The Self Flashcards
What is ,,The Self’’?
self is a socially-constructed entity : our sense of self is built upon the life-long experience of seeing ourself through the eyes of others
- high point of individuality
- shaped by social interactions
- includes traits, preferences, social roles, self-categorization
- Together, identities make up one’s self-concept (the self) - variously described as what comes to mind when one thinks of oneself.
William James (1842-1940) definition of Self
- > self as an object can be observed ,,me’’
- > self as an agent doing the observing ,,I’’
Psychodynamic Self
by Freud:
people repress unsocialized and selfish impulses
-> once in a while they come to the surface
-> you can only know yourself or others if special procedures such as hypnosis or psychotherapy are employed to reveal repressed thoughts
Individual Self and
Collective Self
Individual Self (independent self) : defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identification Collective Self (interdependent self ) : out of interactions with others there arose a ,,group mind'' - you share descriptions with other peoples self
symbolic interactionist self
- self emerges and is shaped by social interactions
- Self is not an inherent property of human nature but rather a socially-constructed entity: our sense of self is built upon the life-long experience of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others (“looking-glass self ”)
Looking-glass self :
- people see themselves the way they think other people see them
- truth is that people are mostly unaware of what other people think of them
- people normally overestimate their good points, their control over events and are unrealistically optimistics
there are two types of self that you can be aware of
private self: your private thoughts, feelings and attitudes
public self: your public image and how others see you
Deindividuation
Process whereby people lose their sense of socialized individual identity and engage in unsocialized often antisocial behavior
-> key component is reduced self awareness
Self-discrepancy theory
Higgins suggests that we have three types of self-schema
1 actual self- how we currently are
2 ideal self- how we would like to be
3 ,,ought’’ self- how we think we should be
- > ideal and ought self act as self guides
- discrepancies can motivate you to get rid of them
- > when we fail to resolve an actual to ideal self we feel generally dejected (deprimiert)
Self-regulation
strategies that we use to match out behavior to an ideal
Self-perception theory
we gain self-knowledge only by self-attribution : we infer our own attitudes from our own behavior
- how we perceive ourselves can also be based on simply imagining ourselves behaving in a particular way
Over justification effect
Leistungsabnahme sobald Belohnung aus gezahlt oder versprochen wurde
Social comparison theory
Comparing our behavior and opinion with those of others in order to establish the correct or socially approved way of thinking and behaving
- we like to compare ourself with those who are worse tham us -> downward comparison -> positive self concept
Self evaluation maintenance model
people who are forced to make esteem-damaging comparison can underplay or deny similarities to the target, or they can withdraw from their relationship to the target
BIRGing
Basking ( schwelgen) in reflected glory = to link yourself with desirable people or groups and thus improve other peoples impression of you
the two broad classes of identity
social identity
personal identity
1 defines self in terms of group membership
2 defines self in terms of idiosyncratic traits and close personal relationships
three forms of self by Brewer and Gardner
Individual Self- based on personal traits
Relational Self- based on connections/ relationships with similar others
Collective Self- based on group membership that differs ,,us’’ from ,,them’’
four types of identity by Brewer
- Personal based social identities : internalization of group properties by individual group members as part of their self-concept
- Relational social identities: defining self in relation tp specific other people
- Group based social identities: see pbsi
- Collective identities: group members do not only share group defining attributes but forge an image of what the group stands for
Actor-observer effect
tendency to attribute our own behavior externally and other peoples behavior internally
Self-categorization theory
- social identity theory of groups
- helps to understand group behavior more general
- categorizing oneself as a group member produces social identity and group and intergroup behavior
- reduces uncertainly about self and improves positive feeling about self
Social identity theory
theory of both self and identity and group and intergroup behavior
- theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self-categorization, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of in-group-defining properties
Identification
Identification = making the same
• Latin: idem = same, facere = make
• Identify with something = making it the same with me
• You perceive it as an inseperable part of yourself
• A creation of your mind/ratio
Salience
• Salience = certain context bring identities to the foreground
– Being Dutch in The Netherlands is nothing special and irrelevant, but when you are in Bali, it is nice to meet fellow Dutchies…
Self awareness in Infancy
• Dot-of-rouge experiment
• Recognize selves in mirror at 15-18 months
• 15-23 months
– Personal pronoun use
– Picture recognition
– Self-referencing, ownership, self-monitoring
Self in Early Childhood
- Confusion of self, mind, and body • Concrete descriptions
- Physical descriptions
- Activities – what they do
- Overestimation of abilities
Self- Middle and Late Childhood
- Shift to internal traits and abilities • Social role descriptions
- Real and ideal selves
- More realistic about abilities
Self in Adolescence
- Abstract-idealistic
- Self-conscious/ preoccupied
- Contradictions within self
- Fluctuating picture across time/situations • Possible selves
- Self-integrations as they get older
Self in Adulthood
- Self-awareness (emotional intelligence) – Accept own good and bad qualities
- Possible selves become more realistic
- Life review – evaluation of successes & failures; more likely as you get older
Self-Esteem
• Evaluative part of the self-concept – emotional
• Difference between the real and ideal self
– Have you realized your potential?
– Do you value the trait, but have little potential?
– Ideal self includes the “ought” and the “wish” selves
• Measure of our sense of meaning in life
– This includes purpose
– Self-respect (Have you lived up to who you are?)
Self-serving attributions
– Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors
False Consenus Effect
– Tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors
• Why do you think integrity tests for employment work?
Stigma
Group attributes that mediate a negative social evaluation of people belonging to the group
Narcissim
a self image that is comprising self-love and a grandiose view of oneself
Self-handicapping
- fear of failure
- •Protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure
self-monitoring
- carefully controlling how we present ourselves
- tendency to act such as social cameleons
self-presentation
a deliberate effect to act in ways that create a particular impression, usually favorable of ourself
examples for serious changes to the Self
- gender dysphoria
- (late) sexual orientation change
Terror-management theory
people pursue self-esteem to overcome the fear of death
Influences to Self-concept
age, sexual orientation, appereance, gender, culture, education, relationship, emotional lability, life experiences
