the social self (psych 201 - chapter 3 - spring 2014)

THIS WEEK’S PLAYLIST

ARTIST SONG (PSYCH CONCEPT)

1 Meredith Brooks Bitch (Self-Complexity)

2 Skee-Lo I Wish (Self-Discrepancy Theory)

3 Morrissey We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful (Social Comparison Theory)

4 Missy Elliott Lose Control (Ego Depletion, Self-Control)

5 Beck Loser (Low Self-Esteem)

6 LMFAO Sexy And I Know It (High Self-Esteem)

7 Mike Posner Cooler Than Me (Downward Social Comparisons)

8 Tal Bachman She’s So High (Upward Social Comparisons)

9 Lorde Royals (Self-Verification Theory)

CHAPTER 3:THE SOCIAL SELFMelanie B. Tannenbaum, M.A. Psych 201 Spring 2014

IMPORTANT POINTS

○ Forming The Self !!

○ Self-Knowledge !!

○ Self-Regulation

○ Self-Evaluation !!

○ Self-Esteem !!

○ Self-Presentation

FORMING THE SELF

THE SOCIAL SELF

○ Self: A person’s particular nature or qualities that make him/her unique and distinguishable from others. !

● Who are you?

!○ Social Self: The parts of self-knowledge that are

derived from social relationships. !

● How do other people teach you more about yourself?

ARE YOU...

○ A) The oldest sibling !

○ B) A middle child !

○ C) The youngest sibling !

○ D) A twin/triplet/multiple !

○ E) An only child

SIBLING RIVALRY?

○ Birth Order !

● OLDER SIBLINGS: More dominant, achievement oriented, conscientious, want to maintain the status quo. !

● YOUNGER SIBLINGS: More agreeable, open to new experiences, rebellious, want to challenge the status quo.

!○ This is on average, meaning it

might not apply to every family.

SIBLING RIVALRY?

Fun Facts !

○ There are significantly more first-born children among... ● U.S. Presidents (24/44) ● First 23 astronauts sent into space by NASA (21/23) ● Nobel Laureates (40%)

SIBLING RIVALRY?

Fun Facts Many famous people known for being revolutionary or

going against the status quo were last-born children.

SIBLING RIVALRY?

Fun Facts !

○ Most revolutionaries are later-born children. ● Most scientists who opposed Darwin’s theories at the time

were first-born; most who supported them were later-born. ● The odds of accepting revolutions or revolutionary theories

(e.g. Copernicus, Einstein’s theory of relativity) are consistently higher among later-born children. !

○ Of sibling pairs in MLB, the younger brother tried to “steal” bases more often in 90% of the pairs.

WHY ARE SIBLINGS DIFFERENT?


○ Biology ● Traits are heritable ● Evidence of brain activity differences in extraversion



○ Environment ● People treat siblings differently based on expectations ● There is no such thing as “the same environment”

○ One twin will always be treated differently from the other

● Boys and girls are socialized differently ○ No preference for “girl” or “boy” toys until they are taught



○ Environment ● People treat siblings differently based on expectations ● There is no such thing as “the same environment”

○ One twin will always be treated differently from the other

● Boys and girls are socialized differently ○ No preference for “girl” or “boy” toys until they are taught

○ Hindsight Bias/Correlation and Causation ● Easier to notice things about your life that “confirm” your

expectations when you are looking for them.

DIVERSIFICATION Siblings take on different “roles” in the family

to minimize conflicts

KARDASHIAN DIVERSIFICATION

THE SELF & CULTURE

○ Two Fundamental Aspects of Self !

● Personality ○ Are you outgoing? Moody? Adventurous?

!● Social roles

○ Are you a student? An American? An only child?

!○ Some people more influenced by one or the other.

!● Think back to individualism and collectivism! This is an

important theme in this class and will pop up over and over!

INDEPENDENT CULTURES INTERDEPENDENT CULTURES

USA Asia (East Asia)

Canada Africa

Western Europe South America


Self = Distinct From Others Self = Linked To Others



Importance of Acting On One’s Own Importance of Collective Action

Individual Distinctiveness Group Cohesion & Harmony



Importance of Acting On One’s Own Importance of Collective Action

Individual Distinctiveness Group Cohesion & Harmony

Prefer Egalitarianism & Achievement-Based Status

(Meritocracy)

Prefer Hierarchy & Social Group-Based Status

Rules About Behavior Should Apply To Everyone

Rules About Behavior Should Consider Context, Relationships, and

Group Concerns


If you want a job done right, do it yourself.

