Self-Control & Losing Control Flashcards
Objective self-awareness (OSA) is the idea that:
- When objectively self-aware, we think about out self as a social object for others
- We can either focus on the outside world or on the self
-When objectively self-aware, we use the “generalized other” to evaluate and guide our behavior
People keep taking your lunch out of the fridge. You decide to try putting a mirror in the fridge to see if it will help. What do you expect will happen?
People will steal your lunch less often, because the mirror will remind them
that others look at them
The mirror will force them to look at themselves and self-reflect on their actions
When we feel deindividuated, we are more likely to:
- experience time-distortion
- experience a Dionysian state
- experience “flow”
Marshmallow study
You tell a 4 yr kid that if thy would like to eat 1 marshmallow or wait 15 min, then they can have 2. if they cant, they ring a bell and can eat it
- predicted success in adulthood, kids who waited scored higher on the SAT
Are babies other-aware?
Yes, babies are aware others exist and can observe them. When we are young, we dont have a sense of ourselves, but there are other people who tell us who we are
As children others regulate the self
How does the other shape our “self”
Others tell us things about ourselves and we INTERNALIZE it
- we start to treat ourselves as a “self”
-take what we have learned on what we ought to be like, what we should do, sooth our needs ect.
G.H. Mead (1934)
“we learn about the self through the reactions and feedback from others- we can see ourselves as objects through their eyes*
Reflected Appraisals
what i think you think of me - will affect how i act (can a flashlight see itself/mirror)
Generalized Other
-Most basic self-awareness is actually social in nature. The internal simulation of what others would say to you on what you should do
(do i party or study? the part of you that says to study is your generalized other its the more logical one that tells you the right thing to do, like you mother would say)
Introspection: a dialogue between you and generalized other
Friedrich Nietzsche for generalized other
Society is the one who benefits from the internalizations that others have placed in you
bc we are very concerned with what others think of us
OSA and Social object”ness”
hyp: Being made onjectively self-aware should make you evaluate yourself from the outside
You should be able to judge yourself the way you would others
Duval & Wicklurd
-When considering bad behavior
- if someone else “its their fault”
- if self, “it was the situation”
Mirror or no mirror (driving n kid runs in street)
- helps people to cause reflection in self-blame
Effects of a mirror
- Makes us self reflect in blame, we judge ourselves as we judge others
- When we fail, looking at ourselves in the mirror makes us feel worse. we dont like to stare ourselves failing
-Helps you reflect on actions kids taking candy when mirror present/no mirror
Why did the mirror have a bigger effect on older kids?
As theyre older, they become more hyperaware and they enjoy wearing a mask & hiding their identity
Deindividuation
-loss of identity and sense of responsibility
-If they wear a mask, they aren’t being evaluated in the same way
