Self-Categorisation and Personal Identity: Integrating Group and Personality Processes

Social psychology is a relatively fragmented discipline with most researchers tending to either focus on the individual and interpersonal relations or on the group and intergroup relations. Recent breakthroughs suggest that this divide is unsustainable. We believe that self-categorization theory (SCT) with its emphasis on both the individual and group levels of human experience offers a way forward. Building on this approach and related work we elaborate and systematically investigate personal identity, individuality and the personal self and examine the interdependence between group and personality processes. The project offers the possibility of a more integrated understanding of the psychology of the person.