W2 Self + Identity Flashcards
The Self …
is a symbolic construct reflecting consciousness of our own identity and an awareness that we exist as a being, separate from other beings.
Collective self
attributes shared with ingroup members and distinct from outgroup members.
Individual self
attributes that make us unique relative to other people.
Relational self
relationships one has with specific other people.
Fazio et al. 1981 (the self)
found participants described themselves in very different ways when asking them loaded questions that made them search through their self-knowledge for information that presented the self in different lights.
Abrams & Hoggs, 2001 (The self)
People experience different selves depending on situational factors, yet also feel they have a coherent self-concept that integrates all their selves together
Self-awarness
A psychological state in which people are aware of their traits, feelings, and behaviors. We can have private and public self-awareness.
When do we become self-aware?
Lewis and Brooks (1978) = Put a spot of rouge on the nose of babies and then put them in front of a mirror.
- Babies 9-12 months treated mirror image as another child, showing no interest in the spot on their nose.
- Around 18 months, children recognised that the reflection was themselves.
Public self-awarness
(‘I know that others are aware of me’) = Evoked when = Giving a presentation, being photographed or filmed.
Private self-awarness
(‘I’m aware of me’) = Evoked when = Looking in a mirror, Experiencing physiological arousal
Mirror
Consequence of Private self-awareness (1)
Scheier & Carver 1977
Intensified emotional response: focusing on ourselves makes us focus on our state of mind = intensifying emotions.
Participants read aloud positive or negative statements whilst looking in a mirror or not. Participants who looked in the mirror during this task making them privately self-aware became more extreme in their emotional responses.
Placebo
Consequences of pirvate self-awarness (2)
Gibbons et al. 1979
Clarification of knowledge = Focusing on internal events means we can report them with greater accuracy.
Participants were given a placebo and told it is a drug that would increase arousal, whilst looking in a mirror or not. Those in front of a mirror were less fooled. They experienced less arousal and side effects than those who could not see themselves. Mirror induced self-awareness - ignore the placebo and focus on their feelings leading to more accurate knowledge.
Essay
Consequences of private self-awarness (3)
Scheier & Carver, 1980
Adherence to personal standards of behavior = True beliefs become emphasized and less susceptible to external forces.
Asked to write an essay that goes against their attitudes/beliefs whilst looking in a mirror or not. Induces cognitive dissonance (the discomfort a person feels when their behaviour does not align with their values or beliefs). Writing the essay in front of the mirror-> less attitude change.
Private self-awareness may increase adherence to one’s true beliefs.
Audiences
Consequence of public self-awareness (1)
McKinney et al. 1983
Evaluation apprehension = Public self-awareness makes us realise that we are being observed by others. Fear of negative evaluation -> nervousness and reduced self-esteem.
Larger audiences increase anxiety during public speaking (McKinney et al. 1983).
Eyes
Consequence of public self-awareness (2)
Bateson et al. 2006
Adherence to social standards of behavior = more ike to conform to group norms even if this goas against personal opinions.
Bateson et al. (2006) = Examined the effect of an image of a pair of eyes on contributions to an honesty box used to collect money for drinks in a university coffee room. People paid nearly 3x as much for their drinks when eyes were displayed rather than a control image.
Self-consciousness
Individual differences in chronic self-awareness is referred to as self-consciousness. Self-consciousness: the extent to which an individual is chronically aware of their traits, feelings and behaviour.
¨Privately self-conscious
Experience more intense emotions - greater tendency to suffer from depression and neuroticism, due to rumination on feelings of unhappiness/discomfort. Act in line with personal beliefs.
Publicly self-conscious
Concerned with others’ perceptions of them, and so adhere to group norms. Avoid embarrassing situations (Froming et al., 1990). More concerned with their appearance, and judge others according to appearance
Self-concept
he completes set of beliefs that people have about themselves, which form their understanding of who they are.
Self-schemas
= how we expect ourselves to think, feel and behave in a particular situation.
Self-schemas consist of: Perception of ourselves: e.g., “I am talkative”. Our experiences on this dimension: “I know that I am likely to be talkative at a party”.
Having complex and varied self-schemas is beneficial.
Self-schemas importance (Crisp & Turner, 2010)
Self-schemas vary in their importance to the self. Such as: In relation to a particular trait we may be self-schematic, somewhat schematic, or A-schematic.
Importance of self-schemas for well-being
Buffer against the impacts of negative self-schemas with more positive self-schemas (Linville, 1985; 1987).
Expands opportunities for social interaction, pleasure and personal growth (Multiple Role Theory, Powell & Greenhouse, 2010).
How do we maintain our sense of self?
