Lecture 17 - The Self I Flashcards
What is the Self?
- the way we think about ourselves influence the way we interact etc.
- slippery concepts. not many straight fwd answers. definitional issues.
- for our purposes we are talking to the answer to the question ‘who am I’
- but psychological rather than physical - and faceted
FIX THIS CARD
Duality of the self
(James, 1890)
Self as an object that can be observed: “Me”
o Self-concept
Self as an agent doing the observing: “I”
o Self-awareness
♣ active processor of information, the knower.
What are the different levels of the self?
Brewer & Gardner, 1996
- Personal (individual) self
• Beliefs about private self - Relational self
• Self in context of interpersonal relationships
• E.g., intimate relationships - Collective self
• Self in relation to group memberships
• Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986)
What are some of the cultural differences in defining the self?
Western = says standing out is a good thing
• uniqueness, indiv. independent
• separate from other ppl
• autonomous
Eastern = the nail that stands out - bad
• interdependence and connectedness
• define themselves more in terms of their relationships to others
What are some of the gender differences in defining the self?
Women define more interdependent self - their relationships
stems from early childhood about girls being about intimacy e.g. as a mother, wife
men - more collective interdependence - focus on their memberships in large groups e.g. being Aussie, part of sports team
Of course there is considerable variability within both cultures and each genders
Is introspection a good method of getting to know one’s self?
What evidence is there to support this view?
Nisbett and Wilson (1977)
Wilson, Laser, and Stone (1982)
Problem: We don’t always have access to our internal states or their causes (willing of the able?)
Nisbett and Wilson (1977):
o Got participants to choose a pair of stockings from a display
o Showed a right-hand bias (the one on the right, proposed because world is right-handed dominate, leads to this tendancy to choose from the right)
o We don’t know the reasons for our decisions (well they generated reasons, but the stockings were all the same, so their points were moot)
^^this study just assumes their reason without really re-testing and w/o substantial evidence
Wilson, Laser, and Stone (1982):
• “Introspection” group (diary group):
o In a diary, recorded 1) various factors that could influence mood and 2) their mood
o Estimated the extent to which various factors influenced their moods
• “Observer” group:
o Estimated the extent to which various factors influence mood
• Result: The observer group was just as accurate as the introspection group
• Introspection doesn’t lead to insight about the causes of our moods
What is the self-perception theory?
When is this likely to come into effect?
(Bem, 1967)
• We infer who we are from what we do (our behaviour)
• Likely to occur when:
o We are unsure of our attitudes and feelings
o Our internal cues (attitudes and feelings) are weak
o We have no clear situational influence on our behaviour
o We chose the behaviour freely
We ask ourselves: Is the situation sufficient to explain behaviour?
If yes, then our behaviour is due to external factors
If no, then assume behaviour is due to internal reasons – it reveals something about the self
How do we work out whether the situation is sufficient to explain our behaviour?
We ask ourselves: Is the behaviour freely chosen?
If due to intrinsic motivation, then we will infer attitudes and feelings from behaviour
What is intrinsic motivation?
What is extrinsic motivation?
Intrinsic motivation: desire to engage in an activity because of internal reasons (you enjoy it)
Extrinsic motivation: desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures
FIX THIS CARD
(Lepper, Green, & Nisbett, 1973):
ν Rewards decrease intrinsic motivation
ϖ Kids who were promised and received a reward for drawing later showed less interest in drawing
