the social self

Question 1

what is ‘the self’?

Answer 1

• (Baumeister) ‘The individual’s belief about himself or herself, including the person’s attributes and wo and what the self is’

Question 2

the self: what is symbolic interactionism?

Answer 2

symbolic interactionism - we’re defined through our interactions with others

Question 3

the self: what is the ‘looking glass self’?

Answer 3

the looking glass self - we view ourselves how we think others see us

Question 4

the self: who came up with social identity theory?

Answer 4

Tajfel and Turner

Question 5

the self: what are the two fundamental aspects of ‘the self’ according to social identity theory?

Answer 5

• Social identity – defines the self in terms of group memberships
• Personal identity – defines the self in terms of our character traits and close relationships

Question 6

the self: draw out the social identity theory flow diagram

Answer 6

sheet

Question 7

single vs multiple selves: what is the contextual self?

Answer 7

contextual self - describing and behaving differently in different contexts
this means that different representations of the self become more or less pronounced depending on our situational factors

Question 8

single vs multiple selves: what is actor-observer bias? how does it relate to the ‘contextual self’?

Answer 8

actor-observer bias - attributing other’s behaviour to their character, whilst attributing our own behaviour due to our situations
e.g ‘she stole because she’s a selfish thief’ vs ‘I stole because I was desperate’
relates to the contextual self as it demonstrates that we make ourselves more coherent with our environments

Question 9

what is social identity salience?

Answer 9

social identity salience - the activation of an individual’s conceptualised social identity in response to social/environmental cues through self-categorisation

Question 10

social identity salience: what is social categoraisation?

Answer 10

social categorisation - looking for minimal cues to categorise ourselves with others.
done to reduce social uncertaincy and leads to social salience

Question 11

social identity salience: what is the minimal group paradigm?

Answer 11

• a method used to investigate the minimal conditions required for discriminations to appear between groups
• research reveals that even meaningless distinctions can trigger the tendency to favour one’s group, even at the expense of interacting with others

Question 12

social identity salience: what is social self categorisation?

Answer 12

• describes the circumstances under which a person will perceive themselves/others as part of a group
• describes the function of being part of/perceiving groups in social understanding of oneself and others

Question 13

social identity salience: draw out the social self categorisation flow diagram

Answer 13

sheet

Question 14

what are the 2 key ways we understand ourselves?

Answer 14

cognitive ways
behavioural ways

Question 15

what are the 2 key cognitive ways we understand ourselves according to social psychology?

Answer 15

self knowledge
self discrepancy theory (Higgins)

Question 16

cognitive understanding of the self: what is ‘self knowledge’? how does this develop over time?

Answer 16

self knowledge - self-schemas which are built around the ideas/beliefs we hold about ourselves.
there are multiple self-schemas and they develop with age - i.e schemas become more complex at 13 with onset of gender schema formation

Question 17

cognitive understanding of the self: what is ‘self discrepancy theory’?

Answer 17

• higgins
• we define ourselves through 3 key schemas - the ideal self, actual self and ought self
• discrepancy between these three causes discomfort

Question 18

cognitive understanding of the self: what is the ‘ought self’ according to higgins’ self discrepancy theory?

Answer 18

the ‘ought self’ - what society/parents/culture thinks we should be

Question 19

cognitive understanding of the self: given an example of what happens when you feel internal discrepancy according to higgins’ self discrepancy theory?

Answer 19

• Discrepancy between ‘actual’ and ‘ought’ – anxiety and not feeling like you ‘fit in’

Question 20

what are the 2 key behavioural ways we understand ourselves according to social psychology?

Answer 20

self perception theory - bem
social comparison theory - festinger

Question 21

behavioural ways of understanding the self: what is social perception theory? (4)

Answer 21

• bem
• argues that rather than attitudes driving behaviour, our behaviour helps us determine our attitudes
• our behaviour is determined by either intrinsic or extrinsic motivations
• if we do something with no extrinsic motivations, we assume that we actually want to do it - ‘attitude’
• of we do something with no intrinsic motivations, when extrinsic motivations are removed the behaviour is likely to stop

Question 22

behavioural ways of understanding the self: what is social comparison theory? (4)

Answer 22

• festinger
• we compare ourselves to measure how well we’re doing
• by measuring ourselves we gain validation and find people who are at similar points to ourselves - how groups form
• the two main processes of comparison are ‘upward social comparison’ and ‘downward social comparison’

Question 23

behavioural ways of understanding the self: what is ‘upward social comparison’ vs ‘downward social comparison according to social comparison theory?

Answer 23

upward social comparison: we see someone who appears to be doing better, can lower self-esteem but also motivate us to be better
downward social comparison: we see someone who seems to be doing worse, can elevate self esteem but also make us get overly protective of our status

Question 24

putting together both cognitive and behavioural ways we know ourselves, what are the 4 steps we use to understand ourselves?

Answer 24

1. We form self schemas and maintain them or minimize them to protect our self esteem
2. We have actual, ideal and ought selves and work to resolve the discrepancies
3. We observe our own behaviour to determine motivation
4. We compare ourselves to others

Question 25

what are the 4 types of self-esteem

Answer 25

global, domain-specific, trait, state

Question 26

self-esteem: what is global self-esteem?

Answer 26

global - overall exaggerated opinion of oneself at one time on a positive vs negative continuum

Question 27

self-esteem: what is domain-specific self-esteem?

Answer 27

domain-specific - regards to skill in a specific area

Question 28

self-esteem: what trait self-esteem?

Answer 28

trait - one’s accumulated, life-long perception of their social inclusion/exclusion

Question 29

self-esteem: what is state self-esteem?

Answer 29

state - changing self-esteem which depends on how we socially included we feel in that particular context/time

Question 30

self-esteem: what is the difference between ‘state’ and ‘trait’ self esteem?

Answer 30

state - momentary reaction to internal/external triggers
trait - more of a temperament thing, and long lasting. higher trait self esteem is associated with more self-knowledge and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone

Question 31

self-esteem: what is self-enhancement bias?

Answer 31

self-enhancement bias - means to protect self image through greater reflection on positive rather than negative aspects of the self

Question 32

self-esteem: what is self affirmation theory?

Answer 32

self affirmation theory - we act to affirm positive aspects of onself

Question 33

self-esteem: what are the 4 ways we protect our self-esteem?

Answer 33

• self-serving bias - take credit for successes and deny blame for failures
• we criticism criticism but accept praise
• self-affirmation theory processes
• flaws are human but qualities are seen as rare and distinctive

Question 34

self-esteem: what are the 3 key ways we preserve our self-image?

Answer 34

impression management
self-monitoring
strategic self-presentation

Question 35

self-image: what is impression management?

Answer 35

impression management - using various strategies to get others to view us in a positive light

Question 36

self-image: what is self-monitoring?

Answer 36

self monitoring - carefully controlling how we present ourselves

Question 37

self-image: whats strategic self-presentation?

Answer 37

Strategic self presentation – selective modesty, don’t look to desperate for approval, strongly agree with opinions but have a weak disagreement
allows us to maintain a careful equilibrium – too much self esteem leads to narcissism