intro to the self

Question 1

who is william james and what did he propose abt the self?

Answer 1

1. referred to as father of American psych and first to provide a systematic theory of the self
2. proposed self has 2 components: i self, me self
   - I SELF: aspect that is subject of ur experience (ie, when u have a thought, i self is doing the thinking for u)

• ME SELF : aspect that is the object of ur experience (ie, me self contains all the info that comprise who u are)
• both aspects are related as u need I SELF to form ME SELF. I SELF should present itself early on as the architect of the me self

Question 2

what are the 4 components of the I SELF?

Answer 2

1. SELF AGENCY: understanding, knowledge, appreciation that U ARE AN ACTIVE AGENT of what u do/drives everything u do
2. SELF AWARENESS: understanding, knowledge, appreciation that U EXIST AS AN ENTITY IN SPACE and aware of ur own existence, thoughts, feelings, emotions
3. SELF COHERENCE: understanding, knowledge, appreciation that U EXIST AS A BOUNDED, COHERENT ENTITY SEPARATE FROM OTHER OBJECTS IN UR ENVIRONMENT
4. SELF CONTINUITY: understanding, knowledge, appreciation that U EXIST AS AN ENTITY THROUGHOUT TIME including the ongoing present, ur past, ur future

Question 3

what are the components of ME SELF?

Answer 3

• they are hierarchically organized from least to most important

LEAST IMPORTANT
1. MATERIAL SELF: reflects ur physical/bodily self or appearance + ur possessions (including ur loved ones, family)

NOT AS IMPORTANT
2. SOCIAL SELF: reflects all the characteristics recognizable by other ppl

MOST IMPORTANT
3. SPIRITUAL SELF: reflects ur goals, beliefs, values, judgements, morals, personality traits, etc, the most authentic things that make up the core of who u are or what self defines u

Question 4

according to James, why can we have multiple social selves?

Answer 4

• ME SELF can also be multidimensional or multifaceted
• we dont always project the same image of ourselves to every single person as every image we present to others is a different social self thus we have multiple social selves
• sometimes they’re consistent with each other or conflict each other. this conflict can lead to discord/disharmony and to dissonance so we may have to actively select which social self we can include into our ME SELF which becomes the basis of our SELF ESTEEM

Question 5

what else did James contribute?

Answer 5

1. provided multi component theories of the self which paved the way for many modern theories (multiple social selves)
2. provided hierarchical theories of the self
3. provided theories of an EXTENDED SELF. he proposed that u include possession into ur ME SELF so who u are doesnt end in ur own physical body. this is known as NON DUALISTIC THEORIES OF THE SELF where the self is more than just the mind and body

Question 6

what do symbolic interactionists propose? (that is different from James)

Answer 6

1. all argue that the self is primarily a SOCIAL CONSTRUCT that the sense of self is based on SYMBOLIC EXCHANGES or INTERACTIONS through conversations, relationships, etc.
2. James didnt provide the FUNCTIONS of the self, how it DEVELOPS or how OTHERS INFLUENCE US, he only DESCRIBED what it is and what is contains. some argue his explanation was TOO COGNITIVE since humans r ultra social species
3. SELF: complex social construct that through our interactions with others allows us to create a self that is COHERENT, INTEGRATED and AUTHENTIC. even if its constructed by our interactions the PRODUCT is something that we experience as being who we are

Question 7

what are the similarities btwn symbolic interactionist theories?

Answer 7

1. ALL propose that processes of IMITATION, ADJUSTMENT, INTERNALIZATION is fundamental to the SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION of the self

Question 8

what are the differences btwn symbolic interactionist theories?

Answer 8

ALL differ in terms of how:
1. each process/stage is developed
2. the consequences/outcomes of each process/stage are developed
3. each process or outcome is emphasized

Question 9

what did James Baldwin propose? what was his actual theory? how does the habitual self change? what did he contribute? r there limitations to his theory?

