A Test of Interactionist Hypotheses of Self-Conception

Abstract

The theories of George Herbert Mead are not easily translated into testable hypotheses. This study does not concentrate on the process of interation which Mead describes but, instead, deduces some static consequences of his view of the development of the self-conception. The relation of the self-conception to the behavior of others, to the perception of others, and to the perception of the generalized other is examinded. The results all give strong empirical support to the symbolic interactionist approach.