Chapter 14 Flashcards
What is self-concept?
The basis of self-understanding
- Answering the question, who am I?
Self-awareness evolves in large part through…
social interactions
Cooley (1902) introduced the ______ - ________ self. Name and define.
Looking-Glass self = self as an outcome of people’s assumptions about how others view them
When does self-concept begin to develop?
Infancy → child distinguishes between body and everything else, recognizes boundaries exist
- cannot recognize a photo of themselves until 2 yrs old
What are the first two aspects of self that people learn to identify and associate with themselves?
Sex and age
From ages 3-12, children focus on what aspect of self?
Interests and talents, work on developing them
From 5 years old onwards, children begin to engage in what?
social comparison = compare developed skills to those of others
- also begin to lie and keep secrets, discover private self-concept = hidden self
When does the looking self develop?
Teen years – this is when we gain perspective of how we appear to others
What is objective self-awareness?
seeing yourself as an object of others’ attention
What is self-concept?
a framework for understanding that guides how people process information about themselves
What is a self-schema?
cognitive representation of self-concept
What is a self-schemata?
Different from the schema, looking at possible selves = describes the many ideas people have about who they might become, who they hope to become, or who they will become
Define actual self.
who people believe they are
ideal self
one’s perception of who they should and would like to become
ought self
the self that is concerned with being who others want them to be
Which two selves function as self-guides?
Ideal and ought selves – they represent standards a person uses to organize information and motivate the right behavior
If there is a large discrepancy between your ideal and actual self could increase..
anxiety, sadness, and shame
What is the possible self?
represents ideas of who you might become, what they would like to become, and who they are afraid of becoming
What is the lost possible self?
What might have been
What is the evaluative component of the self?
self-esteem offers a general evaluation of self-concept
- this can vary from day to day and hour to hour
- People evaluate themselves positively, and negatively in different areas of life → self-esteem correlates throughout different areas where you evaluate yourself
How do people with low self-esteem typically move forward after experiencing failure?
More likely to perform poorly moving forward and more likely to abandon tasks
- avoid failure at all costs, fearful
The nature of identity has two key features. What are they?
- Continuity = people can count on you to be the same person tomorrow
as you are today - Contrast = Your social identity differentiates you from others and
makes you unique in the eyes of others
According to Erikson, identity can be achieved in several ways…
- Experimenting with different identites
- Adopitng a ready-made social role
Who coined the term “identity crisis”?
Erikson
Define identity crisis.
the anxiety that
accompanies efforts to define or redefine one’s individuality and social reputation
What are two distinct types of identity crises?
- Identity deficit = arises when a person has not formed an adequate identity and thus
has trouble making significant decisions - Identity conflict = Involves an incompatibility between two or more aspects of identity
How do you resolve identity crises?
- People decide which values are most important to them
- People transform abstract values into desires and actual behaviors
What is narrative identity?
the internalized and evolving story of the self
What are life story accounts?
structured interviews of open-ended written questions
