the self in a social world chapter 2. self-concept: who am i? i am
TRANSCRIPT
The Self in a Social World
Chapter 2
Self-Concept: Who Am I?
• I am
• I am
• I am
• I am
• I am
At the Center of Our Worlds: Our Sense of Self
• Self-schemas– Affect our memory: self-reference effect– Affect our perception/interpretation of others– “Spotlight effect”– Our “possible self-schemas” motivate us
• Positive AND negative
I Am Me; I Am OKWhat is Self-Esteem?
• Our overall self-evaluation
• What makes it high or low?– “Top down” - Which schemas are most
important to you? – “Bottom up” - Do you already have high self-
esteem?
Development of the Social Self
• Genetic influences
• Our roles: Playing to becoming
• Social identity = identity that comes from group memberships– Small group surrounded by large group = more
consciousness of that social identity
• Social Comparisons– How do we know we are smart, dumb,
handsome, etc.?– The pitfalls of comparison
• Successes and failures
• Other people’s judgments
Development of the Social Self (cont.)
Self and Culture:Individualism vs. Collectivism
• Individualism and Western culture– Priority is given to self-goals and identity over
group goals and identity; the independent self
• Collectivism - the interdependent self
• There are variations w/in cultures
• Self-esteem in different cultures
Self-Knowledge• How well do you really know yourself?
– On one level, very well– On another level, not very well at all
• Is it obvious or subtle?
• Predicting our behavior
• Predicting our feelings
• The bottom line: often we are dead wrong, sometimes we are right on
Perceived Self-Control
• “Self-control operates like muscular strength…both are weaker after exertion, replenished with rest, and strengthened by exercise” (p. 53)
Self-Efficacy
• Sense of competence and effectiveness
• The benefits of self-efficacy (correlations):– More persistence– Less anxiousness, depression– Healthier lives– More academic success– Higher worker productivity
Locus of Control
• To what do you attribute outcomes?
• Internal versus external
• Which one is more likely to– Do well in school?– Successfully stop smoking?– Wear seat belts?– Use birth control?– Deal directly w/ marital problems?– Make more money?
Learned Helplessness Versus Self-Determination
• Learned helplessness - “I am helpless because I have no control over the bad things that happen to me”
• Langer and Rodin (1976)
• Personal control can affect the health of the psyche
• The “Tyranny of Freedom”
Self-Serving Bias
• The “culture of low self-esteem” fallacy
• Self-serving bias =– The tendency to perceive oneself favorably
Explaining Positive and Negative Events
• People tend to accept credit for their successes– esp. in situations that combine skill & chance
• They also tend to attribute failure to external factors
• The marital version…the student version…the employee version… the driver’s version...
Can We All Be Better Than Average?
• The self-serving bias tends to be esp. pronounced when comparing ourselves to people in general
• Subjective dimensions also elicit greater s-s bias than objective behavioral dimensions
• We tend to place greater importance on the things we feel good at
Unrealistic Optimism• Pervades our thinking• Increases our vulnerability
– Unsafe sex– Smoking– Seat belt use– Marriage!
• BUT… it promotes self-efficacy, health, and well-being.
• We need a bit of “defensive pessimism”
False Consensus and Uniqueness
• False consensus effect: the tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors
• False uniqueness effect: the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors.
Self-Esteem Motivation
• Why the self-serving bias?– Multiple motives– Cognitions are influenced by motivations to
protect and/or enhance self-esteem
The Dark Side of Self-Esteem
• Low SE is associated w/ higher risk of depression, drug abuse, and some types of delinquency
• Teen gang leaders, extreme ethnocentrists, and terrorists tend to have higher than average SE.
• Does ego really = low self-esteem?
Impression Management
• Self-presentation is how we act or behave to create a desired impression on another– Consciously or unconsciously– Self-handicapping– False modesty
• Self-monitoring is the cycle of monitoring one’s behavior, noting how others react, and adjusting one’s behavior accordingly.
• Janet Swim and Lauri Hyers (1997)– Participants were presented with this hypothetical
situation: You and 3 others are discussing whom to select for survival on a private island. One man in this group makes a series of sexist comments such as “I think we need more women on the island to keep the men satisfied.” How did the student participants react to his remark? 5% said they would ignore his comments or wait to see how the others reacted. Then, the experimenters engaged others in discussions where a male confederate made such comments. What percent actually said nothing?
56%
• “The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go so I ran over him.”• “A truck backed through my windshield and into my wife’s face.”• “The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.”• “I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.”• “To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I hit the pedestrian.”• “The telephone pole was approaching fast. I was attempting to swerve out of its path when it hit my front end.” :-)
On a sheet of paper write down 10 antonym pairs such as
good - badRain - sun
Circle the pairs where the positive antonym was listed first
The Polyanna Principle: In perception, language, memory, and thought, the pleasant predominates over the unpleasant.