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Content: Role Theory in Social Psychology - iResearchNet
Within social psychology, role theory has generally focused on roles as causes of (a) behaviors enacted by individuals or groups and (b) ...
Within social psychology, role theory has generally focused on roles as causes of (a) behaviors enacted by individuals or groups and (b) ...
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Role Theory
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”: With these lines from As You Like It, William Shakespeare succinctly captured the essence of role theory. In short, people’s behavior stems from the parts they play in life. In social psychology, a role is defined as the collection of expectations that accompany a particular social position. Indeed, the word originates from the French role, which denoted the parchment from which an actor read his lines. Each individual typically plays multiple roles in his or her life; in different contexts or with different people, a particular person might be a student, a friend, or an employee. Each of these roles carries its own expectations about appropriate behavior, speech, attire, and so on. What might be rewarded for a person in one role would be unacceptable for a person occupying a different role (e.g., competitive behavior is rewarded for an athlete but not a preschool teacher). Roles range from specific, in that they only apply to a certain setting, to diffuse, in that they apply across a range of situations.