It takes a village to raise a child.

Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

No need to know the person, only the family.


There are also within-culture differences!


Men Women

Higher SES (Richer) Lower SES (Poorer)

INDEPENDENT: MEN INTERDEPENDENT: WOMEN

More attuned to internal responses More attuned to the situation/context

More likely to see selves as autonomous

More likely to describe selves in terms of relationships

THE SELF AND THE SITUATION

!!!You have certain characteristics that are “staples”... !

...but overall, your “self” varies based on the situation

STATE VS. TRAIT

!!

○ Trait: Relatively stable across time and situations ● The “average” version of you !

!!

○ State: Changes based on the context ● How you are in different situations

ARE YOU ALWAYS THE SAME?


Would Be Very Weird


Would Be Very Weird

Makes More Sense


Think of your “selves” like different notebooks you have for different classes.

Would you bring every one to every class?


○ We do the same thing with self-concepts !

○ We increase mental activation/accessibility of parts of the self that will be most useful in a given situation !

○ The part of your self-concept relevant to extraversion would be activated at a party, but not here in class

Think of your “selves” like different notebooks you have for different classes.

Would you bring every one to every class?

DISTINCTIVENESS HYPOTHESIS

○ We identify what makes us unique in each context ○ We highlight that in our self-definition



“I’m a woman...”



“I’m a woman...” “I’m 5’5”...”


How you describe yourself depends on

the stuation.


Remember our discussion of

independent vs. interdependent

cultures!

SELF-COMPLEXITY

○ How do you define yourself? !

○ What are your most important identities, hobbies, group memberships, jobs, or interests?

SELF-COMPLEXITY

○ The number of self-defining domains that you have matters – and so does the amount that they overlap! !

○ People with more domains and non-overlapping domains tend to be happier and healthier.

WHY?

○ It has to do with SELF-ESTEEM. !

!○ If you face failure in one domain, it helps to have other

domains you can use to “buffer” your negative feelings !

!○ If you define yourself entirely as a “girlfriend” or

“boyfriend,” a “student,” or a “runner,” when you face failure in that domain it can be really demoralizing.

SO FAR, WE KNOW THAT...○ The “self” is made up of (1) traits and (2) social roles !

○ We have different “selves” that we can call upon in different situations, as we deem appropriate. !

○ The more domains that you use to define yourself, the happier and healthier you will be. !

○ Culture, gender, distinctiveness, and birth order can influence the domains by which we define ourselves. !What are some other ways that the people around us might

influence our self-definitions?

SELF-KNOWLEDGE & SELF-EVALUATION

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

!OUTGOING

!!!!

Is the font of this word big or small?

!MOODY

!!!!

Does this rhyme with “outgoing”?

!ADVENTUROUS

!!!!

Is this a synonym for “moody”?

!FRIENDLY

!!!!

Does this describe you?

STRUCTURE SOUND SEMANTIC SELF

• Participants given a list of 40 trait adjectives • Outgoing, moody, adventurous, etc.

• For each set of 10, participants were told to focus on a different aspect of the word.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

An hour later, participants were asked to remember the 40 words. They remembered one category of words much better than the

others. !

Which category do you think it was? !

○ A) Structure (“Is the font big or small?”) !

○ B) Sound (“Does this rhyme with ___?”) !

○ C) Semantic (“Is this a synonym for ___?”) !

○ D) Self (“Does this describe you?”)

SELF-KNOWLEDGE:THE SELF-REFERENCE EFFECT

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Structure Sound Semantic Self

• People remembered words significantly better when they processed them in reference to themselves

• The more you personalize something, the better you will remember it

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WHY?

○ When you learn something new, you integrate it into existing knowledge structures. !

○ Our “selves” are our favorite topic! Your “self” knowledge structure is very well-formed. If you integrate new information into your “self” network, you will process it more deeply and integrate it into your knowledge base better. !

○ This can help you!! ○ If you need to remember something important, apply it to

yourself. When remembering facts from this class, try relating them to your relationships, upbringing, etc.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE & INFORMATION

!○ Turn to the person next to you. !!

○ Ask one question to get to know him/her better. !!

