Characteristics of Self
- Distinct entity, separated from other things or people
- Contains multiple sets of beliefs
- Organizes knowledge and information about one’s self
- Influences how a person think, feel, and behave
Social Psychology Perspective
- Concept coined by William James
- The self is inherently a social construct
- The concept is derived from others or one’s relationship to others
- The self would be influenced by the Context
- There are 4 major components that construct the social self
Self-Concept
Self ★
Self is a concept, a set of beliefs and perceptions one have about themselves
- Give rise to Self Schema a cognitive structure that represents the self
3 Types of Selves
- Ought - the self one that one think they should be
- Actual - the self that one actually is
- Ideal - the self that one aspire to be
- Discrepancies between the actual self and the ideal self or ought self can lead to negative emotions
Cultural Influences
Related Studies: Pen Study
- The self-concept is always changing according to the influence of situational Context, culture is an important factor
- Independent
- Present in individualist cultures
- Mostly present in “Western” cultures (Europe and North America)
- Define self by traits and personal preferences
- More stable across context
- Interdependent
- Present in collectivistic cultures
- Mostly present in “Eastern” cultures (Asian and South America)
- Define self by social duties & shared traits/preferences
- Less stable across context (more affect by it)
Self-Evaluation (self esteem)
- Members of individualist cultures tend to report higher self esteem than members of collectivistic cultures
- One’s self worth is subject to change on certain domains
Sociometer Hypothesis
- Self esteem is an internal, subjective index or maker to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others
- It is based on the success and failures in domains where a person places its self worth
Social Comparison Theory
- People evaluate themselves through comparisons to others
- Downward comparison (compare to people “worse” than you)
- Pro: Fails to provide information on how to improve
- Con: Boosts self-esteem
- Upward comparison (compare to people “better” than you)
- Pro: Makes people feel bad about themselves
- Con: Motivates self improvement
High Self esteem
- May lead to high sensitivity to treats, insults, and challenges
- May reduce one’s tendency to change things that are not going well
- Can lead to narcissism
Self-Knowledge
Dunning-Kruger Effect
- About self-awareness
- People with low ability at a task overestimate their own ability, and that people with high ability at a task underestimate their own ability
Self Enhancement (bias)
Most relevant to emotional responses for feedback about self
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Desire to maintain, increase, or protect one’s positive self views
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Benefit of positive illusion
- Increase positive mood, decrease negative mood
- Help to respond to stress and increase persistence
- Foster social bonds how?
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Better-than-average Effect - If over than 50% of people feel that they are better than average, then there must exist a gap between “reality” and self “perspective”
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Illusion of Control - tendency to think that one have control of the situation when they do not
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Unrealistic Optimism - believe that one is less likely to experience negative event and more likely to experience a positive event
Self Verification/Conformation
Most relevant to cognitive assessment of validity of feedback about self
- People strive to get others to confirm/verify their existing beliefs about themselves
- Recall and attend more to self-verifying information or signals of identity
- Enter Close Relationships that help self-verify
How self enhancement and self verification plays together
| Personality | Good feedback | bad feedback |
|---|---|---|
| Happy | 🙁 | 😀 (accurate) |
| Depressed | 🙁(accurate) | 😀 |
Self-Presentation
Impression Management/Self Monitoring
- Impression Management
- Control how others view a “us”
- Present positive public face
- Self Monitoring
- Presenting the person that they would like others to believe they are a certain “type”
Self Handicap
- Tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior to prevent others from assuming that poor performance due to lack of ability