Chapter 14: Approaches to the Self Flashcards
self concept
understanding of self and all qualities/characteristics
self esteem
how you feel about who you are
social identity
how you present yourself to others –> might not match self-concept, making us feel inauthentic
self-awareness
creates potential for inner psychological experience of the self –> we are separate from others
describe the distinction between the “I” and “me”
- “I” = capacity for self-awareness, ability to observe and evaluate ourselves –> the observer
- “me” = object of observation, becomes our self-concept
describe the self concept in infancy
- child learns some things are always there and some things are only there sometimes
- boundaries exist between me and not me
- mirror recognition test can be passed around 18 months
- can’t pick self out of an image until 24 months
have monkeys been found to pass the mirror self recognition test
- chimps and orangutans do
- lower primates do not do it spontaneously, but can be taught to recognize reflections
- some cross-cultural differences (Canadian and American children do so more spontaneously)
what requires self recognition in childhood
pretend play, use of personal pronouns
describe self concept in 2 year olds
- can pick self out of an image
- understand that others have expectations of them
- follow rules by parents
- smile when do something good, frown when bad
- can associated themselves with gender and age and reference to family (I am a sister)
describe self-concept from age 3-12
- mainly based on developing skills and talents
- can think for themselves
- start engaging in social comparison (evaluation of self in comparison to others/reference group)
- learn they can lie and keep secrets (there is a hidden side to self)
describe the trajectory of private self-concept development
- may start with development of imaginary friend
- only they have access to thoughts, feelings, desires
how does self concept change in adolescence
- physical appearance and possessions are important
- likes and dislikes
- personality and social characteristics
- mood states, ideologies, opinions and beliefs
perspective taking
ability to take perspectives of others, see oneself as others do, step outside of oneself and see how they appear to others –> teens go through a period of self-consciousness because of this
objective self-awareness
- seeing yourself as an object of others’ attention
- common period in adolescence
- shyness (which can become chronic) = avoiding opportunities to socialize
what has been found in adolescence and young adults with social anxiety
more likely to chronically use the internet in ways that are problematic –> avoidance of direct socializing
what is characteristic of shy people
- want friendships and social interactions but are held back by insecurities and fears
- avoid spotlight, face-to-face interaction, ruminate after conversations
- not necessarily introverted –> want to be with others, but are nervous to
- sometimes called”conflicted shyness” rather than “social disinterest”
describe the findings on shyness in infancy
- even 4 month olds exhibit signs of shyness
- in play, don’t leave parent’s side
- 1/2 transform to be not shy in later childhood –> these children usually had parents that encouraged them to socialize
- parents who are controlling and protective have shy children
social anxiety
discomfort related to social interactions –> overly concerned of what others think, feel nervous or awkward when talking to new people, afterwards think they said something wrong or looked stupid –> can be interpreted as unfriendliness
how do socially anxious people interpret conversations they have
- more likely to interpret a comment as criticism
- expect others will dislike them
- cut conversations short or avoid them altogether
- do not hold unrealistically high standards for themselves
what makes people socially anxious
- genetics –> shows up early in life
- learning –> learn evaluation apprehension
- more reactive amygdala (e.g. to unfamiliar faces)
- elevated cortisol
- hypervigilance to stimuli (social and non-social)
what are 7 steps to overcoming shyness
- show up
- give yourself credit
- take baby steps
- give unto others (give them your attention)
- exude warmth
- anticipate failure
- join the crowd
what does a fully developed self concept help people with
- provide person with sense of continuity
- framework for understanding past and present
- guides future behaviour
- organizes and provides coherence in ways we experience the self
self schema
- specific knowledge structure (or cognitive representation) of self concept
- networks of associated building blocks of self concept
- refer to past and current aspects of the self
possible selves
- meany ideas people have about who they might become, who they hope to become, or who they fear they will become
- can influence person’s behaviour –> what decisions will be made to achieve this possible self
- can move us towards self improvement
- can activate intense feelings/emotions
ideal self vs ought self
- ideal = what you want to be
- ought = what others want you to be
–> both are “self-guides”, standards to organize info and motivate appropriate behaviour
what will people feel if their self-concept does not fit their ought self or ideal self
- doesn’t fit ideal self –> sad, despondent, disappointed
- doesn’t fit ought self –> guilty, distressed, anxious
what does the ideal versus ought self motivate us to do
- ideal = focus attention on achievement and goal accomplishment (promotion focus)
- ought = focus on shifting attention to avoiding harm and seeking safety (prevention focus, what they do not want to happen)
what might it mean to achieve your “true self”
- living according to one’s potential (Maslow)
- authenticity (subjective experience)
- living according to one’s ideal self (rather than ought self)
what are the four factors of authenticity
- awareness of strengths, weaknesses and motives
- unbiased processing
- behaviour (in line with true emotions, values, beliefs)
- authentic relationships (feeling like yourself in these)
when does self esteem hit a low point (on average)
adolescence –> then a gradual rise through midlife
what events seem to increase self esteem
positive life events (e.g. development of intimate relationship, career success)
describe correlations between self esteem in different areas of life
people can be more or less confident about themselves in different areas of life, but self esteem in each still seem moderately correlated –> some find it more helpful to think of it as an average evaluation of whole self concept
Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test (SE-IAT)
- measures how quickly and consistently people associate positive and negative words to themselves
- implicit = unconscious view of self-worth
- 18 me-type, 18 not-me-type
- implicit self-esteem score is based on average time taken to categorize me-pleasant word pairs minus time taken to categorize me-unpleasant word pairs
- small number = faster at categorizing me with pleasant words = high implicit self-esteem
describe the relationship between narcissism and self esteem
low implicit self-esteem but high explicit self-esteem –> fragile self concept, overly sensitive to others’ opinions
describe the relationship between emotional problems (e.g. depression) and self esteem
