Navigating Self

Question 1

The Self

Answer 1

• A person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action
• We cannot know the true essence of the self, but we can describe its various forms
• includes self-consciousness, self-concept, social identity, and self-esteem

Question 2

The duality of the self

Answer 2

• The “I”: self-consciousness (the self as the agent observing); acute sense of awareness
• The “Me”: self-concept (the self as the object being observed); descriptive – ie. “I have property X”

Question 3

Test for emergence of self-awareness

Answer 3

• Mirror test typically used to test emergence of self-awareness (~18 months)
• However, not valid cross-culturally (inconsistent in Kenya, Peru, and some island nations)
• Other animal species can pass this test too

Question 4

Self-concept

Answer 4

• Descriptive component of the self
• Understanding/conception of one’s self as a physical, social, psychological, and moral being
• Involves various characteristics
• Includes self-schemas; ideal self, undesired self, and ought self; autobiographical memories
• Some people have more self-complexity in terms of self-concept than others

Question 5

Various characteristics within self-concept

Answer 5

• Personal Characteristics (friendly, happy, ambitious)
• Ascribed Identities (age, sex, race, daughter)
• Social and Group Identities (student, Conservative)
• Interests/Activities (painter, stamp collector, jazz fan)
• Material Possessions (owner of a Volkswagen)
• Abstract/Existential (me, a person)

Question 6

Schemas

Answer 6

• Cognitive knowledge structures or mental maps
• Provide a framework for encoding and integrating new and ambiguous information; informs us what to expect
• Affect how we select, interpret, organize, & evaluate experiences
• Ex. We have schemas for gender, social groups, parental figures, relationships, events, places, objects, nature, behaviours, etc. -> things that immediately come to mind when you say certain words
• • We also have schemas for our own self -> help us organize our personal experiences and beliefs; information that is relevant to the self

Question 7

3 ways that schemas influence how we select, organize, interpret, and evaluate experiences

Answer 7

• Guide attention (details we attend to in the environment)
• Fill in missing details (reconstructive memory)
• Interpret information that verifies our pre-existing beliefs (can lead to stereotyping, confirmation bias, belief perseverance)

Question 8

3 key self-schemas

Answer 8

• Ideal self: what a person wants to be
• • if your real self does not fit ideal self, you’ll be sad/disappointed
• Ought self: a person’s understanding of what others want him/her to be
• • if your real self does not fit ought self, you’ll be guilty/anxious; promotes prevention focus
• Undesired selves: what a person wants to avoid being
• all of these fall under the category of “possible selves”
• ideal self and ought self are “self guides” that people use to organize info and motivate behaviour (ex. if your ideal self is a prof, you’ll be motivated to get good grades in order to go to grad school and get your PhD)

Question 9

Perspectives: the “Looking Glass” self

Answer 9

• Charles Cooley
• The self is socially constructed
• Our sense of self is built upon the life-long experience of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others (ie. Through the looking glass)

Question 10

Perspectives: self-concept through self-narratives

Answer 10

• Dan McAdams
• Self-concept is formed my integrating life experiences into an internalized, evolving story of the self that provides the person with a sense of unity and purpose

Question 11

Self-construal

Answer 11

• The grounds of self-definition; how you see yourself (and your thoughts, feelings, and actions) in relation to others
• 3 types: independent, interdependent, metapersonal

Question 12

self construal types: independent

Answer 12

Self-definition based on differentiating oneself from others and focusing on unique attributes

Question 13

self construal types: interdependent

Answer 13

Self-definition based largely on relationships and close others (family, friends); greater emphasis on harmony with others

Question 14

self construal types: metapersonal

Answer 14

Self-definition based on unified connection; self understood to be fundamentally interconnected with all living things and the universe (self “at one with” the universe)

Question 15

social identity

Answer 15

• The social component of the self
• The self that we show to others; the part of ourselves that we use to create impressions
• Continuity: people can count of you to be the same person tomorrow as you were today
• Contrast: your social identity differentiates you from others; makes you unique in the eyes of others
• May have identity conflicts and identity deficits
• once we find a social identity we’re comfortable with (either through experimenting or accepting a ready-made social role), it usually remains fairly stable

Question 16

Multiple Selves

Answer 16

• We all have at least 2 selves: our inner, private self (self-concept) and the self we present to others (social identity)
• Self-concept differentiation: having multiple selves (self-concepts and/or identities) corresponding to multiple roles (ie. Are you the same with your friends as you are with your parents?)

