Three aspects of the self(private, public, collective) with different probabilities in different kinds of social environments were sampled. Three dimensions of cultural variation (individualism--collectiv-ism, tightness-looseness, cultural complexity) are discussed in relation to the sampling of these three aspects of the self. The more complex the culture, the more frequent the sampling of the public and private self and the less frequent the sampling of the collective self. The more individualistic the culture, the more frequent the sampling of the private self and the less frequent the sampling of the collective self. Collectivism, external threat, competition with outgroups, and common fate increase the sampling of the collective self. Cultural homogeneity results in tightness and in the sampling of the collective self. The article outlines theoretical links among aspects of the environment, child-rearing patterns, and cultural patterns, which are linked to differential sampling of aspects of the self. Such sampling has implications for social behavior. Empirical investigations of some of these links are reviewed. The study of the self has a long tradition in psychology (e.g.,

This article reviews the now extensive research literature addressing the impact of accountability on a wide range of social judgments and choices. It focuses on 4 issues: (a) What impact do various accountability ground rules have on thoughts, feelings, and action? (b) Under what conditions will accountability attenuate, have no effect on, or amplify cognitive biases? (c) Does accountability alter how people think or merely what people say they think? and (d) What goals do accountable decision makers seek to achieve? In addition, this review explores the broader implications of accountability research. It highlights the utility of treating thought as a process of internalized dialogue; the importance of documenting social and institutional boundary conditions on putative cognitive biases; and the potential to craft empirical answers to such applied problems as how to structure accountability relationships in organizations. Accountability is a modern buzzword. In education (Fairchild &

This study addresses ways in which inmates at the only maximum-security prison for women in Neuse City (in the northeastern United States) redefine their social world in order to survive incarceration. An aim of the project is to engage in theory building in order to examine the experiences of a world that is “lived in the round.” A life in the round is a public form of life. It is a lifestyle with an enormous degree of imprecision. Yet, it is this inexactitude that provides an acceptable level of certainty. This way of life sets standards by which one constructs everyday meaning from reality. It is a “takenfor-granted,” “business-as-usual ” style of being. Relying on ethnographic research and interviews with 80 women at the prison, the findings revealed that a life in the round was sustaining a “normative ” existence.

We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine patterns of racial classification among multiracial populations. The dataset's large sample size and numerous indicators of race allow us to make generalizable claims about the extent to which race is socially constructed, and the processes by which this construction occurs. We find that about 12 percent of youth provide inconsistent responses to nearly identical race questions, that context and age affect one's choice of a single-race identity, that self-reports of race sometimes differ substantially from observers' perceptions, and that nearly all patterns and processes of racial classification depend on which combination of racial groups is involved. We close by suggesting how insights into the social construction of race might be used to improve racial classification systems.

“... community art serves as a catalyst for developing community

The authors offer a framework for conceptualizing collective identity that aims to clarify and make distinctions among dimensions of identification that have not always been clearly articulated. Elements of collective identification included in this framework are self-categorization, evaluation, importance, attachment and sense of interdependence, social embeddedness, behavioral involvement, and content and meaning. For each element, the authors take note of different labels that have been used to identify what appear to be conceptually equivalent constructs, provide examples of studies that illustrate the concept, and suggest measurement approaches. Further, they discuss the potential links between elements and outcomes and how context moderates these relationships. The authors illustrate the utility of the multidimensional organizing framework by analyzing the different configuration of elements in 4 major theories of identification. In this article we put forward a general conceptual framework for the analysis of collective identity. Although not proposing a theory per se, we offer a strategy by which individual theorists might better articulate the assumptions and the components of their theoretical formulations. In doing so, theorists should be better able to identify points of agreement and dissension between models and to move forward to the development of more integrative theories. It is our belief that by carefully articulating the multiple

activities and avoid others, why they succeed in some academic pursuits and fail at others, or why they are filled with either anticipation or panic at the thought of doing this or that task, then researchers should quite carefully investigate the things and ways that students believe about themselves. As Jerome Bruner (1997) has argued, "if agency and esteem are central to the construction of a concept of Self, then the ordinary practices of school need to be examined with a view to what contribution they make to these two crucial ingredients of personhood." And as we begin a new millennium this is indeed the case. So much so, in fact, that reviewing the current state of knowledge related to theories and principles of motivation for the 1996 Handbook of Educational Psychology, Sandra Graham and Bernard Weiner observed that current research in educational psychology "reflects what is probably the main new direction in the field of motivation---the study of the self." Current interest i

Abstract—The vast majority of knowledge management initiatives fail because they do not take sufficiently into account the emotional, psychological and social needs of individuals. Only if users see real value for themselves will they actively use and contribute their own knowledge to the system, and engage with other users. Connection dynamics can make this easier, and even enjoyable, by connecting people and bringing them closer through shared experiences such as playing a game together. A higher connectedness of people to other people, and to relevant knowledge assets, will motivate them to participate more actively and increase system usage. In this paper, we describe the design of TENTube, a video-based connection tool we are developing to support competence development. TENTube integrates rich profiling and network visualization and navigation with agent-enhanced game-like connection dynamics. Index Terms—competence development, connection dynamics, connection games, intelligent social agents, knowledge management, learning networks, network visualization, virtual communities. I.

Both actions and interactions are micro-operations that can be aggregated from a systems perspective. Whereas actions operate historically, interactions provide the events with meaning from a hindsight perspective. Luhmanns sociology of communication systems adds to the approach of symbolic interactionism the question what global dimensions of communication mean for local interactions. Tensions can be expected to develop between the (e.g., institutional) organization and the global development of functionally differentiated communications. Interfaces enable us selectively to translate among provisionally stabilized representations, for example, in professional practices. Big science and high tech can then be considered as organizational acculturations of an emerging level of sophistication in high-quality communications. The global dimension remains a hypothesis, but entertaining this hypothesis (globalization) restructures the local expectations.

The internal working models concept is the foundation for understanding how attach-ment processes operate in adult relationships, yet many questions exist about the precise nature and structure of working models. To clarify the working models concept, the authors evaluate the empirical evidence relevant to the content, structure, operation, and stability of working models in adult relationships. They also identify 4 theoretical issues that are critical for clarifying the properties of working models. These issues focus on the central role of affect and goals in working models, the degree to which working models are individual difference or relational variables, and the definition of attachment relationships and felt security in adulthood. Each individual builds working models of the world and of himself in it, with the aid of which he perceives events, forecasts the future, and constructs his plans. In the working models of the world that anyone builds a key feature is his notion of who his attachment figures are, where they may be found, and how they may be expected to respond. Similarly, in the working model of the self that anyone builds a key feature is his notion of how acceptable or unacceptable he himself is in the eyes of his attachment figures. (Bowlby, 1973, p, 203) Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1980) has profoundly influenced research and theorizing about the nature of human rela-tionships across the life span. The primary as-sumption of attachment theory is that humans form close emotional bonds in the interest of survival. These bonds facilitate the develop-ment and maintenance of mental representa-tions of the self and others, or "internal working models, " that help individuals predict and un-derstand their environment, engage in survival-promoting behaviors such as proximity mainte-nance, and establish a psychological sense of The concept of attachment trajectory was developed in