The Self

1. The Self

2. What is the Self? • Definition • Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary • Self: “the entire person of an individual” • ???? • Self-Concept • the collection of beliefs we hold about ourselves

3. Self-Esteem • Implicit vs. Explicit Measures • Explicit • e.g., Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale • “I feel that I have a number of good qualities.” • “All in all, I feel that I am a failure.” • Implicit • preferring letters in our own name and numbers in our birth date • while Americans generally score high on both measures, Japanese participants generally score low on explicit measures but high on implicit measures …

4. The Sociometer Model of Self-Esteem • Leary & Downs (1995) • self-esteem is a gauge of the degree to which one is being accepted versus rejected by others

5. Self-Development • When does a sense of self develop? • Erik Erikson (1963) • most development occurs during adolescence and young adulthood • why then? • an ongoing process throughout life

6. Where Does Self-Knowledge Come From? • Socialization • process of acquiring the rules, standards, and values of one’s culture • Reflected Appraisal • observing the reactions others have to us • Feedback from Others • we prefer objective feedback, but often only have others’ personal opinions

7. Where Does Self-Knowledge Come From? • Environmental Distinctiveness • define ourselves through differences • Social Comparison • comparing abilities, opinions, or emotions with those of others • Social Identity • self-concept derived from membership in groups

8. Self Perception Theory • Bem (1972) • self-knowledge is derived from different sources based on the trait’s importance to us • For: • important aspects • rely on beliefs, attitudes, affective preferences • unimportant aspects • observe our own behavior

9. Culture and the Self • Independent Self • bounded, unitary, separate from social context • typical in Western cultures • Interdependent Self • flexible, variable, connected to social context • typical in Eastern cultures

10. Culture, Cognition, and Emotion • Achievement • personal achievement is a Western virtue • achievement of group goals is a Japanese virtue • Emotional Experience • Western emotions  ego-centered • Eastern emotions  group-centered • Self-Esteem & Life Satisfaciton • Western  positively correlated • Eastern  no correlation

11. Labeling Arousal States • Schachter (1964) • perception of emotions depends upon: • degree of physiological arousal • cognitive label we apply • Schachter & Singer (1962) • epinephrine vs. saline solution • told that the injection contained “vitamins” • told to expect side effects consistent with epinephrine vs. “dull headache and numbness” vs. no side effect warning • confederate acting euphoric vs. angry

12. Labeling Arousal States • Schachter & Singer (1962) • naïve and misled participants who received the epinephrine injection took cues from the confederate’s behavior and acted and responded similarly • those participants receiving epinephrine but told what to expect did not act or respond like the confederate – they responded in ways consistent with what side effects they expected to experience

13. Labeling Arousal States • Dutton & Aron (1974) • attractive female experimenter asked males passing by to complete a survey • either • on a scary rope bridge, or • at the end of the bridge • after filling out the survey, she gave them her phone number in case they had any questions

14. Labeling Arousal States • Dutton & Aron (1974) • number of phone calls was the dependent variable • on the bridge: 50% called • end of the bridge: 15%called • Interpretation • participants misattributed the increased arousal due to being on a scary bridge to attraction to the experimenter

15. Aspects of Self-Knowledge • Self-Schemas • used on dimensions that: • are important to us • we think we are extreme on • we are certain the opposite is not true • Actual Self • Ideal Self • Ought Self

16. Aspects of Self-Knowledge • Self-Discrepancy • difference between actual and ideal selves • discrepancy  disappointment, dissatisfaction, sadness, lowered self-esteem • Behavioral Activation and Inhibition • Behavioral Activation System (Promotion Orientation) • tend to approach people & activities • Behavioral Inhibition System (Prevention Orientation) • tend to avoid people & activities

17. Self-Regulation • Self Regulation • how people control their actions • Working Self Concept • aspect of self-concept accessed in a particular situation • not necessarily the stable self-concept • can become part of the stable self-concept if consistently activated • e.g., being a boss

18. Self-Regulation • Self-Complexity • number of dimensions in one’s self-concept • low level of self-complexity • vulnerable to failure in predominant dimension • high level of self-complexity • buffered against stressful life events

