Building Self-Knowledge (Midterm #1) Flashcards
Intrapersonal Sources of Self-Knowledge
- Self-perception: We observe our overt behaviours and use these observations to infer what we’re like (similar to how we infer what other people are like).
- Introspection: We direct our attention inwards to our internal states (thoughts and feelings) and use this self-awareness to draw conclusions about what we are like.
Self-Percpetion vs. Introspection
Self-perception: I pursue my goals until I achieve them. Even when I fail, I keep going until I succeed. I must be determined.
Introspection: I often think about what’s right and wrong. I must have a strong conscience.
Prioritization of Internal States
People report that knowing their internal states is better for understanding what they’re really like compared to knowing their behaviour or interviewing close ones. What’s going on inside us is more important than just observing behaviour.
Access to Others’ Internal States Study
How does access to internal states vs. behaviour shape others’ impressions? Method: 60 participants listened to interviews with strangers describing themselves and had to rate them on a personality measure. Assigned to 1 of 3 conditions:
1. Cognitive/affective: Interviewee describing past thoughts and feelings
2. Behavioural: Interviewee describing past behaviour
3. Control: Interviewee describing mix of past thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.
More “accurate” impression = Higher correlation between interviewee’s own self-ratings of personality and participants rating of them.
Results: Cognitive / affective interviews produced impressions that are most in line with interviewee’s self-ratings. Suggests that knowing thoughts and feelings is most useful for knowing someone well.
Access to Others’ Internal States: Implications
People prioritize awareness of their thoughts and feelings (vs. behaviours) to construct self-knowledge and believe this is most revealing of what others are like. Self-percetion may be more useful for forming self-knowledge when people are unclear about their internal states. Assumption that introspection is useful source of self-knowledge is shared by much of psychology research which relies on self-report.
Accuracy of Introspection Study
Study: Are people aware of what impacts their mood? Method: Daily diary study of undergrads for 5 weeks. Every evening rated overall mood. At the end of the study: Participants estimated the relationship between their mood and each predictor. 22 additional observers reported on what they thought the average relationship is between mood and each predictor. Researchers calculated actual correlation between mood and each predictor. Higher correlation = more accurate judgments about predictors of mood. Results: suggest that people don’t have real, unique understanding of their mood, but instead rely on shared theories about predictors of mood.
Accuracy of Introspection Implications
People don’t have a genuine understanding of why they think and feel the way they do. Introspection may be more useful for describing internal stats, but not very useful for explaining why we have these in the first place.
Symbolic interactionism
The self-concept depends on our social interactions. There is no self without others.
Social Comparison
We compare ourselves with others to form conclusions about our relative standing attributes, abilities, opinions, etc. Introspection and self-perception often rely on comparison.
Upward Social Comparison
Comparing ourselves to people that are better than us which leads to a decrease in self esteem.
Downward Social Comparison
Comparing ourselves to people that are worse than us which leads to an increase in self-esteem.
Looking-Glass Self
We construct our self concept based on how others see us. We are inferring what we thin other people think of us based on their direct feedback.
Problems with the Looking-Glass Self
Literature review of looking-glass self research shows that there is no consistent relationship between self-reports and observer reports. BUT there is a strong positive relationship between people’s self-reports of their own personality and how they think they are perceived by others. This is because:
1. Others rarely provide full, honest feedback to us.
2. We often dismiss or rationalize away negative feedback.
Implication of the Looking-Glass Self
Looking-glass self means that the self-concept is shaped by how we think others see us, not by how they actually see us.
Social Groups we Belong To
Social identity theory: We plane ourselves and others into social groups and this process shapes our self-concepts (race, ethnicity, gender).
Self-stereotyping: We take on and conform to the shared identity of a social group in order to be accepted as part of that group by others.
Evidence for Social Identity Theory Study
Method: 153 Liberal Arts and Engineering majors. Rated in-group and outgrip on 90 traits. Me-Not Me reaction time (RT) task: rated same 90 traits as self-descriptive or not. Compared performance on RT task to ratings of in-group. Results: Faster RTs for traits on which a person see themselves as matching the in-group than for traits in which there is a mismatch (both for yes/yes and no/no). Suggests that perception of self is linked with perception of in-group.
Self-Concept as a Reaction to Outgroup
Group membership is also often defined in contrast to outgroups. Means that the formation of some self-knowledge is a rejection of elements that are associated with an outgroup.
Including Close Others in the Self
In close relationships, we incorporate the others characteristics into our own self-concepts. E.g., taking on a close others’ perspectives and characteristics.
Including Others in the Self Study
Study: Do people confuse their partners’ traits for their own?
Method: Married graduate students rated traits for how descriptive they are of self and of spouse. Me-not me reaction time task: Is the trait on the screen descriptive of you or not? Greater self-other confusion indicated by: Longer RTs for traits that are different between self and spouse. More errors for traits that are different between self and spouse.
Results: Participants were sower and made more mistakes on traits that differed between self and spouse (for both “me” and “not-me” judgmentS). Suggest that close others and their characteristics become incorporated into the self-concept.
Determinants of Self-Concept Change: Social Role Changes
Gains and losses of social roles trigger changes to the self-concept. Initially comes with a period of self-concept confusion (low SCC) if perceiving a lot of change and feeling less positively about it. Gains particularly likely in early adulthood and losses particularly likely in late adulthood.
Changing the Looking-Glass
People can purposely initiate a change to their self-concept if they believe they are perceived by others in undesirable way. Focus is on changing perception of self by behaving differently until person think that others see the self in desired way. Consistent with idea that desired reputation is most important self.
Changes to Who One is Close to
Since self-concept is partially a result of who a person is close to, means that the self-concept will change when we become closer to new people. Suggests that from a self-concept point of view we should be careful of who we spend our time with.