4 Theories
1- Theories of self-comparison: self-discrepancy theory
2- Theories of social comparison: social comparison theory
3- Theories of group comparison: social identity theory
4- Inter-dependence theories: Michelangelo phenomenon
(Higgins, 1987)
1- Self-discrepancy theory 1
Maintain our Sense of Self
The self consists of
Actual self
Ideal self
Ought self
Individuals compare their “actual” self to internalized standards of the ideal and ought self. We are motivated to ensure match between actual, ideal and ought self (Higgins, 1987)
Higgins et al. 1987
1- Self-discrepancy theory 2
Maintain our Sense of Self
People are motivated to try to ensure that their actual self matches their ideal and ought self. Discrepancies lead to psychological discomfort.
Higgins et al. (1987) had Ps think about the discrepancy between their actual and ideal self, vs their actual and ought self, and report on their emotions after thinking about the discrepancy.
o Actual-ideal discrepancy related to dejection.
o Actual-ought discrepancy is related to agitation.
Altintas et al. 2020
1- Self-discrepancy theory 3
Maintain our Sense of Self
Altintas et al. (2020) investigating the effects of a “Best Possible Self” intervention on academic motivation and commitment at the University
176 French undergraduates
Experimental group - think of their best possible ideal self (had significanttly hifher levels of + affect/motivation/academic commitment compared to controled group)
Control group – read neutral information
Discrepancies that occur with the actual self can have positive effects and motivate people to do better.
Festinger, 1954
2- Social comparison theory 1
Maintain our Sense of Self
Festinger, 1954: We learn how to define the self by comparing ourselves to others. Other people provide external and objective benchmarks to compare oneself against.
We make two different sorts of comparisons.
o Upward comparisons (to someone better).
o Downward comparisons (to someone worse)
Tajfel & Turner, 1986
3- Social identity theory 1
Maintain our Sense of Self
Tajfel & Turner (1986) = “Social identity is the part of the individual’s self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance of that membership”.
The ones which are active at a given time are those which suit the social context -> context dependent = E.g., talking to a close friend vs watching a sports match between your university and a rival university
Klein, 1997
2- Social Comparison theory 2
Maintain our Sense of Self
Participants asked to select the aesthetically superior picture. They are then given feedback about their performance: Absolute (40% or 60% correct responses). Relative to other people (20% better or worse than average)
Given a choice of two tasks: a game of skill or a game of luck to win money
Categories
3- Social identity theory 2
Maintain our Sense of Self
We each belong to some categories and not others. We discriminate between those categories in a way that is beneficial to our self-esteem and our identity.
Self-esteem related to our group membership it requires social comparison to a group of lower status. (Man united fan comparing themselves to Sheffield united)
We are motivated to display ingroup favouritism as this can increase our self-esteem.
Helping behavior (Levine et al, 2005)
Study 1 = Man United fans on a walk witness an accident, group membership manioulated ( actor in accident wearing liverpool/man united/plain tshirt) measure rate of helping.
helping behaviur increase for in group members, equally likely to help btoh football fans but those wearing a plain tshirt when possitve of being a football fan.
Rubult et al 2009
4- Michelangelo Phenomenon
Maintain our Sense of Self
role of other people and how they shape who we areor would like to becoming.
Michelangelo Phenomenon = how significant others shape (enhance or hinder) our pursuit of the ideal self.
=>Significant others can shape individual selves through partner affirmation which has two components (Rusbult et al. 2009)
Evidence for the Michelangelo phenomenon
Rusbult et al., 2009 = found that partner affirmation of each other’s ideal goals is related to personal growth and movement toward the ideal self and partner well–being.
Drigotas et al., 1999 = found strong associations between perceived partner affirmation + movement towards the ideal self. Drigotas (2002) = when the partner is affirming and the person moves closer to their ideals, this leads to improved personal wellbeing, life satisfaction, and psychological health.
Self-esteem
The evaluative component of the self-concept. A person’s subjective appraisal of themselves as intrinsically positive or negative to some degree (Sedikides & Gregg, 2002)
Low self-esteem
low confidence, unsure about value to others, easily disheartened, more easily persuaded.
High self-esteem
confidence, feeling loved and respected, resilience, less easily influenced.
Dev of self-esteem
How positive our self-concept is in later life appears to depend to some extent on the parenting styles of our primary caregivers (Baumrind, 1991):
Authoritative (enforce rules but supportive, warm) = High self-esteem
Authoritarian (overly strict) = low self-esteem.
Permissive ( relaxed ‘friend’) = low self-esteem.
Stability of self-esteem (Robins et al., 2002)
= A meta-analysis found that tendencies to have high or low self-esteem can vary – there were differentially stable and unstable time points.
9-18 = unstable self-esteem, perhaps because of adolescence and self-concept is still developing.
