Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. An Introduction to Human Communication This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  The importance of identity  What is identity?  The individual and identity  The individual, identity, and society  Ethics and identity  Skills for communicating about identity

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 Identity and communication interrelate ◦ Our identity influences our communication ◦ Our communication influences our identity ◦ Identity shapes intercultural communication ◦ The U.S. is an identity-based climate ◦ Identity and meaning creation meld with the individual and society

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 Identity is the individual and social categories that ◦ We assign to ourselves ◦ Others attribute to us

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Characteristics of identities: ◦ Individual or social ◦ Fixed and dynamic ◦ Shaped through interaction ◦ Tied to historical, social, and cultural environments

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 Reflected appraisals ◦ Looking glass self ◦ Particular others ◦ Generalized others  Social comparisons  Self-fulfilling prophecy  Self-concept ◦ Self-esteem ◦ Self-respect

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Performance of identity = show who you are! ◦ Performance studies  Enactment of identities  Mutability of identity

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 Race is not genetically, but socially constructed.  Results from societal forces and categorizations. ◦ These vary geographically and nationally. ◦ May include multiracial identities.

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Reflects citizenship  Varies in importance

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Ethnic groups may share: ◦ National or tribal affiliation ◦ Religious beliefs ◦ Language ◦ Cultural and traditional origins  Does not require citizenship or a single racial identifier

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Gender = cultural differences between masculinity and femininity  Gender identities = how much you identify with the social construction of gender  Not biological, but based on performances

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  No set number of sexual identity categories  Most prominent may be heterosexual, gay/lesbian, and bisexual

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Not just your age in years, but what you understand that to mean  Age categories are relatively fluid ◦ E.g., “midlife” or “young adult”

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Informal ranking of people based on income, occupation, education, etc. ◦ Ex: working class or middle class  Fairly fluid  Tends to reproduce itself

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Disability identity = having an impairment of some kind ◦ Not always visible or obvious  Disability identity is performed

Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  Defined by one’s spiritual beliefs  Correlates with various political views and attitudes  U.S. Americans strongly embrace and enact religious identities

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 What identities are valued?  What language denigrates others? ◦ What language edifies others?  Do you reduce others to a single identity?

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 Be aware of how you create self-fulfilling prophecies through your communication.  Be aware of the multiple ways of performing an identity.  Remember that people change over time.