Self and Social Identity

Question 1

What is the social self?

Answer 1

What makes you, you
e.g. perosnality traits
history of things done
unique social relationships
group memberships

Question 2

What is the idea of self-concept split into ?

2 main things

Answer 2

• Social identity e.g. nationality, ethnic identity, if you’re a student
• Personal identity e.g. daughter of Jan and eric, girlfriend of Alfie

Question 3

Tell me about the independent self?

Fiske, Kitayama, Markus & Nisbett (1998)

Answer 3

• bounded, stable and autonomous
• personal attributes guide action
• formulated by personal goals
• responsible for own behaviour
• competitive
• achievement-oriented

Question 4

Tell me about the interdependent person?

Fiske, Kitayama, Markus & Nisbett (1998)

Answer 4

• connected, fluid, flexible
• participated in social relationships that guide action
• defines life by contributing to the collective
• responsible with others for joint behaviour
• is cooperative
• is oriented to the collective

Question 5

What are relational schemas?

Answer 5

Baldwin, 1992
Learnign through social interaction
Social schemas combine to build a pattern of intercation which routiely occurs and is activated by the social situation

We learn to anticipate these relational schemas using “IF” and “THEN”

e.g. imagine a venn diagram with three circles, schemas for self (me and myself) , relationship schemas (memories of past and future expectations) and schema for other people

Question 6

What are we dependent on?

Answer 6

Dependent on:
◦ Experiences
◦ Situation
◦ Social surroundings
◦ Social judgement and norms
◦ Personality traits
Activating multiple self concepts i.e., the good self, bad self, hoped for,
feared self, ideal, possible and ought self
 Called the Working self concept – any self concept that is constantly
changing

Question 7

What is ‘assimilation effect’ ?

Answer 7

Where we perceive ourselves to be more like significant others.

Question 8

What is contrast effect?

Answer 8

Where we perceive ourselves to be different to others

Question 9

When can our self perceptions shift?

Answer 9

Depending on the situation - known as self-relevant thoughts.

Question 10

Give me examples of multiple self-concepts.

Answer 10

including the good self, bad self, hoped-for self, feared self, not-me self, ideal self, possible self, and ought self

Question 11

To define ourselves we consider what ?

3 things

Answer 11

Individuated self-concept – A person’s sense of unique identity that is different to other people.
Our interpersonal relationships with others – Dyadic relationships like parent child, lovers, friendships, or memberships with small, face to face groups which are networks of dyadic relationships
Our relationships with other groups – collective groups that we are associated with which don’t require personal relationships with group members such as common bonds or common identity i.e., being a student.

Question 12

Tell me what i mean by Individuated self-concept.

Answer 12

A person’s sense of unique identity that is different to other people.

Question 13

Tell me what i mean by interpersonal relationships with others

Answer 13

Dyadic relationships like parent child, lovers, friendships, or memberships with small, face to face groups which are networks of dyadic relationships

Question 14

Tell me what i mean by relationships with other groups

Answer 14

collective groups that we are associated with which don’t require personal relationships with group members such as common bonds or common identity i.e., being a student.

Question 15

Baumeister & Leary (1995)

Answer 15

Individuals define themselves through relationships and group affiliations, deriving self-worth from social identities. “Need to belong” is innate.

Question 16

Tell me about the Private Self

Answer 16

Comprises an individual’s inner thoughts, feelings, and personal attributes, hidden from others’ observation, shaped by internal factors like emotions, values, beliefs, and personal experiences.

Question 17

Tell me about the Public Self.

Answer 17

Reflects how we perceive others evaluating us, based on interactions and feedback. For example, if someone tells us we’re kind, we may incorporate that into our self-perception.

Question 18

Tell me about the Collective self

Answer 18

Involves internalized beliefs consistent with group identification. For instance, identifying as left-wing might lead us to see ourselves as fair and democratic.
that fitness community.

Question 19

Definition of Individualism :

Answer 19

Focuses on independence, uniqueness, and prioritizing individual needs over group needs (common in Western cultures).

Question 20

Definition of Collectivism:

Answer 20

Emphasizes interdependence, social connections, and prioritizing the needs of the group over individual needs.

Question 21

What is Self-Construal theory ?

Markus et al, 1980

Answer 21

explores how individuals shape their self-concept based on cultural influences, fitting into either independent or interdependent categories.

Question 22

What are relational schemas ?

Answer 22

Relational schemas are mental frameworks that represent patterns in interpersonal relationships, including self, others, and interaction dynamics.

Question 23

Give me an example of a relational schema

Answer 23

if someone has a schema that parents respond to their children’s cries, they may expect this behaviour from most parents and exhibit it themselves. These schemas can be shared or contrast with others’ schemas. Contrast effects are common.

Question 24

What are the three things that relational schemas are made up of ?

Answer 24

1. Schema for self
2. Schema for others
3. Relationship schemas/Interpersonal scripts
   These all combine to build a pattern of interaction which routinely occurs and is activated by a social situation

Question 25

What is meant by Interpersonal scripts ?

Answer 25

Interpersonal scripts are learned sequences of behaviours and responses that guide individuals through specific social interactions, providing guidelines on how to behave and what to say based on past experiences and social norms.
Learn to anticipate these schemas when using ‘IF’ or ‘When’ e.g. “If I work late my manager will think I’m a hard worker”.

