Identity

Explanations > Identity Description | Discussion | See also 'Identity' is both a simple 'me' and a much, much deeper philosophical topic. These are a few pages on this impenetrable subject done during a university course.

Identity is...: More than is often thought. Death and Identity: Where does identity go when we die? Ethnicity and Identity: Ethnicity can have a significant effect on who you think you are. Feminism and Identity: When does gender identity start? Foucault and Identity: The philosopher's view. A History of the Self: Identity through the ages. Identity Conflict: Who am I? Individual and Society: How are selves made in social groups? Institutionalization: Institutions may be strip and remake the self. Jung's Archetypes: Shadow, Anima/us, Self. Legal Identity: The law has a very different view on the term. Life Histories: A thread through time that may or may not make sense. Masks: Faces we wear on the outside. Mirror Phase: Where identity is formed. Movies and Identity: Why do we like movies? How do they take us in? The Other: Who is not the subject so creates the subject. Personal Name: You are your name. Queer Theory: Destabilizing positions of gender and sexual preference. Social Desirability: Seeking liking and approval. Subject: We get called into subject positions. Suture: Stitching the subject into position.

See also
Sociology, Psychoanalysis, Critical Theory, Emile Benveniste Need for a sense of identity, Theories about how we think about ourselves, Attachment Theory Blogs by subject: Identity

Identity is...
Explanations > Identity > Identity is... Description | Discussion | See also

Description
There are many different ways of understanding 'identity', from the simple 'me' that we all believe we are to complex considerations found in domains such as philosophy, ideology and cultural studies.

Unity
Identity first may be considered as a single entity, what Maturana and Varela called a 'unity'. It is singular thing with a clear defining boundary that can be named. A unity is separated by its boundaries and recognized by the differences with other unities. 'I' am not 'you'. There may be a singular, authoritative Other that defines the the unity. Identity is the I, the self, the coherent person I see in the mirror (although, as Lacan points out, that image is not without its troubles). It may be cloaked by the many mechanisms of coping, but there is assumed to be a true self, the 'real me' hidden inside. Depersonalized, identity is given to an object or human subject. It is a human role created by ideology and culture into which we are interpellated and where we accept that given position and all the rules and implications therein.

Collection
Beyond the simple unity, identity can be seen as having separate components. Freud described the id, ego and super ego, each a separate part of the person. Most notably, there is conscious and unconscious elements to identity, the awake 'me' who thinks he is in charge of the bus and the deep and dark unconscious that is increasingly proven to have a significant say in what 'I' think, believe, feel anddo and hence who I am.

In multiple-personality theory, we become a collection of separate identities. A schizophrenic has sub-identities so separate, they may not seem to know one another. Closer in, I am a different person at work, at play and at home. I am also a sum of my histories and am hence a five-year old boy as well a fifty-something year old man.

Collective
Beyond the cohesive collection, the spectrum of identity can be stretched to a consideration of being more a kit of parts with some common theme. The individual parts may be related partially and temporarily with other parts. There is no clear boundary and the actual extent identity is hard to name. The question of 'is' vs. 'is not' may be clear for some things, but not for others. Crowds have identity, as do nations, and each reflects back to the individual. We connect with others such that they become an essential part of who we are. Collectives have varying form over time. They can come together and disperse, forming and deforming identity.

Discussion
Classic identity
The classic approaches to identity tend to be simpler, easier, and open to criticism. I know who 'I' am most of the time and do not worry about who I might also be. The appearance of individual identity is, in classic psychology, something that appears to happen over time and in infant stages, as in Freud's theories and Lacanian psychoanalysis. 'Finding the self' is a game that we play in therapy and religion. It is assumed that if we did deep enough and cure the fractured layers, then a beautiful 'real me' will emerge.

Critical identity
In the deconstructive and perhaps irreducible annals of postmodernism and critical theory, the question of identity hazes out into deeper questions of difficult detail. Identity is not a thing but a process, a continuing response to external stimuli. Identities are constructed through difference. Contrast leads to separation and opposition from which identity emerges. I am created by others and otherness. In order to recognise myself, I have to be separate from my self. The mirror is an early such means of separation. Identities are created through the process of identification. You interpellate me and I accept the subject position. And as I invest in that role, I increasingly accept and adopt its rules, benefits and limitations. And what you say is driven by culture and ideology. Identities are emergent, appearing in the inter-subjective space between people as they speak. I realize who I am and then change that realization with each conversation. Power creates and destroys. I am shaped and reshaped each day. Identities are imperfect. We have bounded rationality and limited time. In seeking closure on perceptions and concepts, we draw the line in the sand and say 'this is me', even though we may know that this is limited. Most of the pages in this section on identity are based on this more complex position and explore more recent considerations.

Language
Language is shot through with identity. First, there is the shady identity of the person who is speaking that may emerge through the words spoken. Then there are the other identities named and created in words. In writing, Barthes claims the death of the author to liberate the reader from guessing at what is intended. Language creates unities. Each word describes a separate thing, and without separation a word is not possible. To name something, we first have to perceive and conceive of its separation from other things. Language enables and creates differences and opposites. Black makes white. Good makes bad. I make not-me and not-me makes I. Language is also time- and context-dependent. Although the dictionary provides basic definitions, the meaning of words, both individually and in combination, changes with the situation, the person and the moment. What I said yesterday means something different when I think about it now. In the end, 'identity' is a word. It, in itself, is subject to variation in interpretation. So hey! -- you can be who you want to be! Just like that.

See also
Maturana, H. and Varela, F. (1992), The Tree of Knowledge, Shambala Hall, S. (1986). Introduction: Who needs identity? in Questions of cultural identity, eds. S. Hall and P. Du Gay, London: Sage

Death and Identity

Explanations > Identity > Death and Identity Description | Discussion | See also

Description
After death, what happens to identity? Forgoing discussions of spirituality, soul, afterlife and reincarnation, the identity that is perceived by others can persist in various ways.

Temporal anchoring
Identity is situated in time. When we think of a historic figure or maybe somebody we knew who has died, we mentally put them into a period in time, where the other associations of that time give them context and anchored meaning. The death of a young person anchors them as young forever. Marilyn Monroe is thus forever beautiful and tortured and Jimi Hendrix a brilliant young dope-head. In the tragedy of children dying, their parents live forever with the ghost-identity of a young child.

Identities get exaggerated after death as we idealize and stereotype the dearly departed. Loved ones become even more loved as we forget their blemishes and despots become more despised as their evil deeds deepen with each telling. Death freezes and authenticates affection. The person can no longer do wrong and can be idealized.

Discussion
Freud described two fundamental life and death human drives: libidinal energy (Eros), which includes sexual and creative motivation, and the death drive(Thanatos), which makes us seek both calm and ultimate non-existence. We define ourselves through others. When people die, we thus are losing a part of ourselves. We are no longer able to look at them and see ourselves, reflected in their perception. We thus mourn a loss of a part of ourselves.

Madeleine and the movies

In Hitchcock's 'Vertigo', Madeleine is a graceful and worshiped woman who tragically dies. Unable to accept her loss, the hero keeps looking for her and finds, Judy, a look-alike. But whilst Madeleine was sophisticated, Judy is a painted commoner. The hero then sets about transforming her, Pygmalion-like, into a reincarnated Madeleine. The identity of 'Madeleine' thus lives on, first in the mind of the hero and subsequently in Judy-Madeleine, the clay golem he recreates. When Judy then dies, the true extent of his loss is hammered home and the identity of Madeleine is located firmly in the past. But what becomes of Judy during her transformation into Madeleine? There seems to be an identity that is dying before our eyes as the new Madeleine asserts herself. Movies separate us from reality, enabling us to gaze in on life and death.

See also
Masks, Life and death drives, Movies and identity

Ethnicity and Identity

Disciplines > Sociology > Articles > Ethnicity and Identity Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Race, class, ethnicity and nationality have a complex intertwining. Cultural identity can be seen as a one-ness, a collective 'one true self' based on a shared history and common cultural codes. This is a common post-colonial frame, where ancestral roots provide a collective dignity and meaning. Cultural identity can also be understood through difference, where ancestral histories are changed by recent history and a constant dynamic of 'becoming' (beyond just 'being'). Finding who you are thus becomes more personal and flexible. Rather than re-discovery, it becomes creation, potential and power. Ethnic trauma can be derived from the sense of oneself as the 'other', where the true subject is in the dominant class and you are their not-me. Identity is given to the subject, but stripped from the other.

Discussion
In this page, 'ethnicity' is used to imply all factors of difference such as national culture, language, skin color, class, etc. Ethnicity is sometimes viewed from a cultural Marxist viewpoint. Lacan has been criticized as covering gender, but ignoring ethnicity. Stuart Hall argues that the representation of the black subject has been through two phases, of challenging of the racist stereotype and asserting a positive black identity, and from within regimes of representation.

