Role Theory
role conflict
-a person is faced with opposing role expectations within one social role (intra-role conflict) or with opposing expectations associated with two different social roles (inter-role conflict)
role loss
-a person leaves a social role, and, therefore, is no longer faced with familiar role expectations -can produce insecurity, depression, and/or confusion
role overload
-a person occupies more roles than he can perform adequately
role rejection
-a person refuses to perform a role
role performance
-a person's behavior while performing a social role
role conception
-a person's own beliefs about how he is supposed to behave in a social role
social role
-an established and regulated position in society
role incapacity
-an individual cannot adequately perform a social role
role expectations
-beliefs held by relevant others about how a person in a social role should behave
role theory
-people's behaviors are influenced by the social positions they hold and the expectations that accompany those positions
types of social role problems
-power; ambivalence; responsibility; dependency; loss; isolation; victimization
role strain
-requires a person to make compromises and trade-offs, set priorities, and use defense mechanisms and coping strategies to reconcile his role conceptions with his limited time and energy
sources of social role problems
-role ambiguity; role conflict; self-role incongruence; role overload; role loss; role incapacity; role rejection
role ambiguity
-role confusion -a lack of clarity about the role expectations associated with a social role -tends to occur in times of rapid social change -the individual is unsure of what is expected of him and unable to evaluate his own performance -can result in insecurity and interpersonal conflict
role demands
-the knowledge, skills, physical and mental abilities, etc., a person must have to successfully perform a social role
self-role incongruence
-there is little overlap between the requirements of a role and the individual's personality