Chapter 11: The Self and It's Strivings Flashcards
what are the two views of the self?
Agent: Self Concept (private self) Driven by self actualization
- The “I”
- motivational force
- self as process
- self as knower
- natural endowment: intrinsic inner force that initiates behaviour
Basic questions: who can I become?, what are my goals?, Am i being authentic?
Object: Identity (public self)
- the “me”
- Social-cognitive representation
- self as subject
- self as known
- Aquired representation: social construction based on social feedback
Basic questions: who am I?, Do I have positive qualities?, How am I different?
What are the 4 main problems with analysis of the self and its strivings?
- defining or creating the self ( self concept, possible self, positive or negative)
- relating the self to society (identity)
- Discovering and developing personal potential (Agency)
- managing and regulating the self (Self control)
What are some of the negative aspects of using self control?
its effortful and costly ( in energy) and lowers level of persistence and glucose.
What is the self concept a collection of ?
Self schemas
what are self schemas?
domain specific cognitive generalizations about the self that are learned from past experiences
Ex: intellectual ability, physical ability etc.
we direct our behaviour towards consistent self schemas
Self schemas generate motivation in two ways
1) possible self; towards or away from
2) consistent self
What is self verification theory?
robinson & Smith-lovin
People with both high and low self esteem feel good when praised and bad when they receive negative feedback about their performance on a public speaking task
even though negative ratings made them feel bad, participants with low social self esteem thought the criticism was accurate, and they liked the critic more than people with high self esteem/ confidence
People with low social self esteem preferred to interact with a critic rather than with someone who said flattering things about them, then even though they said that what that person said made them supper upset or hurt
What is the consistent Self?
- once established, self schemas are resistant to contradictory information
- to preserve a consistent self we seek out information that is consistent with our self concept and ignore information that contradicts our self view
what is selective interaction?
we choose to interact with others who treat is in ways that are consistent with our self-view
What is Identity?
knowing one’s personal qualities and private self reflects the self concept and knowing one’s social roles and public self reflects identity
Identity: by which the self relates to society
we play multiple roles, and culture and society plays largely into how we behave in these roles.
self as object
once we inhabit a role, society expects us to display indentity-conforming behaviours and avoid identity disconforming behaviours
some roles are very clearly defined others not so mucch
ex: the role of a teacher in society is very strict and clearly defined.
What is Agency?
The self as an agent
the self possess intrinsic motivation that gives it agency
intrinsic motivation is the source of the motivation that underlies agency bc it gives us the energy to develop and fulfill our potential
“action and development from within as innate processes and motivations”
Developing myself to become even more complex
What two developmental processes does agency energize?
1) Differentiation: becoming more complex
2) Integration: organizational process that brings/keeps complex/differentiated parts together as a whole
what is self regulation?
Process of managing the self to accomplish a long-term goal is referred to as self regulation
it is an acquired skill that occurs within a social learning process and at an observational level in which a novice observes and imitates an expert’s behaviour
Self Regulation Model
1) Lack of self regulation skill –> 2)Social Learning Process–> 3)Aquisition of competent self regulation skill
1) Lack of regulation (Starting point); unable to regulate ones goals, implementation intentions, and coping strategies in a new domain
2) Social learning process (intermediate stage): –>
A) observations of expert model
B) imitation, social guidance, feedback
C) Internalization of standards
D) self regulatiory process, including self monitoring, self evaluating
3) Acquisition of competent self regulation skill (final stage) –> able to self regulate one’s goals behaviours, and standards in the domain
Concepts associated with self-control
- the process of managing one’s long term goals is self regulation
- while the process of suppressing impulsive behaviour is called self control
Self control: the capacity to suppress an impulsive behaviour, and instead steer behaviour in the direction of a long term goal
Self control is willpower