Answer 9

PROPOSED
1. construction of the self is a very social process, based on exchanges btwn the self (ego) and other (alter)
2. interacting with others influences or provides basis of our sense of self

THEORIZED
1. we have the HABITUAL SELF which reflects who u usually are, what u usually do, ur usual characteristics AND is constantly CHANGING due to ur interactions with other ppl thus who u usually are is subject to change based on those interactions
2. the habitual self changes due to the EMERGENCE OF ACCOMMODATING SELF as the infant grows older and self develops from interactions btwn u and other ppl which involve the 3 processes

HOW DOES THE HABITUAL SELF CHANGE?
- in infancy, habitual self is based on biological processes (reflexive behaviours). When the accommodating self emerges as the infant grows, the child has a caregiver who models how to interact w different objects in the environment thus the toddler can imitate that behaviour, for ex, bouncing a ball

• the caregiver gives praise and approval so the toddler now knows this certain behaviour (bouncing ball) is met w approval which then the toddler can internalize/adopt
• but if the toddler does a certain behaviour thats met w disapproval (throwing ball at window), the ACCOMMODATING SELF now knows to ADJUST that behaviour
• behaviours that were imitated and met w approval are now INTERNALIZED
• INTERNALIZATION occurs as the ACCOMMODATING SELF passes that new behaviour onto the HABITUAL SELF which also includes beliefs, values, attitudes
• as the toddler grows, theyre capable of more sophisticated thinking and can imitate values, attitudes, beliefs of their caregivers and if MET W APPROVAL, the accom self will PASS ON those values, attitudes, beliefs onto HABITUAL SELF. habitual self = changed

CONTRIBUTIONS
1. self is rlly changing as the infant or habitual self explores their environment and interact w more ppl so FORMATIVE YEARS ARE RLLY IMPORTANT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SELF

2. structure of the self is MULTIFACETED as self attributes may differ across contexts within contexts

note, baldwin didnt delve into possible conflict btwn multiple selves!

Question 10

what did Charles Cooley propose? and contribute?

Answer 10

PROPOSED THE LOOKING GLASS SELF
- we can also look to other ppl to gather info about who we are
- what is reflected in the mirror is what we perceive so when looking to our peers as a social mirror, what is reflected is what we believe whether it’s their opinions or perceptions of what they think of us
- we INTERNALIZE what we THINK their opinions are, NOT their actual opinions

ALSO PROPOSED
- the self is constructed through ur formative yrs, first few yrs of life, based on ur early social interactions/relationships

• begins w imagining how u appear to others and how they judge that appearance (met w approval, disapproval, etc)
• not only were these images internalized but feelings u have developed towards urself too (approval from others = feeling proud, good abt urself, etc); proposes this was the basis of self esteem
• by adulthood, self development is complete. ur sense of self is now disconnected from ur opinions about what other ppl think of u bc ur sense of self is alr stable

CONTRIBUTIONS
1. providing a more DEVELOPMENTAL aspect to the construction of self and how perceptions of others’ opinions r important to that construction
2. cover the CONSEQUENCES of what occurs in infancy and childhood for who u are as an adult
3. how changeable the self is over time, in a lifespan
4. theory of the origins of pride and shame, whether or not we believe other ppl approve or disapprove of who we r

Question 11

what did George Mead propose? r there limitations to his theory?

Answer 11

• to elaborate on Cooley’s work, there is greater emphasis on the role of social interaction as a PROCESS
• this process involves 2 DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES as the child adopts the attitudes of others toward the self through PLAY and GAMES:

in PLAY
- the child OBSERVES AND IMITATES ADULT BEHAVIOUR
- they imitate desirable action and the desirable response
- gain an understanding of adult roles in society and how they occupy that role + understanding of who they are and who others are

in GAMES
- the child learns that there’s RULES that govern what u do and who u are, aka there’s EXPECTATIONS now
- now, the child might be internalizing the perspectives of specific adults (parents, teachers, etc) and as they become older, they come to understand that society also has a perspective and rules of who ur supposed to be. Society has ideas and expectations of what an adult is and isnt. The more interactions, the more theyre introduced to the GENERALIZED OTHER (group of others that share a particular societal perspective on the self), thus more opportunities for societal expectations to shape who u become and then sense of self is developed

note, mead doesnt delve into how exactly the child integrates ALL these perspectives and how the process of psychologically weighing them all to create a sense of self actually works!

