have influence over people; it affects the way they behave and interact
especially people in the different social structure. Generally, people have a negative perception
about it and determine that these are mostly baseless. Another reason behind the negative
perception is because it normally includes stereotyped belief, or have a tendency while
discriminating against group members. In addition, prejudice is often associated with

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discrimination towards people based on different elements, for example, racism, sexism,
classism, homophobia, nationalism, religious prejudice, and others (Whitley Jr & Kite, 2016). As
I have discussed social identity theory, I had to work on prejudice and discrimination based
element, though it has other elements, for example, authoritarian personality, realistic conflict
theory, stereotyping, or social identity theory to determine individual perception. Considering the
changes in the social structure, I have worked work towards different components of attitude
namely under affective, behavioural, and cognitive. Both these elements influence individuals to
work on being racist or sexist coming from peer parent or group membership (Scacco & Warren,
2018).
I think that working on both these elements require categorising to normalise the
elements in different categories for example age, sex, race, and even religion. The categories
help an individual to work towards categorising information about people that tend to reduce the
difference between people in different social categories as I have described above. To formulate
perspective, I have underpinned the researches carried out by many researchers; it tends to
determine the viewpoint of other groups being more homogenous than other groups in creating a
phenomenon (Tileagă, 2015). While studying this theory and its aligned perception, I tent to
evaluate the perception and differences among the group member which people notice closely.
This I believe is important because it brings out the out-group from the being instead of being the
same. I believe that working with a diverse group brings out the innovation between individuals
and the social structure as well. It is important to outline different ways where prejudice can
occur and further lead to discrimination. Previously a lot of work has been carried out by
socialists and psychologists to look for techniques in reducing prejudice in the society (Nelson et
al., 2011).

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I have to learn about the social steps taken before by professional in society to reduce the
feel of prejudice in society. One important step was the passing laws and regulation to work on
discrimination in the society especially in the professional setting, for example, I was very
impressed with the international employment law standards that prohibit any type of
discrimination. It has promoted fair and equal treatment of group and people in every aspect of
society (Tileagă, 2015). In addition, I was very impressed with the level of support given to
public support and awareness for anti-prejudice in social norms. I want to work on making
people aware of the outcomes of inconsistencies in their own beliefs. This I believe increases the
contact between individuals and social group members to work on collaborative measures for
social development by avoiding discrimination at every level of social development. I believe
that it will lead people towards a better social structure for future generation (Whitley Jr & Kite,
2016).
Attraction and Close Relationship
Relationships are an important part of the social structure as it defines an association
between people, their mutual familiarity, and awareness towards other person’s identity to
understand each other more clearly. When it comes to the word relationship, people are keen to
refer this with the romantic association. However, the relationship is a different element and have
sub-areas in a different field associated with social psychology. Two other areas include
interpersonal attraction and close-relationship theories. These are aligned with other perceptions
in exploring how two individuals can line up their social relationship and shape it in a better way
(Orehek & Forest, 2016). Following this element of social structure, there are other elements and
theories to work on impact based on interpersonal attraction. Four main areas in theoretical
factors include physical attractiveness, evolutionary theory, sociocultural theory, and integrated

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theory. When I started evaluating about this theme, I have worked on different elements, for
example, how an individual maintains their relationship, people use different theories, they are
more likely to follow their instinct in taking a decision (Campos & Kim, 2017).
The era is changing; it has been influencing every element of the personal, and
professional life of an individual required to be followed. I have followed different theories to
support by reflection; my clear focus was towards the social exchange theory to focus on positive
outcomes of relationship. The fundamental inquiries in this scenario are focused on social actions
were taken by individuals to shape their relationship. There might be a few reasons why
propinquity prompts fascination; the same number of different examinations have appeared
(Dibble et al., 2016). There are fewer hindrances to building up a fellowship with somebody
close by.
Notwithstanding climbing, a stairway to see somebody on an alternate floor is more
inconvenience than simply observing the general population nearby. By normally being in the
organisation of someone else, we likewise get more data about them and have the chance to find
shared interests and regular mentalities. Propinquity may likewise prompt fascination through the
purported minor presentation impact (Dibble et al., 2016).
Sociologists have controlled recurrence of introduction subtly by having every member
spend an alternate number of preliminaries of around 40 seconds with every one of five different
members. The more regularly a member had met another member in the examination, the more
that individual was enjoyed. The job of ecological propinquity in cultivating fascination may rely
upon different components (Orehek & Forest, 2016). Maybe the most imperative impact of
propinquity is in improving the probability of contact. Therefore, it will be appropriate to look
forward to understanding the outcomes of the research in shaping elements for individuals to

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shape their relationship in planning their measures successfully without influencing their key
demand in the social structure.
Understanding
The understanding of human psychology depends on a number of factors that make up
individual identity and examples of people's associations. Despite the fact that personalization,
generalization, separation, relation and attractions are carefully dependent on the emotional
conclusion of people in the general public. The important factor that guides these social contacts
is the way in which they make up the general identity of the individual in principle, in addition,
affect the impression of the person in the general public (Griffin, 2016). Moreover, social factors
assume important work in such developments. In this way, it was noted that the characteristic
mental factors significantly affect the different elements of an individual's performance and
generally affect the situational cooperation between them.
One important element that is affected in this way is the way that individual
communication between different people is regularly affected by different mental and social
attitudes. One of the important positions that affect the overall implementation of people in the
general public is the result that these specific factors of social communication affect the general
conditions in the general public. The different attitudes that affect examples of general
cooperation of people in the general public are the result of these critical variables and help to
understand individual practices and the different circumstances that affect them. The insights
about the views and perceptions of the individuals gained from the book “The individual in
Society” by “Tim Griffin” also helped me to understand the various psychological processes that
are behind the actions of individuals. I think these insights will also help me to better understand
the human being in society.

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References
Campbell, W. K. & Twenge, J. M., 2013. Narcissism unleased. Observer.
Campos, B. & Kim, H., 2017. Incorporating the cultural diversity of family and close
relationships into the study of health. American Psychologist, pp. 543.
Dibble, J., Hartmann, T. & Rosaen, S., 2016. Parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship:
Conceptual clarification and a critical assessment of measures. Human Communication
Research, pp. 21-44.
Gri n, T. (Ed.) (2016). The Individual in Society (3rd edition). North Ryde: McGraw-Hillffi
Nelson, J. K., Dunn, K. M. & Paradies, Y., 2011. Bystander anti-racism: A review of the
literature. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, pp. 263 -284.
Orehek, E. & Forest, A., 2016. When people serve as means to goals: Implications of a
motivational account of close relationships. Current Directions in Psychological Science, pp. 79-
84.
Scacco, A. & Warren, S., 2018. Can social contact reduce prejudice and discrimination?
Evidence from a field experiment in Nigeria. American Political Science Review, pp. .654-677..
Tileagă, C., 2015. The nature of prejudice: Society, discrimination and moral excl. S .l.:
Routledge.
Vaughan, G. M. & Hogg, M. A., 2014. Culture. In Social psychology, pp. 562- 596.
Vaughan, G. M. & Hogg, M. A., 2014. Language and communication. In Social psychology, pp.
523-561.
Whitley Jr, B. & Kite, M. .. .. .., 2016. Psychology of prejudice and discrimination. S .l.:
Routledge.