The difference between social and personal identity is not dependent on the characteristic (attribute) being measured or the potential scope of inclusivity of the characteristic (attribute). For example a man can think he is stronger than all his friends and also believe that his friends are stronger than another group of friends. 

What matters is how an individual defines the self at a given moment:
 - I v them; me v him/her; etc.
- Us vs them; We v him/her; etc.



Difference between personal and social identity

- Race
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation/Sexuality
- Religion
- (Dis)ability status
- Social Class

Examples of Social Identity Categories

It describes how our most important associations with religious, political, national, and occupational groups provide us with a sense of belonging, worth and shapes our thinking of people in/outside of these groups. Developed by Henri Tajfel, a polish jew who ended up in a Nazi prisoner of war camp during WWII. 

Social Identity Theory

Group polarization is the process by which a group's initial attitude becomes more extreme following discussion among its members. If the group initially leans towards a particular viewpoint, their consensus after discussion will be an even stronger endorsement of that view. Similarly, if the group is initially opposed to a viewpoint, the discussion will likely result in stronger opposition.

Group Polarization

The social categorization of an individual with respect to their peers (self and others). There are shared self-categories that are identified with by members of a group (us v them; races, genders, nationalities, friend groups,  etc.)

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Georgetown University

The grouping (identifying) of ones' self with a class (of stimuli) that is separate/different from another class 

Self-categories

Categories of humans based on shared traits or clusters of shared traits

Human Kinds

Turner, J. C., Oakes, P. J., Haslam, S. A., & McGarty, C. (1994). Self and collective: Cognition and social context. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 20(5), 454-463.

 Self and collective: Cognition and social context (Turner 1994)

The self-categories that an individual identifies with (is defined by) in becoming a unique person by being different from other (in-group) persons

Personal identity

Social identity

Self categories are not fixed - individuals can toggle through self-categories based on their needs and relevance to a present situation.  Self-categories are flexible as to allow the individual to adapt to the social context.

Context dependance of self-categories

Four things can create a more stable self-categorization:
- 1) The stability of the social reality that contexts arise from
- 2) The knowledge structures of the perceiver that create the coherence and understanding of a situation
- 3) The social groups and cultures that expose the perceiver to different values, norms and motives
- 4) The communication methods and social influences that go into establishing social norms (and validate their existence)

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