L - 17 The Self I Flashcards
The duality of the self as defined by James (1980) refers to:
The self refers the the question “Who am I?” as a multi-faceted psychological construct made up of the self as an OBJECT, and the self as an AGENT.
What are James’ (1980) meanings of the self as an object and as an agent?
Self as an OBJECT that can be observed refers to “me”, and this is called self-concept.
Self as an AGENT doing the observing refers to “I”, this is called self-awareness.
Brewer and Gardner (1996) identify 3 levels of the self, what are they?
- Personal (individual) self:
- beliefs about private self. - Relational self:
- self in the context of interpersonal relationships. - Collective self:
- self in relation to group memberships.
What are the cultural differences between Western and Eastern cultures when defining the self?
People from Western cultures tend to have an INDEPENDENT view of the self, valuing uniqueness and independence.
People from Asian and other Non-Western cultures tend to have an INTERDEPENDENT view of the self, valuing relationships, connectedness, and interdependence.
There is however variability within cultures as well.
What are the gender differences between men and women when defining the interdependent self?
Women tend to focus more on close relationships - relational interdependence.
Men tend to focus more on their membership in larger groups - collective interdependence.
There is however variability within genders as well.
Outline Wilson, Laser, and Stone’s (1982) experiment on introspection and their findings.
Wilson, Laser, and Stone (1982) allocated half of their participants into an ‘introspection’ condition and the other half into an ‘observer’ condition.
Participants in the introspection condition we asked to record in a diary: 1. factors that could influence mood, and 2. their mood, before then estimating how much these factors could effect their mood. Participants in the observer condition only estimated how much various factors would influence their mood.
Wilson, Laser, and Stone (1982) found no difference in accuracy between the two groups and concluded that introspection does not lead to insight about the causes of mood.
What is Bem’s (1967) self perception theory and when is it likely to occur?
Self perception theory says that we make inferences about who we are from our behaviour.
We are likely to do this when:
- our internal cues (attitudes and feelings) are weak.
- we have no clear situational influence on behaviour.
- we chose the behaviour freely.
When can behaviour reveal something about the self?
When situational effects are sufficient to explain behaviour, then we attribute our behaviour to external factors.
If not, we assume our behaviour is due to internal reasons which can be examined to reveal information about the self.
How do we determine whether or not a behaviour is freely chosen or situationally determined?
If behaviour occurs because of EXTRINSIC motivations such as rewards or external pressures, then it has not been freely chosen.
If behaviour occurs because of INTRINSIC motivations such as enjoyment, then it has been freely chosen and we may infer feelings/attitudes from the behaviour.
Lepper, Green, and Nisbett, 1973 found that rewards do what to intrinsic motivation?
They showed that receiving a reward decreased intrinsic motivation.
Kids who were promised and received a reward for drawing later showed less interest in drawing than those not promised a reward and given one, as well as not given a reward at all.
