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.
agent main goal
making choices, move in life in a self-determined and goal-directed way to set goals, values and plans for the future
the process of agency begins with…
acquisition of theory of mind (understanding that others do things because they want to, based on their beliefs).
5-to-7 years shift =
children learn to shape inner desires in socially acceptable goals
we become agents around …. years of age
8/9 (through experiences in family/school)
waar bestaat de Me uit tijdens de agent rol
both traits/social roles attributions AND specific future roles
(dus actor + agent)
hoe is de agent Me linked to identity development
identity development requires exploration of different vocational/ideological aspirations + narrowing of consciousness to those that integrate agency and constraints of society
wat gebeurt er dan tijdens emerging adulthood
investment in meaningful personal strivings, projects and life longings.
investments are fluid and dynamic
wat voor veranderingen dan in agent adulthood
- continuity (stability) in central features of self as social actor (self-attributed traits)
- changes in self as motivational agent
verschil goals and traits
person feels like they chose goals, but feel like they have traits
episodic future thought:
ppl imagine future episodes by anticipating outcome of their goals
achievements…
emerge around 8 years old. provide direction and created individual differences
psychotherapy is about helping people find better adaptations to their traits
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goals early adulthood vs later adulthood
- early adulthood -> expanding self + gain more info
- late adulthood -> emotional quality of relationships
author is about…
how you construct the stories you have about yourself, the narrative identity, interanlized + evolving self-stories. The I creates stories about the Me. Functions to integrate past, present and future
author is a necessary condition, we all have some version of personal narrative
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hoe heet ht als onze persoonlijke vertelling drastisch verandert
disintegration anxiety (people fall apart psychologically, they have to rethink everything).
how can groups be damaging
you may have an idea of yourself that is challenged by the group
narrative identity is never statistic: develops across adult lifespan too. how?
- more nuances and more integrated (reported turning points and moments of wisdom connected to larger life themes)
- continuous revision, integration and sometimes transformation
perennial problems =
(3 problems we encounter in forming selfhood)
- self-regulation (how people control, monitor feelings/thoughts/impulses in social settings) -> I keeps the Me in check
- self-esteem -> attribution the I makes about Me (how I feels about Me)
- self-continuity (how much I conceives the Me as being continuous in time and space)
each one of these overlaps!
development is similar to that of layers:
- self regulation is a problem for the actor
- self esteem kicks in when self is seen as agent
- self-continuity arises in adolescents (behalve ASD children. sollution is the creation of an integrative self-narrative)
self-regulation
depends on observation of the self (I and others are observing Me)
it starts with self-awareness (2 years old), fully emerges when the I sees the Me as an object of reflection
social-moral emotions
such as pride and shame (help the children to behave in a certain way)
individual differences in ability to self-regulate since childhood
Temperamental inclination of effortful control: active + voluntary withholding of dominant response to act in situation-appropriate ways
- related to delay gratification
- predicts agreeableness and conscientiousness in adulthood
key determinants of self-esteem
how much person can attain personal goals + realize valued ends
goal setting in termen van I en Me
I sets the goals, Me books progress
wanneer self-esteem
elementary school. gradual/linear increase between 14-30 jaar
self-continuity=
extent to which the “I” sees the “Me” as the same thing across situations + time
2 dimensions of continuity
- phenomenological: moment-by-moment experience that the “I” continues to exist as center of thoughts, feelings and consciousness.
- impaired in dissociative states + psychosis - sense of self as character in different scenes of the life story. I explains how the self has changed in the past, and remained the same over time
- impaired in adolescence when there are identity crises
both types of continuity depend on:
autobiographical memory
- personal episodic memory (autonoetic consciousness, going back to past events)
- personal semantic memory
narrative continuity needs more:
need to be able to interpret meaning of specific episodes + connect it to self
contributions of the self as an actor vs agent to self-continuity
- actor: assessment on extraversion/conscientiousness = + dispositional continuity
- agent: long-term goals = projection of Me into the future
culture and actor
culture influences how actors attribute traits to themselves and the weight they give to traits. also influences how traits/roles are expressed in social contexts
culture and agent
culture influences
- type of goals (individualistic: autonomy, achievement, power)
- timing of goals (gender, class, ethnicity)
which aspect of self does the culture influence the most
author: influences how we tell memories, link them, meanings we give via cultural explanations and standards.
culture and author
culture gives us images and metaphors (that reflect gender, race, class) to use in our stories.
cultural norms give … to personal narratives
moral legitimation (particular journeys and conflicts that people had to face).
different cultures also show differences in autobiographical recollection of life authorship
North American: earlier age of first memory + longer/more detailed memories than East Asians