Recovered histories
'Hidden histories' provide for re-discovery, re-telling and rebirth in identities that slough off identities of oppression and giving hope for a better future. When there has been a 'diaspora', a dispersing of a people, then re-unification re-creates identity, giving common meaning and re-building cultural codes. Separation leads to loss of identity. Re-unification restores, albeit possibly more to ideals than actual historic codes. Inclusion of recent history builds a more diverse and real feeling, for example where the history of pre-colonial past is moderated by colonial trauma.

Bifurcation
Identities can be viewed along two axes: similarity/continuity and difference/rupture, where catastrophic diasporas bifurcate cultural history, in the way that significant emotional events can cause split personality in the individual. A tension of sameness and difference can thus pervade an ethnic group.

Presences
Hall describes how Cesaire and Senghor use the metaphor of signifying 'presences' in a culture, such as the presence of Africa, Europe and America in Caribbean culture. Africa represents both repressive slavery and also ritual, art, language. Thus black Caribbeans see themselves both as sons and daughters of slavery and also spiritually related to a tribal history and vibrant presence (Western tradition seeks to anchor Africa in a primitive past). This does cause problems: when 'home' is an imaginary signifier, you can never go home, and hence become homeless and lost. The European presence is one of power that constantly 'speaks' the black subject, excluding, dominating, exploiting. It is so ingrained that it seems impossible to unpick and extract. The American presence is about ground, place, territory, eradication, migration. It is the land emptied and recolonized by Europeans, where Africa and the West collide in a new and sullied place, where perhaps the European domination and rape of the land echoes their abuse of African culture.

The diaspora of dispersing peoples leads to constant renewal and rediscovery. Dispersion also leads to recombination and endless new mixes. This happens to language too, as those in search of meaning recreate words and meanings in their search for themselves.

See also
Hall, S. (1986). Introduction: Who needs identity? in Questions of cultural identity, eds. S. Hall and P. Du Gay, London: Sage

Feminism and Identity

Explanations > Identity > Feminism and Identity Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Feminism in identity seeks to understand the separation of sexual and gender identities, explaining how men and women become separated and different.

Rose
Jaqueline Rose uses Lacan to argue that:

Sexual identity is acquired in the Oedipal crisis, rather than being innate. Sexual differentiation is symbolically valued in patriarchy, rather than being biological. The phallus is a symbol, not a penis. Women are subjected by symbolic relations of power rather than being naturally inferior. Sexual identities are always unfinished. Women do not 'fit' the subject positions into which they are interpellated. Their unconscious 'unpicks' such positions.

She equate women with the jouissance that men desire. Men are seen to fantasize themselves as 'sutured' into the position of the all-powerful phallus. Women, to men, symbolize the 'lost object', the significant 'Other' and are positioned as subordinate in the 'phallic economy'. Women still, for men, have something unobtainable beyond the phallic power relationship. This is jouissance, which gives women the power to resist the subject position put upon them.

French feminism
French feminism rejects the Lacanian/Rose view that there is 'no feminine outside language', that it comes only from the patriarchal relations of the symbolic order. They suggest the pre-Oedipal phase as a basis for femininity, rather being that which escapes or is left over from the phallic economy of the symbolic. Julia Kristeva's notion of 'chora' indicates the infant sensation of the mother as a basis for identity, prior to the Oedipus complex and languaging in symbolic register. Luce Irirgaray uses the girl's many fluid and subversive experiences of her own body as a basis for identity, thus breaking away from Lacan's 'phallic logic' interpretations.

Discussion
Feminism has particularly tried to escape the Freudian/Lacanian version of infant sexuality that is dominated by the power of the phallus and the father. Rather than completely revoking this theory, feminists have sought a space in which feminine identity might develop separately. The pre-Oedipal stage provides this space. Being earlier, it also may be claimed as having superiority and equipping the female with the power to handle the Law of the father without being subjugated within the symbolic order. From a feminist perspective, Laura Mulvey (1975) described the 'male gaze' in movies, where the camera and hence the viewer is invited to view women in voyeuristic and objectifying terms.

See also
Infant sexuality, The Chora, Movies and identity

Foucault and Identity

Explanations > Identity > Foucault and Identity Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Practicing discourse
Foucault rejected the view of a person having an inner and fixed 'essence' that is the person's identity. He identified the self as being defined by a continuing discourse in a shifting communication of oneself to others. He also rejected common notions of people having some form of implicit power, replacing this with the idea of power as a technique or action in which people engage. Power is thus exercised but not possessed.

Technologies of the self

He described technologies of the self as ways individuals act upon themselves to produce particular modes of identity and sexuality. These 'technologies' include methods of self-contemplation, self-disclosure and self-discipline. They may be found in autobiographies, diaries, blogs, etc.

Foucault also describes technologies of the self as the way in which individuals work their way into discourse.

Discussion
The classical view of identity is a something that is inherent and fixed in some way or part. Foucault's idea of practices increases the ways that the individual can be constituted in and through culture. Foucault's notion of fluid power is important as it denies the older notion of power being possessed by the few and elite, with a large and powerless majority.

See also
Michel Foucault, Foucault on institutions

A History of the Self

Explanations > Identity > A History of the Self Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Over time and culture, the notion of a person has changed. Here are some views derived from work by Mauss (1938).

The mythic part

Primitive tribes and clans live within a mythological frame, where people take parts within larger stories, acting out the parts of preconceived characters. Complex rules, ceremonies, dances and rituals have a powerful effect on the sense of who you are and, significantly, your position in the grand order of things.

The Latin persona

The persona of the Latins is an independent role, defined by their type, character and personality. The person in this role is anchored less by a containing story but is still constrained by the expectations of the role. They wear the masks of their role and play the part, but the story is less grand and more variable. Original Latin masks include those of tragedy, ritual and ancestry. 'Persona' comes from 'per sonare', 'speaking through' the mask.

The moral person

The Stoics and Romans developed the notion of the person behind the persona, with volition that leads to the mask matching the underlying person. Christianity developed the idea of moral obligation of the person and this was encased in law, including for non-individual institutions, corporations, etc.

The psychological person

Eventually the sciences took up the baton of examining the person, from biology to psychology and philosophy. And we are still looking, examining, dividing, wondering, ...

Discussion
The implication of this is that the state of 'me', 'self' or other identity and how we think about ourselves is very much defined by the cultural codes of the time and place. These have ranged from self-as-nature to self-as-separate.

See also
Mauss, M. (1938). A category of the human mind: The notion of person, the notion of self. in M. Carrithers, S. Collins and S. Lukes, The Category of the Person, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Identity Conflict
Explanations > Needs > Internal CIA Conflicts > Identity Conflict Separate self | United selves | The central issue | So what? We all have a need for a sense of identity, of who we are and our place in the world. This is not always easy and we may be challenged in many ways. There are also inner conflicts that make settling on who we really are a difficult process.

Separate self
For anything to exist, it must be separate somehow from its environment. It needs a boundary that lets us know what is a part of it and what is not a part of it. Likewise, to know our own selves we need to pull away from the world to find our boundaries.

Conflict
A conflict here is that we need the world around us and other people to create this separation. I need to know a tree so I know I am not a tree. And I need you to know I am not you. Yet knowing you creates a connection with you, so I am not separate. Another conflict occurs where we are unsure of who we are and cannot isolate a single, separate self, the 'real me', from the many 'me's of multiple identity. It is common to feel you have more than one personality, in particular ones which are tied to different contexts and feelings, hence the work self, the home self, the stressed self, the angry self and so on. The question 'Who am I?' is often asked and often not fully answered.

United selves
We are social and spiritual creatures. We like to have friends, live in society and feel a part of something greater than ourselves. We define ourselves through our connections, even seeing ourselves as others see us.

Conflict
This creates a conflict where the more we connect, the more we place our identity outside, the more our boundaries erode and the less distinct our identities become. We typically want the penny and the bun, to both be like other people and to be different

The central issue

A dilemma of identity is that it is reflexive, that we need an 'I' to define the 'I', which makes 'I' impossible to fully identify. We also have an infant history of early warm bonding and unity out of which the sense of separation emerged. This leaves a sustaining tension to re-unite with others and the world, while the sense of self (and the control this gives) is too important to give up. The central issue is how to sustain a separate, autonomous self while connecting with others and immersing ourselves in the world. 'Letting go' can be immensely joyful yet we need our self to know that pleasure. This tension is found in other self-vs-others situations, including:

Preferences for extraversion vs. introversion Values of social concern vs. selfishness Psychoanalytic concepts such as the Mirror Phase and Oedipal transition

Separation and unity are also related to the sense of control and create another tension here, as being separate allows personal choice, yet together we can achieve so much more.

So what?
Help people discover themselves by exploring their boundaries, of who they are and who they are not. This includes looking at basic drivers such as beliefs, models,values, goals and so on. Talk about what is important for them and how they relate to others. Help them let go of past things so they can look forward to the 'new me'. You can also challenge people who do bad things by asking 'Is that the real you?' Few people want to be thought of as bad and so may change their selves (and in consequence their actions).

