The Psychological Self as Actor, Agent, and Author (nog niet af) Flashcards
The psychological self may be construed as a reflexive arrangement of ….
the subjective “I” and the constructed “Me,”
the psychological self =
“The psychological self may be construed as a reflexive arrangement of the subjective “I” and the constructed “Me,” evolving and expanding over the human life course. “. The subjective I refers to the phenomenological first-person perspective. The constructed ‘me’ refers to what is made of the person in the interactions with the world. The reflexive arrangement refers to the bi-drectional proces in which the construction is shaped by the first-person self-awareness AND how this first-person self-awareness is shaped by the constructions
actor =
The first layer of the ‘psychological self’ as envisioned by McAdams. It portrays the human being as an actor on the social stage of life. Temperamental features result in typical interactional patterns with others that can be interpreted as agentic and communal strivings and that result in the stable patterns known as the BIG 5 traits.
agent =
The second layer of the ‘psychological self’, which constitutes a reflexive move from the standpoint of the actor. The toddler starts to envision him er herself as having certain aims, goals, desires and means. In the ‘actor’ stage the behaviors associated with those strivings were present and interpreted by others, but now the toddler starts to understand them as óf him or herself.
author=
The third layer of the ‘psychological self’, which constitutes a reflexive move from the standpoint of the agent. Here individual identity is shaped by a larger individual narrative (life story) with a past, present and anticipated future. Self-understanding now means to see oneself as being shaped by the past and as anticipating the future in understanding the present. The individual narrative is not pure individual, but a copy-paste and adaptationist version of big and small stories internalized from the broader cultural surrounding
research on cases of amnesia shows that knowledge about the self can be two things:
- semantic (abstract and trait-based)
- episodic (concrete and evidence-based)
these two are functionally independent, which means that there is a trait-self and a separate but equal story-self.
wat laten conceptual priming studies zien
rating the self on some traits does not active the recall of experiences where that person actually showed those traits. therefore the information is initially derived from experience, and then it is summarized to general semantic categories.
psychological self consists of…
- I (subjective)
- Me (objective)
The “I” sees and knows the “Me’s” stories (episodic) and traits (semantic)
3 layers underneath personality
- actor -> dispositional traits (semantic representation of traits, social roles and other features related to social performance)
- agent -> characteristic adaptations (things the person feels are important, life projects, motivations). this makes a person who they are
- author -> narrative identity (story we tell about ourselves, more or less cohesive and constantly updated)
actor specifiek
- social roles, skills, traits, social reputation
- self-attribution and categorization, built on observation of social performances
- about the present only
- self-regulation
- age 2-3: early childhood
- performance norms, display rules, behavioural constraints
agent specifiek
- personal goals, plans, values, hopes and fears
- exploration of and commitment to life projects, planning, prioritizing investments for the future
- present and future
- self esteem
- age 7-9: mid to late childhood
- scripts for goal content, timing, goal pursuit/disengagement, motivational constraints
author
- life narrative
- autobiographical reasoning
- construction of an integrative life story
- past, present and future
- self-continuity
- age 15-25
- a menu of images, metaphors, and stories for life (narrative constraints)
hoe ontwikkelen die lagen zich
- actor -> struggles to regulate himself (childhood)
- agent -> the I perceives that the Me has some motivations. obtaining goals and self esteem (middle adolescence)
- author -> I creates the story about the Me. Integration of past, present and future. problem = self-continuity
self-continuity =
subjective sense of connection between one’s past, present and future
how “I” creates sense of “Me” conserving its identity over time
layers are not;
- objects
- autonomous
- distinct roles
-> a person is always both I and Me
main concern of the actor=
effective social performance (social acceptance + status). humans have mechanisms to enact, monitor and refine behaviours
self is initially defined by social behaviour in the group. even when we are not aware of being actors (new borns) we can see styles of social performances coming out. infants express temperamental traits. observers provide feedback and infants respond to it.
what happens at the age of 2
a child notices their own actions: the I as self-conscious actor notices the image of Me
how do we describe the Me throughout the actor phase
- observable performance + concrete situations: before age of 10
- in terms of general trends in social behaviour: after age of 10
- in terms of dispositional traits: adolescence
self-perception theory
actors observe their behaviours and those of others, and use observations to define themselves.
in adolescence, self reporte assessment is more centered around..
OCEAN (they begin to crystallize)
teenage actors have a stable conception of own performance.
wat verandert er wanneer je naar adulthood toe beweegt
- meer agreeable
- meer conscientious
- less neurotic
what is another turning point
we realise how situations influence behaviour. there are different performances expected in different situations. but very powerful, because social roles can change trait attribution!!! (consistently assuming a role -> staring to characterize oneself with specific traits of that role)
when doing personality assessment of clients problems are ….
in the tails of distribution
study by Caspi on childrens temperament and later personality
reserved inhibited, stable and emotionally reactive is measured at the age 3. rating have continuity with personality traits measured at 21.