Question 12

what do psychoanalytic theories propose?

Answer 12

according to freud, the human psyche can be arranged into a structural model composed of the ID, EGO, SUPEREGO, however this isnt a theory or model of the self but one of PERSONALITY

Question 13

explain what happened in the emergence of behaviourism in the 20th century. what did they focus on?

Answer 13

due to rise of behaviourism it became the PARADIGM thus
1. investigating the self was ignored and instead behaviourists proposed that to understand the human experience we need to focus on OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOUR aka what we can see is what we can measure aka the self isnt directly observable thus we cant measure and study it
2. since self reports relied on introspection and were used to study self, behaviourists say these werent valid thus the self wasnt worthy to study
3. rmbr that james didnt provide how the self FUNCTIONS and to behaviourists, since u dont know the functions, u dont know the consequences thus its not worth studying
in other words, to behaviourists, if it isnt directly observable, it doesnt exist

Question 14

explained what happened to the behaviourism paradigm during the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Answer 14

1. eventually self constructs as predictors of behaviour gained more acceptance and behaviourism fell out of favour
2. in the late 60s-early 70s, there was a COGNITIVE REVOLUTION. they started to focus on the MIND and COGNITION which they found evidence that ur thoughts, evaluations, interpretations influence ur behaviour so we can predict what u are going to do based on cognition = what u THINK about urself matters
3. also in the 60s, they started to do research on urself, feelings about ur self aka studies on self esteem. they developed questionnaires (a self report measure) that could VALIDLY and RELIABLY assess ur self esteem which led to coming up w other self report measures for other self related constructs. since we have measures, we can collect data, we can test theories, we can learn MORE about the self
4. there’s accumulating empirical evidence that we cannot fully understand behaviour if we only focused on what’s observable
5. behaviourally-oriented therapists initially thought psychological disorders were due to maladaptive patterns of behaving but realized that the patient’s own thoughts and feelings mattered to explain some of their symptoms, for prognosis, if treatment was effective or not, thus we need to pay attention to the self

Question 15

explained what happened after the 20th century. what were leary & tangney’s findings?

Answer 15

according to leary & tangney, there were too many measures on too many selves which became confusing in literature. to know, we need to think about what the self is NOT. they looked at different definitions and challenged them

1. SELF AS THE TOTAL PERSON?
   - self ISNT the same as TOTAL PERSON since we dont say a person IS a self but a person HAS a self, so its not semantics
   - we use language to express our understanding of concepts, of the world and of ourselves and if language reflects that and says that we dont understand the self as being THE person, its something we HAVE = CANT define self as the TOTAL person
2. SELF AS PERSONALITY
   - basically things that make u different from other ppl such as ur abilities, goals, values, likes, dislikes, etc
   - we can refer to what james said, there’s a part of the self that’s subject of ur ongoing experience so its MORE than personality = cant capture the essence of self
3. SELF AS THE EXPERIENCING SUBJECT
   - self awareness theory: ur aware of an inconsistency in ur attitudes, beliefs, or behaviour, plus u experience dissonance and motivated to change ur behaviour to reduce it = u experiencing urself
   - self perception theory: u infer ur attitudes, beliefs by looking at ur past behaviour = u experience ur past through ur memories
   - so what are u experiencing? james said theres an i self and me self, cant just be i only
4. SELF AS BELIEFS ABOUT ONESELF
   - what if its just an entire collection of what makes u who u are (personality, memories, relationships, etc)
   - if u think, who am i? = what the self is = self is the answer, to arrive at the answer, some part of u did the thinking and made ur attention go inward
   - self isnt a set of beliefs u may hold abt urself
   - self experiences or is aware of one’s perceptions, thoughts and feelings
5. SELF AS THE EXECUTIVE AGENT
   - what is it controlling? if the self is the director, decision maker, regulates, etc. it cant just be the executive agent

Question 16

do all organisms have self knowledge? what is self knowledge? according to parker

Answer 16

ALL ORGANISMS EXHIBIT SELF KNOWLEDGE. depending on how sophisticated the species is, their SK will be determined.