See also
Identity, Psychoanalysis

Individual and Society

Disciplines > Sociology > Articles > Individual and Society Individual separation | The traditional separation | Boundaries | Rules | See also

Individual separation
Modern social rules encourage individuality and separation. Social touching is increasingly forbidden as a suspected sexual advance. The rights of the individual often take precedence over society. Capitalism has largely defeated Communism. We are progressively more alone. Science does not help either, as we are encouraged to be objective to the point when we stand outside ourselves. Emotional Intelligence is lauded as a good thing.

The traditional separation

But are individuals separate from society or a part of society? Is either or both an illusion? Individuals in society are not 'free agents' as they are constrained by social rules. Many people feel individual and separated, and this has echoed through history. Descartes said 'cogito ergo sum'. Leibnitz described a self-view of 'windowless monads'. Kant talked of us as 'who from his aprioristic shell can never quite break through to the 'thing in itself' '. A classic email .sig is 'At the center of the known universe'. Much social research still separates the individual and society. Society is seen as a unity of its own, implying boundaries. Individuals are seen as free and independent, acting a closed systems. Homo philosophicus, the rational philosopher, was never an adult arrives as an adult with clear logic and no disturbing past.Elias (1968) describes homo clausus (based in homo philosophicus and many other such models) a theoretical being used by sociologists who thinks and acts independently, whilst living within society. This person lives in a little world of their own. In practice, individual and society are closely intertwined and interdependent.

Boundaries
Elias describes figuration as a dynamic, shifting set of connections that haze the the boundary between individual and society. Individuals can be viewed as separate and independent of society. They may be viewed as being contained within it. When within it, they can be seen as having a clear boundary and interacting with similar others. Yet another view is of them having less clear boundaries so they are more closely merged into society than might be realized. Like atoms in molecules and solids, even though we have some individual identity, we are tightly bound together in a merged mass. Socialization is the breaking down of individual barriers and merging them into the larger mass. The trade is giving up individual freedoms in exchange for safety and belonging.

Rules
Where are the boundaries of society? How does one stand outside of it? This perhaps is defined by the rules of a society, which are many. Rules can be formal (the 'law') and informal (morals and social norms). Informal rules arise through the operation of social networks and social leaders and spread through righteous discussion. Formal rules appear through public debate and a legislative structure. Informal rules are applied variably according to the context and the ability of people to apply them. Formal rules are applied by a legislature of judges and managed by a police force.

Punishment for breaking informal rules is shaming and ultimately ostracization. Punishment for breaking formal rules is fining and ultimately incarceration. Both thus remove the offender from society, preventing them from re-offending and acting as a warning to others. In theory, there is only one boundary as defined by formal and informal social rules. In practice there are many boundaries and we belong to many groups and institutions.

See also
Ideology, Norbert Elias, Sociology Bourdieu, P. (1987). The biographical illusion. Working Papers and Proceedings of the Centre for Psychosocial Studies (Univ. of Chicago) 14, 1-7 Elias, N. (1978). The History of Manners. The Civilizing Process: Volume I. New York: Pantheon Books Elias, N. (1982). Power and Civility. The Civilizing Process: Volume II. New York: Pantheon Books

Institutionalization
Disciplines > Sociology > Articles > Institutionalization Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Institutionalization is an often-deliberate process whereby a person entering the institution is reprogrammed to accept and conform to strict controls that enables the institution to manage a large number of people with a minimum of necessary staff.

Depersonalize from the beginning

The process of denying the person their old identity starts when the inmate enters the door, including weighing, photographing, fingerprinting, searching, bathing, disinfecting, removal of personal possessions and dressing in undifferentiated clothing.

Force a break with the outer world

Separate the person from the external world. Deny them visitors. Force them to face into the institution rather than hanker after external contact. Allow visitors only as a reward for acceptance of institutional rules. After a visit, watch how they behave carefully and only allow subsequent visits if they show no signs of rejecting the institution.

Force obedience
Unquestioning obedience is forced by harsh punishment, both psychological and physical. The person may be required to 'willingly' engage in humiliating acts. There may be deliberate 'will-breaking' activities, typically as a part of the 'welcoming' initiation rites.

Destroy the self

Forcing obedience acts to destroy self-determination. This may be continued to the point where the inmate does not even know who he or she is. Attacking them with verbal abuse continues to erode their sense of an integrated self. Giving them menial tasks show them as inferior. A simple and powerful method is to deny them even their name, reducing them to a number. Everything that they possess, even bedding, may be regularly changed, so they cannot even form attachments to inanimate objects.

Physically assault them

Physical handling, defacing them with tattoos, shock therapy and more teaches them that not even their bodies are sacred and are under the control of the institution.

Control every aspect of their lives

Controlling every element of their lives takes away their ability to decide. When they speak, how they eat, how and when they use the toilet, may all be controlled. What they do, including the repetition of futile and useless work is dictated to them.

Discussion
Many institutions, from prisons to monasteries to asylums, deliberately want to control and manage their inmates such that they conform and do not cause problems. Even in less harsh environments, many of the institutionalization methods may be found, albeit in more moderated form (although the psychological effect can be equally devastating). The model of outer and inner worlds mirrors the individual's outer and inner world. The institution needs to create inner models where the institution is introjectedas accepted normality and the outside the institution is projected as a bad object. The process of institutionalization is complete when the inmate fears and rejects the outside world, feeling at home only within the institution. Of course this brings another problem when the inmate leaves, but this may not be the concern of the institution, although it may have a period before release in which it seeks to de-institutionalize the inmate.

See also
Conversion techniques, Interrogation

Jung's Archetypes
Explanations > Identity > Jung's Archetypes The Shadow | The Anima | The Self | Other archetypes | Deep origins | See also Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung described several archetypes that are based in the observation of differing but repeating patterns of thought and action that re-appear time and again across people, countries and continents. Jung's main archetypes are not 'types' in the way that each person may be classified as one or the other. Rather, we each have all basic archetypes within us. He listed four main forms of archetypes:

The The The The

Shadow Anima Animus Self

The Shadow
The Shadow is a very common archetype that reflects deeper elements of our psyche, where 'latent dispositions' which are common to us all arise. It also reflects something that was once split from us in early management of the objects in our lives. It is, by its name, dark, shadowy, unknown and potentially troubling. It embodies chaos and wildness of character. The shadow thus tends not to obey rules, and in doing so may discover new lands or plunge things into chaos and battle. It has a sense of the exotic and can be disturbingly fascinating. In myth, it appears as the wild man, spider-people, mysterious fighters and dark enemies. We may see the shadow in others and, if we dare, know it in ourselves. Mostly, however, we deny it in ourselves and project it onto others. It can also have a life of its own, as the Other. A powerful goal that some undertake is to re-integrate the shadow, the dark side, and the light of the 'real' self. If this can be done effectively, then we can become 'whole' once again, bringing together that which was once split from us. Our shadow may appear in dreams, hallucinations and musings, often as something or someone who is bad, fearsome or despicable in some way. It may seduce through false friendship or threaten with callous disregard. Encounters with it, as an aspect of the subconscious, may reveal deeper thoughts and fears. It may also take over direct physical action when the person is confused, dazed or drugged.

The Anima and Animus

The second most prevalent pattern is that of the Anima (female) / Animus (male), or, more simply, the Soul, and is the route to communication with the collective unconscious. The anima/animus represents our true self, as opposed to the masks we wear every day and is the source of our creativity. These archetypes may appear as someone exotic or unusual in some way, perhaps with amazing skills and powers. In fiction, heroes, super-heroes and gods may represent these powerful beings and awaken in us the sense of omnipotence that we knew in that very early neonatal phase. Anima and animus are female and male principles that represent this deep difference. Whilst men have a fundamental animus and women an anima, each may also have the other, just as men have a feminine side and women a masculine. Jung saw men as having one dominant anima, contributed to by female members of his family, whilst women have a more complex, variable animus, perhaps made of several parts. Jung theorized the development of the anima/animus as beginning with infant projection onto the mother, then projecting onto prospective partners until a lasting relationship can be found.

The Syzygy (the divine couple)

In combination, the anima and animus are known as syzygy (a word also used to denote alignment of planets), representing wholeness and completion. This combining brings great power and can be found in religious combinations such as the Christian Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy ghost). A perfect partnership between man and woman can occur when not only are our physical forms compatible but also the anima and animus. Thus you might find your soul-mate. Finding our matching other half is a lifetime of search for many of us, and few of us succeed in this quest. Love of another indicates an actual, perceived or hoped-for close match.

The Self
For Jung, the self is not just 'me' but God. It is the spirit that connects and is part of the universe. It is the coherent whole that unifies both consciousness and unconsciousness. It may be found elsewhere in such principles as nirvana and ecstatic harmony. It is perhaps what Jaques Lacan called 'the real'. Jung described creation of the self as a process of individuation, where all aspects are brought together as one. Thus 're-birth' is returning to the wholeness of birth, before we start to split our selves into many parts.

