3. The Social Self Flashcards
Subjective self-awareness
Distinguish between self and environment
Objective self-awareness
Simple representation of self ex. Existence
Symbolic self-awareness
Complex, abstract representation of self ex. Humans thinking of themselves
Declarative self-knowledge
Self-schemas, who are we
What are the aspects of self?
- Material self (bodily self, possessions)
- Spiritual self (private aspects, internal thoughts and feelings)
- Social self (how seen by others (collective, group), as an individual)
What is an individual?
What identifies you as a particular individual person; personality traits, abilities, preferences
What are the parts of social self?
Individual, relational, collective
Relational self
Self-with other; as you are in relationships
Collective self
As a member of a group; ethnic/religious, stigmatized, political affiliation, occupational
What are possible self-construal processes?
Observation (internal and external; contingency between them, hitting toe and feeling pain), assimilation and differentiation (ways similar/different from others, boy in girl family), self-narrative of autobiographical memory (identity, self-narrative, memory stories), self-perception (inferring personal attitudes from behaviour), social construction (others shape how we think of ourselves)
Self-stereotyping
Taking on positive and negative characteristics of a desired group identity
Identity
Sense of unity, oneness
Self-esteem
Overall positive or negative evaluation people have of themselves
Trait self-esteem
Who you are on chronic, ongoing basis
State self-esteem
Temporary feelings of yourself
Implicit self-esteem, what test measures it?
Automatic/non-conscious, measured with Implicit Associations Test
What procedures do we use to measure our self-esteem?
1) Comparisons with standards (success, failure, personal or social)
2) Importance of the domain (certain characteristic)
3) Attribution (is it me or surrounding)
4) Overgeneralization (exaggeration)
5) Social construction (response to judgments)
Self-perception theory (Bem)
We infer our internal states as much as we infer the states of others when we are not sure about what our attitudes are (internal cues are weak/ambiguous, if don’t know - can manipulate)
Two-factor theory of emotions
Physiological arousal * cognitive label = emotion (ex. misattribution of attraction to the researcher on high bridge)
Self-construction
Social feedback can shape virtually all our thoughts about self
Intersubjectivity
The feeling of interacting with others, social experience in developing sense of self
Symbolic interactionism
Humans interact with each other largely in terms of symbols, which have agreed-upon, shared meanings; how you get defined in this
Self-presentation
We attempt to control the impressions others have of us
What are social constructions of self?
Intersubjectivity, symbolic interactionism, self-presentation
