Me, Myself and I Flashcards
What did Tajfel and Turner (1979) split identity into?
social identity
personal identity
identify the researcher(s) who split the types of self into 3 distinct types
Brewer and Gardner (1996)
what is ‘individual self’?
personal characteristics that distinguish you from others
what is ‘relational self’?
dual relationships with the people around you
this is effected by the people around you
what is ‘collective self’?
refers to group membership
who you belong in a group
what is self-awareness?
described as a psychological state
individuals not aware of ourselves all the time
explain the mirror test
(Gallup, 1970)
- used to examine whether infants or animals have self-awareness
- placed child in-front of mirror
- let child see their reflection
- child taken away from mirror
- bright marker is put on child’s face
- researchers see if child touches mark on themselves or on reflection in mirror
how does one pass the mirror test?
- child must demonstrate the ability to use reflection to view mark on body
- looking at if child touches the mark seen in the reflection or the mark on themselves
- if they touch reflection = indication of no self-awareness
- if they touch the mark on themselves = indicates understanding that reflection is themselves and not another person –> showing self-awareness
identify two types of self
- private self
- public self
explain ‘private self’
private self refers to thoughts, feelings and attitudes
explain ‘public self’
refers to social image
this can be seen and evaluated by others
explain chronic self-awareness
- aka self-consciousness
- very stressful
- individual constantly aware of imperfections
- split into two types: heightened private and heightened public self-awareness
explain heightened private self-consciousness
- more inward looking/thinking of oneself
- results in more accurate perception of oneself due to being more aware of internal state
- more likely to adhere to personal beliefs as individual more focused on them
- less stress related illnesses as individual is attending to their personal state due to being more aware
- inward looking can lead to neuroticism (abnormally sensitive) and depression
- associated with more intense experience of emotion
explain heightened public self-consciousness
- more outward looking
- focused on attention/perception of others
- associated with nervousness
- linked to low self-esteem as very focused on what others think
- tend to adhere to group norms to avoid embarrassment
- individuals very focused on how they look due to external focus looking at themselves
- also focused on how others look
explain reduced self-awareness
- can result in deindividuation
- this is where individual identifies with large group and is less likely to monitor own behaviour as a result
- results in more risky, reckless, impulsive behaviour
how does mindfulness link to self-awareness?
- positive activity
- incorporates self-awareness
- lifts mood and reduces anxiety
- focuses on more positive aspect of relating to self-awareness
- goes beyond self-awareness to include acceptance
define schemas
- mental framework that helps us understand the world around us
define self-schema
- in relation to self-awareness, seen as stereotypes of ourselves
- idea that we have image of ourselves that we use to make sense of the world
- these help us predict what will happen
How do we store knowledge of ourselves?
- store self-knowledge in self-schemas
- idea is we have image of ourselves that we use to make sene of the world and predict what will happen
- this knowledge helps us predict what will happen and then decide how to react/behave
- in certain contexts, certain nodes = activated and in other contexts, other associations will be activated
- information can be described as self-schematic and aschematic
define self-schematic
information that is important to part of self-concept
define aschematic
information that is not important to part of self-concept
Identify 3 areas of theories that discuss how self-schemas develop
How self-schemas develop based on:
- how you think you should be
- how you compare yourself to other individuals
- how you think of yourself as part of a group/compare yourself to other groups
Outline the control theory of self-regulation
(Carver & Scheier, 1981, 1998)
(How self-schemas develop based on: how you think you should be)
- requires self-awareness
- requires individual to have set some standards to measure themselves by
- standard must be clear and defined
- these standards are then monitored to see if they have been met
- self-regulation = idea that you can repair your view of yourself to the standards that you have (individual tests themselves to see if standard has been met)
- if standard not met –> individual operates to change that
- test again
- repeat
- works to develop yourself to how you feel you ought to be
- you can have different public/private standards of yourself
Outline the self-discrepancy theory
(Higgins, 1987)
(How self-schemas develop based on: how you think you should be)
- refers to self-reflection and development of self-construct
- Higgins identifies 3 types of self-schemas
Actual, Ideal, Ought - Higgins elaborates the process by which one self-regulates
- discrepancies between schemas leads to emotions
- emotions are relevant to whether you’re thinking of public or private standard
- discrepancy between actual and ideal self leads to more personal emotional responses = dejection (disappointment)
- discrepancy between actual and ought self leads to more public emotional responses = agitation, anxiety etc.
define actual schema (Higgins, 1987)
information about who you are
define ideal schema (Higgins, 1987)
information about how you would like to be
define ought schema (Higgins, 1987)
information about how you should be
Outline Social comparison theory
(Festinger, 1954)
(How self-schemas develop based on: how you compare yourself to other individuals)
- developing self-schema by considering how you compare to other people
- learn about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others
- helps us establish benchmark to where we sit in regards to other people
- we make downward comparison = where we look down on others rather than ourselves
- tend to seek out people who are not as good as you
- tend to seek out people who will validate how we are feeling
Outline self evaluation maintenance
(Tesser, 1988)
(How self-schemas develop based on: how you compare yourself to other individuals)
- theory describes how we psychologically deal with upward comparisons
- to deal with uc, engage in processes to make ourselves feel better about ourselves
1/ exaggerate target’s ability
(i.e.: ‘i won’t compare myself to them because they’re too good’)
2/ change target
(i.e.: ‘nevermind them, move onto another person’)
3/ distance self from target
(i.e.: ‘they’re completely different from me’)
4. devalue comparison dimension
(i.e.: ‘who cares about X, I care about Y’)
- by doing these processes, we develop self-schema
Outline social identity theory
(Tajfel and Turner, 1979)
(How self-schemas develop based on: how you think of yourself as part of a group/compare yourself to other groups)
- idea that we use different self-concepts depending on contextual factors
- personal identity: more focused on your own unique characteristics
- social identity:more focused on groups characteristics
Outline self-categorization theory
(Turner et al., 1987)
(How self-schemas develop based on: how you think of yourself as part of a group/compare yourself to other groups)
- extension of self-identification theory
- this theory looks at the social cognitive processes
- idea that you categorise yourself into groups, internalise group attributes, forms part of collective self –> leads to social identity
- meta-contrast principle is idea that you accentuate similarities within your group and differences between your group and outgroups
- tend to idealise positive traits in own group and by extension, yourself
- accentuate differences between ingroup and outgroup (usually emphasised with negative traits)
- BIRGing (basking in reflected glory) is the idea of being associated with people who do well
- group categorisation too salient (noticeable) perception of the self and others becomes depersonalised
- taking on group attributes more than own identity
- this can be negative if it involves treating other groups negatively
Identify 3 motives for developing the self
1/ self assessment
wanting to find out more about ourselves
2/ self verification
wanting to confirm what we know, reinforce what we think is right (positive or negative)
3/ self enhancement
desire to maintain good image, seek favourable information about the self, publicly look to confirm our characteristics
Explain individualistic cultures view of the self
Western society
- individuals think of themselves as more independent, autonomous
- looking to internal thoughts, feelings and traits
- more likely to act true to internal beliefs and feelings
- promote own goals and differences from others
Explain collectivist cultures
Eastern society
- individuals seen as more interdependent self
- self is often determined by the roles in society, relationships
- being loyal, having family networks are valued more strongly and therefore influence individuals sense of self more strongly
- suggested that this evolved with economic development of Western culture
