Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior (Springer Series in Social Psychology)

Personality and Roles: Sources of Regularities in Social Behavior For behavioral scientists, whether they identify primarily with the science of psychology or with that of sociology, there may be no challenge greater than that of discovering regularities and consistencies in social behavior. After all, it is such regularities and consistencies that lend predictability to the behavior of individuals in social contexts-in particular, to those events that constitute dyadic interactions and group processes. In the search for behavioral consistencies, two theoretical constructs have emerged as guiding principles: personality and roles. The theoretical construct of personality seeks to understand regularities and consistencies in social behavior in terms of relatively stable traits, enduring dispositions, and other propensities (for example, needs, motives, and attitudes) that are thought to reside within individuals. Because it focuses primarily on the features of individuals, the construct of personality is fundamentally psychological in nature. By contrast, the theoretical construct of roles seeks to understand regularities and consistencies in social behavior in terms of the directive influence of coherent sets of rules and prescriptions that are provided by the interpersonal, occupational, and societal categories of which individuals are continuing members. Because it focuses primarily on features of social structures, the construct of roles is fundamentally sociological in nature. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii From Individuals to Group Members: A Dialectic for the Social Sciences....Pages 1-32 The Origin and Maintenance of Social Roles: The Case of Sex Roles....Pages 33-53 Social Roles as Interaction Competencies....Pages 55-83 Determinants of Responsiveness in Dyadic Interaction....Pages 85-139 Personality and Nonverbal Involvement: A Functional Analysis....Pages 141-164 The Forms of Social Awareness....Pages 165-198 Commitment, Identity Salience, and Role Behavior: Theory and Research Example....Pages 199-218 Loss and Human Connection: An Exploration into the Nature of the Social Bond....Pages 219-242 Changing Roles, Goals, and Self-Conceptions: Process and Results in a Program for Women’s Employment....Pages 243-283 Discretionary Justice: Influences of Social Role, Personality, and Social Situation....Pages 285-303 A Basic Paradigm for the Study of Personality, Roles, and Social Behavior....Pages 305-341 Back Matter....Pages 343-362