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SYMBOLIC INTERACTION THEORY

Symbolic interaction theory was developed in the fields of social psychology and sociology. The theory is a broad set of premises about how an individual self is defined and how society is defined. We will focus on only a small portion of the theory. Two basic premises of the theory that we will examine are:

Premise 1: The self is defined through interaction with other people.

Symbolic interaction theory contends that to develop a sense of self as a human being, one must interact with other people. Other people respond to an individual (both verbally and nonverbally) about how he or she is doing, what he or she is supposed to be doing, what the value or worth of that individual is, and how the individual is identified. Other people's responses shape how an individual defines the self.

Because dress is a part of our interactions with others, we learn some things about ourselves through the responses others give. In addition, we interact with others on the basis of what their appearances mean to us.

Premise 2: Society is created through coordinated interactions of individuals.

Society requires some amount of coordination and cooperation among individuals in the society. Otherwise, people would constantly run in to other people on the street, and no one would have a clue as to who someone approaching them might be. Laws, rules, and patterns of expected behavior develop in a society to help people interact and live together.

Dress is one of the things that helps individuals to coordinate their interactions. Through development of shared meanings of dress, individuals can at least guess what another person's roles are and can have a sense of the person with whom they are interacting. That helps individuals adjust their actions toward others and carry on interactions with them. Of course, those guesses about who someone is may be based on erroneous stereotyping, so the process of interaction on the basis of appearances has endless difficulties and pitfalls. Nevertheless, human beings continue to use appearance as part of the basis of social interaction. Perhaps that is why appearance is somewhat to highly important to many individuals.

The Looking Glass Self

Cooley (1902) long ago compared the process of development of self to looking in a mirror. He outlined the general process as:

1. Individuals attempt to perceive themselves by imagining how others perceive them, or by asking themselves: "How do I appear before others?"

2. This process of using other people as mirrors to tell us who we are is the "looking glass self" process.

3. We may reject or accept other people's reflections of the self, but these reflections nevertheless have an impact.

4. So, who we are depends very much on:

• the people we interact with

• their reactions to us and evaluations of us

• our reflections on these reactions as guides to future behavior

The Self as Process

Learning about the self is a life-long endeavor that never ends. As a person ages and experiences life, the self continually changes and adjusts its definition. Development of the self can be described as a multi-step process (over-simplified if taken too literally):

1. An individual tries out a behavior, such as some form of dress.

2. The individual receives reactions about the behavior from others.

3. The individual reflects on reactions and appraisals by others to understand their meanings.

4. Based on these meanings, the individual tries out more behaviors or keeps performing the same behavior (i.e., changes a hairstyle or continues to wear hair that way).

We learn the self, or who we are, through continued reflection and action. This constant experimentation and exploration is called the self-indication process (Blumer). Our reflections on others' responses or how we interpret what other people mean is as crucial to self as is our own behavior and the responses of others.

Active versus Passive Theory

Symbolic interaction theory is an active theory of self development. The theory is not like traditional learning theory that assumes that society and others impose rules on the passive individual who ultimately lacks control over self. Many components of symbolic interaction theory include learning but recognize the proactive development process:

1. The individual acts on the environment to test out behaviors.

2. The individual makes choices from an array of reviews from a variety of different people.

3. The individual may decide to accept some reviews and reject others.

Of course, the overwhelming importance of some people in our lives may make it difficult to ignore some damaging responses to the self. However, variety in feedback from others can help to reveal alternative, more positive definitions of the self.

As a child develops, he or she collects increasing numbers of referents or people and groups from whom meanings of the self are learned. These may include:

• parents and family

• peer groups

• strangers walking by on the street

• other groups the individual knows

• organizations such as school, church, workplace

• media celebrities, models

• stories, jokes, myths, parables that are part of culture

Note that referents need not be someone the individual knows; referents may be real or pretend people to whom the individual compares the self.

Special types of referents:

Significant others -- people whose opinions have important impact on the self, such as parents, best friends, one's spouse, one's child

Reference groups -- groups to whom the individual looks for ideas on how to behave and think (you may or may not belong to the group, such as cool kids at school, high fashion models, your soccer team)

Generalized other -- general notion of what people on the whole think (you may have a generalized other of what moms are like, what lovers are like, or what people in society in general think)

Development of Meanings of Dress

Symbolic interaction theory also helps us understand how styles and modes of dress become meaningful. Herbert Blumer contended that meanings arise from interaction.

1. Human beings act toward things on the basis of meanings that the things have for them.

2. Meanings are directly attributable to the social interaction one has with others.

3. Meanings are created, maintained and modified through an interpretive process used by a person in dealing with the things she/he encounters.

So, it is people interacting who derive meanings of new styles on the market as fashionable or hot and who designate some forms of dress as nerdy, weird, or uncool. We see new fashion ideas promoted in magazines, shown in stores, and worn by innovative consumers in public or in the media. Who or what group wears a style helps to give that style meaning. Right now, if Ricky Martin wears something, it is cool. The fashion process and change over time also changes meanings of styles constantly, from "in" to "out" and "attractive" to "dowdy".

Meanings are also created through more personal interactions. For example, if you give a gift of a sweater to a friend, and the friend likes it, your friendship is forever reflected in that sweater.

Symbolic Interaction Terminology

Some specialized terms from the theory are helpful in thinking about the process of symbolic social interaction:

1. Program: behavior presented by an individual
   
   
2. Review: responses, reactions by others, feedback
   
   
3. Validation of the Self: review that positively reinforces or rewards a program; a positive review
   
   
4. Challenge to the Self: review that is punished or negatively reinforces a program; a negative review
   
   
5. Cognitive Dissonance: feelings of discomfort due to inconsistency in concept of self and responses from others

   Most people seek psychological consistency between their sense of self and reviews they receive from others. Feelings of cognitive dissonance often move an individual to make a change in behavior to alleviate or remedy the lack of match of self and others' reviews.

6. Discourse: interaction involving program and review

   In essence, discourse is communication that involves feedback loops.

7. Negotiation of Meanings: Extended discourse to establish coordination of understandings

   Meaningful social interaction requires some degree of mutual interpretation of symbols. For example, friends may briefly discuss why one of them is wearing a suit to classes one day. Finding out that the friend in the suit is going to receive a scholarship award that afternoon from the president of the university at a ceremony in her college helps the other friends to understand the meanings and intentions behind wearing a suit. The negotiation also helps her friends learn more about who she is and what her accomplishments are. This negotiation clarified meanings of wearing of the suit and meanings of the wearer to the group.

8. Taking on the Role of the Other: Placing oneself in another person's position in order to understand the other or to understand the self from the other's point of view.

   This seeing of the self and the world from another person's perspective is:

   • crucial to the looking glass self
   • crucial to coordinated interactions
   • crucial to society
     
     
9. Definition of the Situation: we try to figure out what is going on or the situation in which we are involved by observing behavior of others and the physical setting we are in

   Clothing and other aspects of dress are often cues to help us determine the type of social situation we are experiencing. We may even check before going to an event (a party, business meeting) to find out what degree of formality and professionalism is required at the event. That information helps us fit in with the definition of the situation.
   
   

10. Alignment of Actions: Based on the meanings of dress worn by others and your own sense of self and the social situation you are in, you "align your actions" to others and the situation. In other words, you behave, to some extent, in a manner that you think is appropriate, expected, and "normal". Some people in some cases purposely violate others' expectations to disrupt social interaction and other people, a sort of "anti-alignment" (that actually requires some alignment to know how to offend).