Other archetypes
Jung said that there are a large number of archetypes. These are often linked to the main archetypes and may represent aspects of them. They also overlap and many can appear in the same person. For example:

Family o o o

archetypes The father: Stern, powerful, controlling The mother: Feeding, nurturing, soothing The child: Birth, beginnings, salvation

Story archetypes o The hero: Rescuer, champion o The maiden: Purity, desire o The wise old man: Knowledge, guidance o The magician: Mysterious, powerful o The earth mother: Nature o The witch or sorceress: Dangerous o The trickster: Deceiving, hidden Animal archetypes o The faithful dog: Unquestioning loyalty o The enduring horse: Never giving up o The devious cat: Self-serving

Deep origins
A notable characteristic of Jung's archetypes is that we recognize them in image and emotion. This gives a profound effects on us and implies that they have deep and primitive origins. They thus have a particular potential for significance and may be feared or revered as mysterious signifiers of things beyond our complete understanding. In earlier work, Jung linked the archetypes to heredity and considered them as instinctual. Yet wherever he looked across cultures, he found the same archetypes and thus came to conceptualize them as fundamental forces that somehow exist beyond us. They have existed in ancient myths as elemental spirits and Jung sought to link with this deep and old experience.

See also
Jung, C.G. (1964). Man and His Symbols, New York; Doubleday and Company, Inc.

Legal Identity
Explanations > Identity > Legal Identity Description | Discussion | See also

Description
The legal person is a physical body that has rights and duties on one hand and certain behaviors and capability on the other. Companies and other entities are also legal bodies in law, with defined rights and duties. Incorporated bodies are entities in their own right with defined rights and duties, whilst unincorporated bodies are collections in which rights and duties are held against its members. Rights and duties are attached to certain attributes of the person, from their job to their nationality. These are described in law and regulation. The inner person, whilst it may be discussed in legal contexts is seldom of interest unless, for example, there are medical circumstances where a person may be criminally insane or otherwise incapable. Emotional states such as anger are not acceptable as reason for transgression of the law. Groups for whom laws may be varied and behaviors excused include:

minors (children) the insane and mentally incapable drugged and drunken people judges, heads of state, members of government and diplomats aliens (foreigners)

Discussion
Law seeks to describe unambiguously, describing 'whatness' that is determinate and clear. It seeks purpose, meaning, value and significance. Law is also a law unto itself: 'nothing is more senseless than to attempt to understand the law from a vantage point extrinsic to itself' (Weinrib, 1988). 'Legalness' can thus only be proven by legal examination. The rules of chess cannot be changed from outside the game and its ruling body, and only they can define the rules. This makes things pretty circular, but that's how it is: to define it externally would be to open the external definer to questioning as to its legality, thus creating an infinite regression.

Life Histories
Explanations > Identity > Life Histories Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Individuals may be better understood when viewed through time. A life history is a locus that connects seemingly separate events in a coherent whole. It is a thread of time that connects and creates a sense of one-ness, explaining the present and future in relation to the past. A biography is a description from one viewpoint of a life history but can never completely describe all events. It can, however, act to communicate a coherent perception, even though there may be much misunderstanding and illusion. Autobiographies are also flawed in that whilst they may or may not be honest, it is a singular viewpoint from 'inside the machine' that can never be objective. They do, however, give particular meaning to the individual as they stitch together events and find personal meaning.

Discussion
Bourdieu (1987) notes that a life history is less a reflection of life itself and more a technique for reconstructing experience, a mechanism for producing the experience of self as unity and totality (and that many institutions facilitate this). He also agrees with Elias that whilst the 'unified self' is not a complete illusion, it neither is natural nor essentially human. Modern societies include many individualizing methods. He describes a person's name thus: "The proper name is the visible affirmation of the identity of the bearer across time and space, the basis of the unity of one's successive manifestations, and of the socially accepted possibilities of integrating these manifestations in official records, curriculum vitae, cursus honorum, police record, obituary, or biography which constitute life as a finite sum through the verdict given given in a temporary or final reckoning." (Bourdieu, 1987) The life-history 'illusion' is that a proper name refers to a cluster of features or properties that which defines the permanent essence of a 'self' that exists before the history. Bourdieu claims that no such basis exists and that legal, governmental and aesthetic personalities are not related, thus making it difficult to identify a single 'person'. In the legal sense, many attributes of the person are conferred rather than are intrinsic.

See also
Bourdieu, P. (1987). The biographical illusion. Working Papers and Proceedings of the Centre for Psychosocial Studies (Univ. of Chicago) 14, 1-7

Masks
Explanations > Identity > Masks Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Our true identity is often hidden behind the masks we wear. Masks contain complete social schemas. Others look at the mask and understand what it represents and know what mask to wear themselves. Like a formal ball, the masks thus dance with one another with our selves safely concealed beneath. Masks thus protect the person and facilitate interaction with others. I wear a mask in different situations to be the person I want to be there. Masks may be provided by others who interpellate people into subject and cultural roles. Masks provide a position of safety as we hide our anxieties behind masks of power and security. We wear layers of masks, such that if one is removed, the true self is not found beneath, but just another mask.

Discussion
In the movie 'Vertigo', Hitchcock shows first the Pygmalionesque recreation of Judy into the adored and sophisticate Madeleine does a double-twist as the layering of the mask upon Judy shows Madeleine to actually be more like Judy than the elegant lady of his ideal. The metaphor of wearing masks is not new and we wear them to protect our vulnerable inner true selves. We also need to fit in with society and so wear masks that project social conformance. Masks lie, however, hiding our true selves, albeit with fair purpose in protection and acceptance. They are useful in being largely-positive forms of coping mechanism that help us to handle the difficulties of social life. Theatrical director Keith Johnstone, one of the originators of the 'impro' method of improvized acting, uses physical masks in training actors and has noted how masks seem to become imbued with a character. In primitive native contexts, masks are used in rituals to symbolize gods and ancestors. The masks are considered to either contain spirits or act as a channel. The wearer of the mask goes in to trance as they are taken over by the spirit and 'become' the mask persona. This can make them brave, wise, authoritative, and so on.

See also
Movies and Identity Johnstone, K. (1981). Impro: Improvisations and the Theatre, London: Methuen

Mirror Phase
Disciplines > Psychoanalysis > Concepts > Mirror Phase Description | Discussion | See also

Description
At some time between six and eighteen months, the baby sees its image, generally in a mirror, and realises that what it is seeing is somehow itself. This recognition causes great confusion and libidinal dynamism (Lacan, 1977) as the pre -linguistic infant struggles with its first identity conflict. With the boundary-formation of identity comes separation, and the image is perceived as distinct Other. Separation also creates a sense of loss and a lifelong desire to regain the jouissance of the connected wholeness. The image seems to be perfect, an imago (Lacan, 1949), an ideal ego that is appealing, to be loved and emulated in an enduring narcissistic fantasy. The perfect other also creates envy and dislike and hence further confusion and tension between these polar opposites. It also may seem to be asking questions or making demands of the child who may wonder what it wants and what it will do. An early sense of jubilation at recognizing its wholeness is followed by a fear that the infant will regress to its previous state of being in 'bits and pieces'. The mirror does not reflect feelings and 'lies' about the apparent independence of the image that the baby does not have. This misrecognition or mconnaissance (Lacan, 1949) is compounded when, in taking the subject position of the image and looking back on its actual self, the baby contrasts what it sees with the ego ideal. This casts itself as imperfect and inf erior, thus exaggerating the difference and cementing the trauma of imperfection and self-loathing and the desire to become the unattainable ideal (Leader and Groves, 2000). The desire for the connected whole and the desire for individual perfection represent a tension between non-identity and identity that is perhaps related to Freuds death and life drives. Within the imaginary order of this stage, the child continues to build its self image, oscillating between alien images and fragments of the real body. From surreal paranoia, the ego starts to emerge as an unconscious construction. Somewhat wittily, Lacan called this the hommelette : the little man, made out of broken eggs. When a baby sees itself in a mirror, it both recognizes itself and misrecognizes itself. The image seems to be psychologically integrated and physically coordinated in a way that the baby does not feel. Adults still feel uncomfortable about themselves as integrated and whole individuals. Self-images continue through their lives to cause narcissistic fascination and/or discomfort in that the image somehow does not look like 'me'.

Discussion
The mirror phase was defined in 1936 by Jaques Lacan, a post-Freudian psychoanalyst, who explained how the imaginary misrecognition 'situates the agency of the ego, before its social determination, in a fictional direction.' The mirror separates us from our selves. In order to recognize myself, I have to be separate from my self. Thus identity as a notion I can consider appears. The mirror image is the basis of Lacan's 'ideal ego', which is a subsequent destination for striving. The 'ego-ideal' is where the subject, within the symbolic order, looks at themself from the position of the perfect ideal ego, consequently seeing one's life as imperfect, vain and useless. Narcissism is thus rooted in the adoration of the perfect image. Althusser used the mirror principle to explain how ideology is used to reflect both the subject and others and how the mirror of ideology implant received social meaning in the imagined relationship between the person and their existence. The individual thus recognizes themself as an autonomous subject. The more general notion of mirroring has been taken up by others, such as Winnicott, who saw mirroring occurring in the loving gaze of the mother. The gaze of the good-enough mother does not reflect her own defences but rather a confirmation of the varying moods that the baby is presenting to her. Modern media utilizes the Lacanian fascination with the image, showing us pictures into which we are invited to project ourselves. This has been criticized, for example in the lack of consideration of the internal processes that allow misrecognition to take place. For the infant to recognize itself in the mirror, it must already have a sense of self. The development of the self thus may be already well under way.

