Process Of Identity Negotiation Research Articles

Waning of Stereotypic Perceptions in Small Groups: Identity Negotiation and Erosion of Gender Expectations of Women

Changes in the gender-stereotypic perceptions of men and women were examined in a prospective study of MBA study groups (N = 253). At the outset of the semester, group members perceived women, as compared to men, as more “communal” (other-focused) but equally “agentic” (self-focused). Over the subsequent 9 weeks, gender-stereotypic perceptions of women faded. The extent to which group members individuated one another at the outset of the semester predicted the extent to which they developed appraisals that verified their partners' self-views. These identity negotiation processes, in turn, predicted change in stereotypic perceptions.

Contextual Variations in Young Women's Gender Identity Negotiations

This article explores young women's strategies for seeking personal power and resisting gender-based stereotypes in a wealthy, suburban, White community and a working-class, urban, community of color. Semi-structured interviews with 27 young women were used to examine contextual variations in these gender identity negotiation processes. Both groups of young women were acutely aware of women's subordinate social and cultural position and this awareness contributed to some negative feelings about being female. However, their strategies for locating strength in their identities varied by social contexts. Moreover, the two groups of young women encountered distinct sets of stereotypes in their respective communities. Forms of resistance to these stereotypes led to significantly different behavior patterns. These comparisons build a richer theoretical understanding of the contextual dimensions of young women's gender identity negotiations.

In the deep valley with mountains to climb: exploring identity and multiple reacculturation

It is rare to find studies that focus on the multiple reacculturation of travelers who regularly alternate residences between their homeland and a host foreign country. These travelers are best described as intercultural transients. It is difficult to exactly say how many transients exist today because of the lack of accurate data. What is clear, however, is that the number is increasing because of improved global transportation and the large economic gaps between nations (World Telecommunications Development Report, Author, 1994). In an effort to extend general knowledge as well as consequences of intercultural adjustment, this conceptual-theoretic study facilitates understanding of the complex experience of these individuals who live on cultural borders negotiating both frequent cultural transitions and their cultural identities (Cultural Studies, Routledge, New York, 1992, pp. 96–116; Communication and Identity Across Cultures, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1998, pp. 34–55). Within this essay, first, we review the acculturation and reacculturation literature within the discipline of communication and note what is missing in this literature. Then, we present a new concept called “cyclical curves” to explain multiple reentry. Additionally, we offer one example of a typical intercultural transient's experience followed by a proposed taxonomy of intercultural transients. Also, we review several theoretical notions that help us understand the process of identity negotiation experienced by intercultural transients, while identifying coping strategies that may facilitate identity negotiation. Finally, we re-introduce a theory that has only recently emerged in intercultural communication studies—cultural contracts theory (African American Communication: Exploring Identity and Culture, 2nd Edition, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, 2002; Communities, Creations, and Contradictions: New Approaches to Rhetoric for the Twenty-first Century, Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, MI, in press-a; Commun. Quarterly, 50(4) (2002); Howard J. Commun. 12(4) (2002) 43–57; J. Rural Commun. Psychol. E4(1). [Online Journal]. http://www.marshall.edu/JRCP/)—to conceptually frame the ontological nature and problems confronted by transients.

"I'm a Second-Language English Speaker": Negotiating Writer Identity and Authority in Sociology One

Student writing needs to be viewed in its insertion into a context defined by the existence of sociohistorically shaped, asymmetrical power relations. How novice student writers negotiate these complex political relationships and develop a sense of authority and identity in their academic essay writing has been underexplored in academic literacy research. In this article I examine the discursive production of success and failure through a discussion of 2 first-year sociology essays at a South African university. The successful student's ability to construct a powerful, authoritative textual and discoursal identity for himself, and his highly developed "textual" capital, are seen as factors in his success. Systemic functional grammar is used to demonstrate how he has recourse to the linguistic features of authority as he discursively negotiates success with his marker. The student who fails struggles to negotiate an authoritative self as author and, relying heavily on the words of recognized authorities in the discipline, becomes a "plagiarizer." Ethnographic data, including interviews with the students and the marker, provide a thick description of the processes of identity negotiation.

