Chapter 3 - The Self

• What is the Self?

• Where Self-Knowledge Comes From

• Self and Information Processing

• Self Esteem, Self-Deception, and Positive Illusions

• Self-Presentation

What is the Self?

• Self Knowledge

– Self Awareness

• Interpersonal Self

– Public Self

• Agent Self

– Executive Function

True Self – Two Approaches

• Self as impulse

– Inner thoughts or feelings

• Self as institution

– Public behaviors, especially official roles

Cultural Differences of Selfhood

• Independent self-construal

– What makes the self different

• Interdependent self-construal

– What connects the self to the group

Purpose of the Self

• Gain social acceptance

• Play social roles

– Society creates and defines roles

– Individual seeks and adopts them

Self-Awareness

• Attention directed at the self

– Private self-awareness

– Public self-awareness

• Usually involves evaluative comparison

Self Compared to Standards

• Concepts of how things might possibly be

– Ideals, norms, expectations, moral principles, laws, past experiences

• Around age 2, begin use of standards

– Beginning of self-awareness

Self-Awareness and Behavior

• Self-awareness

– improves behavior

– enables people to be more socially desirable

• When self-awareness feels bad – seek to escape it

– By drinking alcohol – removing inhibitions

– Through suicide – extreme escape

Purpose of Self-Awareness

• Self-regulation

• Adopt the perspective of other people

• Manage behavior in pursuit of goals

Food for Thought - Eating Binges and Escaping the Self

• Importance of self-awareness

– Eating allows escape from negative thoughts about self

– Eating can serve as a distraction from negative thoughts about self

Food for Thought - Eating Binges and Escaping the Self

• Dieters are high in public self-consciousness

– Low in private self-awareness

• Includes ignoring hunger

• Losing awareness of “fullness”

Where Self Knowledge Comes From

Looking Outside

• Looking-Glass Self (Cooley, 1902)

– You imagine how you appear to others

– You imagine how others will judge you

– You develop an emotional response as a result of imagining how others will judge you

• Generalized Other (Mead, 1934)

– Feedback from others tell us who and what we are

Evaluating Looking-Glass Self

• People do respond to feedback from others

• May not know how people regard them

– People are reluctant to give negative comments

– People may not be receptive to negative comments

Looking Inside

• Introspection

– Privileged Access

• Limitations of Introspection

– Development – Children under 11

– Nisbett and Wilson attack on privileged access (1977)

– We may know what we think and feel, but not why

Looking At Others

• Social Comparison

– Upward social comparisons

– Downward social comparisons

Self-Perception and Overjustification Effect

• Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1965)

– Intrinsic motivation

– Extrinsic motivation

• Overjustification Effect

– Intrinsic motivation diminishes for activities associated with expected rewards

Fluctuating Image(s) of Self

• Phenomenal Self (Working Self-Concept)

– Unusual aspects about you become prominent

– Being lone member of some category

• Heightens self-awareness

• Can impair performance

Why People Seek Self-Knowledge

• Appraisal Motive

– Looking for the truth about oneself

• Self-Enhancement Motive

– Looking for flattering things about self

• Consistency Motive

– Looking for confirmation about current belief about self

When Motives Compete

• Appraisal Motive

– Weakest motive

• Self-Enhancement Motive

– Strongest motive (emotional appeal)

• Consistency Motive

– Second preference (cognitive appeal)

Tradeoffs - Self-Handicapping

• Self-Handicapping

– Failure can be blamed on obstacle

– Success assumes higher competence

• Berglas & Jones (1978) experiment

– Noncontingent choose obstacle to maximum performance on second IQ test

Self-Knowledge and the Duplex Mind

• Automatic Egotism

– Automatic, self-enhancing

• Modesty

– Conscious, deliberate control

Self and Information Processing

Self and Information Processing

• Self-Reference Effect

– Information bearing on self is processed more deeply and remembered better

• Endowment Effect

– Items gain in value to person who owns them

Can Self-Concept Change?

• Self-Concept is consistent with public self

– People expect you to stay the same

– Changing social environment may change inner self

– Convince others that you have changed

– Allow others to see your changed behavior

• Memory Shifts to Fit New Self-Concept

Self-Esteem, Self-Deception, and Positive Illusions

Self-Esteem

• High Self-Esteem

– Positive views

• Low Self-Esteem

– Absence of strong positive views

Is Bad Stronger Than Good? Basking and Blasting

• Group membership may enhance positive feelings about self (Cialdini et.al, 1976)

– Basking - Linking oneself to winners

– Blasting - Criticizing a rival group

• People show a stronger tendency to blast (negative) than bask (positive)

Is Bad Stronger Than Good? Basking and Blasting

• Loyal fans experience changes in their own confidence level based on the success or failure of their team

– Losing had a stronger effect than winning

Low Self-Esteem

• Research on Low Self-Esteem

– Do not want to fail

– Self-concept confusion

– Focus on self-protection

– More prone to emotional highs and lows

• Myth of Low-Self Esteem in United States

Feel Good About Failure?

PLAYVIDEO

Distorted Perceptions of Nondepressed

• Positive Illusions

– Overestimate good qualities

– Underestimate faults

– Overestimate control over events

– Unrealistically optimistic

Self-Deception Strategies

• Self Serving Bias

• More skeptical of bad feedback

• Junk Mail Theory of Self-Deception

• Comparisons with those slightly worse

• Skew impressions of others to highlight own good traits as unusual

The Social Side of Sex Self-Esteem and Saying No to Sex

• Evidence does not show that high-esteem is associated with youngsters saying no to sex

• Link between self-esteem and virginity in men (age 20) but not women

• Women with high self-esteem ignore pregnancy risk and underestimate dangers of sex

Benefits of High Self-Esteem

• Initiative

– Confidence you can do the right thing

– More adventurous in activities

• Feels Good

– Helps one to overcome bad feelings

– If they fail, more likely to try again

Why Do We Care About Self-Esteem?

• Sociometer Theory

– Self-esteem is a measure of social acceptability

• Self-esteem feels good

– Theory of terror management

Negative Aspects of High Self-Esteem

• Narcissism

– Subset of high self-esteem

– Tend to be more aggressive and violent

• Higher Prejudice

– Tend to think their group is better

Pursuit of Self-Esteem

• May have harmful consequences

– Can compromise pursuit of competence

– Impairs autonomy

– Pressure to meet expectations of others

– Weakens individual intrinsic motivation

– Impairs learning

– Can damage relationships

– Can be harmful to health

Self-Presentation

• Behaviors that convey an image to others

• Public Esteem

– More important than private self-esteem

• Public Behavior

– Acting for the audience

Functions of Self-Presentation

• Social Acceptance

– Increase chance of acceptance and maintain place within the group

• Claiming Identity

– Social validation of claims to identity

Good Self-Presentation

• Demonstrate Positive Traits

• Behave with Consideration of Audience

• Tradeoff

– Tendency toward favorable presentation

• Modesty

– More prevalent in long-term relationships

• Risky Behaviors

What Makes Us Human?

• What makes us special?

– Self-Awareness

– Self-Concept

• Self is a human tool for

– Gaining social acceptance

– Participating in culture