L02 - The Self-Concept

Question 1

What is a self-concept?

Answer 1

a cognitive representation of the knowledge and beliefs we have about ourselves, including our:
- personality
- abilities
- social roles
- values
- goals and desires
- physical characteristics

essentially, everything a person claims as “me” or “mine”

important because shapes how we think about the world, feel, and behave

Question 2

What is an associative network?

Answer 2

associative network: knowledge is organized as a metaphorical network of cognitive concepts interconnected by links
- some concepts are more central
links between concepts vary in strength

the self-concept is an associative network

Question 3

What is implied by unitary self-concept?

Answer 3

self-concept implies a unitary, fixed, and integrated idea about the self

BUT, people have lots of ideas about themselves, sometimes in contradiction with each other

Question 4

What is working self-concept?

Answer 4

working self-concept: the subset of self-knowledge that is the current focus of awareness
- self-concept: the entirety of our self-knowledge

created moment-to-moment

Question 5

What is situational activation?

Answer 5

different situations can activate different pieces of self-knowledge thus creating different working self-concepts

Question 6

What is spreading activation?

Answer 6

spreading activation: when specific self-aspect is activated, other self-aspects that are linked with it are also activated
- self-aspects that are strongly linked will be activated more quickly

Question 7

What are the contents of the working self-concept?

Answer 7

contents of the working self-concept = self-knowledge that’s most accessible/salient at that moment

Question 8

What is the accessibility of self-knowledge determined by?

Answer 8

1. Distinctiveness to the situation
2. Relevance to the situation/activity (situational activation –> recency effect)
   - job interview vs. party
3. Frequency of activation
   - very important self-aspects
   - self-aspects that we engage in often

Question 9

What is the distinctiveness theory?

Answer 9

a person’s unique, distinctive characteristics are more salient to them than characteristics that they have in common with others
- distinctive characteristics are more valuable in distinguishing yourself from others

Question 10

What was McGuire’s (et al. - 1976) study on distinctiveness theory, and what do the findings show?

Answer 10

6th graders completed “Who am I?” exercise

students with distinctive features mentioned these more often than those with more typical features

shows that the situational context influence what SPONTANEOUSLY comes to mind when describing the self

Question 11

What are the implications of working self-concept?

Answer 11

the self-concept is malleable and is highly dependent on the context
- we have different versions of ourselves

Non-central self-aspects can enter the working self-concept

allows for contradictory self-aspects to simultaneously exist
- usually not activated in the same situation

working self-concept influences how we behave
- explains why we behave differently in different situations

Question 12

What was Fazio et al’s (1981) study on the working self-concept and behaviour and what were the findings?

Answer 12

Does the working self-concept influence behaviour?

method: study presented as aiming to validate new questionnaire to “reveal elements of personality”

experimentally manipulated working self-concept
- extroversion: “what would you do if you wanted to liven things up at a party?”
- introversion: “what things do you dislike about loud parties?”

results: those in the extroverted (vs. introverted) condition:
- DESCRIBED themselves as more extroverted
- ACTED more extroverted in a subsequent situation
- spoke longer to confederate
- sat closer to confederate
- rated by confederate and judge as more extroverted

shows that:
- working self-concept depends on situational activation and that it influences behaviour
- people can be manipulated by having them comb through their self-knowledge in a biased manner
- allows for priming effects

Question 13

What are the elements common to theories about the true self?

Answer 13

1. Natural endowment: already born with a true self
   - often in the form of potential
2. Feels authentic
   - actions consistent with internal states (feelings, needs, desires) that are subjectively experienced as one’s own
3. People naturally WANT to be true to themselves
   - living in accordance with true self leafs to a satisfying and fulfilling life
4. Competes with external influences
   - reason why it is difficult to be in tune with true self and follow it

Question 14

Describe Schlegel et al.’s study on the case for a true self.

first study (2013)

Do people believe in a true self and use it as a guide to make decisions?

