5 The self Flashcards
What is the self in terms of social cognitive scientists?
- the self concept is an information structure about ourselves
- its should organise our futures, should have some impact on or futures because we learn from the world around us
- constantly learning new things about ourselves which might influence the way we act tomorrow
chameleon concept
chameleon:
we change certain things about ourselves to match our environments but there will always be certain things that say the same (e.g. a chameleons curly tail)
What is a schema?
an information structure - the whole structure of connected concepts that are linked to each other
e. g. if you see something you’re schema’s will be activated and all the relevant concepts will all spring to mind
e. g. you walk into your first lecture but you already know what to do thanks to your schemas (sit down, get your paper out etc )
self schemas do what?
influence and guide future interactions
can be general or specific
e.g. ‘i’m a shy person’ or the specific memory of being shy and not interacting with people/of trying and failing so you don’t want to do it again
schema for a given domain will:
- aid information processing of this domain
- enable search for instances of behaviour to support this
- help to predict future behaviour
- resist information contrary to the schema
Markus 1977
people were put into groups of perceiving themselves as dependent or independent or don’t care (a-schematic - don’t have a schema for this)
-then time on responding to adjectives was measured and independent schematics responded to the independent adjectives the fastest
did experiments on schemas
Markus 1977
Marcus 1977 2
Made up suggestibility test - wanted to measure if you told someone something about themselves that was incongruent with their schema, would they take it on board
Marcus 1977 2 how
to the independent people attached electrodes to their fingers and then told the participants ‘‘because of these wires we know you are a very suggestible person’’ - at odds wit their schema
People with low importance/weak schema’s took the information on board very easily and went along with it
People with strong schema’s resisted the information and refused to believe it
The fluid self
-is the self really stable?
context dependence of self
what if self schemas/perception conflict with social salient identities
The fluid self who?
Onorato and Turner’s (2004)
Onorato and Turner’s (2004) which concept?
the fluid self
How does the fluid self link in with SIT/SCT
We shift from individual to group identity when the group demands it….fluid self
what could the view of the self vary because of:
- culture
- gender
Markus and Kitayama (1991)
looked into the difference in concept of self in different cultures
independent self vs interdependent self
independent self
Markus and Kitayama 1991
- independent is more western -recognition of inherent separateness of distinct persons
- define yourself in terms of traits and characteristics
- acting in a way to promote your own goals
Interdependent self
Markus and Kitayama 1991
- think of yourself as part of an organised whole
- define yourself in terms of roles and relationships
- acting in a way to promote group goals
Onorato and Turner’s (2004)
made gender salient and got men and women think about themselves as dependent or independent as a member of their gender group
- women endorsed dependent words
- men endorsed independent words
individual self
based on personal traits that distinguish yourself from others
relational self
based on role relations and connections with significant others
collective self
based on traits that differentiate ‘us’ from ‘them’
4 types of identities :
- person based social
- group based social
- relational social
- collective
person based social identity
emphasising the way group properties are internalised by individual group members as part of their self concept
collective identities
where a group members not only share self defining attributes but behave in a certain way to forge an image of their group
3 types of self
- social
- relational
- collective
what are the three classes of motive that interact to influence self construction
- self assesment
- self verification
- self enhancement
self assesment motivates
pursuit of information about our self
self verification motivates
pursuit of information that is consistent with our own self image
self enhancement motivates pursuit of
information that makes us look gooood
above average effect
tendency to over estimate our good points
self esteem makes us happy T or F
F
being happy causes boosted self esteem T or F
T
define yourself: independent vs interdependent self
independent: - in terms of traits and characteristics. stable across situations and relationships
interdependent : in terms of roles and relationships. fluid across situations and relationships
how do you act: independent vs. interdependent self?
independent: in a way to promote your own goals
interdependent: in a way to promote group goals, to belong
Higgins 1987
Self discrepancy theory
What are the different types of self? (SDT)
- actual
- ideal
- ought
What is self discrepancy theory?
that discrepancies between the different types of self will lead to discomfort
What feelings do discrepancies between actual and ideal self cause?
Dejection
What feelings do discrepancies between actual and ought self cause?
Agitation (fear, anxiousness)
What discrepancies do feelings of dejection and agitation respectively stem from
- actual self and idea self
- actual self and ought self
Who came up with self discrepancy theory?
Higgins 1987
Got people to go say positive statements to themselves in the mirror and then measured their mood. results:
- boosted the mood of people with already high self esteem
- lowered the mood of people with low self esteem
Wood, purunovic and lee 2009
positive statements in the mirror vs self esteem/mood
positive statements in the mirror vs self esteem/mood
Wood, purunovic and lee 2009
