THEORY OF PERSONAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITY IN SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGY

The study sums up those psychological and social/psychological theories that are systematicly concerned with identity. It introduces briefly a survey of opinions supported by prominent representatives of the theory of ego-identity formation, of the theory of identity in the symbolic interaction theory, of the theory of social identity in psychology of intergroup behaviour and intergroup relations, of identity in the approach of social construction theory and integrating theories of identity. The above mentioned theories issue from different theoretical background; they use different terminology, assigning different meanings to identical terms; they differ what concerns the depth of working out the terms and their mutual relations; it is difficult, therefore, to compare and evaluate them mutually. In spite of this, they are still used in professional literature, being vivid, inspiring, complemented and enriched; they prove the contribution of psychology to working out an interdisciplinary problem, such as the identity undoubtedly is.