Answer 14

method: 60 online community participants
- “please take a few moments to think about occasions when you had to make an important decision:
* rated (1-7 scale) potential decision-making strategies on how important they are for making a satisfying decision, including:
1. true to self as guide: “following who you really are”
2. ideal self: “consider who you really want to be”
3. Past self: “consider what you’ve done in the past”
4. Future self: “consider who you want to become in the future”
5. Actual self: “use everyday behaviour as a guide”
6. Ought self: “follow who you think you ought to be”
7. Information from others: “follow friends’ advice”
8. Rational processing: “making a pros and cons list”
9. Intuition: “follow your gut”
10. Religious: “use religious beliefs as a guide”
11. Supernatural: “let fate decide”

Findings: people believe that following one’s true self is an important strategy for making satisfying decisions

Question 15

Describe Schlegel et al.’s study on the case for a true self.

second study (2013)

Answer 15

Do people believe in a true self and use it as a guide to make decisions?

Method: 161 undergrads
* randomly assigned to list the 10 best words that descrbie either their
* - True self
* - Actual self
* How easy was it to think of the 10 words (1-10 scale)?
* - Assessing how accessible the true or actual self is
* Describe 2 recent big life decisions and self-reported decision satsifaction
* - averaged into an overall decision satisfaction score

Findings: subjective ease related to decision satisfaction in the true self condition, but not in the actual self condition
- difficulties accessing true self related to less satisfaction with decisions

Question 16

What does a true self imply?

Answer 16

idea of a true self resonates with people

people are more satisfied with their decisions when these are in accord with the true self than when they are not

Question 17

What is the problem with natural endowment?

(natural endowment is one element common to theories about the true self

Answer 17

Natural endowment of a true self is not a provable idea
- how to assess a baby’s potential?
- suggests that babies are born with specific destiny/motivations for adult life which seems unlikely

Question 18

What is the problem with the authentic feeling of a true self?

(“feels authentic” is an element common to theories about the true self)

Answer 18

Idea of true self requires that people have accurate self-knowledge about what their true self is like

BUT, lots of research suggests that our self-concepts are full of inaccuracies and are distorted
- e.g., better-than-average effect
- suggests that no self-concept is fully true
– Baumeister: we have several “false selves” and several “non-false self-concepts”

Question 19

What is the problem with people naturally wanting to be true to themselves?

Answer 19

True self seems to be about social desirability, rather than acting in line with one’s unique characteristics
- in daily diary study, people report feeling most authentic when accepting external influence when making personal decisions
- people report feeling most authentic when exhibiting desirable personality traits, rather than their actual personalities
- people assume that others are being their “true selves” when they are behaving in a morally good way

Question 20

Describe Fleeson & White’s study on authenticity and the Big Five (2010).

(When do people feel most authentic?)

Answer 20

** Method ** : 97 participants in a lab study
- Participated in 10, one-hour-long lab sessions in small groups
- each lab session consisted of 1-2 activities
– e.g., playing Twister, painting a picture, discussing medical ethics
- during activities, self-reported on:
– ** “State” Big Five **: how extroverted, aggreable, open to new experiences, conscientious, emotionally stable are you right now?
— different from “trait” Big Five: how someone typically describes themselves
– ** “State” authenticity **: how authentic do you feel right now?

people vary in how authentic they feel moment to moment and in their “state” Big Five ratings:
- personality-consistency hypothesis: people feel most authentic when behaving consistently with their trait/typical personality
- desirable-trait hypothesis: exhibiting certain traits make people feel more authentic, thus people will feel more authentic when acting in those ways

results: evidence for desirable-trait hypothesis
- authenticity was positively associated with acting extroverted, agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable, regardless of the participant’s trait/typical Big Five personality

since these are ways of behaving that are generally valued by society, suggests that people feel more authentic when behaving in a way that’s seen as desirable by others

Question 21

What is the conclusion on the true self?

(Baumeister, 2019)

Answer 21

The true self is more of a guide, than a reality

which of the many “non-false self-concepts” matters most pragmatically?

Question 22

What is a desired reputation?

Answer 22

Desired reputation = what is valued by society (ideals) + what distinctive role one’s own abilities and traits are best suited to (actual self)

the most important “non-false self-concept”
- reputation determines how you will be treated by others
- behaviour should be guided by desired reputation in order to be treated well by others

Question 23

What are the implications of a desired reputation?

Answer 23

Hypothesis: people will feel most authentic when their actions are consistent with their desired reputation
- consistent with findigns that people feel authentic when accepting external influence and behaving in a socially desirable way

achieving desired reputation is an ongoing project

desired reputation is slightly different with different audiences
- probably more similarities than differneces
- different working self-concepts