Drawing upon identity theory, expectation states theory, and legitimation theory, we examine how the task leader identity in task-oriented groups is more likely to be verified for persons with high status characteristics. We hypothesize that identity verification will be accomplished more readily for male group members and legitimated task leaders than female group members and those who are not legitimated. We found that there is an interaction of gender and legitimation on identity verification. Legitimated female leaders and non-legitimated males had higher levels of identity verification. Further examination revealed that legitimated male leaders were consistently overevaluated in the amount of their leadership relative to their own identity standards, while non-legitimated female leaders' leadership behavior was consistently underevaluated relative to their own identity standards. The implications of our findings for the study of identity verification and social structural processes are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BergerJosephConnerThomas L.. 1974. “Performance Expectations and Behavior in Small Groups: A Revised Formulation.” Pp. 85–109 in Expectation States Theory: A Theoretical Research Program, edited byBergerJosephConnerThomas L.Hamit FisekM.. Cambridge: Winthrop.
2.
BergerJosephWebsterMurrayJr. 2006. “Expectations, Status, and Behavior.” Pp. 268–300 in Contemporary Social Psychological Theories, edited byBurkePeter J.Stanford: Stanford University Press.
3.
BurkePeter J.1991. “Identity Processes and Social Stress.”American Sociological Review56: 836–49.
4.
BurkePeter J.1994. “Segmentation and Control of a Dissertation Defense.” Pp. 95–126 in What's Going on Here: Complementary Studies of Professional Talk, edited byGrimshawAllen D.Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
5.
BurkePeter J.2003. “Relationships among Multiple Identities.” Pp. 195–214 in Advances in Identity Theory and Research, edited byBurkePeter J.OwensTimothy J.SerpeRichard T.ThoitsPeggy A.New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
6.
BurkePeter J.2004a. “Identities and Social Structure: The 2003 Cooley-Mead Award Address.”Social Psychology Quarterly67: 5–15.
7.
BurkePeter J.2004b. “Identities, Events, and Moods.”Advances in Group Processes21: 25–49.
BurkePeter J.HarrodMichael M.. 2005. “Too Much of a Good Thing?”Social Psychology Quarterly68: 359–74.
10.
BurkePeter J.ReitzesDonald C.. 1981. “The Link between Identity and Role Performance.”Social Psychology Quarterly44: 83–92.
11.
BurkePeter J.ReitzesDonald C.1991. “An Identity Theory Approach to Commitment.”Social Psychology Quarterly54: 239–51.
12.
BurkePeter J.StetsJan E.. 1999. “Trust and Commitment through Self-Verification.”Social Psychology Quarterly62: 347–66.
13.
CastAlicia D.2003. “Power and the Ability to Control the Definition of the Situation.”Social Psychology Quarterly66: 185–201.
14.
CastAlicia D.StetsJan E.BurkePeter J.. 1999. “Does the Self Conform to the Views of Others?”Social Psychology Quarterly62: 68–82.
15.
DuncanStarkeyJr. 1972. “Some Signals and Rules for Taking Speaking Turns in Conversations.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology23: 283–92.
16.
DuncanStarkeyJr1974. “On the Structure of Speaker-Auditor Interaction During Speaking Turns.”Language in Society3: 161–80.
17.
DuncanStarkeyJr.FiskeDonald W.. 1977. Face-to-Face Interaction: Research, Methods, and Theory.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
18.
DuncanStarkeyJr.FiskeDonald W.1979. “Dynamic Patterning in Conversation.”American Scientist67: 90–98.
19.
FreeseLeeBurkePeter J.. 1994. “Persons, Identities, and Social Interaction.”Advances in Group Processes11: 1–24.
20.
KinchJohn W.1963. “A Formalized Theory of the Self-Concept.”American Journal of Sociology68: 481–86.
21.
McCallGeorge J.SimmonsJ. L.. 1978. Identities and Interactions.New York: Free Press.
22.
PerdueCharles W.DovidioJohn F.GurtmanMichael B.TylerRichard B.. 1990. “Us and Them: Social Categorization and the Process of Intergroup Bias.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology59: 475–86.
23.
RidgewayCecilia L.1988. “Gender Differences in Task Groups: A Status and Legitimacy Account.” Pp. 188–206 in Status Generalization: New Theory and Research, edited byWebsterMurrayJrFoschiMartha. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
24.
RidgewayCecilia L.BergerJoseph. 1986. “Expectations, Legitimation, and Dominance Behavior in Task Groups.”American Sociological Review51: 603–17.
25.
RidgewayCecilia L.BergerJoseph1988. “The Legitimation of Power and Prestige Orders in Task Groups.” Pp. 207–31 in Status Generalization: New Theory and Research, edited byWebsterMurrayJr.FoschiMarthaStanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
26.
