lecture 10 Flashcards
What is the rouge test
a self recognition test
- determines whether a human/other can recognize themselves in a mirror
- a mark placed on the childs forehead
- baby younger than 18 months doesnt make the connection between itself and the person in the mirror; will look behind the mirror to search for the person in mirror
- child older than 18 months notices a link between itself and image in the mirror; “whats that on my forehead?”
animals
- social behaviour - act aggressivley or uninterested
- reflection stage - whys that animal copying me
- self direcrted behaviour - recognizes it as themself; investiages themselves
what is self
- A psychological structure or process that is involved in attending to, thinking about, evaluating and regulating the individual
- The entire system of an individual’s knowledge, evaluation, and regulation of themselves.
- Self involves a number of distinct mental abilities
- ability to think about oneself across time,
- introspect on one’s private states and
- represent oneself in one’s mind and to others in abstract,
symbolic ways.
what is the I and the ME
- William James: individuals have the capacity for
- being a thinking subject: ontological self, I (knower)
- the object of their thinking at the same time: epistemological self, Me (known)
I (ontological self)
- The part of the self that observes, thinks, and reflects.
- Represents the knower or the subject engaging in self-awareness.
- psychological nature, personality
- “I” am _____
ME (epistemological self)
- The part of the self that is observed or described.
- Includes:
- Physical aspects (body, possessions).
- Social aspects (relationships, family).
- Psychological aspects (traits, beliefs, emotions).
- “I am thinking about myself”
the self is “me” seen from the
standpoint of “I.”
three concepts of structure of self
- Knowledge structure (Knower & Known )
- Based on reflexive consciousness
- people use their self- awareness, build up extensive stores of information about themselves
- I am smart
- I am tall
- I like meeting people
- Interpersonal self (Belonger)
- selves emerge from interpersonal relations
- would a person living alone on an island need a name?
- Executive self (Doer)
- A self makes choices, initiates action, exerts control over the
environment, and regulates its own responses and inner processes
- A self makes choices, initiates action, exerts control over the
what is self reflexivity?
- Reflexivity refers to the ability to think about oneself:
- Example: Looking in the mirror and recognizing “that’s me.”
- Humans can introspect on emotions, thoughts, and moral judgments.
what is self knowledge?
declarative knowledge
- conscious and verbalized beleifs about oneself (self esteem and self-schema; organized structures about ones traits and identity;things u think u know abt urself)
- The facts and impressions that we consciously know and can describe
- organizes memories and impressions
procedural knowledge
- non-verbalized, unconscious patterns of behaviour
- knowledge expressed through actions and not words
- rational schemas; unconscious patterns in relationships; learned from past relationships
- automatic behaviours and responses relfecting self concept
what are the 4 functions of the self + explain
self regulation
- Managing impulses and directing behavior toward goals.
information processing filter
- Filtering relevant information and forming a coherent self-concept.
Relational Understanding:
- Understanding others’ emotions and behaviors
identity
- Establishing one’s role in a social hierarchy or community.
self esteem
- Low self-esteem: depression, anxiety, loneliness, dissatisfaction with life, helplessness, delinquency
- High self-esteem: satisfied, relaxed, cheerful, confident but self enhancement is related to problems in relationships and worse mental health
- Biology of self esteem
- connections between reward centers in
brain and regions related to information
processing about self.
- connections between reward centers in
- Attempting to improve the academic performance of struggling college students by bolstering their self–esteem: An intervention that backfired. (Forsyth et al., 2007)
- Low performing students in introductory psychology course
- Self responsibility group: 1/3 received message about self responsibility for grade
- Self esteem boost: 1/3 received self esteem boost message
- Control group; 1/3 received no message
- Self esteem boost group showed increase in self esteem but
performed much worse on finals
types of self esteem
- trait Self-Esteem:
- Stable over time; reflects long-term evaluations of self-worth.