LOWEST LEVEL: SELF DETECTION
- have it but rudimentary/arent consciously aware of
- cellular and tissue level

NEXT LEVEL: SELF AWARENESS
- also have it, more sophisticated but not necessarily consciously aware of it
- visual-kinesthetic matching, MSR)

HIGHEST LEVEL: SELF CONSCIOUSNESS
- most sophisticated, has reflexive consciousness, can make self evaluations, have self concept

SPECIES-SPECIFIC ABILITY
- to process and map info about their own bodies onto representation of their own bodies

Question 17

how did they discover self recognition in non-human animals?

Answer 17

Gallup (1970) investigated MSR with chimps and concluded that MSR IMPLIED* the presence of self awarness and a self concept meaning they didn’t immediately recognize themselves in the mirror. it was only after giving them time to familiarize themselves, they used the mirror for grooming, making different facial expression, check out their other body parts which led to the finding that they may have self awareness and evidence of self concept. the chimps have some mental rep. of what they look like and can match that to the visual info from the mirror and recognize the mark on their 4head doesnt match w the representation they have on their body

Question 18

why do chimps & humans have self awareness? why is MSR beneficial and how did it evolve?

Answer 18

chimps are our closes genetic kin. they found that MSR evolved in the most recent common ancestor of humans and great apes.

its beneficial since this ability had to be selected for = had to be advantageous and adaptive for our ancestors.

according to the APPRENTICESHIP (TOOL USE) HYPOTHESIS, having self awareness, having the ability to map info onto a mental rep. of urself, was beneficial bc it helped our ancestors gain access to food resources that others didnt have (extractive forging). for ex, they do some work to extract the nutritional part of the particular food source (ie coconuts). one way to do this is thru trial and error, to be efficient, they would watch others and see what they’ve learned thru trial and error.

MSR evolved based on the CLAMBORING HYPOTHESIS. this was based on the idea that in the past, we had a common ancestor that lived in the treetops, they were small and light making it easier for them to swing thru branches and due to evolution, this ancestor became bigger so it became dangerous to swing. when they were smaller, they used trial and error to travel thru the branches, but now its dangerous since theyre bigger and heavier. so they had to SIMULATE crossing the gap between branches and predict. they must have had self awareness in order to guide their movements and behaviour so self awareness was evolutionary adaptive.

Question 19

is there evidence of MSR/self awareness in other non-human animals?

Answer 19

yes, orangutans, macaques, gorillas, bonobos, chimps, parrots, european magpies, elephants, orcas, dolphins HOWEVER
- macaques pose a problem w both apprenticeship and clamboring hypotheses bc they share a more distant common ancestor w humans meaning SA mustve evolved earlier than what both theories predicted
- parrots, magpies, elephants, orcas pose a problem too has we share a recent common ancestor so we maybe way off in terms of when SA actually evolved
- dolphins passed the mark test but the dye they used had texture in it

Question 20

how did leary and tangney define the self?

Answer 20

the mental capacity that an organism has. that mental capacity allows:
1. it to take itself as the OBJECT OF ITS OWN ATTENTION
2. it to think CONSCIOUSLY ABOUT ITSELF
3. to CONSCIOUSLY DIRECT ASPECTS OF ITSELF
4. to CONSCIOUSLY CHANGE ITSELF
5. REGULATE ITSELF

Question 21

is the self unique to humans?

Answer 21

it depends on what kind of self knowledge it is. MSR isnt unique to humans bc other organisms can also have mental representations of themselves but no others organisms can do what humans do which is to CONSCIOUSLY REFLECT on those mental reps. and CONSCIOUSLY EVALUATE them