Intimacy Flashcards
What is the self-concept?
what we know and believe about ourselves
What is the looking glass self?
Charles Horton Cooley believes we develop self-concept through interactions with others
- imagining how we appear to others
- interpret others’ reactions
- develop and revise self-concept based on these perceptions and jugdements
What is symbolic interactionism?
the self is a social construction, developed and maintained via interferences from experience with others
- sense of self is experienced in relation to some audience
What evidence supports the idea that private beliefs are tailored for public acceptance?
a study in two parts that involved a visualization exercise of either a close friend or a relative.
Then the participant was asked to read passages and rate them (one was erotica)
RESULT: participant who were asked about a friend reported enjoying the erotic passage more than those who were asked about their relative.
What is self esteem?
evaluative component of self-component of self-concept, how good or bad do we feel about ourselves.
What is trait level versus state level self esteem?
trait level: average enduring level of feeling about ourselves
state level: dynamic changing feelings about the self, vary from moment to moment
What is the sociometer theory of self esteem?
the idea that self esteem is a way to gauge how accepted we feel by others
What evidence supports the sociometer theory of SE?
A study where participants came in got a set of individual and group decision-making. Ps had to write a description of themselves to share with group. They were then told they had to work alone, either bc of random assignment or bc ‘noone wanted them’.
RESULT: participants felt worse when it seemed purposeful
What is the intrapersonal view vs interpersonal view?
- Intrapersonal is the ratio of one’s successes to one’s failures (an internal evaluation of attributes)
- Interpersonal is the belief that one possesses certain attributes that should only affect SE to the extent that one considers these attribtes to be judged positively or negatively by others
How do others get included in concepts of the self?
Studies show that how closely a particpant’s self esteem is tied to a given domain depends on how much they think people value that domain
1. filled out a global measure of SE, 2. rated themselves in 5 domains 3. indicated how imprtant those domains were for social approval or disapproval
What is the self-expansion model?
People are motivated to expand their potential efficacy by having close relationships. In a close relationships, we incorporate partner’s identities, perspectives, skills, and resources in the self.
What research supports the self-expansion model?
Studies have shown there is often a cognitive confusion of self and other.
STUDY: participants asked how well a trait describes them, their partner, and a stranger. Then when asked again, who did this trait remind you of, there was more source confusion between self and partner than with stranger.
What is the link between falling in love/ positive and self-expansion?
It seems that the relationship between self-expansion and positive affect may be reciprocal, self-expansion fuels positive affect, positive affect broadens our understanding of the world.
STUDY: students provided assessments of their sense of self, SE, self-efficacy, and spontaneous self every 2 days over a 10 week period.
RESULT: those who had fallen in love had experienced a greater inc in self concept and inc in SE and self-efficacy.
Rapid self expansion in a relationship is the sensation of “falling in lobe”
How can self-expansion impact susceptibility to infidelity?
In a relationship, self-expansion slows over time. In a monagamous relationship, ppl may begin to look outside relationship if need for self expansion is not met
- Potential for future self-expansion negatively predicts susceptibility to infidelity
What is self-disclosure?
sharing personal info about the self
it is central to the development of intimacy
