The social self and self-regulation Flashcards
define self concept
A person’s knowledge about himself or herself, including one’s own traits, social identities, and experiences
early conceptualisations of self-concept
- William James - the ‘me’
- Freud - the ‘ego’
Influenced by culture and socialisation
what are the effects of groups on self concepts
- Membership of a group shapes own self-concept
-Adopt similar traits as those in social groups
what is social identity theory
People define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify
what is the issue in assuming gender differences in the social self
- Men and women are actually more similar than different
- Differences are exaggerated and imagined
- Differences assumed to be biological but are usually culturally based
what are gender differences in behaviour usually related to
- Long history of role distribution between the sexes
Assumptions those roles are part of men and women’s natures
what do we falsely infer about gender differences
- Women are innately more caregiving as they tend to conform to these roles
Men have innate leadership and power as they tend to conform to these roles
what is a self-schema
- An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about an attribute that is part of one’s self-concept
Assumed to be mostly stable
what are sources of the self
- Appraisals from others
- Social comparisons
- Self-perception
what is symbolic interactionism
- Importance of an individual in our life as the primary basis for self
-Unimportant individuals (e.g., strangers) play less of a role
what is the looking glass self
- Significant people in our lives reflect back to us who we are based on how they behave towards us
-Make assumptions about what they think about us
what are reflected appraisals
Assumptions about what we think other people think of us
what is social comparison theory
People come to know their self-concept by comparing themselves with similar others
what is downward comparison
Comparing oneself with those who are worse off
what is upward comparison
Comparing oneself with those who are better off
what errors can occur in social comparison
- Overestimating your own attributes
- Underestimating the attributes of others
Better than average effect
what is self perception theory
- People form impressions of themselves by observing their own behaviour and the situation in which it occurs
-Things that seem to occur frequently enter self-schema - Unless situational factors can account for the behaviour
what is the facial feedback hypothesis
The idea that changes in facial expression elicit emotions associated with those expressions
what is the two-factor theory of emotion
Emotions are an interaction of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal based on contextual cues
what is misattribution of arousal
- Mislabelling the source of arousal
-Transfer arousal from one event to another
what does high vs low self-monitoring refer to
not everyone is aware of their own actions being incorporated into self schemas
why is self awareness important
highlights the gap between what one is doing and what one should/could be doing
what does self-discrepancy theory refer to
- We feel negative when falling short of our expectations
Conflict between actual, ideal, and ought selves
how can we improve self-discrepancy theory
engaging in self control or protecting self esteem
define self esteem
The evaluative component of the self-concept
Subjective appraisal of self as positive or negative - dependent on context
what are the sources of self esteem
- Self-awareness and goal discrepancies
-Developmental influences (authoritative vs permissive parents)
what are the consequences of low self esteem
- Deflection of positive feeling - externalise success rather than internalise
- Less likely to make plans to improve mood
Internalise failures than externalise
what are the consequences of high self esteem
- Narcissism - reliant on validation from others
- Unstable mood
Extraverted - perform well in public - unlikely to suffer from depression
negative characteristics associated with high self esteem
crave attention, overconfident and lack of empathy
how did Bushman and Baumeister investigate narcissism
- Participants wrote essay which was marked by confederate
- Praise vs threat conditions
-Then completed a competitive task, in which the loser (i.e., confederate) received a blast of noise
what were the findings of Bushman and Baumeister’s narcissism study
- Positive relationship between narcissism and aggression (measured by intensity of noise delivered to confederate after the ego threat conditions)
how do we maintain self esteem - social comparison theory
downward comparison theory can make us feel better than others
how do we maintain self esteem - social identity theory
basking in reflected glory - use the success of our social group to improve self-esteem
how do we maintain self esteem - self discrepancy theory
we examine self to assess whether we meet our personal goals
define self regulation
A set of processes for guiding one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to reach desired goals
define willpower
Capacity to overcome temptations, challenges, and obstacles that could impede pursuit of one’s long-term goals
cold vs hot processes
Hot processes = driven by strong emotions
Cold processes = level-headed reasoning
what are limits of self regulation
Ego depletion:
Mental fatigue from extended use of self-control
Behaviour regulation is more difficult.
