Identity control theory

Identity Control Theory, created by Peter Burke, focuses on the nature of peoples' idetities and the relationship between the identities and the behavior of that person within the realm of their social structure, in which the identities of the individual are rooted. Identity Control Theory was created based on traditional symbolic interaction views where people choose their own behaviors and how their behaviors correspond to the meanings in their identity.

Identity Control Theory Concepts

There are four main concepts of the identity control theory being identity standard, input, comparator, output.Each identity is viewed as a control system with these four components(Burke,2007)

Identity standard is the first of the four components. Identity standard defines what it means to be who one is in a situation. The standard stores the self-meanings tied to social roles and membership in groups. This is the set of meanings for a given identity.

The next of the four components is input or also called perceptions. Input is the meanings of how one sees oneself in a situation. These self-meanings often are derived from the way in which others see the self.

The third component of the identity control theory is comparator. The comparator compares the meanings from the input with those from the standard and registers the difference between them. This compares the perceived meanings with the meanings in the identity standard.

The final component of the theory is output or somtimes called an error or discrepancy. Output is the differences that result from the perceptinos and the identity standard. Then as a function of the output, there is meaningful behavior enacted in the situation that converys meanings about our identity. If in a setting people percieve their identity relevant meanings to be congruent with the meansing in their identity standard, that is the discrepancy is zero, people continue to do what they have been doing. If the discrepancy is not zero, people change their behavior in such a way as to counteract the disturbance and reduce the discrepancy back toward zero(Burke,2007).

Coping Responses

Coping responses are the product of a person processing external or internal demands that can drain a person’s mental or physical resources. There are two parts to this: first is the process and second is the relationship between the person and outside forces.
The process can be separated into two parts. What is currently happening includes the person's thoughts, feelings, and actions to reduce different demands. With different demands, one person can act in many different ways. These different actions can affect the future. This is the second part: how current events (what is happening) affect changes in daily life or the enviornment over time. Acting in a certain way will bring out a certain change in the person's life.
The relationship between the person and outside forces is the second part of coping responses. This relationship can be summarized by how the person views the enviornment. They first evaluate what is at stake in the enviornment. Beliefs, values, goals, commeittments, and physical safety are all at stake. After the stakes have been figured out, the person then must figure out what they can do. This depends on the availability of resources to keep all that is at stake. When the stakes go up, and the resources go down, more coping reponses must be used: there is more stress. Coping responses hopefully change the relationship between the person and the enviornment by changing the situation or the person's feelings about it.

References

Burke,Peter. 4 October 2007. Identity Control Theory http://wat2146.ucr.edu/Papers/05d.pdf

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