RobinsonDawn T.Smith-LovinLynn. 1992. “Selective Interaction as a Strategy for Identity Maintenance: An Affect Control Model.”Social Psychology Quarterly55: 12–28.
27.
SacksHarveySchegloffEmanuelJeffersonGail. 1974. “A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation.”Language50: 696–735.
28.
ShellyRobert K.1995. “Extending Interaction Theory.”Small Group Research26: 315–27.
29.
ShellyRobert K.WebsterMurrayJr. 1997. “How Formal Status, Liking, and Ability Status Structure Interaction: Three Theoretical Principles and a Test.”Sociological Perspectives40: 81–107.
30.
SteeleClaude M.AronsonJoshua. 1995. “Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology69: 797–811.
31.
StetsJan E.BurkePeter J.. 2005a. “Identity-Verification, Control, and Aggression in Marriage.”Social Psychology Quarterly68: 160–78.
32.
StetsJan E.BurkePeter J.2005b. “New Directions in Identity Control Theory.”Advances in Group Processes22: 43–64.
33.
StetsJan E.HarrodMichael M.. 2004. “Verification across Multiple Identities: The Role of Status.”Social Psychology Quarterly67: 155–71.
34.
StrykerSheldon. 1980. Symbolic Interactionism: A Social Structural Version.Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin Cummings.
35.
SwannWilliam B.Jr. 1983. “Self-Verification: Bringing Social Reality into Harmony with the Self.” Pp. 33–66 in Psychological Perspectives on the Self, edited bySulsJerryGreenwaldAnthony. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
36.
SwannWilliam B.Jr1990. “To Be Adored or to Be Known? The Interplay of Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification.” Pp. 408–50 in Handbook of Motivation and Cognition, edited byTory HigginsE.SorrentinoRichard M.New York: Guilford.
37.
SwannWilliam B.Jr. 2005. “The Self and Identity Negotiation.”Interaction Studies6: 69–83.
38.
SwannWilliam B.Jr.PelhamBrett W.KrullDouglas S.. 1989. “Agreeable Fancy or Disagreeable Truth? Reconciling Self Enhancement and Self-Verification.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology57: 782–91.
39.
SwannWilliam B.Jr.RentfrowPeter J.GuinnJennifer S.. 2003. “Self-Verification: The Search for Coherence.” Pp. 367–83 in Handbook of Self and Identity, edited byLearyMark R.TangneyJune PriceNew York: Guilford Press.
40.
SwannWilliam B.Jr.WenzlaffRichard M.TafarodiRomin W.. 1992. “Depression and the Search for Negative Evaluations: More Evidence of the Role of Self-Verification Strivings.”Journal of Abnormal Psychology101: 314–17.
41.
TurnerJonathan H.2002. Face to Face: Toward a Sociological Theory of Interpersonal Behavior.Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
42.
ZelditchMorrisJr. 2001. “Processes of Legitimation: Recent Developments and New Directions.”Social Psychology Quarterly64: 4–17.
43.
ZelditchMorrisJr2006. “Legitimacy Theory.” in Contemporary Social Psychological Theories, edited byBurkePeter J.Palo Alto, CA: University of Stanford Press.
44.
ZelditchMorrisJr.WalkerHenry A. 1984. “Legitimacy and the Stability of Authority.”Advances in Group Processes, 1: 1–27. Peter J. Burke is Professor of Sociology and Codirector of the Social Psychology Research Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside, AAAS Fellow, and the 2003 recipient of the ASA Section on Social Psychology's Cooley-Mead Award for lifetime contributions to social psychology. Recent publications include “New Directions in Identity Control Theory,” with J. Stets, 2005, in Advances in Group Processes; “Too Much of a Good Thing,” 2005, with Michael Harrod, Social Psychology Quarterly; and “Identity Change,” 2006, in Social Psychology Quarterly. Jan E. Stets is Professor of Sociology and Codirector of the Social Psychology Research Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside. She is working on a new project that applies identity control theory to the moral self funded by the National Science Foundation. Recent work includes the Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions (with Jonathan H. Turner), 2006, Springer; “Sociological Theories of Human Emotions” (with Jonathan H. Turner), 2006, Annual Review of Sociology, and “The Moral Identity: A Principle Level Identity” (with Michael J. Carter), 2006, in Purpose, Meaning, and Action: Control Systems Theories in Sociology, edited by K. McClelland and T. Fararo, Palgrave Macmillan.. Christine Cerven is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research interests include identity processes as they relate to gender, class, and ethnicity. Her Master's thesis examined how multiple identities and socioeconomic status affect psychological well-being..