Political Identity Negotiation within Individuals: The Case of Young Activists

AbstractIndividuals identify and belong to many social groups and the notion of identity negotiation can shed light on the way individuals manage this identity diversity. Based on a case of young French activists, two propositions are developed concerning the process of identity negotiation. First, young activists choose and negotiate ``between'' their various identifications to build their political identity. Second, their incapacity and unwillingness to decide between the diverse facets of their identity lead them to negotiations ``of'' these facets, as they relatively balance each of them, depending on the situation. It is further assumed that the very duality of the process of identity construction is the prerequisite allowing association between the concept of identity and the concept of negotiation in its sociological sense, which belongs to the sphere of compromise, instead of war.

LESBIAN MOTHERHOOD

The identity of lesbian-mother combines a marginalized identity (lesbian) with one of the most revered mainstream identities (mother). With data collected through exploratory in-depth interviews from nine lesbian-mothers, the authors use symbolic interaction framework to explore the strategies that lesbian birth mothers and comothers employ to gain acceptance for their marginal-mainstream identities in their family networks. Respondents experienced varying levels of resistance from their social networks, with comothers being especially vulnerable due to their lack of both biological and legal substantiation. The authors explore the process of identity negotiation in three realms of everyday experience: in relationships with extended families, in relations within the nuclear family, and in lesbian relationships that have ended.

An Examination of the Relations between Identity Negotiation Process and Well-being

This study examined the influence of the identity negotiation process on well-being. The framework of identity negotiation argues that there are two phases of the way to decrease the discrepancy between self-appraisal and other's appraisal about self. The first phase is that self-appraisal is brought closer to other's appraisal. The second phase is that other's appraisal is brought closer to self-appraisal. After all, the framework assumes that the decrement of the discrepancy will lead the person to well-being. In addition to these two phases, we focused on relative level of self-appraisal and other's appraisal which had not been considered enough in previous studies. In study 1, we found that subjects low in relative self-appraisal (SL-Ss) deteriorated well-being through negative verification in which other's appraisal was gone down, but promoted well-being through positive verification in which self-appraisal was gone up. By contraries, as for subjects high in relative self-appraisal (SH-Ss), these connections were notfound. In study 2, we found that SL-Ss had less stable self-appraisal and other's appraisal than SH-Ss. And SL-Ss brought other's appraisal close to their low self-appraisal. Moreover, SL-Ss were not as adaptive as SH-Ss. Finally, we demonstrated that people with negative self-appraisal engaged in the maladjusted social interaction. Mediational function of self process on the relation between interpersonal relationships and well-being was discussed.

Identity negotiation: Where two roads meet.

This article traces a program of research on the interplay between social thought and social interaction. Early investigations of the impact of perceivers' expectancies on the actions of target individuals illuminated the contribution of perceivers to the identity negotiation process but overlooked the role of targets. The research discussed here is based on the assumption that targets play an active role in the identity negotiation process. Specifically, just as perceivers strive to validate their expectancies, targets seek to verify their self-views. The nature and antecedents of the processes through which people verify their self-conceptions as well as the relationship of these activities to self-concept change and self-enhancement processes are discussed. This research suggests that perceivers and targets enter their interactions with independent and sometimes conflicting agendas that are resolved through a process of identity negotiation. The identity negotiation process therefore provides a theoretical context in which the interplay between other-perception and self-perception can be understood.

Identity negotiation: where two roads meet.

This article traces a program of research on the interplay between social thought and social interaction. Early investigations of the impact of perceivers' expectancies on the actions of target individuals illuminated the contribution of perceivers to the identity negotiation process but overlooked the role of targets. The research discussed here is based on the assumption that targets play an active role in the identity negotiation process. Specifically, just as perceivers strive to validate their expectancies, targets seek to verify their self-views. The nature and antecedents of the processes through which people verify their self-conceptions as well as the relationship of these activities to self-concept change and self-enhancement processes are discussed. This research suggests that perceivers and targets enter their interactions with independent and sometimes conflicting agendas that are resolved through a process of identity negotiation. The identity negotiation process therefore provides a theoretical context in which the interplay between other-perception and self-perception can be understood.