Identity is "the internal, subjective concept of oneself as an individual" (Reber & Reber, 1985). In other words your own ideas about who you are as a person. In this essay I will look at two approaches to identity and how each has contributed to our understanding of this concept.
Henri Taijfel's social identity theory proposed that instead of seeing identity as individualistic it should be looked at in terms of social processes. He and other social identity theorists suggest that identity can be divided into two broad categories. The first is our personal identity, with regard to who we are in terms of our personal relationships and our individual personal behaviour. The second being our social identity, which is who we are in terms of the groups to which we belong. In order to experience psychological wellbeing, our core (central) identity, needs a combination of the two. Taijfel claimed that society is composed of various groups that differ from one another in terms of power,......

Join Now to view the rest of this term paper!
Members: Login to view this research paper.

Title: Two Theoretical Approaches To Identity And Their Contributions
Approximate Word Count: 1068
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

With the Term Papers Lab Membership Pass, you get instant access to every essay on this site, including this essay on Two Theoretical Approaches To Identity And Their Contributions, for as long as you remain a member.

Other essays sites charge almost $100 for a single term paper. At Term Papers Lab, you can get instant access to over 100,000 research papers for as little as $29.95!