symbolic interactionism

n. Symbolic interactionism is an intellectual tradition in sociology and social psychology. Inspired by the early writings of Blumer, Cooley, and Mead, this tradition seeks to understand individual social behaviors through a systematic analysis of how human beings make sense of each other's actions on the basis of the meanings and implications these actions have for social interactions. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes negotiation and transformation of meanings in the social interactions through the interpretive use of language and other symbols. From this perspective, self-knowledge is constructed by appraising what other people think of the self and then integrating these perceptions into the self-image. – YHK, CYC