Lecture 4 - Self and motivation Flashcards
20 statements test
people need to answer the question -> Who am I?
it is coded in 2 categories - personal characterisics (abstract, stable traits that exist by themselves) vs roles and memberships (context dependent behaviors)
Kenya - 20 statement test
undergraduates - most exposed to Western culture -> responses similar to American undergraduates -> independent self favored
workers in Nairobi more responses favoring interdependent self
semi-nomadic tribes (Masai, Samburu) -> almost all respones favoring interdependent self
indepedent self
- self experienced as distinct from others
- self-defining aspects are within the individual
- self is bounded and stable
- ingroup boundaries are relatively permeable
interdependent self
- self is fundamentally connected to others
- key aspects of identity are grounded in relationships
- self is fluid, situation-dependent
- ingroup-outgroup distinction is solid
self concept in the brain
participants - Western expact in China and Chinese
- activation patterns in Chinese participants = the same areas were activated when thinking about selves and mothers (particularly, in medial prefrontal cortex - area previously linked to self-representations)
- Western participants → patterns differ → thinking about other people requires different brain regions than thinking about selves
what are the proximal and distal causes related to self concept?
distal causes - agriculture (rice vs wheat)
proximal causes - education (promotes analytical thinking), also on local level
entity theory of self
aspects of self are resistant to change across one’s life because they are innate
incremental theory of self
aspects of self are malleable and can be improved because they depend on one’s efforts
effects of praising effort vs intelligence
children solving easy vs hard puzzles
praising intelligence -> want to work with easier puzzles (innateness)
praising effort -> want to work on harder puzzless (growth mindset)
self concept and self consistency
participants needed to describe themselves in different contexts (authority, peer, group, alone)
-USA - self descriptions generally more positive and rather stable
Japan - self descriptions most positive when alone, the most critical when accompanied by authority
role of cognitive dissonance
prominent in individualistic culture -> stable self -> if you act inconsistently with stable self, you enter cognitive dissonance
interdependent self - more flexibile self perception - cognitive dissonance is hypothesized not to cause that much negative effects (follow up study showed it was not exactly the case)
When cognitive dissonance matters for interdependent self?
When Japanese needed to make decisions for their friends, not for themselves
example: they needed to choose menu items and rate them in accordance to their friend liking -> then they needed to choose between middle ranged items in the ranking - then while rating items again, chosen items got rated higher (justification: my friend will like what I choose for them) = importance of peer consistency
self concept and self awareness (how do you remember situations in life?)
through “I” lense - subjective self awareness - independent self
through “me” lense - objective self awareness - interdependent self - seeing themselves through situational contexts
What happens when “me” perspective is made more salient?
example: putting mirror in the room
Americans become more self crititical, but there is no difference observed for Japanese (who are naturally more atuned to “me” perspective)
personality
differences in characteristic thoughts, feelings, behavior when situational variables are held constant
OCEAN
- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
What personality factors has been found in Chinese participants?
CPAI
- interpersonal relatedness - harmony, relational orientation, tradition (unique)
- social potency - leadership, adventurousness, extraversion
- individualism - defensiveness, self-orientation
- dependability - responsibility, optimism, trustworthiness
What factor is missing from Chinese personality inventory?
openness to experience!
How universal is OCEAN?
big 5 is fairly cross-culturally robust (at least in industralized populations of students….
-> in non-industrial populations it is more expected to find just 2 factors
1. does it tap into all personality variability? (example: Chinese inventory)
2. reference-group effect (example: punctuality in UK and Italy)
- factors may be found but what do they mean?
Maslow hierarchy of needs
social needs -> self actualization (mastery), self-esteem (self enhancement), love and belonging (connectedness)
connectedness motivation
difference in how it is realised
independent self -> acting as individual agents, distinct from others -> emphasis: unique
interdependent self -> acting as relational agents, consistently with others -> emphasis -> belonging