Question 26

Tell me about Smith and Henry 1996

Answer 26

Smith and Henry (1996) asked students to describe (a) themselves, (b) an ingroup, and (c) a corresponding outgroup on 90 traits. (Ingroup was their subject and outgroup was another subject). After a delay, participants made speeded yes–no self-descriptiveness judgments of the same traits.

!!! Participants were quicker to identify traits shared with the ingroup compared to unshared traits. Three possible explanations emerged:
- Social cognitive theory
- People affiliate with groups mirroring their own attributes
- projection

Question 27

Tell me about social cognitive theory

Answer 27

Group attributes become part of the self-concept, linking mental representations of the self and the ingroup directly.

Question 28

Tell me about Projection.

Answer 28

Individuals project their own traits onto their ingroups, viewing the group based on their own characteristics.

Question 29

What are the three things that self-concept is influenced by?

Answer 29

Validity: Self verification through feedback in environment (‘Have I done the right thing’)
Consistency: self-confirmation, we want to ideally have an internally consistent idea about ourselves
Favourability: on the other hand, we want to feel good about ourselves – process is much more about self enhancement rather than self-verification. The outcome is a certain state of self-esteem.

Question 30

What is self-esteem ?

Answer 30

A positive attitude towards the self – vital for day-to-day functioning.

Question 31

What is self enhancement ?

Answer 31

Act of building ones self-esteem. Highly linked with the engagement of positive thinking and self-help techniques.

Question 32

How do we measure self- esteem?

4 things

Answer 32

1. Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale
2. Implicit association test
3. Attitude priming task
4. Stroop task

Question 33

What is self-affirmation?

Answer 33

Self-affirmation involves affirming one’s values and strengths to protect self-esteem
-Self-affirmation can mitigate the effects of stereotype threat by boosting confidence and self-worth.

Question 34

What is stereotype threat?

Answer 34

Stereotype threat occurs when individuals fear confirming negative stereotypes about their group, leading to anxiety, reduced performance & self-fulfilling prophecies

Question 35

Cohen et al., 2009

Longitudinal study

Answer 35

2 year longitudinal study
Investigated self-affirmation’s impact on stereotype threat on a range of backgrounds and abilities
- Found self-affirmation helped low performing, stereotyped African American students perform better than those in nonstereotyped, high performing groups who didn’t engage in self-affirmation
- Suggests self-affirmation buffers stereotype threat, improving performance in marginalized groups

Question 36

Self esteem build SELF ESTEEM and results in INGROUP ENHANCEMENT through :

2 things

Answer 36

Self-affirmation (Steele., 1998): Individuals adapt to info or experiences that are threatening to our self-concept. This works by alleviating discomfort by affirming unrelated concepts such as ‘I am not spell well but I excel in stats’
Social comparison: comparing ourselves to those worse off on the comparison point through self-reflection.
This builds our PERSONAL and SOCIAL identity

Question 37

What are the consequences of building personal and social identity ?

Answer 37

Consequences
Motivates individuals to seek membership in prestigious groups because being associated with such groups enhances their own self-worth
Become invested in the success and reputation of their groups, striving for their groups to achieve positive outcome
Feel attached to our groups

Question 38

What is perception influenced by ?

Answer 38

• Social context, raising questions about objectivity
• Our understanding of things is shaped by the wolrd aorun us - how much can we truly see things objectively.
• We see differences within groups but when we look at other groups we think of them as all being the same

Question 39

What is ingroup heterogeneity?

Answer 39

acknowledges differences within one’s own group

Question 40

What is outgroup homogeneity?

Answer 40

Perceives members of others groups as uniform.

Question 41

Brigham and Barkowitz., 1978

Answer 41

In an experiment, participants recognized ingroup members better than outgroup members, reflecting this bias. White people recognise white photos and black people recognise black faces. In group perception is better those in the ingroup.

Question 42

Linville et all., 1998

Answer 42

Another study on age perception showed discrimination between age groups, highlighting ageism as a form of prejudice.

Question 43

What is social identity theory?

Answer 43

(Tajifel & Turner., 1979)
Brings together self, groups and social cognition
Our sense of self is closely tied to our group memberships. The process of identifying with groups drives various interactions in both ingroups (groups we belong to) & outgroups (groups we don’t belong to)

Question 44

Tajfel and Wilkes 1963

Answer 44

Grouping objects and people
Explored how boundaries influence perceptions of similarity and dissimilarity.
Used a line ordering task with stimulus materials (spikes) to demonstrate this.
Participants easily ordered lines on a continuum.
When told there were two types of lines (A and B), perceptions slightly changed.
Creating boundaries led to overemphasis on differences between groups.
Showed that what works in the physical world with lines applies to the social world.
Demonstrated how perceptions are influenced by social categorization and group boundaries.

Question 45

In group and outgroup (Tajfel., 1963)

Answer 45

Group formation is a complex topic, often tied to shared experiences and interdependence. However, Tajfel proposed that categorization alone is enough to create groups.
To demonstrate this, he developed the minimal group paradigm.
While factors like interdependence and common fate are important (Lewin., 1948), Tajfel’s work suggests that categorization is the primary driver of group behaviour.

Question 46

Tell me about the minimal group paradigm

Tajfel et al., 1971

Answer 46

Involves assigning participants to groups based on arbitrary criteria. Even without meaningful differences between the groups, participants show favouritism toward their ingroup and discrimination against outgroups, highlighting the influence of social categorization on behaviour.
In the study put in groups based on arbitrary criteria based on dot estimator task, ptc consistently favoured own group giving more rewards to group members.