Switching roles: The process of mental weighing

In this article I use a unique theoretical lens that incorporates work from sociology and cognitive psychology in order to address the question of how various forces (both institutional and internal) propel actors to “switch” from one role performance to another. I present data from in-depth interviews with 60 working parents from a variety of occupations to illustrate a process I call “mental weighing”. Through mental weighing, actors sort and sift through various contextual cues and internal indicators to focus on (i.e., give weight to) those factors that are in line with the desired role performance. I itemize two different weighing activities: voluntary pushes and involuntary pulls. In describing these activities, I note the various ways that culture both enables and constrains the social actor. In this way, the study addresses the important question of what gives culture its pervasive influence while providing much called-for empirical evidence of sociocognitive practices in action.