Late 20s-40s (mid adulthood) = greatest stability
60 = self-esteem stability declines, perhaps due to later life changes (retirement, loss).
Consequence of low self-esteem
Mood regulation and mental health (1), Narcissism (2)
Mood regulation and mental health (low self-esteem) (1)
Actively dampens + feelings, feels worse after a negative event, makes few goals or plans to improve mood after failure. higher levels of depression and anxiety + lower mental well-being.
Narcissism (low self-esteem) (2)
high self-esteem, unstable, reliant on validation
Self motives = Self-assessment
a desire to know ourselves
self-verification
we seek information to verify what we already believe to be true about ourself-concept.
Self-enhancement
A desire to seek information that allow us to see ourselves in the best possible light. (most important)
Strategies to enhance personal self
(1) Self-affirmation theory = we respond to threatened self-esteem by publicly affirming positive aspects of the self.
, (2) Self-serving attribution bias = we interpret events in a manner that is favorable to our view of ourselves?
Strategies to enhance the social self
Social group membership (Ciadini et al., 1976) =
University football team winning matches-> increase in students wearing clothing with university name.
People derive a positive self-concept from the achievements of other group members even if they were not personally instrumental
Objecitve self-awareness
= generated by anything that focuses your attention on yourself as an object (e.g. being in front of an audiance or a mirror). Popular method for raising self-awareness = placing participants in front of a mirror.
Private self (awarness)
= private thoughts, feelings and attitudes (internalized standards).
Public-self (awareness)
= how other people see you, your public image (ppresenting yourself to others)
Self-awarness
= a state in which you are aware of yourself as an object, much as you might be aware of a tree or another person. You make comparisons between how you actually are and how you would like to be – an ideal, a goal or some other standard. Being self-aware can be very uncomfortable.
Self-concious
= we feel anxious, we become tongue-tied, or we make mistakes on tasks. We can even feel slightly paranoid.
De-individuation
= a state in which people are blocked from awareness of themselves as distinct individuals, fail to monitor their actions and can behave impulsively
Self-discrepancy Model
three types of self-schema:
1- actual self = how we currently are;
2- ideal self = how we would like to be;
3- ‘ought’ self = how we think we should be.
Self-regulations
= change to reduce the discrepancy between the actual and ideal self.
- When we fail to resolve an actual-ideal discrepancy = we feel dejected (e.g. disappointed, dissatisfied, sad);
- When we fail to resolve an actual-ought discrepancy = we feel agitated (e.g. anxiety, threat, fear).
Self-discrepancy model = The promotion system of regulation
= concerned with the attainment of one’s hopes and aspirations = one’s ideals. It generates sensitivity to the presence or absence of positive events.
Self-discrepancy model = The prevention system
= concerned with the fulfilment of one’s duties and obligations = one’s ought’s. It generates sensitivity to the presence or absence of negative events. People in a prevention focus use avoidance strategic means to attain their goals.
Self-perception theory
= gain knowledge of ourselves only by making self-attributions: for example, we infer our own attitudes from our own behaviour.
Over justification effect
= In the absence of obvious external determinants of our behaviour, we assume that we freely choose the behaviour because we enjoy it.
Self-evaluation maintenance model
= People who are constrained to make esteem-damaging upward comparisons can underplay or deny similarity to the target, or they can withdraw from their relationship with the target.
social comparaison therory
Comparing our behaviours and opinions with those of others in order to establish the correct or socially approved way of thinking and behaving.
Social identity theory
Thoery of group membership and intergroup relations based on self-categorization, social comparison and the construction of a shared self-definition in terms of ingroup-defining properties.
Slef-categorization theory
Turner and associates’ theory of how the process of categorizing oneself as a group member produces social identity and group and intergroup behaviours.
Self-motives = Self-assessment
The motivation to seek out new information about us in order to find out what sort of person we really are.
Self-motives = self-verification
= Seeking out information that verifies and confirms what we already know about ourselves.
Self-motives = self enhancement
= motivation to develop and promote a favorable image of self.
Terror management theory
= notion that the most fundamental human motivation is to reduce the terror of the inevitability of death. Self-esteem may be centrally implicated in effective terror management
Narcissim
= a personality trait that is volatile, comprising self-love and an inflated or grandiose view of oneself.
Stigma
= group attributes that mediate a negative social evaluation of people belonging to the group.
Self-motives = self-handicapping
Publicly making advance external attributions for our anticipated failure or poor performance in a forthcoming event.
Self-affirmation theory
= people reduce the impact of threat to their self-concept by focusing on and affirming their competence in some other area.
Self-esteem
= Feelings about and evaluations of oneself.
Actual Self
How we are at present.
Ideal self
How we would like to be.
Ought self
How we think we should be.
