 587
To a remarkable degree, the survival of peo -
ple’s identities rests not in their own hands, 
but in the hands of others. In fact, only those 
who enjoy a steady supply of “nourishment” 
for their identities—  confirming feedback 
from others—  will likely retain those iden -
tities. We focus in this chapter on the pro -
cesses through which people give, receive, 
and interpret such nourishment, a set of 
processes known collectively as identity ne -
gotiation.
By “identity” we mean thoughts and feel -
ings about the self, or self-views. Two broad 
classes of identities or self-views exist. Per -
sonal self-views refer to qualities that make 
people unique and distinct from others (e.g., 
intelligence, dominance). Social self-views  
refer to roles, group memberships, and other 
qualities that people share with others (e.g., 
American, Democrat, bowling league mem -
ber). These dual components of identity are 
integrated by personal narratives that orga -
nize and contextualize self-  knowledge into a 
dynamic, coherent, and internally consistent 
whole (see McAdams, Chapter 5, this vol -
ume).Identities are not merely historical reposi -
tories of past actions, accomplishments, and 
liaisons; they also regulate action. In par -
ticular, identities systematically influence 
the personas people assume, as well as the 
conditions under which they assume them. 
Generally speaking, people avoid personas 
that are disjunctive with their highly-  certain 
and important identities, preferring instead 
personas that exemplify their enduring con -
ceptions of who they are.
Identity negotiation involves a broad set 
of processes through which people strike a 
balance between achieving their interaction 
goals and satisfying their identity-  related 
goals, such as needs for agency, commu -
nion, and psychological coherence. To this 
end, people generally conform to various 
principles of identity negotiation (discussed 
later in this chapter) that not only facilitate 
smooth interpersonal interactions but also 
promote intrapersonal harmony.
Several influential sociologists sowed the 
intellectual seeds of the identity negotiation 
formulation during the middle of the pre -
vious century (for an overview, see Swann CHAPTER 27
Identity Negotiation
A Theory of Self and Social Interaction
William B. Swann, Jr.  
Jennifer  K. Bosson
Only in man does man know himself.
—GOethe , Torquato Tasso,  
Act 2, Scene 3