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Making It “Count”: Mental Weighing and Identity Attribution
Author(s) -
Mullaney Jamie L.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1999.22.3.269
Subject(s) - attribution , identity (music) , psychology , social psychology , context (archaeology) , social identity theory , order (exchange) , process (computing) , social group , computer science , aesthetics , paleontology , philosophy , finance , economics , biology , operating system
Research on identity suggests that a critical factor in identity concerns presentation or the behaviors actors perform in order to convince others of their identity. Yet identity also involves the attributions others make on the basis of these behaviors. In this paper, I argue that all acts do not fare equally in the process of attribution. Rather, individuals making attributions engage in a process of mental weighing as a way to determine which acts “count” toward identity and to what extent. While various components of the act contribute to its social weight—its presence or absence, markedness, frequency, context, and the manner in which it is performed—the lens through which the attributer views the act also influences the weighing process.