The Self Flashcards
describe yourself
- what type of person are you?
- how would you describe yourself?
- how do you come to these conclusions?
Carl Rogers - self concept incongruence
- self concept and reality don’t match = anxiety
- conditional/unconditional regard
what is the self concept and where does it come from
self concept
- a mental representation or overall sense of “you”
- includes the various beliefs you hold about yourself
- a large part of how you’d describe yourself
- ,ay be thought of as a collection of self schemata
(schemata: mental map, expectations for how things should be
self esteem
- positive or negative evaluations of self concept
- high self esteem in some areas, low self esteem in other areas
self schemata
- beliefs about aspects of your identity
- organizes the processing of information related to the self
self efficacy
- your belief in your ability to achieve certain goals
- Bandura:
- people with high efficacy see difficult tasks as challenges
- people with low self efficacy see difficult tasks as something to be avoided
- high self efficacy in some areas, low self efficacy in other areas
self awareness
- state of focused attention on the self
- develops in humans at about 18 months
- some animals, but not many, show self awareness
- rouge test
private self awareness
- awareness of hidden, private self aspects
- becomes aware of personal standards of behaviour
- become aware of the mismatch between personal standards and actual behaviour
(change behaviour to reflect personal standards)
public self awareness
- awareness of publicly available self aspects
- become aware of the mismatch between social standards and actual behaviour
(change behaviour in order to conform with social expectations) - evaluation apprehension
- social environment can influence this
when our selves don’t match
- self discrepancy theory: our concepts of self are influenced by how our actual selves are to the selves we would like to be or ought to be
- can cause us to see ourselves quite differently then we actually are
self discrepancy theory
3 aspects of self concept
- actual self: you, how you are
- ideal self: what you would like to be
- ought self: who you should be, external messages you get on how you should be
discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal or ought self leads to particular emotions
- actual/ideal discrepancy: dejection related emotions
- actual/ought discrepancy: agitation related emotions
- emotional reactions are stronger when related to an important self aspect
self regulation
- most important self function
- allows us to delay gratification
- control theory of self regulation
(compare to standard (public or private)
(change behaviour if not meeting standard)
marshmallow test - id
self regulation depletion
- effortful self regulation on one task to less success regulating on a second task
- self regulation capacity can be restored through:
(rest)
(positive emotional state)
culture and self concept
- individualistic cultures (North American, European) foster independent self construal (self is a bounded entity, separate from even close others)
- collectivist cultures (South American, Asian) foster interdependent self construal (self is defined in part by connections and relationships with others
biculturalism
people can be socialized in multiple cultural frameworks
- moving from one place to another
- parents from different cultural backgrounds
- living in a subculture with different values than the dominant culture
people with multiple cultural identities engage in cultural switching in response to situational cues
- not just geographic location (subculture)
gender and the self
- gender identity: identification of the self as male or female
in north American cultures: - women are socialized toward relational self concepts
- men are socialized towards self independent self concepts
strategic self presentation
- the process of presenting the self in particular ways to shape others impressions
- failure in self presentation = embarrassment
- can become automatic with practice
- impression management - appear in the way you want to
common types of self presentation
ingratiation - flattery modesty - downplay accomplishments - only works if people actually know your accomplishments self promotion - state your accomplishments exemplification - show your integrity and moral worthiness intimidation - threats self handicapping - put obstacles in your way as an excuse for failure
self esteem
your evaluation of your self concept most people are fairly positive - view themselves more positively than others low self esteem is associated with; - unhappiness - academic, financial problems - poorer physical health