low explicit self-esteem but high implicit self-esteem
describe the relationship between reactions to criticism and self-esteem
- following failure, those with low self esteem are likely to perform poorly and give up earlier on a subsequent task
- following failure, high self esteem people gear into action in a subsequent task and work just as hard
- this is probably because people readily accept feedback consistent with their self-concept (i.e. low SE accept negative feedback, high SE do not)
describe how self esteem affects interpretation of text messages
- high social anxiety = negative interpretation bias, especially when messages were ambiguous
- men only interpreted it negatively if message was from a female
- women interpreted negatively regardless of gender it was from
- messages from strangers were overall more anxiety provoking
self complexity
- we have many roles and aspects to our self concept
- for some people, self concept is simple (made up of only a few large categories) –> no sense of purpose without career, partner, etc., so loss of this is devastating
- others are more multifaceted (relationships, family, work, hobbies, friends, etc.) –> failure in one aspect is buffered by others
- higher complexity = greater wellbeing
collective self-esteem
- individual’s global self-evaluation as a member of a social group or category
- personal value is place on one’s membership within a group or in public respect
- associated with wellbeing
describe how self esteem effects how people enhance vs protect their self-concept
- low self esteem –> protection of self concept (only ask for feedback that will be positive)
- high self-esteem –> enhancing self concept (do not avoid asking for feedback if below average)
defensive pessimism
strategy where a person facing a challenge (e.g. test) expects to do poorly –> often done by low self esteem people to lessen the impact of failure
note: this is protective for these people, but can be annoying for others
self-handicapping
process in which person deliberately does the things that increase the probability that they will fail –> for people with low self-esteem, this is done because if they are going to fail they need to have an excuse for why
is it true that high self-esteem is correlated with all manner of positive characteristics
- no
- if use self-report then yes
- if use objective measures (e.g. of attractiveness), there is no correlation
- person high in SE might rate themselves highly, but others might not agree with this
does high self esteem promote success in school and jobs
- there is a correlation, but causal direction is not clear
- evidence does not seem to suggest that high SE predicts school/job success (some even shows the opposite direction)
does high self esteem make people likeable
- if use self-report then yes
- if use objective measures no
does low self esteem put people at risk of drug abuse and premature sexual activity
- it is the opposite –> higher self esteem = disregarding risks
- some evidence showing that these events can lower self esteem (opposite causal direction)
are low self-esteem people aggressive
- no
- aggressive people have favourable views of themselves
- extremely high SE = narcissism = aggression
positive illusions about the self
- inflated view of one’s own characteristics as a good, able and desirable person
- in short term, can be associated with psychological wellbeing and adjustment to stress
- in long-term, can lead to overly optimistic judgements, poor planning, gambling, high risk-taking, etc. –> decreasing levels of self-esteem over time and disengagement with academics, narcissism
self esteem variability
individual differences in magnitude of short-term fluctuations in ongoing self-esteem
describe the distinction between level and variability of self-esteem
- these two things are unrelated to one another
- level and variability are based on different psychological mechanisms and often found to interact in predicting important life outcomes
- e.g. low self-esteem overall relates to depression, but more so if there is greater variability
describe the relation between self esteem variability and extent to which self-evaluation is changeable
- some people’s self-esteem is pushed and pulled by life events more than others
- high in people with enhanced sensitivity to social evaluation, increased concern about self view, overly reliant on social sources of evaluation, react to evaluation with anger and hostility
- variability is related to negative life outcomes
continuity in social identity
- people can count on you to be the same person tomorrow as you are today (e.g. gender, surname, language, ethnicity, etc.)
- some can change gradually but still maintain sense of continuity (e.g. education, marital status)
- includes behavioural patterns (e.g. being a party animal)
contrast
social identity differentiates you from other people
what did Erikson believe about identity
- identity results from efforts to separate oneself from one’s parents
- stop relying on one’s parents to make decisions about what values and goals to hold
- undone identity = role confusion
- takes work and effort, must continue to gradually work on this
- people struggle to find an authentic identity
how do people achieve identity (Erikson)
- experimentation
- accepting/adopting a ready-made social role –> this one is more risky, but still acceptable to many people
identity crisis
challenges to one’s identity after a life event (e.g. divorce) –> feelings of anxiety that accompany efforts to define or redefine individuality and social reputation
identity deficit
person has not formed an adequate identity and thus has trouble making major decisions (e.g. should I get married) –> people often turn inward to find the answer, but people with a deficit feel that they have little foundation to base this off of
when does identity deficit occur
- when person discards old values/goals
- e.g. rejecting old beliefs or assumptions
- can be accompanied by feelings of emptiness or uncertainty –> have to search for new goals/beliefs
- might be depressed or confused at one point, but then euphoric about possibilities in their lives
what are people in identity crisis vulnerable to
- propaganda of various social groups
- curious about belief systems –> vulnerable to influence from others
- persuadable
self concept differentiation
- degree of difference across roles of each individual
- greater differentiation = weak sense of self, psychological fragmentation
- “multiple selves” –> maladaptive
identity conflict
- incompatibility between 2+ aspects of identity
- often when person is forced to make an important life decision
- e.g. conflict between assimilation and maintaining cultural identity
- “approach-approach” conflicts (wants to reach two mutually contradictory goals, both of desirable identities
- involve feelings of guilt or remorse –> might feel like you are letting people down
what are the two steps to resolving an identity crisis
- decide which values are most important
- transform abstract values into desires and actual behaviours
what are the stages of life where identity crisis is likely to occur
- adolescence
- middle age (often dissatisfaction with existing identity, feeling inauthentic) –> often act as adolescents again