- State Self-Esteem:
- Fluctuates based on situations and external feedback
self schema
- coherently organized ideas about self: where the declarative self
resides- We process information based on our schemas
- May limit world view
- Not based only on memories of specific events:
- loosing all memory of specific events , self-schemas (I am social)
remained intact
- loosing all memory of specific events , self-schemas (I am social)
self reference effect
- Self-reference effect: any information tied to self-schema better stored in LTM
- Increases accessibility
- Explains why your most meaningful memories stay with you the longest
- Depends on culture
- Chinese culture information thought in terms of parents also shows the self-reference effect
example
- being forced to remember words
- ppl remembered words bettwe when they associated them with themselves
self efficacy
- self schemas about one’s abilities, characteristics
- If we think we are sociable, we are more likely to seek out the company of others
- If we think we are academically capable, we are more likely to go to college
- Certain racial groups and socioeconomic classes are taught that they don’t have ability to do certain things
- Successful role models can help
- “I can do it too”
possible selves
- The images we have, or can construct, of the other possible ways we
might be- Possible future selves may affect goals
- Elementary school children asked to describe their future academic selves (Anderman, et al.,1999)
- Future academic self as good student, better academic performance in grades 6 &7
- Desired future self (Vignoles et al., 2008)
- Self-esteem, competence, and meaning
- Continuity: want to maintain the same identity
ideal self
- reward based goals
ought self
- punishment avoidance goals
The procedural self
unconscious behaviours that express who you are
rational self
- social skills, styles of relating to others
- based on past experience and how we relate to important people in life
implicit selves + implicit self esteem
- unconscious self knowledge
- People with high implicit self-esteem respond more quickly when “me” and “good” are paired than when “me” and “bad” are paired
- Damaged: high implicit, low explicit associated with depression
- Fragile: high explicit, low implicit, associated with loneliness,
narcissism
Implicit Association Test (IAT):
- Measures unconscious biases and implicit self-esteem.
- Discrepancy between high explicit and low implicit self-esteem can result in:
- Loneliness.
- Narcissistic tendencies.
Acquiring and changing self
- Can the procedural self—or selves—be changed?
- difference between declarative and procedural knowledge
- Declarative: can be taught by reading or listening to lectures
- Procedural: through experience, practice and feedback are important
- difference between declarative and procedural knowledge
The narrative self
- Developing a sense of self (McAdams, 2013): three stages build on each other
- Actor: learn to see oneself as an actor, develop skills, traits and roles that allows oneself to take their position in society, starts in early childhood
- Agent: Develop a guiding framework of values & goals, plan for future and develop values that allows making those choices wisely, around 7-9 years old
- Author: of own biography, process begins in adolescence and focusses on understanding and writing our life story i.e., our narrative self
- The stories you tell about yourself is your narrative self
- It is necessary to dive into individual stories and unique aspects to really grasp what it means
- humans construct their identity as a story over time
how many selves do we have
- Do we have multiple selves
- Working self-concept: many selves, depends on where you are and with whom you are.
- Future self: Those who see their present and future selves as the same person do better in college
- Problems with this theory
- A unitary and consistent sense of self is associated with mental health
- Deciding which self to be: which self makes this decision
- Where does one stop fractioning the self?
really real self
- Bandura: deep down a single self may be running the show
- The core unchanging self perhaps William James’ “I”
- External appearances, attitudes, and behaviors change across
situations and over time, but the one who does the experiencing is still in there someplace, watching - The sense of being the same person persists across the entire life span
- Even with brain damage, memory loss, and mental illness
- External appearances, attitudes, and behaviors change across
- Working Self-Concept:
- Different aspects of self activated in different contexts (e.g., student, friend, parent).
- Evidence suggests:
- Unified self-concept correlates with better mental health and decision-making.
physical self descriptions
- Refer to physical qualities that do not imply social interaction;
- “identity card” type information
- examples:
- “I am female”; “I am a redhead.”
- “I am 19.” “ I am in….” Ontario.”
- examples:
social self descriptions
- Refer to relationships, group memberships, social roles, and
attitudes which are socially defined and validated- examples:
- “I am a son”; “I am Canadian”;
- “I am an Expos fan.” “I am a liberal.
- examples:
psychological self descriptions
- Refer to psychological traits and states and to attitudes that do
not refer to particular social referents - examples:
- “I am shy”; “I am happy”;
- “I am ambitious”; “I am thrifty”;
- D. Holistic Self-Descriptions
- Refer to characteristics so comprehensive or vague that they
do not distinguish one person from another - examples:
- “I am me”; “I am a human being
- Refer to characteristics so comprehensive or vague that they