Question 17

are multiple selves adaptive?

Answer 17

• Carl Rogers said no – believed in importance of having stable, core sense of self in every role
• Gergen and postmodern writers say yes – believed in importance of having identities tailored to the particular social context associated with each role

Question 18

Multiple Selves study: Donahue et al

Answer 18

• examined multiple selves in 2 samples according to degree of difference in self-ratings of traits and social rolls
• • Cross-sectionally: multiple selves -> depression, low self-esteem, and neuroticism
• • Longitudinally: low well-being, self-esteem in college -> multiple selves in middle age; relationship/career changes in college -> multiple selves 9 years later
• • Conclusion: highly differentiated self-concept reflects psychological fragmentation and lack of an integrated core self
• Limitation: correlational

Question 19

social comparison

Answer 19

• comparing skills/abilities with those of others

- begins at 5/6 and continues for rest of life

Question 20

private self-concept

Answer 20

• child’s first realization that there is a hidden side to the self that includes thoughts, feelings, and desires only they are aware of
• major step towards fully developing their self-concept

Question 21

shyness vs. social anxiety vs. introversion vs. social disinterest

Answer 21

• shyness: wanting to be social and be around people, but being held back by fear (“conflicted shyness”)
• social anxiety: discomfort related to social situations, or the anticipation of social situations
• introversion: enjoying being alone or in small groups
• social disinterest: preference for social isolation not motivated by anxiety/fear

Question 22

research findings on shyness

Answer 22

• shy babies are likely to remain shy as children, unless parents push them to be social
• overly controlling/protective parenting can lead to shyness
• shy people less likely to ask for help; more likely to interpret social situations negatively and feel that people dislike them
• shyness likely due to genetics and learned behaviours, like evaluation apprehension
• shy people have more reactive amygdalas, higher cortisol levels, and are more reactive to auditory stimuli

Question 23

evaluation apprehension

Answer 23

• the apprehension shy people feel regarding being evaluated by others
• want to avoid potentially negative judgment, so they avoid situations were that judgment could occur (ie. conversations, leading group meetings, etc.)
• this fear of being negatively evaluated is the root of shyness

Question 24

7 steps to overcoming shyness

Answer 24

• show up to situations that make you uncomfortable
• give yourself credit for successes rather than focusing on failures
• take baby steps by breaking big goals into smaller ones
• give unto others by focusing on the other person in the conversation instead of yourself
• exude warmth by maintaining eye contact, smiling, etc.
• anticipate failure, take it as a learning experience, and move on
• join the crowd without worrying about being perfect

Question 25

perspective-taking

Answer 25

• part of self-concept
• ability to see yourself from the perspective of others
• leads to objective self-awareness: seeing yourself as an object of others’ attention
• can sometimes lead to extreme self-conciousness (ie. during teenage years)

Question 26

self-esteem

Answer 26

• The evaluative component of the self
• Evaluations of self-concept; evaluation (positive vs. Negative) of oneself as a physical, psychological, social, or moral being
• Both affective (emotional) and cognitive
• Either global or specific (ie. you can have high self-esteem in academics, but low self-esteem in relationships)
• Can be measured implicitly (unconscious, ex. IAT) or explicitly (conscious, ex. self-report)

Question 27

6 myths of self-esteem

Answer 27

• High self-esteem is correlated with everything positive (ex. Being physically attractive, smart, kind, generous, etc.) -> only true for self-report, not objective report
• High self-esteem promotes success in school -> directionaly issue (what predicts what?)
• High self-esteem promotes success at work -> directionality issue
• High self-esteem makes you likable -> only true for self-report (though it does predict ability to initiate new friendships)
• Low self-esteem puts a person at greater risk of substance abuse and premature sexual activity (the opposite is actually true -> low self-esteem = more inhibition)
• Low self-esteem is a precursor to aggression and bullying (high self-esteem, especially when it becomes narcissistic -> threatened egotism is better predictor)