19. Self-Regulation • Self-Efficacy • expectations about our abilities to accomplish certain tasks

20. Self-Regulation • Self-Awareness • when attention is turned to the self • things that bring about self-awareness: • seeing yourself in a mirror • having your picture taken • being evaluated by others • being a minority in a situation • most of the time, attention is focused on the environment rather than ourselves

21. Motivation and the Self • Need for an Accurate Self-Concept • we seek diagnostic information when determining our abilities • we compare ourselves to similar others • to determine my basketball skills, who am I more likely to compare myself to? • Michael Jordan • fourth graders • short, out-of-shape graduate students

22. Motivation and the Self • Need for Consistent Self-Concept • humans like consistency • often seek out situations that confirm preexisting self-conceptions and avoid situations that disconfirm them

23. Motivation and the Self • Self-Enhancement • the need to hold a positive view of the self and protect it from negative feedback • important after threat, failure, or reduction of self-esteem • Positive Illusions • exaggerated positive perceptions of one’s personal qualities

24. Motivation and the Self • Why do we self-enhance? • more effective in everyday functions. • we need a balance of accurate information about the self and self-enhanced information • When do we self-enhance vs. seek accuracy? • self-enhancement  introspective frame of mind • accuracy/consistency  analytical frame of mind

25. Motivation and the Self • Self-Affirmation Theory (Steele, 1998) • reaffirming unrelated aspects of the self after lowered self-esteem • Terror Management Theory • control fears about mortality through: • a worldview that makes sense of the world • personal self-esteem • when death is made salient, participants actively attempt to suppress thoughts of it (Greenberg et al., 2001)

26. Motivation and the Self • Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model (Tesser, 1988) • how do we deal with the performance of others around us? Depends on our: • motive for self-enhancement • perceived closeness to the person • A close other performs well on something. • What determines whether you: • take pride in the person, or • compare yourself negatively to the person?

27. Motivation and the Self • Is it relevant to your self definition? • YES • a close other performing well will threaten our self-evaluation, leading to a negative comparison to the person (e.g., we may feel envious) • The Comparison Effect • NO • no threat to our self-evaluation and pride is likely to occur • The Reflection Effect

28. Motivation and the Self • Culture and Self-Enhancement • Heine & Lehman (1999) • Japanese tend to be more self-critical than Westerners • self-enhancing biases don’t occur as often in collective cultures • Takata (1987) actually found self-effacing biases

29. Social Comparison Theory Festinger (1954) 1. We have a drive to evaluate our opinions and abilities accurately. 2. Without objective standards, we evaluate ourselves by comparing ourselves with others. 3. We prefer to compare ourselves to similar others.

30. Social Comparison Theory • Contrast • seeing ourselves as distinctive as a result of social comparison • Assimilation • comparisons can also lead to a sense of bonding between people

31. Social Comparison Theory • Self-Improvement • general drive to improve ourselves • possible selves guide this • comparing ourselves with successful others also help too • upward social comparison • what about unsuccessful others? • downward social comparison

32. Social Comparison Theory • Automatic comparisons • Morse & Gergen (1970) • participants responded to a job ad • waited with another “applicant” • Either “Mr. Dirty” or “Mr. Clean”

33. Self-Presentation • Self Presentation • efforts to control the impression we convey • can become automatic in certain situations • determined by the goals of our self-presentation and the audience

34. Self-Presentation • Making a Good Impression • conform to the norms of the social situation • match the behaviors of other people • Self Promotion • conveying positive information about the self to others verbally or through actions (conveys competence) • Ingratiation • Flattery; saying positive things about the listener (conveys likeability)

35. Self-Presentation • Modesty • conveys likeability and competence • Effective if: • past performance was successful • audience knows about your success • BiRGing (Cialdini, 1976) • “Basking in Reflected Glory” • enhancing our self-presentation by highlighting our association with successful others

36. Self-Presentation • Self-Handicapping • engaging in actions that result in insurmountable obstacles to success • later failure can be attributed to the obstacles rather than one’s own inability • can be a genuine handicap or a self-reported handicap • Sandbagging • claiming inability or making false predictions for a lack of success. • later failure will not be surprising