the self Flashcards
markus and kitayama was a response to
western ethnocentric prevailing theories
markus and kitayama independent and interdependent self construals correspond with
individualism and collectivism, at the individual rather than cultural level
independent self exists as
a seprate entity
independent self consists of
ones inner unique attributes
independent self inner attributes consistent or inconsistent across situatuions
consistent
needs independent self
show attributes to others, dont be ignored, stand out
interdependent self characteristics
inherently connected with others/no clear boundary
interdependent self attributes
attributes overlap with others, self adjusted to different social contexts
interdependent self wants needs
Strive to fit in and maintain
harmony with the ingroup
Adjusting the self to social
situation
Vigilant of others’ needs and
expectations
Fear of social exclusion
self construal theory suggests
Self as a ‘control centre’ of cognition,
motivation, emotion, and behaviour
self construal theory what kind of process
bi-directional between culture and self
4 criticisms of self construal theory
simplified dichotomies, little empirical support for mediating role of self-construal, self construals may not be unitary constructs, self report bias
simplified dichotomies
Independent/interdependent,
individualist/collectivist, East/West
Within-group variation as great as
between-group variation
little empirical support for mediating role of self-construal
Matsumoto (1999): None of the studies cited by
Markus and Kitayama in support of their theory
actually tested whether self-construals mediated
(explained) cultural differences in cognition,
emotion, and motivation
Resorting to stereotypes without empirical evidence
self-construals may not be unitary constructs
Oyserman et al’s (2002) meta-
analysis found that cultures vary in
different components of collectivism
Collectivism as sense of belonging to
in-groups: Americans higher than
Japanese
Collectivism as duty to in-groups:
Japanese higher
Chinese tend to score higher on
collectivism than both Japanese and
Americans
self-report bias
Public self-presentation is
not the same thing as
private self-representation
Socially desirable
responding
Kanagawa et al. (2001)
Japanese participants
displayed more modesty in
presence of a professor than
when alone
what reveals contents of the self concept
20 statements test
self concept refers to
who we think we are
4 contents of the self concept
Abstracted, stable traits and attributes (Independent), Situation-specific traits, attributes (Interdependent), Roles/Membership (Interdependent), Valence: positive vs. negative attributes (Independent vs.
interdependent)
singelis proposes about inter/inderpendence
separate concepts, can coexist in one person, one dimension more chronically accessible due to background
singelis measurement scale
independent interdependent self construal scale
vignoles measurement scale
7 dimension scale, in/inter too simple, many ways of expressing these traits
evidence from neuroscience initerdependence
Participants: Chinese and Western university students
Task:judge if the adjectives described Self, Mother, and Other
Results: Chinese participants’ brain activities are similar when thinking about the self and mother (= interdependence) whereas there is little overlap in Westerners’ brain activities for self and mother (= independence)
sociogram is
circles with freinds
neuroscience evidence sociogram
Chinese participants significant correlation was found
between self-report Independent
-Interdependent self-construal
and the gray matter volume
of vmPFC
self consistency is
the extent to which you change when interacting with different people
