Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Outside my house neighbors keep their political signs on their lawns or waving in the air as if they have not given up hope that their candidate who lost the election will find a way to show that the "win" granted to the opposition is false. So many in the US have identified with a political party and its leader. This identification is going to have a predictable effect on self-esteem (one's value or worth) and one's self-concept. The effect may be temporary as other life activities force other identities to become more salient--such as the demands family, work, and school as well as the time-distance since the election. This strong political identity illustrates the social context influencing the self and it also illustrates the limited stability of the self because every 2-4 years there may be a shift in party fortunes. Although some view the self as relatively stable, many studies show the impact of social contexts on our self-concept and those parts of the self-co...

THE FLAMING RHETORIC OF RIGHTS How many similarities do you need to link one rights movement with another? Freedom for U.S. slaves was a lengthy process and even after they were emancipated, civil rights were not codified in law until a century later. A key word here is law because attitudes are slow to change even when laws set limits on behavior. The battle against racism continues. Leaders supporting and opposing same-sex marriage and other rights and protections for sexual minorities have referred to the civil rights movement. Some assert similarities. Others point to differences. The statements are often intensified by emotional rhetoric shrunken to bite-sized statements suitable for T-shirts and video clips. The civil rights arguments are not just academic because the reasons come with powerful emotions attached. One can easily imagine students being asked to write an essay about the subject. And I can imagine some professors having a difficult time gradin...