interactionist

Meaning: An interactionist (symbolic interactionism) explains social life through face-to-face interactions and the meanings people attach to symbols such as words, gestures, and clothing. Meanings are created and revised in interaction, and so is the self (Mead's taking the role of others, Cooley's looking-glass self). Labeling theory, Goffman's dramaturgy, and social construction of reality belong here. In psychology, an interactionist view of behavior can also mean that person and situation, or nature and nurture, act together.

On the MCAT: A passage describes a small-scale behavior, such as a teacher's label shaping a student or people acting differently in different settings, and asks which theory explains it. Interactionism is micro-level. Functionalism (institutions promote stability) and conflict theory (power and resource inequality) are macro-level.

Common confusion: Students pick interactionism for any social topic. The cue is scale and focus: individual encounters, symbols, and shared meaning. A question centered on institutions, social class, or inequality usually points to functionalism or conflict theory instead.