See also
Lacan, Althusser, Winnicott, Subject Interpellation, Ideology Lacan J. (1949). The mirror stage. in Identity: a reader, Paul du Gay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman (eds), London: Sage, 2000, pp 44-50 Lacan, J. (1977). crits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Norton Leader, D. and Groves, J. (2000). Introducing Lacan, Cambridge, UK: Icon Books

Movies and Identity

Explanations > Identity > Movies and Identity Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Movies (or films, depending on where you live), provide a splendid place for studying culture and identity, as they encapsulate cultural norms and patterns in a form that can be studied and re-studied in close detail. Movies are a signifying practice that reproduce hegemonic ideological formations.

The movie camera inserts or interpellates the viewer into the subject position in the picture. The person becomes sutured as they identify with positions. The common shot/reverse shot method shows first the view from the person's position, then reverses the camera in front of them to show the person. The viewer is thus first placed inside the person and then outside. A similar effect is gained by reverse then forward shot.

Discussion
Movies have also been linked with ideology, for example by Christian Metz, where the movie uses ideological framing. Movies are structurally closed, in a controlled place where viewers look on and associate with the actors as in the Mirror phase. Movies can also be structurally reflexive, for example in the way that multiple camera angles and changing perspectives break up the singular viewpoint, and where the spectator is forced to stand back and see not only the content of the movie but also the movie itself. From a feminist perspective, Laura Mulvey (1975) described the 'male gaze' in movies, where the camera and hence the viewer is invited to view women in voyeuristic and objectifying terms. Suture refers to the means by which the subject is 'articulated' with available positions. The subject is thus made to appear at the point of origin of language, although they are actually absent. In a Lacanian sense, the movie enables a joining of 'I' with the subject, thus creating the jouissance of the lost object, thus gaining a phallic sense of omnipotence where the division of the subject is made good and the subject at last speaks the discourse rather than being spoken by it. The shot creates an Oedipal and scary experience of otherness where the camera stands in the place of the castrating, Lawbringing father, dragging the viewer into this place. The attendant anxiety drives the person to associate with the reverse shot. The person in the movie stands in for us, saving us from losing or 'disappearing in' (aphanasis) the text. As we are identify this, we are sutured to the text and accept its reality. Movies such as Psycho (in the famous shower scene) create tension by delaying this suturing. The killer is portrayed as an unseen, violent and absent other. Short shots from odd angles breaks up the sense of wholeness, giving a sense of no place of safety.

See also
Masks, Death and identity, Suture

The Other
Explanations > Identity > The Other Description | Discussion | See also

Description
In searching for and creating our identity, we create 'the other. The other is not us and thus helps us to understand, create and define ourselves. The other is outside us, showing first that there is existence outside our bodies. Others may reflect us, so we can see ourselves from the third-person perspective. Otherness thus creates familiarity and attraction. Others may be not-us, and so we can see how we are different from others. Otherness thus creates alienation and fear. What we see in the other tells us what is right and wrong, good and bad, perfect and imperfect. Others can be imagined people. Thus we may define an ideal prototype personality to which we aspire and use this as a comparison. There can be multiple others each giving us a perspective on ourselves. Our own image is a special form of other, as we know that it is us, yet it does not seem to be us. When the other interpellates us, we are created as subjects. Accepting that creation means accepting the other as superior and creator and hence deifying them. This Other may be capitalized, to signify its omnipotence. When we see ourselves in an other, we realize that we are divided and not whole. This creates a deep and lifelong desire to become whole again. All recognition comes through contrast, which opposites provide. In all sensory recognition, difference enables us to separate and name. An other person does the same for identity. It shows us where our own boundary is. Objects can be others too, as we see ourselves in relation to and reflected in the things around us.

Discussion
Lacan described how the Other is discovered in his Mirror phase, where we first see our own image. Laplanche described primal seduction as the offering of a message by a parent to a child. Communication from an other entices the child away from its state of one-ness with the mother. Winnicott described the transition object, which is typically a doll or blanket that represents not-me for the child. When it is removed, it is as if a part of the child is removed and they feel a sense of loss. This attachment to objects continues throughout our lives. Other-ness is a key element of dualism, where the world is seen as a set of pairs, where one thing is understood only in terms of its opposite. The thing also creates its opposite, as in the dynamic oscillation of the Taoist yin and yang. The ego and id (and the ego and super-ego) may be consider others to one another, each creating the other.

See also
Mirror phase, Interpellation, Looking-glass Self

Personal Name
Explanations > Critical Theory > Personal Name Description | Discussion | See also

Description
A person's name is more than an indicator -- it is an embodying symbol that has a highly personal relationship with the person. You can be the other side of the room, talking, and they will not hear anything, but if you mention their name, they will hear it and become attentive. It is thus important to find, remember, use and manage the names of the people you meet and especially those who you intend to persuade.

Discussion
In Rome
Roman citizens had three names. The nomen was their gens or family name, such as Tullius and was the equivalent of a surname. The praenomen was the given name and equivalent of a forename, such as Marcus, and was seldom used on its own. Ordinals were often used, such as Primus or Sextus to indicate birth order. The cognomen was a nickname by which the person was known, such as Cicero. Thus the Roman orator Cicero (106 BC 43 BC) was the cognomen of Marcus Tullius.

Influencing
All sales people know that a person's name is one of the most powerful tools of influence and they will use it carefully, attaching it to key points and when they want particular attention.

Remembering
It is remarkably easy to forget a person's name, often because you have used that name in so many different contexts that it has become unattached as a concept. A trick in remembering a person's name is to attach it strongly to the person. Some ways of doing this include:

Make an aural connection. Repeat their name out loud several times soon after you have met the person. This also helps build rapport. Remember the name as a forename-surname combination. It is actually easier to remember John-Wilkinson than John alone, because John-Wilkinson is far more unique. Use visualization. Imagine the person with their name tattooed on their forehead or otherwise written on them. Use metaphor and analogy. Imagine someone called John 'sitting on the John'. Imagine Mrs Green as painted green, wearing green clothes.

See also
Their name, Verifying the person

Queer Theory
Explanations > Critical Theory > Queer Theory Description | Discussion | See also

Description
Gender and sexual preference are often assumed to be fixed and unchanging things. This is a paradigm that feminists and homosexual writers have taken as an unchallenged assumption as they seek to shift and establish fixed positions within the sexual spectra. Queer Theory challenges this assumption, reframing sexuality as being socially constructed and hence varying with context. It is 'anti-essentialist' in rejecting an gender as being in a person's unchanging essence. Thus a person in a gay club may act and feel a lot more homosexual than when they are out with work friends. Even at the biological level, there is not a strict male-female divide, for example with various combinations of X and Y chromosomes and varying genetic influences. The construction of identity is influenced by a wide number of factors, from Lacan's notion of language and symbolic codes in the symbolic register to social pressures of conforming. Queer Theory simply adds gender and sexual preference to an already long list of variables.

Discussion
Queer Theory originated in Judith Butler's 1990 book Gender Trouble and was first described with the term in Case (1971).The immediate effect of Queer Theory is to destabilize all other notions of gender and sexuality. Even various forms which are commonly seen as perversion may be framed as temporary destinations. Butler was influenced by Michel Foucault, who argued that homosexuality was a subject position within culture, rather than a personality type per se. He argued that this position developed within 19th century psychological sciences. Queer Theory bumps into the 'nature vs. nurture' debate. Critics point to the relatively fixed aspects of genetics, whilst queer theorists focus on interactions with others. As with many young fields, there are subdivisions within the school of thought and different theorists have their own viewpoint that often conflicts with others.

See also
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble, Routledge Case, S-E. (1991). Tracking the Vampire,

Differences: a Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 3: 2, p 1-20

Foucault, M. (1978) The History of Sexuality Vol. I: An Introduction, Harmondsworth: Penguin

Social Desirability
Explanations > Motivation > Social Desirability Social construction | Positive bias | Association | Needs | Dysfunction | Assessment | So what? Social desirability is a basic motivation whereby we are driven by what others think about us. This is not a small effect and much of how people behave has this need for approval and liking as a fundamental driver. It is through such forces that society is founded.

Social construction
We all have a significant need for a sense of identity and many people create this through interactions and relationships with other people. It can be said that we socially construct our selves, creating our image of ourselves through the eyes of other people, as in the 'Looking-glass self'. Even those who seem to have less concern for others are often notably affected by this.

