Lecture 1 - Self-Awareness Flashcards
Social descriptors
Group membership e.g. student, English
Personal descriptors
Idiosyncratic traits and close personal relationships e.g. young, outgoing
Types of identity
Social and personal identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1979)
Distinction between individual and collective
Brewer and Gardner (1996) – 3 types of self:
(1) Individual – personality traits that distinguish you from others (e.g. friendly)
(2) Relational – dyadic relationships that assimilate you to others (e.g. mum)
(3) Collective – group membership (e.g. academic)
Affected by context
Self awareness
Psychological state (not aware of ourselves all the time)
Some more self-aware than others
Traits, feelings, behaviour
Reflexive thought ‘fundamental part of human beings’
Realisation of being individual (sets us apart from animals, not born with)
Develop between 1.5 and 2 years
Mirror test (Gallup, 1970)
Test whether child/animal are aware whether the image they see in the mirror is themselves
Touch mark on selves or reach out to touch it in mirror
Some animals pass the mirror test e.g. chimps
Private self
Act according to thoughts, feelings, attitudes
Public self
Social image
Can be seen and evaluated by others
Evaluation apprehension (people often more nervous and uncomfortable)
Enjoy success, admiration
Adhere to social standards of behaviour
Self-conscious – can effect behaviours e.g. tongue-tied or errors
Chronic self-awareness
Very stressful – constantly aware of shortcomings
Avoidance behaviour: drinking, drugs (defence mechanisms for chronic self-awareness)
Big issue in teenagers – identity goes through a strong sense of development
Reduced self-awareness
Deindividuation
No monitoring of own behaviour (e.g. impulsive, reckless)
Mindfulness
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1991)
Incorporates self-awareness
Additionally includes acceptance, and not being reactive
Goes beyond awareness of self
Heightened private self-consciousness
More intense emotion
Accurate self-perception (inward looking so better able to judge/adjust internal state to react to things and maintain positive self)
Adhere to personal beliefs
(+) Less stress related illness
(-) Depression and neuroticism
Heightened public self-consciousness
Focus on perception by others
Nervousness
Loss of self-esteem
Adhere to group norms, avoid embarrassment (conscious with what other people think)
Concern with physical appearance (self and others)
Self knowledge
Self-awareness – access information
How you store information about yourself (schema)
Same cognitive processes for self as others
Self-schemas
Act, think, behave, feel
Stereotypes of yourself
Highly structured cognitive network used to make sense of the world, predictions, and what others and ourselves are likely to do in different situations
In different contexts, different nodes will be activated
Self-schematic
Important part of self-concept
Significant part of identity
Target of insults
Aschematic
Not that important to me
Not important part of self
Control theory of self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981)
Requires self-awareness: assess whether goals met (measure ourselves by)
Test – operate to change – test – exit
Does current self meet those standards?
Self-regulation = bring to standard and then process stops
Different private/public standards
Need a clear goal/standard trying to reach for good self-regulation
Self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987)
Three types of self-schema
Actual self (present), ideal self (like to be), self ought (should be)
Differences between the selves is where change is driven from
Change highlighted by emotions feel when there is a change between selves
Motivate change and if fail:
Actual – ideal: dejection (e.g. disappointment)
Actual – ought: agitation (e.g. anxiety)
Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954)
Objective benchmark in similar people
For performance generally downward comparison (seek out people who perform slightly worse than us to give positive self-concept)
But also upwards in some situations (which can affect self-esteem)
Self-evaluation maintenance (Tesser, 1988)
How we deal with upward social comparison situations:
(1) Exaggerate target’s ability
(2) Change target
(3) Distance self from target (emphasise how different they are)
(4) Devalue comparison dimension
Medvec et al. (1995) – analysis of facial expressions of winners in the Olympics
Found silver medallists were least happy (making upward comparison) whereas bronze medallist more likely to have comparison with rest of field
Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979)
Use different self-concepts dependent on contextual factors
If we put ourselves into (meaningless) groups, we become attached to these groups and are more negative to outgroups
Personal identity = unique personal attributes, relationships and traits
Social identity = defines self by group membership – associated with inter-group behaviour/group norms
Self-categorisation theory (Turner et al., 1987)
Self-categorisation to groups – internalise group attributes – collective self – social identity
Meta-contrast principle (extenuate differences between groups, extenuate similarities within group). Idealise positive traits within group and extenuate differences between in-group and out-group
BIRGing – ‘basking in reflected glory’ – want to be associated with people doing well
If group categorisation too salient, perception of self and others becomes depersonalised (people act in accordance with group image rather than own identity)
Self-motives
Motives that influence development of the self
Self-assessment
Desire for accurate and valid info, seek out truth about self
Self-verification
Desire to confirm what they know, seek out consistency about self
Self-enhancement
Desire to maintain good image, seek favourable info about self
Self-affirmation theory
Publicly look to affirm positive aspects (e.g. boasting)
Self-serving attribution bias
Individualist cultures
=> Independent Self
Autonomous individual, separate from context
Focus on internal traits feelings, thoughts, abilities
Unitary and stable across situations
Acting true to internal beliefs and feelings, promoting own goals and differences from others
Collectivist cultures
=> Interdependent Self
Connected with others and embedded in social context
Represented in terms of roles and relationships
Fluid and variable self, changing across situations
Belonging, fitting in and acting appropriately, promoting group goals and harmony
Insults
Insults = manifestation of different cultures (Semin & Rubini, 1990)
Compared insults in Northern (individualist) Italy and Southern (collectivist) Italy
