The Self Part One Flashcards
The I and Me
William James
The Me:
an object that can be observed and described
—statements about the self; I am friendly, I have brown hair; the main topic of the chapter because it can be more easily studied
The I:
does the observing and describing
—a somewhat mysterious entity; experiences life and makes decisions; people differ in level of self-awareness
The Self Across Cultures:
Two approaches: assume the self is a Western cultural artifact that has no meaning in other cultures; examine how the self and its implications might differ across cultural contexts
Individualistic Cultures
the self has an independent and separate existence
Collectivist Cultures
The self is embedded in a larger social context of obligations and relationships
Is the Self a Cultural Artifact
Some evidence that people from different cultures think of the self in fundamentally different ways
Differences in how Americans and Indians describes others:
Americans—50% trait terms: friendly, cheap, etc.; Indians—20% trait terms: what they do for others: Brings cakes to my family, has trouble giving to his family; assumption: People think of themselves in the same way they think of others.
Differences in number of the trait terms in languages
English has several times more trait terms than Chinese.
Other interpretations are possible:
20% of Indian descriptions were trait terms, so they understand the concept; phrases given by Indian participants may still be traits, b
Individualist and Collectivist Selves
This is the second approach to research
Western Self:
Relatively separate entity
Eastern Self
more integrated into the social and cultural context
Self-Regard
The need for positive self-regard may be felt less acutely by a member of a collectivist culture because individual well-being is more connected to the well-being of a larger group.
Individualist and Collectivist Selves
Consistency
Consistency
- –Expectations for consistency depend on the perceived cause of behavior
- –Differences in consistency are absolute, not relative
- –Personality matters in both kinds of cultures
Expectations for consistency depend on the perceived cause of behavior
individualistic cultures perceive the cause of behavior to be internal and expect consistency; collectivist cultures perceive the cause of behavior to be external and do not expect consistency (and also feel less conflict about inconsistent behavior)
Differences in consistency are absolute, not relative:
In both cultures, people who are the highest on a trait in one situation are also highest in other situations (relative consistency); but individuals in collective cultures have more varied behavior across situations than individuals in individualistic cultures (absolute consistency).
Psychological Self:
Our abilities and personalities
-Influences behavior: because people are sometimes motivated to maintain their self-image
-Organizes memories
Influences impressions and judgments of others
-Organizes knowledge: one of the most important functions of the self
Self-Regulation
ability to restrain impulses and keep focused on long-term goals
Information processing filter:
helps us focus on, remember, and organize the information that matters to us
Help us understand others:
helps with empathy, by imagining how we would feel
Identity
reminds us where we fit in our relations with others (position in the family and community)
Declarative Knowledge
the facts and impressions that we consciously know and can describe; an overall opinion (self-esteem) and more detailed opinion
Procedural knowledge
knowledge expressed through actions rather than words
Relational Self
patterns of social skills and styles of relating to others; extraverted people are more likely to seek out social interaction and start conversations
Implicit Self
unconscious self-knowledge; we are not aware of these characteristics, but they influence our behavior
Self-Esteem
Your overall opinion about whether you are good or bad, worthy or unworthy, or somewhere in between
Low Self Esteem
is related to dissatisfaction with life, hopelessness, depression, loneliness, and delinquency; these might be warning signs that something is wrong (sociometer theory); may motivate people to restore their reputations
Attempts to increase self-esteem may be detrimental
by making people more aware that they do not have the positive perceptions of themselves that they would like
Self Esteem can be too high
self-enhancement is related to problems in relationships, worse mental health, and maladjustment; arrogant, abusive, and criminal behavior; and narcissism
How to legitimately increase self esteem:
accomplish important tasks
The Self-Schema
all of one’s ideas about the self, organized into a coherent system
Description of the Self-Schema
- –Where the declarative self resides
- –Can be assessed with S data or B data
- –May have important consequences for how one processes information
- –Not based only on memories of specific events
May have important consequences for how one processes information
easier to remember information about the self that fits with one’s self-schema; process information related to self-schema more quickly; limit seeing beyond one’s self-image or by viewing things in a rigid way that fits with one’s self-image.
Not based only on memories of specific events
Case studies of two people who lost memory of specific life events showed that they still knew what their personalities were like and had general knowledge of themselves; suggests the self-schema is not dependent on memories for specific events.
B Data:
reaction times when determining whether a trait term was “me” or “not me”—schematics possessed faster reaction time to schema relevant traits
Self-reference effect:
the enhancement of long-term memory that comes from thinking of how information relates to the self
Increases accessibility:
because the knowledge structure related to the self is rich, well-developed, and often used
Self-Reference and Memory
- –Explains why your most meaningful memories stay with you the longest
- —Depends on culture
- ——the self-reference effect may work differently in different cultures; for Chinese people, information thought about in terms of one’s mother or father was remembered as well as information thought about in terms of the self, which suggests mother and father are included in the self-concept
The Declarative Self: Self-Efficacy
- —One’s beliefs about the degree to which one will be able to accomplish a goal, if one tries
- —Sets the limits for what we attempt to do
- —-May form the foundations of personality
My form the foundations of personality
This is the view of Dweck
Possible Selves
the images we have, or can construct, of the other possible ways we might be
Possible future selves may affect goals:
Who you think you will be or what role you will have may influence the goals you set.
Evidence that affects mate preferences
People who were asked to imagine themselves as married with children and working as a homemaker preferred mates who were older and could provide for them (consistent with what women typically report, so women may be more likely to perceive homemaker as a future possible self than men).
Want future selves that fulfill the needs for self-esteem, competence, and meaning:
People want their future self to be similar to how they are now (we want continuity of identity)
