This project is a two-part, two-year study that investigates the social aspect of everyday life. This research examines how social actors produce actions to realize their goals, thereby maintaining or threatening the very patterns that form the social order. The theoretical framework for this research is identity control theory, a prominent theory in sociological social psychology. According to identity control theory, the social identity is a person identity which sustains the self as a good/bad entity. This identity guides social behavior in situations and influences the emotions that are experienced. The PI empirically examines the social identity-behavior-emotion relationship. In part one of the project, individuals are administered a survey which measures their social identity. Their behavior and emotions are also assessed through their responses to a series of hypothetical situations which are laced with social codes as to how to behave. In part two of the project which is carried out several weeks after the administration of the survey, a more direct measure of individuals social conduct and emotions are gathered through their participation in an experiment that simulates a social situation. By linking survey data to behavior in the laboratory, the roots of social behavior can be better understood. Broadly speaking, this research will increase our understanding of the social actor in society including what it means to be social, how important, salient, and committed one is to this identity, how the social identity influences conduct and emotion in situations, and how social action makes social order possible.
