Self and Social identity theory

Question 1

What is our self concept made up of?

Answer 1

1. Social identity
2. Personal idenity

Question 2

Does our self concept change as we have more experience & relationships?

Answer 2

Yes

Question 3

What is it called when we perceive ourselves to be more like significant others..

Answer 3

Assimilation effect

Question 4

What is it called when we perceive ourselves to be different to others..

Answer 4

Contrast effects

Question 5

Are contrast effects more common, if so why?

Answer 5

Yes
* Contrast effects are mroe common as they’re viewed as a point of reference
* e.g. well I’m not like them becuase

Question 6

Is the self stable?

Answer 6

• • It is typically stable, but can vary across different social situations
• We possess knowledge about our social environment, which we use to adapt our behaviour to meet social demands.
• This flexibility leads to multiple self-concepts, including the good self, bad self, hoped-for self, feared self, not-me self, ideal self, possible self, and ought self.

Question 7

Can our self perceptions shift?

Answer 7

Yes, depedning on the sutuation - known as self relevant thoughts

Question 8

Why is it called a ‘working self concept’ ?

Answer 8

Becuase of the dynamic nature of the self
* It continually evolves based on expereince and context

Question 9

What do we consider when defining ourselves?

Answer 9

1. Individualised self concept - a persons unique sense of identity, diff to others
2. Our interpersonal relationship with others
3. Our relationships with other groups

Question 10

What did Baumeister & Leary., 1995 say?

Answer 10

That ..
* Individuals define themselves through relationships and group affiliations, deriving self-worth from these social identities
OUR NEED TO BELONG IS INNATE

Question 11

DESCRIBE THE PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND COLLECTIVE SELF Breckler & Greenwald., 1986

Answer 11

Private Self: individual’s inner thoughts, feelings, and personal attributes, hidden from others’ observation, shaped by internal factors like emotions, values, beliefs, and personal experiences.
Public Self: 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.
Collective Self: Involves internalized beliefs consistent with group identification. For instance, identifying as left-wing might lead us to see ourselves as fair and democratic.

Question 12

Give me some traits of an independent person

Answer 12

• bounded, stable, autonomous
• has personal goals
• competitive
• strives to feel good about self

Question 13

Give me some traits for the interdependent self

Answer 13

• fluid, flexibile
• orientated to the collective
• cooperative
• responsible with others for group behaviour
• relies on social relationships to guide action

Question 14

Are most people independent or interdependent?

Answer 14

Most people are a mix of both, but sit to one side more

Question 15

What is individualism?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What is collectivism?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What is the self construal theory?
(Markus et al., 1980)

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What are relational schemas?
(Baldwin., 1992)

Answer 18

Mental frameworks that represent patterns in interpersonal relationships, including selfm others, and interaction dynamics
* Learning through interaction
* We have these schemas based on our experiences with people

Question 19

Give an example of a relational schema

Answer 19

For example, 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 20

What are relational schemas made up of?

Answer 20

1. Schema for self
2. Schema for others
3. Relationship schema/Interpersonal scripts

Question 21

What do the parts of relational schema do?

Answer 21

They all combine to build a pattern of interaction which routinely occurs and is activated by a social situation

Question 22

What are interpersonal scripts?

Answer 22

• Learned sequences of behaviors and responses that guide individuals through specific social interactions,
• Provides 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 23

Describe Smith & Henry (1996) study design

oningroup, outgroup and themselves

Answer 23

• 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.

Question 24

Describe Smith & Henry (1996) study findings

Answer 24

Participants were quicker to identify traits shared with the ingroup compared to unshared traits.

Question 25

What are the three explanations of Smith & Henry 1966 study?

Answer 25

1. Social Cognitive Theory: Group attributes become part of the self-concept, linking mental representations of the self and the ingroup directly.
2. People affiliate with groups mirroring their own attributes. Individuals seek groups with similar characteristics to themselves.
3. Projection: Individuals project their own traits onto their ingroups, viewing the group based on their own characteristics.

Question 26

What is self concept influenced by?

Answer 26

**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 27

What is self esteem?

Answer 27

A psoitive attitude towards the self, it is vital for everyday functioning

Question 28

What builds self esteem?

Answer 28

Self enhancement and results in positive group enhancement
* Also, self esteem is highly linked with positive thinking and self help technqiues

Question 29

How is self esteem measured?

Answer 29

1. Rosenbergs self esteem scale
2. IAT
3. Attitude priming task
4. Stroop task

Question 30

What is self affirmation?
Cohen et al 2009

Answer 30

Involves affirming one’s values and strengths to protect self esteem

Question 31

What is stereotype threat?
Cohen et al., 2009

Answer 31

Occurs when individuals fear confirming negative stereotypes about their group
* Leads to anxiety, reduced performance adn self fufillinf prophecies

Question 32

Can self affirmation mitigate the effcts of stereotype threat? If so how?

Answer 32

Yes, by boosting confidence and self worth

Question 33

Tell me about Cohen et al., 2009 study on self affirmations impact on stereotype threat.

Answer 33

2 year longitudinal study looking at self affirmations 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 34

How does SELF ENHANCEMENT BUILD SELF ESTEEM AND RESULTS IN INGROUP ENHANCEMENT?

Answer 34

1.** 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’
2. Social comparison: comparing ourselves to those worse off on the comparison point through self-reflection.
THIS BUILDS PERSONAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITY

Question 35

What are the consequences of this ingroup enhancement?

Answer 35

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

Question 36

What is our perception influenced by?

Answer 36

Social context, raising questions about objectivity

Question 37

What is ingroup heterogenity?

Answer 37

• Acknowledges differences within one’s group
• We realise there are lots of differences amoung us (personalities and beliefs)

Question 38

What is outgroup homogenity?

Answer 38

Perceives members of other groups as uniform
* Tend to see them as the same, without differences between them unalike ingroup heterogenity

Question 39

Describe the two study’s looking at homogenity

Answer 39

Brigham & Barkowitz., 1978
In an experiment, participants recognised ingroup members faces better than outgroup members, reflecting this bias. White group recognised white photos better and Black group recognsied black photos better.

Linville et al., 1989
Another study on age perception showed discrimination between age groups, highlighting ageism as a form of prejudice

Question 40

What is teh social identity theory?
Tajifel & Turner., 1979

Answer 40

• 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 41

Describe the study on grouping objects and people
Tajifel & Wilkes 1963

Answer 41

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 42

What did Tajifel say about groups?

Answer 42

Group formation is a complex topic, often tied to shared experiences and interdependence. However, Tajfel proposed that **categorization alone is enough to create groups. **

Question 43

What is the minimal group paradigm and why was it made?

Answer 43

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 44

Describe the minimal group paradigm study
Tajifel et al., 1971

Answer 44

• 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.