The Self Flashcards
William James “Principles of Psychology”?
Duality of Self
The “Me”
- Self as object that can be observed
- “I have property x”
The “I”
- Self as agent doing the observing
- Self as the perceiver
- Self-consciousness
What is self-consciousness?
The “I”
Self-awareness
What is self-concept?
The “Me”
Conception of one’s self as a physical, social, psucholgical, and moral being
What is Self-esteem?
– Global evaluation (positive vs. negative) of one’s self
* Feelings of competence
* Feelings of liking and acceptance
Example of self-concept structure
General self-concept
Divided into Non-adcamidc self-conecpt and Academic -Self-concept.
Further divded into physical apperace, family, math skills etc.
A common way of assessing the Self-Concept?
Twenty Statements Classification Scheme
I am … times 20
Classify the answers into:
Personal Characteristics (friendly, happy, ambitious)
Ascribed Identities (age, race, ethnicity, daughter)
Social and Group Identities (student, Democrat)
Interests/Activities (painter, stamp collector, jazz fan)
Material Possessions (owner of a super cool sports car)
Abstract/Existential (me, a person)
How do we know a child has a sense of self?
- Linguistic markers
age 18 months
- Self-referencing (“I” “Me” “Mine”)
– Nonverbal recognition of self-accomplishment
(VIDEO: puzzle completion)
– Narrative language use
* reference to personally significant events
How do we know a child has a sense of self?
- Cognitive-behavioral makers
(18-24 months)
– Imitation and role-taking
– Mirror self-recognition
– Rouge test
How do we know a child has a sense of self?
- Emotional markers?
Age 2.5-3
- Self-conscious emotions
(shame, guilt, embarrassment, pride)
- Require ability to evaluate the self (“I” self evaluates the “me” self)
- Empathy
Other animals with mirror self-recognition?
- Chimps, organgutans, gorillas
- Elephants
- Dolphins
- Humans
- Recent discovery: magpies
Where does the self-concept come from according to Charles Cooley?
“Looking Glass Self”
* Charles Cooley (1864-1929)
– “Human Nature and the Social Order”
* “Each to each a looking glass, reflects the
other that doth pass”
– Self is socially constructed
* Our sense of self is built upon the life-long experience of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others (i.e., through the “looking glass”)
Issues with the Looking Glass Self
How many mirrors???
- We have a variety of interactions with different people
- Do we have different selves with different people?
Unitary vs. Multiple Selves
- Multiple selves correspond to multiple
roles–we see ourselves differently in each social role - Think about how you see yourself as:
– Son/daughter
– Friend
– Student
– Romantic partner
– Worker - Do you have a different self for each
relationship?
Is it Adaptive to Have Multiple Selves?
– Multiple selves à lower well-being and self-esteem
* During university years
* 20 years later during mid-life
– Low well-being and self-esteem in university -> multiple selves 20 years later
– Frequent relationship and career changes -> multiple selves
* Conclusion: A highly differentiated self-concept
reflects psychological fragmentation and lack of
an integrated core self
Definition of Self-Esteem - Evaluation (positive vs. negative) of one’s self as a physical, social, psychological, and moral being? Two concepts measured
– Affective component
* Feelings about the self; self-liking
– Cognitive component
* Thoughts about one’s competencies, abilities
Ways to measure self-esteem?
- Self-report scales
- Similarity between actual and ideal self
- Observer report
– Parent and teacher ratings for kids
– Can someone else know your self-esteem? - Pictorial measures for children
What happens to self-esteem across the lifespan?
Starts very high in childhood and drops significantly in adolescence. Goes up slightly in early twenties and remains quite stable until 50 where it starts to go up and peaks at 70! Extremely low at the end of life
Limitations with Internet Studies?
- Sample selectivity
Are internet users (in 2001) a select
sample? - Cross-sectional design
Cohort effects
Selective mortality
Self-Esteem Programs for
Kids: Positive Illusions?
- Are we creating a generation of
narcissists? - “I know I am good because everyone
keeps telling me so.” - Origins of narcissism
– Unrealistic, idealized positive feedback
– Positive feedback without actual
accomplishments
Can Positive Illusions Be Harmful?
- “Threatened egotism”: Inflated pride is
easily wounded - High self-esteem has a “dark side”
– New York Times - Media reports of adolescent killers
suggest that killers felt humiliated by
peers, suffered from wounded pride and
powerlessness - Shame-rage spiral; shame may be
brought on by excessive pride
Positive illusions in undergrads?
- Compared to students with more accurate
beliefs, students with positive illusions:
– Generally happier but less happy over the course of
college
– Did not perform better in school, despite thinking they
would
– More likely to disengage from school (e.g., say “grades
are not important to me”)
– More likely to drop out of university
Different results from more
recent study (Murphy et al., 2017)?
- Longitudinal study of ~900 Australian high
school boys, across 2 years - Overconfidence about intelligence (selfperceptions
compared to actual grades
and performance on an IQ test) led to
increases in self-esteem over time - Overconfidence about sports led to
increased sporting effort & increased
popularity
Research suggests… Positive
Illusions are a “Mixed Blessing”
- In the short term, positive illusions are
associated with:
– Psychological well-being and self-esteem
– Better performance on experimental tasks - In the long term, positive illusions are
associated with:
– Decreasing levels of well-being and self-esteem
for university students, but not high school boys
– Disengagement from school and increased
likelihood of dropping out – for university
students
– Impact of positive illusions may vary by stage of
life
Assessing the Self with Narrative: Key Components?
- Self-defining memory = single episode in your life
- Life chapters: “Think about your life as if it were a
book. Please divide your life into its major
chapters and briefly describe each chapter” - Key events: peak experience; nadir experience;
turning point; earliest memory; important
childhood, adolescent, and adult memory; other
important memory” - Significant people: “Each person’s life story is
populated by a few significant people who have a
major impact on the narrative.” - Future script: “As your life story extends into the
future, what is your script or plan for what is to happen next in your life? - Stresses and problems: “All life stories include
significant conflicts, unresolved issues, problems to
be solved, and periods of great stress.” - Personal ideology: “Your fundamental beliefs and
values are an important part of your life story” - Life theme: “Looking back over your entire life story as
a book with chapters, episodes, and characters, can
you discern a central theme, message, or idea that
runs throughout the text? What is the major theme of
your life?”
What is a trait?
Almost any adjective (or sometimes a
noun) that describes the way some
people are and others aren’t
Traits are the Basic
Building Blocks of Personality
Key Elements of Traits?
Personal (‘internal’) traits rather than situational (‘external’)
Consistent across ‘similar’ situations
– People who are friendly at school also tend to
be friendly at home, at work, when they meet
new people, etc.
– But, situations also influence behaviour
Stable across time
Universal dimensions: Individual
differences (across people)
– Useful way of describing and comparing
personality differences in all people
Descriptive, not explanatory
– Why did he talk a lot? Because he’s extraverted
What Aren’t Personality Traits?
- Temporary states (e.g., embarrassed)
- Attitudes (e.g., sexist, liberal)
- Cognitive ability (e.g., GRE scores)
- Physical attributes (e.g., tall, short, thin)
- Social categories (e.g., bully, wimp, jock)