Positive bias
Perhaps naturally, we like to have a positive self-image, considering ourselves clever, popular and so on. We hence tend to construct our selves in as positive a way as we can. On any desirable social scale, most people consider themselves above average (which of course is statistically impossible). If others indicate that they do not like us or disapprove of us in some way, then we are forced to consider that we are bad or wrong in some way. This creates a powerful and uncomfortable cognitive dissonance that drives us harder in finding ways to appear (at least to ourselves) more socially desirable.

Association
We also create ourselves through our associations, including our families, friends, job, religion, nationality and so on. In joining groups and internalizing their culture, including beliefs and values, we accept their rules and connect our identities to theirs. Once these associations are created, we become fearful of losing them, for to be cast out of a group is to lose a part of who you are (or at least who you think you are).

Needs
Significant identity-related needs include the need to sustain the socially constructed self and to protect our associations, as indicated above. We hence have basic needs for:

Belonging: Identity created by association with a group. Esteem: Being respected by others. Fairness: Having the same as others. Approval: Being approved of by superiors. Liking: Being thought of as a friend.

We also need to avoid the opposite, and disapproval by others, particularly those with whom we identify and respect, can be quite terrifying. In consequence, we are often very careful to follow values and social norms.

Dysfunction
Sometimes people do not seek social approval or liking, and in fact seem to revel in being disliked (or at least do not care what others think). Such people are significantly in the minority. People with personality disorders such as the Antisocial Personality or the Psychopathic Personality are characterized by a lack of empathy and care little for social desirability (only in the way that it can be manipulated to meet their goals). Narcissists may appear to be opposite, caring greatly about social desirability, yet they will also manipulate and be unpleasant to others in their empty search for praise. Many people also fall into the comforting pattern of repeating unhelpful games that may lead to them being persecuted or vilified. Even if they know this, they often seem unable to break out of the habit and may seek therapeutic support in their attempts to become more socially desirable.

Assessment
In many forms of personality or preference assessment, the person is asked to fill in a questionnaire about themselves, from which they are placed on categorization scales. The social desirability problem is that people may lie a little in order to make themselves look good, or because they want to help the person administering the test. To detect this, social desirability questions may be interspersed amongst the genuine questions, giving the test administrator an extra scale that indicates whether the person is faking or not. A problem with asking people whether they are concerned about looking good is that those who are concerned are likely to answer such questions in a biased way. As a result, social desirability questions are often indirect, asking seemingly-innocuous questions that the respondent (hopefully) does not realize has the aim of determining their degree of social desirability. A simple social desirability question may ask for agreement on statements such as 'It is very important to get on with other people' or 'White lies are sometimes necessary'. People who are concerned with their image or social norms may well agree that being on good terms with others is more important than telling the truth.

Social desirability may be assessed by asking questions to which responses distorted by social desirability can be detected, for example the statement 'I always put others ahead of myself' should be responded to as false as hardly anyone is so generous, although many will agree with the statement when they think this is what is being sought (the key word is the absolute term 'always'). A further way of testing for social desirability is by allowing faking, for example by asking a knowledge question to which they cannot know the question. If they pretend they know about the subject or otherwise bluff their way through, then this shows their tendency to act deceptively rather than admit the embarrassing truth of their ignorance. Social desirability may also be indicated by people simply not answering questions that make them feel awkward or otherwise giving 'average' or non-committal answers.

So what?
When working with others, seek to understand how important it is for them to be liked, approved of, or looked up to, then find ways of detecting this without alerting their suspicions.

See also
Theories about how we think about ourselves, Identity, Maslow's hierarchy, Please Others, Faking and deviance

Subject
Explanations > Identity > Subject Description | Discussion | See also

Description
This is the view of identity being built by being the 'subject' of language.

Identities are built by and in the subject positions. They are available to us in language and cultural symbolic codes. They are interpellated. Identities are produced through relations of difference (race, sexuality, gender, etc.). These differences are internal to language. They include relations of power. Identity is defined by 'others'. When we distance ourselves from these others, we may collapse from within. Individuals are inserted ('sutured') into subject positions by the unconscious.

Discussion
There is a whole position around identity as being the 'subject of language' that takes an anti-humanist and structural view of the person. 'Humanity' is ignored in favor of the way our environment and cultures controls us through language, replacing the purposeful agent with a dumb puppet. Althusser's 'subject' came from attempts to rethink Marxism, using structuralism in opposition to mechanistic thought in a more humanist way, seeking to put conscious activity at the heart of Marxism in combination with the 'alienation' of people from their full altruistic potential. He saw human individuals being constituted as subjects through ideology. Consciousness and agency are experienced, but are the products of ideology 'speaking through' the subject. Althusser uses Lacan's mirror phase to highlight how subjects are interpellated, but does not recognize the critical misrecognition that Lacan highlights. Althusser has also been criticized for how his subject is magically created of nowhere (what is there before the subject?). For Saussure, the subject is an effect or product of the process of signifying. He believed that nothing exists outside of language, including 'I'. Benveniste said that man constitutes himself as a subject in and through language, and that 'ego is he who says "ego"'. This challenges the notion that 'I' exists outside of language. Speaking from 'I' creates the 'I'. 'I' can also be used (by you) to mean you, making it unstable as a definer of identity. Identity (as everything) in language comes from difference. To define 'I' there must be a 'you'. These are also reversible, as 'I' become 'you' when others talk. Barthes noted that language knows a subject, but not a person. Lacan argues that subject positions are made available in the symbolic order into which people place themselves in order to speak that position. He also noted that there is always a gap between the subject and the subject position they inhabit. Hall notes how the speaker and the spoken are never identical, thus fragmenting identity across time and space. In grammar, the subject is the person or thing in a sentence that does what the verb says, to the object. Thus, in 'the cat sat on the mat', the cat is the subject and the mat is the object.

See also
Interpellation, Mirror phase, Ideology, Death of the author

Suture
Explanations > Identity > Suture Description | Discussion | See also

Description
When particular subject positions are unavailable to us a 'wound' is created. Language enables us to 'suture' (ie. stitch) these wounds by replacing the unavailable positions with other subject positions that are more readily available. This generally reinforces the status quo. Suture, according to Miller, is 'that moment when the subject inserts itself into the symbolic register in the guise of a signifier, and in doing so gains meaning at the expense of being.' Suture refers to the means by which the subject, who does not exist outside language and cultural codes, is 'articulated' with available positions. The subject is thus made to appear at the point of origin of language, although they are actually absent. Suturing binds the subject to the signifier.

Discussion
Suture is much discussed in screen theory, for example in descriptions of the effects of the reverse shot. Murder movies creates terror by delaying suture with the killer being unseen and extension of the whole sequence. Where a subject has no existence outside of language and cultural codes, suturing is a method by which the subject is articulated into a given position. When people are sutured into a position, they enter Lacan's symbolic register, where meaning is created through language and culture. In doing so, they move away from the raw 'real' world outside of their interpretation. A significant effect of suture is that it makes us forget that the camera is there as we are drawn into the scene.

See also
The Symbolic Register, Interpellation

Theories about how we think about ourselves

Explanations > Theories > Theories about how we think about ourselves Here are academic theories about how we think about ourselves.

Identity

Below-Average Effect: We sometimes think we are below average in some respects. Ben Franklin Effect: when we do a favor, we like them even more. Bias Blind Spot: We do not compensate enough for our own bias. Choice-supportive bias: Distorting memories to make decisions seem good. Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion: we decide our feelings after. interpreting events. Discounting: we underestimate less evident causes of behavior. Durability bias: we over-estimate how long emotions will last. Illusion of asymmetric insight: We think we understand others better than they understand us. Interview Illusion: after a quick discussion, we believe we can predict many behaviors. Lake Wobegon effect: We over-estimate our abilities, especially compared with others. Looking-glass Self: we see ourselves through the eyes of others. Personal Validation Fallacy: We agree with general positive descriptors of us. Social Comparison Theory: we learn about ourselves by comparing with others. Self-Perception Theory: we infer our feelings from what we do. Self-Monitoring Behavior: we are affected by how others see us. Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: We deduce our nature from what we do and feel.

See also
Theories about how we understand people Theories about groups

Below-Average Effect
Explanations > Theories > Below-Average Effect Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
For some people and in some situations, we believe that we are somewhat below average in ability. People with low self-esteem or who are in a depressed state may perceive things in this way. This effect also happens for particular abilities and situations, where people say 'Oh, I can't do that', for example juggling or diving, where the reality is that with a few lessons they could be as good as most people. This effect may also appear when people are risk-averse and are seeking to minimize losses. One benefit of believing that you are worse than average is that you can excuse yourself from ever trying. The below-average effect is also known as the Worse-than-average effect.

Example
A person believes they are really bad at singing and could never learn. They rate themselves a real dunce at singing.

So What?
Using it
Frame something that you do not want others to try as being impossibly difficult. Talk about the risks and potential losses.

Defending
Do not discount your abilities. You can do more than you realize.

