4 - Self and Identity Flashcards
Constructs?
Abstract or theoretical concepts or variables that are not observable and are used to explain or clarify a phenomenon
Secularisation?
the idea that fulfilment occurs in the afterlife was replaced by the idea that you should actively pursue personal fulfilment in this life
Industrialisation?
people were increasingly seen as units of production that moved from place to place to work and thus had a portable personal identity that was not locked into static social structures such as the extended family
Enlightenment?
people felt that they could organise and construct different, better identities and lives for themselves by overthrowing orthodox value systems and oppressive regimes
Psychoanalysis?
Freud’s theory of the human mind crystallised the notion that the self was unfathomable because it lurked in the gloomy
depths of the unconscious
Symbolic Interactionism?
Theory of how the self emerges from human interaction, which involves people trading symbols (through language and gesture) that are usually consensual and represent abstract properties rather than concrete objects
Private self?
private thoughts, feelings and attitudes
Public Self?
How other people see you, your public image
Looking glass concept?
We derive our self image from how other people perceive us
Deindividuation?
Process whereby people loose their sense of socialised individual identity and engage in unsocialised, often antisocial, behaviours.
Self-Discrepancy Theory?
Higgins’s theory about the consequences of making actual – ideal and actual – ‘ought’ self- comparisons that reveal self-discrepancies
Self-Regulation?
Strategies that we use to match our behaviour to an ideal or ‘ought’ standard
Regulatory Focus Theory?
A promotion focus causes people to be approach-oriented in constructing a sense of self; a prevention focus causes people to be more cautious and avoidant in constructing a sense of self
Self-Perception Theory?
Bem’s idea that we gain knowledge of ourselves by making self-attributions: for example, we infer our own attitudes from our own behaviour
Overjustification Effect?
In the absence of obvious external determinants of our behaviour, we assume that we freely choose the behaviour because we enjoy it
Social Comparison (Theory)
Comparing our behaviours and opinions with those of others in order to establish the correct or socially approved way of thinking and behaving
Self Evaluation Maintenance Model?
People who are constrained to make esteem-damaging upward comparisons can underplay or deny similarity to the target, or they can withdraw from their relationship with the target
BIRGing?
Basking in reflected glory - that is, name dropping to link yourself with desirable people or groups and thus improve other people’s impression of you
3 Forms of Self (Brewer&Gardner)?
- Individual Self - based on personal traits that diff self from others
- Relational Self - connections and role relationships with significant others
- Collective Self - group membership that differentiates us from them
4 Categories of Identity?
- person-based social ids - internalisation of group properties by indiv members as part of self concept
- relational social ids - self in relation w/ specific other people w/ whom one interacts in group
- group-based social ids - = to social identity
- collective ids - group members not only share self defining attributes but also engage in social action to forge an image of what the group stands for and is viewed by others
Strategies to construct a coherent sense of self?
- restrict your life to limited set of contexts
- keep revising and integrating your autobiography to accomodate new identities
- attribute changes in the self externally to changing circumstances
Actor-Observer Effect?
Tendency to attribute our own behaviours externally and others’ behaviours internally
Social Identity Theory?
Theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self-categorisation, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of ingroup-defining properties
Self-Categorisation Theory?
Turner and associates’ theory of how the process of categorising oneself as a group member produces social identity and group and intergroup behaviours
Self-Assessment?
The motivation to seek out new info about ourselves in order to find out what sort of person we really are
Self-Verification?
Seeking out info that verifies and confirms what we already know about ourselves
Self-Enhancement?
The motivation to develop and promote a favourable image of self
Self-Affirmation Theory?
The theory that people reduce the impact of threat to their self-concept by focusing on and affirming their competence in some other area
Three major sources of threat to our self-concept?
Failures, Inconsistencies and Stressors
Self Handicapping?
Publicly making advance external attributions for our anticipated failure or poor performance in a forthcoming event
Stigma?
Group attributes that mediate a negative social evaluation of people belonging to the group
Impression Management?
People’s use of various strategies to get other people to view them in a positive light
Self Monitoring?
Carefully controlling how we present ourselves; there are situational differences and individual differences in self-monitoring
Five Strategic Motives of Impression Management?
- self promotion
- ingratiation
- intimidation
- exemplification
- supplication
Self Presentation?
A deliberate effort to act in ways that create a particular impression, usually favourable, of ourselves
