In Mead's theory, the difference between "I" and "me" is that "me" is an external response based on social interaction, while "I" is an internal response to that interaction. The “me” depends on who we are engaged with and in what context, while the “I” is our unique response to it. “The attitude of the others constitutes the organized ‘me’, and then one reacts toward that as an ‘I’ (Applerouth and Edles, 343). In any social interaction, these two phases of the self produce a combined reaction that appears as personality. Mead is saying the two phases are like opposite sides of the same coin; depending on the circumstance, this coin could land on either side. People could react based on the “me”, the “I”, or both. An example would be at a business meeting, you are projecting the self that confers duty and responsibility, corresponding to the “me”. You do this to look competent at your job to others. Yet your actual response is the “I”, which might reveal itself unconsciously, working to undermine this projection or strengthen it. Sometimes, I believe, the two go hand in hand. Your social projection could be the same as your internal reaction; you use a little of both in these cases.
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