See also
Lake Wobegon effect, Prospect Theory, Risk bias

References
Kruger (1999)

Ben Franklin Effect

Explanations > Theories > Ben Franklin Effect Description | Research | So What? | See also | References

Description
When we do a person a favor, we tend to like them more as a result. This is because we justify our actions to ourselves that we did them a favor because we liked them. Benjamin Franklin himself said, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged." The reverse effect is also true, and we come to hate our victims, which helps to explain wartime atrocities. We de-humanize the enemy, which decrease the dissonance of killing and other things in which we would never normally indulge.

Research
Jecker and Landy (1969) involved students in an intellectual contest where they could win significant money. Afterwards:

A: 1/3 were approached by the researcher and asked to return money as he had been using his own funds and was running short. B: 1/3 were approached by a secretary and asked to return money as it was from the psychology department and funds were low. C: 1/3 were not approached.

Then all were surveyed to see how much they liked the researcher. Group B rated him lower than Group C (so impersonal request for a favor decreases liking). Group A rated him higher than group C (so personal request for a favor increases liking).

So what?
Using it
Ask people to do you a small favor. Dont return it immediately.

Defending
When people ask you for favors, watch out for feeling better about them.

See also
Cognitive Dissonance, Attribution Theory

References
Jecker and Landy (1969)

Bias blind spot

Explanations > Theories > Bias blind spot Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
We often know that people have biases. If we think about it, we also realize that we also use bias in our decisions, yet we still do not compensate sufficiently for our biases. In particular, we will consider ourselves as being relatively unbiased compared with others.

Research
Pronin, Lin and Ross described how we are biased to a set of people, and yet they still used that bias in decisions, for example they rated peers and other Americans as having significantly more bias than themselves.

Example
I take an IQ test which shows myself as having a lower IQ. I believe it wrong. I find more credible the results from another test which shows me as having a very high IQ, even though I know the test is less valid.

So What?
Using it
Use the effects of bias in persuasion - even if people know this, they will still be biased.

Defending
Think twice about your biases. Be honest with yourself, and especially if someone seems to be using your bias blindness against you.

See also
Halo Effect, Self-Serving Bias

References
Pronin, Lin, and Ross (2002), Pronin, Gilovich, and Ross (2004)

Choice-supportive bias
Explanations > Theories > Choice-supportive bias Description | Example | Research | So What? | See also | References

Description
When we recall a past decision, we distort memories to make the choices we made appear to be the best that could be made. Thus when we have selected from a set of options, we will attribute more positive and less negative attributes to the option we have chosen (and vice versa for options we rejected). As a result, we feel good about ourselves and our choices and have less regret for bad decisions. Older people tend more towards this bias.

Example
I buy a car, based on a set of criteria I have developed. Later, I am sure that the car I bought passed more criteria than it actually did.

Research
Mather, Shafir and Johnson gave subjects a choice between two job candidates, each of which had four positive and four negative attributes. When later asked to recall the attributes of these, the subjects recalled more positive attributes of their choice and more negative attributes of the candidate they had rejected.

So What?
Using it
Get people to make choices early on that they will use in the main point you want them to choose. Make these choices easy to make in the direction to support your later choice.

Defending
Think hard when recalling a choice, to remember the real reasons for your choice.

See also
Cognitive Dissonance, Attribution Theory

References
Mather, Shafir and Johnson (2000), Mather and Johnson (2000)

Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion

Explanations > Theories > Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion Description | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
In the absence of physiological arousal, we decide what to feel after interpreting or explaining what has just happened. Two things are important in this: whether we interpret the event as good or bad for us, and what we believe is the cause of the event. The sequence thus is as follows: Event ==> thinking ==> Simultaneous arousal and emotion This challenges the two-factor separation of arousal and emotion, supporting the Cannon and Bard theory albeit with the addition of the thinking step. In primary appraisal, we consider how the situation affects our personal well-being. In secondary appraisal we consider how we might cope with the situation. This is sometimes also called Lazarus Theory or Appraisal Theory.

Example
When a colleague gets promoted, I might feel resentful if I think I deserve the promotion more than they do.

So what?
Using it
Demonstrate how what you want people to believe or do is good for them, and explain why.

See also
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion, Two-Factor Theory of Emotion Social Comparison Theory, Two-Factor Theory of Emotion, Self-Perception Theory

References
Frijda (1986), Lazarus (1991)

Discounting
Explanations > Theories > Discounting Description | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
We often underestimate the effects of one cause of our behavior when another cause is more conspicuous.

Example
If you like playing the guitar in a band, and get a lot of adulation from your fans, you might end up discounting your simple enjoyment of playing music and conclude that you are really in it for the fame.

So what?
Using it
Keep reminding people of the lesser-attended-to causes of their desirable behaviors. Or shift perceived causes by emphasizing a cause which may be a step on the way to a change of behavior.

See also
Attribution Theory, Augmenting Principle, Overjustification Effect

References
Kelley (1972)

Durability bias
Explanations > Theories > Durability bias Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
When we predict how long we will feel about some event, we tend to over-estimate the duration of the emotional impact. Whatever our emotions, although we have ups and downs, we tend to return to a neutral 'home' position within a relatively short time.

This may be caused by focalism, where people focus too much on the event in question and not enough on other future events. Durability bias is a form of impact bias.

Research
Wilson et al found that football fans were less likely to over-predict how long the outcome of a football game would influence their happiness if they first thought about how much time they would spend on other future activities

Example
I think about how I would feel if my girlfriend left me. I suspect I would feel very upset and believe I would feel this way for a long time to come. The fact that I might meet someone else before long and change how I feel does not come into my thinking.

So What?
Using it
Getting people to think about other events that will happen in the future and how they will react to these will reduce their misperception about how long they will feel about current events and the emotional impact of this. You can also use this by getting people to think only about the impact of a desirable/undesirable event and how long the feelings about this will last.

Defending
When thinking about how long you will feel about something, include the possibilities of other events changing how you feel now.

See also
Impact bias, Focalism, Availability Heuristic, Emotions

References
Wilson, Wheatley, Meyers, Gilbert and Axsom (2000)

Illusion of Asymmetric Insight

Explanations > Theories > Illusion of Asymmetric Insight Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
We commonly believe that we understand others better than they understand us. The rationale for this stems from our external, objective viewpoint and the assumption that the other person has a significant blind self, whilst our own blind self is small. There is also asymmetry in the reverse situation -- we believe we understand ourselves better than others understand us and may feel insulted if they try to show they understand us more than we do. The same effect happens for groups, where the in-group believes they understand out-groups better than out-groups understand them. Overall, this is a position where we generally assume we know more than others, perhaps because we know more about what we know.

Research
Pronin et al found that college roommates believed that they knew themselves better than their roommates knew themselves.

Example
In an argument with another person you tell them what they are like in great detail because clearly they have very little selfknowledge. They argue back telling you things about yourself that are clearly wrong or that you knew anyway. How can people be so stupid?

So What?
Using it
Be cautious about judging others and assumptions that they do not know themselves.

Defending
When others try to read your mind, forgive them their foolishness. Do not be drawn into slanging matches.

See also
The Johari Window

References
Pronin, Kruger, Savitsky and Ross (2001)

Interview Illusion
Explanations > Theories > Interview Illusion Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
After only a brief conversation with another person, we believe we understand them well enough to be able to predict their behavior in all kinds of different situations. As we learn more about the person, we may change this view, but each time we will end up believing our revised model is sufficient to predict. We also tend to integrate this perception so well we forget how we felt before we created this perception. We believe that we have always seen the person in this way. Our deep need to predict and the limited time we have with others leads us to use this short-cut approach. Our needs for consistency and Hindsight Bias affects our changing perception of ourselves.

Example
Parents and especially grandparents are often shocked at the behavior of young people. They have forgotten and revised their perception of their former adolescent misbehaved selves.

So what?
Particularly when you first meet people, help them to form a useful prediction model of yourself. If things go wrong, don't worry. Although it is more difficult, once you have convinced them that you have changed, unless you have seriously betrayed them, they will forget how they previously perceived you (literally forgiving and forgetting).

See also
Stereotypes, Fundamental Attribution Error, Confirmation Bias, Hindsight Bias Prediction, Consistency

References
Kunda and Nisbett (1986)

Lake Wobegon Effect

Explanations > Theories > Lake Wobegon Effect Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
We tend to over-estimate our abilities and achievements, particularly in comparison with other people. Most importantly, we like to consider ourselves 'above average'. High achievers (or those who consider themselves to be such) think themselves in the top X percent, where X may be 25, 10, 5, 2 or 1, depending on the frame of reference. This happens largely because we derive our sense of self-worth in contrast with other people. Thus, rather than considering myself 'good', I actually seek to be 'better'. Lake Wobegon appears in the radio series 'A Prairie Home Companion', by Garrison Keillor, where "all the children are above average".

Research
This effect has been found in many studies, for example Zuckerman and Jost found that most students considered themselves more popular than average.

Example
I am a consultant and am therefore more knowledgeable about most areas than all of my clients. I am also cleverer than most other consultants.

So What?
Using it
Flatter people by recognizing them as above average or deflate them by being honest about how average they are.

