The self

Question 1

what is the self?

Answer 1

organised set of beliefs about ourselves, that define our identity as indv.
beliefs: physical appearance, personality, values, attitude, culture etc…
social and cultural construct

Question 2

self concept

Answer 2

cognitive component of the self consisting of all beliefs we have about ourselves

Question 3

what is self esteem?

Answer 3

evaluative component of the self, how we feel about ourselves (good or bad)

• not constant, changeable in all time-scales
• diff levels of self-esteem in diff areas of life.

Question 4

Nisbett and Wilson, 1977

Hypothesis

Answer 4

conscious access to products of mental processes but not the process itself.
=judgment about ourselves: low accuracy (bc we know nothing about how our mental processes work)
common sense theories/beliefs about people and human nature

Question 5

Stocking study (Nisbett and Wilson, 1977)

Answer 5

4 identical stocking A,B,C,D. Ps choose the best stocking.
result: people generate answers by general common-sense notions about the quality of stocking.
people don’t have real insight of working of their minds.
-position of stocking affects people’s choices (unconsciously, not aware)

Question 6

Fundamental beliefs: Ownership and Agency

Swiney and Sousa (2013) Experimantal set up

Answer 6

ownership: sense that thoughts we have are our own
agency: sense that we ourselves make our thought happen
–>people can be fooled that their own thoughts are not theirs, can’t trust private experiences.
=self knowledge is limited

Question 7

Reflected appraisal

Answer 7

we get ourselves from our perception of what/how others see us, think of us.
use what others make in their minds tı get idea of what we are.

(not true)

Question 8

Kenny and DePAulo 1993

compared interaction of people

Answer 8

beliefs of how other people see us, based on pre-existing believes of ourselves.
projecting pre-existing beliefs on other people, assume that people see us the way we see ourselves.
1) diff people see us diff
2) correlation between how people see themselves and how they think other people see them

(contradicting reflected appraisal)

Question 9

social comparison theory

Answer 9

-develop a self concept and affect self esteem
by comparison with other people:
-comparison w similar others
-identify what makes us distinct and indv.

Question 10

Motivational factor of social comparison

Answer 10

want accurate and trustworthy info self-concept: abilities, personal characteristics, opinions.
want to believe + about themselves, reluctant to believe -
positive illusion about themselves seen in depressed and non-depressed p’s