Traditions in social psychology have effectively worked to build a foundation of knowledge for social psychologists. These baseline theories helped to bring credit to the field and stimulate further research. One such theory is social role theory. The main premise of social role theory is that people act in accordance with their prescribed social roles.
Specifically, “Role theory posits that the roles that people occupy provide contexts that shape behavior” (“Role theory in social psycology,” n.d.). Social roles can take a variety of forms and people can take on a variety of roles. For example, there are certain social expectations that accompany being a mother just as there are certain expectations that accompany being a soldier. People …show more content…
Social learning states that, people learn by observing the behavior of other people. People in turn model these behaviors and thus social norms are born. One problem with social learning however, is that it doesn’t account for personal differences in background or ideology that may influence an individual’s role expectations. For example, an older male may have different role expectations for women than a younger man due to background and ideological differences. Discounsesnses around role expectations could cause a mix of positive and negative reinforcement for the same behavior. Disconcensaus can make things confusing, however, social learning is not the sole way people form role …show more content…
Among these are functional role theory, symbolic interactionist role theory, and structural role theory (Biddle, 1986). Functional role theory focuses “on the characteristic behaviors of persons who occupy social positions within a stable social system,” and define roles as “the shared, normative expectations that prescribe and explain these behaviors” (Biddle, 1986). In other words, this approach to role theory suggests that roles are preconstructed by society and individuals are expected to blindly and accurately follow them. This view looks away from the individual and focuses on a society’s social system. Symbolic interactionist role theory, however, takes quite the opposite approach. This adaption of role theory focuses on the individual. Symbolic interactionists regard roles as “merely a set of broad imperatives” (Biddle, 1986). That is, they believe that although roles “reflect norms” individuals are constantly taking and adapting roles to suit their personal attitudes. Additionally, as the name implies, structural role theory focuses on “social structures” and takes a more logical mathematical approach to role theory (Biddle, 1986). Within the structural framework, “attention is focused on "social structures," conceived as stable organizations of sets of persons (called "social positions" or "statuses") who share the same, patterned behaviors
Specifically, “Role theory posits that the roles that people occupy provide contexts that shape behavior” (“Role theory in social psycology,” n.d.). Social roles can take a variety of forms and people can take on a variety of roles. For example, there are certain social expectations that accompany being a mother just as there are certain expectations that accompany being a soldier. People …show more content…
Social learning states that, people learn by observing the behavior of other people. People in turn model these behaviors and thus social norms are born. One problem with social learning however, is that it doesn’t account for personal differences in background or ideology that may influence an individual’s role expectations. For example, an older male may have different role expectations for women than a younger man due to background and ideological differences. Discounsesnses around role expectations could cause a mix of positive and negative reinforcement for the same behavior. Disconcensaus can make things confusing, however, social learning is not the sole way people form role …show more content…
Among these are functional role theory, symbolic interactionist role theory, and structural role theory (Biddle, 1986). Functional role theory focuses “on the characteristic behaviors of persons who occupy social positions within a stable social system,” and define roles as “the shared, normative expectations that prescribe and explain these behaviors” (Biddle, 1986). In other words, this approach to role theory suggests that roles are preconstructed by society and individuals are expected to blindly and accurately follow them. This view looks away from the individual and focuses on a society’s social system. Symbolic interactionist role theory, however, takes quite the opposite approach. This adaption of role theory focuses on the individual. Symbolic interactionists regard roles as “merely a set of broad imperatives” (Biddle, 1986). That is, they believe that although roles “reflect norms” individuals are constantly taking and adapting roles to suit their personal attitudes. Additionally, as the name implies, structural role theory focuses on “social structures” and takes a more logical mathematical approach to role theory (Biddle, 1986). Within the structural framework, “attention is focused on "social structures," conceived as stable organizations of sets of persons (called "social positions" or "statuses") who share the same, patterned behaviors