The social self Flashcards
Lecture 6
What are the traits of the self?
- It both reflects onto itself and is itself.
- It differs (to a degree) across social situations.
- It is highly influenced by cultures/groups within the culture that the self belongs to.
- It is both conscious and unconscious.
- It is (partially) a product of genetics.
- It is interactive, i.e. all aspects of the self combine in unique ways that makes it more than (and unique from) the sum of its parts.
- It is very social.
- It has needs for positivity, control, meaning, security.
What is the self? (William James)
The “I”:
- The self which reflects upon the self (the observer of the book/art/experience).
The “me”:
- The self which experiences (the book/art/experience itself).
We are both the “I” and “me”.
We don’t just have things happen to us and feel them. We think and reflect on our experiences.
We experience life as our self and reflect upon it, which alters our self from that point forwards. But we still feel and experience.
The self concept consists of many self-schemas.
We each have a wide variety of factors we use when describing ourselves, considering who exactly we are (self-schemas).
The totality of these factors is the self-concept.
The self and culture
Berger and Luckmanm:
- We are born into a culture, and this culture influences us on an implicit level - this is accapted largely without explicit self-awareness.
- This is the highest form of socialisation, as you do not even consider alternative.
Individualist - Western cultures: groups matter, but we are still independent in our self.
Collectivist - Eastern cultures: the self concept more highly overlaps with relationships.
Self across situations
Who we are in one situation is not identical to who we are in another situation.
Our active self-concepts can influence us one way or the other - stereotype example with math.
Public self-awareness: worries about how the self will be judged by other people in a given situation or across time.
Private self-awareness: worries about the authentic and “true” nature of the self (awareness of who you are independent of the influences of others, the “authentic” self).
The implicit and explicit self
The self is influenced by processes outside of conscious awareness (implicit processes).
The self is also presented (or exists) at an implicit level.
For instance, flashing words that “threaten” the self below consciousness still influence behaviour. The non-conscious, implicit, self is being activated.
The implicit self isn’t necessarily on the same page as the explicit self.
For instance, implicit self-esteem and explicit self-esteem often don’t correlate at all.
Beliefs we hold implicitly might continue from earlier lives even if we currently hold different views.
Genetic-culture interaction
Genetics often interact with culture uniquely.
If you are born in one culture vs another, those genes are expressed in different ways.
But if you are born into that culture, and you have different genes, you will have different traits.
What is the bias blind spot?
People tend to have a bias blind spot.
That is, they tend to notice other people’s inconsistencies and biases much more than their own - people believe that they are less biased than others, even though this is often not true.
Emily Pronin has posited that this is due to the introspection illusion:
- Self-evaluation: introspect (looking inward at our thoughts and feelings) which is more biased. Because biases are unconcious, we cannot directly observe them and so assume they don’t exist.
- Other evaluation: focus on behaviours which are less biased. (We focus on their actions and behaviours, which are more visible and easier to critique - we spot inconsistencies or biases easier.
One obstacle to reducing prejudice and bias in general is that people tend to be blind to their own biases.
So, when told they are biased they fail to often find evidence of this in themselves because it is not revealed by introspection.
What is the self-discrepancy theory?
Ideal self: this is the best possible self that you would want to be, if you could make yourself perfect in your own eyes.
Actual self: this is your actual self-concept in this moment.
Ought self: this is the self that you feel you should be (who you feel pressured to be).
If our actual self does not match our ideal self -> we feel sadness and disappointment.
If our actual self does not match our ought self -> we feel anxious.
The larger the gap (discrepancy), the stronger the negative emotion.
The larger the gap, the more people are motivated to change their behaviour to align with the ideal or ought self (negative emotion is averse).
If they feel they have the efficiacy to change, then they change to alleviate this.
If they don’t, they try to escapt self-awareness/avoid the problem as a means of alleviating this (but it only works short-term).
What is self-esteem?
Self-esteem is how positively we feel and think about ourselves.
Our self-esteem consists of several aspectd -> both self-liking and self-competence.
Contingent self-esteem: self-worth depends on meeting specific external or internal conditions, such as achievements, social approval, appearance or adherence to personal standards.
What is self-complexity?
The more “selves” a person has, on average, the better their physical and mental health.
Self-complexity:
- Total number of social roles/self-identities.
- The clarity of those social roles/self-identities.
This also is associated with less need to restore the self when the self is threatened or challenged.
What is self-verification theory?
People have a need to believe that other people see them as they see themselves -> that their true self is known.
People also have a need to view themselves positively.
Conflict for a person with low self-esteem: “I am not that great. I want other people to know me for me, but this means I am not viewed positively”.
No conflict for person with high self-esteem: “I am pretty great. I want other people to know me for me, and this means I am viewed favourably”.
People low in self-esteem (compared to high self-esteem) are more likely to seek out information and relationship partners that verify their negative self-concept.
They feel closer (relative to high self-esteem people) to people who verify their negative self-concept.
What is psychological threat?
When our self-concept, identity, emotional security, self-esteem, or sense of meaning is challenged.
Examples: thoughts of death, a loss of meaning (coherence or purpose), losing a sense of personal control, feeling uncertain, experiencing an insult.
What is threat compensation?
The attempt by the self to deal with threats to the self.
For instance, when thinking about death, people are more likely to bolster their self-esteem and defent their belief systems.
Or when insulted, people are more likely to degrade other people.
What is the social comparison theory of threat compensation?
When our self-esteem is threatened:
- We tend to focus more on people that have it worse than us (downward social comparisons).
- We tend to degrade other people –> create our own downward social comparisons.
Upward social comparisons are comparing ourselves to people with think are better off. This occurs when trying to improve or when feeling depressed.
What is the self-evaluation maintenance theory of threat compensation?
When the self is threatened (one’s positive self-image)
1. Exaggerate ability of the better person (I am not as good as Hank, but he is the best).
2. Engage is downward comparison (I am so much better than Phil though).
3. Avoid the comparison person (avoid Hank).
4. Devalue the dimension in which they are better (who cares about that anyway?).
5. Make things more difficult for that person (make it so they can’t succeed).
Example: student
- Those other students are the best (exaggerate ability of others).
- At least I am not that guy over there who isn’t in school (downward compare).
- I’d better avoid those other students who are better (avoid the person better than you).
- School isn’t that important anyway (devalue the dimension).
- I could also hide his laptop and books so he can’t study (undermine the person).
This does not necessarily mean that people with low overall trait self-esteem will necessarly engage in these more than other people.
The defensiveness is more triggered by having a threatened sense of self.