Question 28

Positive illusions about the self: the paradox

Answer 28

• often there is no obvious relationship between people’s accomplishments/virtues and their global self-esteem
• Ex. You can be successful and still have low self-esteem

Question 29

Positive illusions about the self: research findings

Answer 29

• findings are mixed
• In short term, positive illusions are associated with:
• • Psychological well-being and self-esteem
• • Better performance on experimental tasks
• In the long term, positive illusions are associated with:
• • Decreasing levels of well-being and self-esteem
• • Disengagement from college and increased likelihood of dropping out
• • Being less liked by peers (due to potential narcissism)
• • Higher levels of aggression

Question 30

Positive illusions in children

Answer 30

Research suggests that false self-esteem based on unconditional praise can actually inhibit academic performance

Question 31

early development of self-esteem

Answer 31

• begins when children recognize that expectations exist and then live up to them
• later related to self-comparison and then an internalized set of standards

Question 32

implicit measure of self-esteem

Answer 32

• Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test (SE-AIT): comparing how quickly people associate positive vs. negative words with themselves
• • implicit self-esteem score measured by subtracting me-unpleasant word pairs from me-pleasant word pairs
• large discrepancy between explicit self esteem and implicit self esteem is associated with narcissism (appear to have high self esteem but don’t), and those who are overly sensitive to opinions of others

Question 33

self-esteem and negative feedback

Answer 33

• studies show that post-negative feedback, those with low self-esteem are more likely to perform poorly and give up on subsequent tasks, whereas those with high self-esteem are more motivated to work harder and improve
• this is likely due to self-concept -> for low-self esteem people, the failure matches their self-concept, so they’ll believe they’ll just fail again the next time anyway (fear failure); for those with high self-esteem, they feel like it wasn’t reflective of them and they’ll likely do better next time (fear not succeeding)
• low-self esteem people are also less likely to request additional feedback if they’ve been told they did poorly (want to protect self-concept); not the case for high-self-esteem people

Question 34

social anxiety and ambiguous text messages

Answer 34

• research by Kingsbury & Coplan showed that those with higher social anxiety are more likely to interpret ambiguous text messages as negative
• socially-anxious participants were especially likely to interpret messages as negative if they were told the sender was female

Question 35

strategy for coping with negative events and its relation to self-esteem & self-concept/self-complexity

Answer 35

• following failure, people with high self-esteem focus on other areas of life in which things are going well
• this is easier to do if you have high self-complexity -> a failure in one area of your life doesn’t destroy your whole self concept as you have many other aspects of it

Question 36

collective self-esteem

Answer 36

• an individual’s global self-evaluation as a member of social groups/categories
• worthiness, personal value placed on membership, etc. make up these categories
• high collective self-esteem is related to better well-being (ex. older adults with high CSE have less health issues)

Question 37

defensive pessimism

Answer 37

• strategy in which someone expects to do poorly when faced with a challenge -> that way if they do poorly, it’s nothing new
• motivated by fear of failure
• can sometimes be positive if it motivates you to work extra hard to avoid that failure

Question 38

self-handicapping

Answer 38

• when a person deliberately does things that increase the probability that they’ll fail (provides an excuse for failure)
• ex. someone who doesn’t think they’ll do well on a test doesn’t study (self-handicapping), then blames the failure on the fact that they were unprepared (so they don’t have to feel like they aren’t smart)

Question 39

self-esteem variability

Answer 39

• magnitude of short-term fluctuations in self-esteem
• some people’s self-esteem is more variable (ie. influenced by events of life) than others’, for ex. if they are sensitive to social evaluation, concern about their self-view, etc.
• independent from self-esteem level

Question 40

identity crisis

Answer 40

• feelings of anxiety accompanied by efforts to define or re-define your individuality and social reputation
• includes identity deficits (when a person hasn’t formed an identity, perhaps due to discarding old values, and is therefore incapable of making decisions) and identity conflicts (incompatibility between aspects of identity - ie. wanting to work and have a family - called “approach-approach” conflicts because person wants to reach 2 incompatible goals)
• tends to happen in adolescence and/or middle age