Lecture 3 - Self-Structure Flashcards
Integration: Self concept clarity (outline)
(Campbell at al, 1996)
Is the extent to which self-beliefs are
(1) Clearly and confidently defined
(2) Internally consistent and stable
(3) there is a stable core
Integration: Self concept clarity (BPD)
In BPD there is volatility, the self changes quickly and is inconsistent from minute to minute
When you evaluate personality after each social interaction across 2 scales; quarrelsome - agreeable & Dominant - submissive, you find that BPD people are very inconsistent relative to non BPD people
Self discrepancies
Extent to which one’s actual self is consistent with ideal and ought standards
High self concept clarity and lack of discrepancy is
associated with better outcomes
Differentiation (basics)
Self representations differ by (2 things)
Self representations differ
1) by the number of self-aspects (attributes, roles, relationships, goals etc
(2) Degree of differentiation
Self complexity (theory)
Spillover
Affect extremities
Linville
When people have high self differentiation they have many aspects of their selves which are clearly defined and separate from one another. When they are lower, aspects may be more interconnected cognitively and less clearly defined.
Self aspects will be activated in the context of relevant experiences and these may impact how the self is viewed.
When self-knowledge is activated:
By a positive experience, the self-aspects will be associated with positive feelings
By a negative experience, the self-aspects will be associated with negative feelings
IMPLICATIONS
(1) Spillover, there will be co-activation of related self aspects
If something good or bad happens in one domain, it is more likely to spread to others if there is lower complexity (and so, more connections)
(2) Affect extremity hypothesis:
Those lower in self-complexity will experience greater swings in affect and self appraisal in response to life events (good and bad)
Self complexity (evidence)
Study 1
Does self complexity moderate affective reactions to failure?
Get Ptps
Use cards to measure the number of self-aspects and their differentiation
Evaluate baseline mood and self-evaluation
Manipulation: Give bogus success/failure feedback from analytic task
Assess mood and self-evaluation
Results: Low Self Complexity showed the largest change in mood and self-esteem following success/failure feedback
HSC showed less extreme change
Study 2
Field study to look at affect swings over 2 weeks
Self complexity measured
Ps completed affect diary for 14 days
People regularly experience good and bad life events
LSC was associated with greater variance in affect ratings over time
Study 3
Might self-complexity serve as a cognitive buffer against consequences of negative life events e.g. stress-related depression and illness?
Method: SC, depression, illness symptoms, and perceived stress measured at baseline and again in 2 weeks
Results: High SC associated with less depression, perceived stress, physical symptoms and illness following high levels of stressful life events vs LC people.
All 3 support the idea that it was not the self-content that was responsible for the effect but instead the structure of the self-concept.
Compartmentalization (theory)
Is the keeping of positive and negative information about the self in different categories
ie student hard working anxious studious (not compartmentalized)
athlete always working hard talented fit (compartmentalized)
If you can keep these separate, the positive aspects are less likely to be contaminated by negative aspects.
But the effectiveness depends on the relative importance and frequency of activation of the negative self aspect.
So they predicted an interaction; if negatives are important and frequently activated, compartmentalization could be a bad thing as there would be nothing to offset the negative self-view.
Compartmentalization (evidence)
Study 1
Recruited non-depressed sample
Measured compartmentalization via a card sort task
Compartmentalization was associated with high self-esteem and low depression in a random sample
Found no interaction effect
Study 2
Recruited non-depressed AND depressed sample
Did card sort task
Ps also indicated the IMPORTANCE of each self-aspect
Results:
Replicated study 1s findings
When negative self aspects are important, compartmentalization was associated with low self-esteem and high depression
Integration is protective when negative self-aspects are important
Compartmentalization (implications)
Keeping relatively unimportant negatives separate from more important positives so that positives do not trigger negatives
But if negatives are important and activate frequently, it is helpful to have negatives mixed with positives
Perhaps why people experience positive or negative self-worth
They may have either easy or hard access to positive or negative self knowledge.
Not important that people have negative self-attributes, it is what they do with them that matters (Ignore/compartmentalize vs accept/integrate).
Compartmentalization & Close relationships (theory & evidence)
Organization of self-knowledge minimizes the impact of negative beliefs on self-esteem and mood
Does compartmentalization of knowledge of a romantic partner affect relationship satisfaction?
Study
Recruit college students in an exclusive relationship
Assess compartmentalization of partner knowledge as well as evaluations of relationship satisfaction and their partner
Results:
IN NEW RELATIONSHIPS
There was a main effect on how positively or negatively you view your partner, higher = higher relationship satisfaction
IN OLDER RELATIONSHIPS
Integrating/not compartmentalizing moderates the effect of negative partner evaluation
Everyone with high positive partner evaluation has positive relationship satisfaction
In compartmentalized low partner evaluation there is low relationship evaluation
In integrated low partner evaluation, there was still higher relationship satisfaction
This integration of positives with the negatives acts like a buffer (ok, hes an ass BUT he does x, y z)
Cultural variability in social orientation (western)
Independence is prized
Attending to self, self assertion, uniqueness
Distinguishing self from others “squeaky wheel gets the grease”
Personal identity (traits, states, behaviors)
Self interest, personal happiness
Less holistic attention
In the west the emphasis is on the individual. Happiness and focus reflect that. There is a small divide between in and outgroups. The big divide is between the self and other individuals (even within one’s ingroup) . Aspects of the self are of the self as individual.
Cultural variability in social orientation (eastern)
Interdependence is prized
Attending to group, facilitating group harmony, fitting in
Self with others “the nail that stands out gets pounded down”
Collective identity (social roles and relationships)
Holistic attention
In the east the forces is on the group. There is a hard distinction made between in and outgroups. Much less distinction is made between those individuals within the ingroup. Aspects of the self are of the self “in relationship” with other people.
Cultural variability in social orientation (how does culture influence the self)
Task competion
Cultures give us opportunities to develop the self in the form of tasks we must complete. These tasks gain social approval from the group and so feel good. Over time, these are activated regularly and so become part of the core self-schema.
Cultural variability in social orientation (evidence)
(Wager & Cohen)
Idea is to see if cultural information is core or working.
Use the self reference effect. If cultural differences are core, should be a stronger memory trace, which would be detected with the self-reference paradigm.
Recruit Asians and westerners all living in NA
Present words. Evaluate and learn. Words should be sorted into trait for self, friend or not by asking:
Does this word describe you?
Does this word describe your friend?
Is the first letter a vowel?
Results
(1) RT to initial presentation of words
Shows working memory, working self concept.
What is activated NOW.
RT was faster for both groups with self relevant information than the other categories.
(2) After a 40 min delay, do a recognition task - was this shown before? And monitor RT
Shows if a word is core via the self-reference effect.
ie what is chronically activated
RT time was lower for Westerners with words encoded in relation to the self than for the other types.
FOR ASIANS
RTs for collective (vs. personal)
words encoded in relation to self than for words encoded in other vowel conditions
This is taken as evidence that cultural differences happen at the core level as culture gives tasks which activate these a lot and so they become core.