Defending
Look in the mirror and know that you are not perfect. Accept this and accept yourself. Beware of acting cleverer than you are and hence appearing stupid to others.

See also
Looking-glass Self, Social Comparison Theory, Self-Monitoring Behavior, Overconfidence Barrier, Below-average effect, Frame of Reference

References
Kruger (1999), Zuckerman and Jost (2001)

Looking-glass Self
Explanations > Theories > Looking-glass Self Description | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
We see ourselves through the eyes of other people, even to the extent of incorporating their views of us into our own selfconcept.

Example
Teenagers are often strongly influenced by their peers and will go beyond conforming to changing their self-image to match.

So what?
Using it
If you want someone to believe something about themselves, act towards them as if it were true.

See also
Self-Perception Theory Identity

References
Cooley (1902)

Personal Validation Fallacy

Explanations > Theories > Personal Validation Fallacy Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
When asked to assess the accuracy of general words that supposedly describe our personality, we tend to score them as highly accurate. This is particularly true if they are positive and show us in a good light (although an occasional 'incisive' criticism can be very powerful). This effect increases if we trust the source of the 'analysis' and believe that it is customized just for us. This also works when we are asked to give or choose words that describe ourselves, where we tend to use sweeping generalisms that could describe many other people. The personal validation fallacy is also called the Forer effect, after its originator. It is also called the Barnum effect, after the old Barnum circus, because of the way that fortune tellers will amaze us with their accuracy by using broad terms based on a simple assessment of us.

Research
Forer gave students a 'personality test' and then gave them all the same general analysis, based on an combination of horoscopes. He then asked them to rate the accuracy of the analysis, from 1 (inaccurate) to 5 (accurate). They gave an average score of 4.26.

Example
When did you last read a newspaper horoscope about you and thought it quite accurate? If you had read the other horoscopes, you might also have found that they seemed quite accurate too.

So What?
Using it
Use general terms to show you understanding of others and build trust and rapport with them.

Defending
Beware of personality assessments that use rather general descriptions. Read those for other people and share your own to check that yours works for you only.

See also
Positivity Effect, Overconfidence Barrier, Self-Perception Theory

References
Forer (1949)

Social Comparison Theory

Explanations > Theories > Social Comparison Theory Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves with other people and their opinions. Mostly, we seek to compare ourselves with someone against whom we believe we should have reasonable similarity, although in the absence of such a benchmark, we will use almost anyone. Upward social comparison occurs where we mostly compare ourselves with people who we deem to be socially better than us in some way. Downward social comparison acts in the opposite direction.

Research
Hornstein et al. dropped a wallet containing some trivial items, a return address, $2 and a letter in midtown Manhattan, then watched what people did when they picked it up. There were two variations, each with a different letter. Some letters were from an articulate English-speaker (who would be like the person picking up the letter) whilst others were from a clear foreigner. Some letters had a positive tone, some were neutral and some were negative. Letter from the 'foreigner' led to the wallet being returned around 30% of the time. Letters from the 'native' with positive or neutral tones were returned around 65% of the time, whilst native letters with negative tone were returned only around 10% of the time. Thus, when the person finding the letter felt similar to the letter-writer, they were more motivated to return the wallet. However, when the letter writer seemed like them, but wrote in a negative way, they 'punished' the person by not returning the wallet.

Example
To determine how good an artist I am, I will compare myself with a competent friend rather than Michaelangelo or my 4-yearold niece.

So what?
Using it
Find out other people with whom the target people compares themselves, then either get those reference people to adopt the desired action or find a way of persuading the target to select a better reference.

Defending
Who are your social references? Are they normal people or have you adopted (or been persuaded to adopt) unreasonable comparisons. Beware of comparing yourself against people whose standards you cannot reasonably attain or who have other attributes which are not so desirable.

See also
Informational Social Influence, Normative Social Influence

References
Festinger (1954), Hornstein Fisch and Holmes (1968)

Self-Perception Theory
Explanations > Theories > Self-Perception Theory Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
People decide on their own attitudes and feelings from watching themselves behave in various situations. This is particularly true when internal cues are so weak or confusing they effectively put the person in the same position as an external observer. Self-Perception Theory provides an alternative explanation for cognitive dissonance effects. For example Festinger and Carlsmith's experiment where people were paid $1 or $20 to lie. Cognitive dissonance says that people felt bad about lying for $1 because they could not justify the act. Self-perception takes an 'observer's view, concluding that those who were paid $1 must have really enjoyed it (because $1 does not justify the act) whilst those who were paid $20 were just doing it for the money. Note that this indicates how changing people's attitudes happens only when two factors are present:

They are aroused, feeling the discomfort of dissonance. They attribute the cause of this to their own behaviors and attitudes.

Research
Zanna and Cooper gave people a placebo pill and asked them to perform a counter-attitudinal activity. Control people who were told the pill was a placebo did as expected, becoming more supportive of the attitude (because they had enacted it). Others, who were told that the pill would make them tense, did not change their attitude, as they could attribute their dissonance to the effects of the pill.

Example

If you hear a lot of rock music and do not particularly dislike it, you will probably conclude that you do like it.

So what?
Using it
If you want someone to believe or feel something about themselves, first get them to do it. This works best when they have no particular view about the area in question. If they already have a strong view, you will need to call the view into doubt, for example by giving disconfirming examples.

Defending
When people ask you to do things about which you have no clear view, ask yourself what they could gain by your believing something about yourself in this matter.

See also
Attribution Theory, Cognitive Dissonance, Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion, Personal Validation Fallacy

References
Bem (1972), Festinger and Carlsmith (1959), Zanna and Cooper (1974)

Self-Monitoring Behavior
Explanations > Theories > Self-Monitoring Behavior Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
Some people are sensitive to how other see them, whilst others are not. People who are high self-monitors constantly watch other people, what they do and how they respond to the behavior of others. Such people are hence very self-conscious and like to 'look good' and will hence usually adapt well to differing social situations. On the other hand, low self-monitors are generally oblivious to how other see them and hence march to their own different drum.

Research
White and Gerstein (1987) told people the Kitty Genovese story (see Bystander Effect) and also told half the people that helping others got you social rewards. They also took a test to find high and low self-monitors. Later, they asked for volunteers to help visually impaired people. Results were:

Told about social reward: High self-monitors 80%, Low self-monitors 48% Not told about social reward: High self-monitors 40%, Low self-monitors 68%

Example
Have you ever been to a club and seen some people dancing with wild abandon whilst other shuffle nonchalantly? The wild dancers are low self-monitors, whilst the shufflers are probably high self-monitors.

So what?
Using it
Appeal to high self-monitors by telling them that they will look good and get social approval for what you want them to do. In advertising, high self-monitors respond more to image-based ads that promise to make them look good, whilst low selfmonitors respond better to product-based ads and prefer high quality goods.

Defending
Are you a high or low self-monitor? Do you conform to the above response to appeals? Think about what other people are trying to get you to do before reacting.

See also
Informational Social Influence, Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory, Self-Discrepancy Theory, Self-Perception Theory, SelfVerification Theory

References
Snyder (1974), Snyder and Gangestad (1986)

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

Explanations > Theories > Two-Factor Theory of Emotion Description | Research | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
When trying to understand what kind of person we are, we first watch what we do and feel and then deduce our nature from this. This means that the first step is to experience physiological arousal. We then try to find a label to explain our feelings, usually by looking at what we are doing and what else is happening at the time of the arousal. Thus we dont just feel angry, happy or whatever: we experience feeling and then decide what they mean. The sequence thus is as follows: Event ==> arousal ==> reasoning ==> emotion This is notable as it places emotion as a cognitive act (albeit subconscious) rather than a deeper state (this is the place of arousal).

Research
Schachter and Singer (1962) gave some people a mild stimulant and others a placebo (on a pretence of testing vitamins). They then gave them a questionnaire containing rather personal questions. A stooge in the room got angry at the questionnaire and the people who had been given the stimulant (and who hence felt aroused) got even angrier (the people with the placebo were not that angry). Dutton and Aron (1974) had an attractive woman ask for interviews of young men both on a swaying rope bridge, 200 ft above a river, and also on terra firma. A part way through the interview, she gives them her phone number. Over 60% from the rope bridge called her back, versus 30% from terra firma. They had interpreted their arousal from fear on the bridge as attraction to the woman.

Example
When we are feeling unwell, we often will deduce the illness from the symptoms. From then on, hypochondria can take hold and further symptoms psychosomatically appear to confirm our conclusions.

So what?
Using it
If people are getting aroused (perhaps due to something you are doing), give them a plausible explanation. "If you are feeling a bit odd right now, it is probably because you are getting excited by what this product can do for you."

See also
James-Lange Theory of Emotion, Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion, Cognitive Appraisal Theories of Emotion, Informational Social Influence, Selective Perception http://www.le.ac.uk/education/resources/SocSci/emotion.html, http://www.a2zpsychology.com/a2z%20guide/emotions.htm

References
Schachter and Singer (1962), Schachter (1964), Dutton and Aron (1974)