The Roles We Play In Different Life Situations

Social interaction is characterized by the roles we play. There are those of us who have learned to play the right roles at the right time and there are those who remain confused as to their roles.

The display of role behaviors in the individual changes, however. At one time, the leader may exert influence through aggressive maneuvers, and at another time he may get what he wants through quiet diplomacy. Some of us play roles just to give ourselves a mental pat on the back. We play the roles of father and mother, of student and professor, office grumbler or scientific evaluator.

We can think of role behaviors as being related first to the position we hold in a team or on the job. There are ascribed positions -not under the individual's control- being an adolescent, a woman, or a member of royalty. Then there are achieved positions, such as scientist, president, criminal, or a team leader. Every position we hold carries with it a set of appropriate behaviors which we call role.

The position a person holds determines his status. It may be his ability on the golf course, which has been achieved, or it may be the result of inherited money. In either case, we are dealing with the esteem in which a person is held by the rest of the people. The son of the industrialist who 'runs the small town' may quickly lose his status when he becomes a member of the freshman class at a large college. He has to learn to change his role behavior and may run into difficulty in making effective adjustments. We should be aware, too, that there is quite often a discrepancy between the roles a person plays and what he really feels.

When we first encounter the word role, we tend to think of the actor. The word is borrowed from the theatre, and with reason. For the actor there is a stage setting, and a script with the lines to be spoken and the actions to be portrayed. In real life, we function in some given setting, and although a script is missing, word and actions are often prescribed. As with the actor, the personality one brings to a role determines the way it is interpreted. We play many roles - student, part-time worker, son, lover, athlete, and a host of others.

In the role of conversationalist, other people may interpret our behavior as "aggressive," "defensive," "intellectual," or "egotistical." As the chairman of a social event, we may be seen by a person as playing a role of "effective leader;" by someone else as being "indecisive." Although a role may be prescribed by the setting, different interpretations of one's behavior may bring on conflict. Roles can be divided into four general types: the sex roles (either male or female), kinship roles, social roles, and occupational roles.