The Self

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Lecture 4

• The Self

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Outline

• Introduction
• The Self Concept
• Self-concept and self-construals
• Sources of Self-Knowledge
• Self-Observation and Social Comparison
• Interpersonal Relations
• Group Membership and Social Identity
• Self-Presentation
• Self-Esteem
• Self-Enhancement Theories
• Self-Verification Theory

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Exercise

• Boring
• Worthwhile
• Full
• Discouraging
• Interesting
• Friendly
• Disappointing
• Green
• Round
• Angry
• Cautious
• Honest

• Agreeable
• Normal
• Burgundy
• Foreign
• Patriotic
• Ill
• Sociable
• Immoral
• Valuable
• Sad
• Active
• Right

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The Self Concept

• Self-schemata are cognitive generalizations about
  the self, derived from past experience, that
  organize and the processing of self-related
  information contained in the individuals social
  experiences.
• (Markus, 1977, p. 64)

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Functions of the Self

• Organizational function
• Helps us organize and interpret information
• Managerial function
• regulates behaviour and plans for future
• Emotional function
• Helps us to determine our emotional responses

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The Self Concept, continued

• Independent self-construals
• Interdependent self-construals

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Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals
(Markus Kitayama, 1991)
Coworker
Mother
Coworker
Mother
SELF
SELF
Friend
Neighbour
Friend
Neighbour
Independent
Interdependent
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Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals
(Markus Kitayama, 1991)

• Independent
• Separate from social context
• Bounded, unitary, stable
• Internal, private (feelings, thoughts)
• Life tasks Be unique, express self,
  self-actualization
• Direct communication
• Self-esteem depends on ability to express self,
  validate internal attributes

• Interdependent
• Connected with social context
• Flexible, variable
• External, public (roles, statuses, relationships)
• Life tasks belong, fit-in, engage in appropriate
  action, promote others goals
• Indirect communication
• Self esteem depends on ability to adjust,
  maintain harmony, restrain self

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Cousins (1989)
Proportion of attributes in self-description
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Self-Construals and Motivation (Iyengar Lepper,
1999)
Seconds spent on anagrams during free play
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Sources of Self-Knowledge

• Self-Observation
• Self-Perception (Bem, 1967, 1972)
• Intrinsic motivation and the Overjustification
  Effect
• Social Comparison Theory

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Self-Perception Theory

• Individuals come to know their own attitudes,
  emotions, and other internal states partially by
  inferring them from observations of their own
  overt behavior and/or the circumstances in which
  this behaviour occurs (Bem, 1972)

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Intrinsic Motivation and the Overjustification
Effect

• Intrinsic Motivation
• Desire to perform an activity because were enjoy
  it.
• Extrinsic Motivation
• Desire to perform an activity because of external
  pressures or rewards
• Overjustification Effect
• People view their behavior as caused by
  compelling extrinsic reasons, and underestimate
  the extent to which the behaviour was caused by
  intrinsic reasons

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Sources of Self-Knowledge Social Comparison
Theory

• Social Comparison (Festinger, 1954)
• We have an innate drive to evaluate our opinions
  and abilities
• If there is no objective index, then we compare
  ourselves with others
• We generally want and accurate evaluation
• We compare ourselves to similar others with
  regards to opinions.
• We compare ourselves to similar (but slightly
  better) others with regards to abilities.

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Social Comparison Theory, continued

• Wood (1989)
• Self-Evalutation (self-assessment)
• Accurate assessment
• Compare with similar other
• Self-Improvement
• Learn how to improve
• Compare with others in better circumstances
• Self-enhancement
• Enhance or protect self-esteem
• Compare with others in worse circumstances

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Sources of Self-Knowledge Interpersonal Relations

• Direct Interpersonal Influence
• Indirect Interpersonal Influence
• Reflected self-appraisals
• Rejected Interpersonal Influence

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Reflected Self-Appraisals(adapted from Schafer
Keith, 1985)
.05
Wifes Evaluation Of Husbands Self-Esteem
.46
.71
Husbands Perception Of Wifes Evaluation
Husbands Self-Esteem
.00
Husbands Evaluation Of Wifes Self-Esteem
Wifes Perception Of Husbands Evaluation
.39
.77
Wifes Self-Esteem
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Group Membership and Social Identity

• Social Identity
• That part of the individuals self-concept which
  derives from knowledge of his or her membership
  in a social group, together with the value and
  emotional significance associated to that
  membership. (Tajfel, 1972)

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Group Membership and Social Identity, continued

• Self-Categorization Theory (Turner et al., 1989)

Human
Social (Group)
Personal
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Self-Presentation and Impression Management

• Strategic Self Presentation
• Ingratiation
• Intimidation
• Self-promotion
• Exemplification
• Supplication

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Self-Presentation and Self-Disclosure

• Self-disclosure The act of revealing personal
  information about oneself to others.
• Quantity of information
• Depth of information
• Reciprocity

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Self-Esteem

• Self-esteem refers to affective evaluations of
  ones worth, value or importance. Synonymous
  with self-worth, self-regard, self-respect,
  self-acceptance.
• Various theories have been proposed to explain
  how people work to maintain a stable, positive
  self-concept.

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Self-Discrepancy Theory (Higgins, 1987, 1989,
1996)

• Feel distressed when our actual self is
  different from our ideal (the type of person we
  desire to be) or ought (the type of person we
  feel we should be) self, on a criterion that is
  important to us.
• Actual-ideal discrepancies are associated with
  dejection, sadness, dissatisfaction, and
  depression-related emotions.
• Actual-ought discrepancies are associated with
  fear, worry, tension and anxiety-related emotions.

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Self-Completion Theory (Gollwitzer Wicklund,
1985)

• When people experience a threat to a valued
  aspect of their self-concept, they become highly
  motivated to seek social recognition of that
  aspect of the self.
• When an important identity has been challenged,
  we behave in ways to legitimate our claim to that
  identity.

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Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory (Tesser et
al., 1995)

• Aspects of our self-concept can be threatened by
  another persons behaviour.
• Two factors are important
• The immediacy of the other person
• The personal importance of the behaviour

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Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing)

• We take pride in the achievements of certain
  people and groups, even when we had nothing to do
  with attaining them.

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Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

• Self-enhancement is the tendency to hold
  unrealistically positive views about ourselves
• Self-verification is the tendency to seek
  veridical information about the self, whether
  positive or negative.

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Self-Verification Theory (Swann 1990, 1996)

• We are motivated to have stable, coherent
  self-concepts.
• Information from others (both positive and
  negative) that is contrary to our self-concept
• threatens the stability of the self-concept.
• makes it comfortable to interact with someone who
  doesnt share our self-concept

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Self-Verification Theory, continued

• When do we self-verify
• In close relationships
• When we are highly certain of our self-concept
• Consequences of being discovered are high