○ Ask a question that you think would be most helpful for you to get to know this new person. !

○ It can’t just be what his/her name is.


What was the first thing that you asked about? !

○ A) Something school-related (e.g. major, favorite class) !

○ B) Where he/she is from (e.g. hometown) !

○ C) Social group membership (e.g. Greek affiliation) !

○ D) Hobbies/interests (e.g. favorite book/movie) !

○ E) Other


The questions that you asked actually give me some clues about what you consider important

about yourself!

SELF-IMAGE BIAS

○ Tendency to judge others’ personalities according to their similarity to our own personality !

○ When it comes to judging others, we overweight things that we consider important to our own personalities ● Intelligent people look for intelligence; funny people look for

humor; fashionistas look for fashion.

!○ People use their own personality to define personality

● How smart is smart? Conveniently, just as smart as you are.

SELF-IMAGE BIAS

SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY Leon Festinger, 1950s

!!!!!!!!

!Just like we can’t understand the results of an experiment

without a control condition, we can’t understand ourselves without a reference group.

SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY Leon Festinger, 1950s

!!!!!!!!

!We learn about ourselves by looking at others.

SOCIAL COMPARISON:WHEN DO WE DO THIS?

!○ (1) There is no clear “objective standard” !

○ (2) We feel uncertain about ourselves !!

○ Social Comparisons are like a ladder... ● ...you can either look upward or downward

MOTIVATED COMPARISONS:LOOKING UPWARD

○ Compare self to others who are slightly better than you ● How good could you become?

!○ Motivation to pursue your goals ○ Helps you improve your abilities

MOTIVATED COMPARISONS:LOOKING DOWNWARD

○ Compare self to others who are slightly worse than you ● How much better are you than others?

!○ Boosts self-esteem, improves well-being & happiness ○ Helps you feel better about your abilities

UPWARD OR DOWNWARD?

!○ The same person (or group) can be an upward or a

downward comparison, depending on what you are focusing on/comparing. !!

○ You could be focusing on different domains. !

!○ You could be construing the domain in different ways.

SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY

○ Upward is not necessarily better... !

!○ People quitting smoking have more success when they

compare themselves with others who have done better... !

○ ...but breast cancer patients fare better when they compare themselves with patients who have it worse. !

It depends on what will benefit you the most: Motivation to pursue goals,

or hope, self-esteem, and well-being?

SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY: REVIEW

○ Happens most frequently when.. ● No objective standard that people can use for judgment ● People feel uncertain about their self-concepts ● The people around are similar to them in target domain !

○ Upward ● Compare self to relevant others who are slightly better ● Good for motivation !

○ Downward ● Compare self to relevant others who are slightly worse ● Good for self-esteem

SELF-ASSESSMENT

!○ What kind of grade do you think you will get in 201? !● A. Very below average

● B. Below average

● C. Average

● D. Above average

● E. Very above average

“BETTER THAN AVERAGE” EFFECT

Most Westerners report that they are better than average on a majority of traits and mundane skills.

!!!!!!!

!Sadly,

it’s literally impossible for everyone to be “above average.”

EXPLANATION

!○ Interpretation of reality

● What does it mean to be a good driver? ○ Careful ○ Skillful ○ Polite/Courteous

● People shift their definitions in order to come out on top

!○ Occurs more for “vague” traits than “concrete” traits

● You can shift what it means to be a good driver ● You can’t shift whether or not you’re a professional athlete, or

whether or not you can juggle.

SELF-REGULATION

SELF-KNOWLEDGE & MOTIVATION

○ Actual self ● The person we truly think we are !

○ Possible selves ● Ideal self: The person we want to be ● Ought self: The person we feel we should be !

○ Self-Discrepancy Theory ● People want to reduce discrepancies between who they

currently are and who they want to and/or should be. ○ This motivates our behavior; we are constantly trying to

improve and reach our “ideal” or “ought” selves.


○ Pursuing “Ideal” = Promotion Focus ● Focus on attaining desirable outcomes ● Sensitive to reward; approach motivated ● Associated with positive feelings ● If we fail, we feel depressed or sad

○ Pursuing “Ought” = Prevention Focus ● Focus on avoiding undesirable outcomes ● Sensitive to punishment; avoid motivated ● Associated with negative feelings ● If we fail, we feel anxious or guilty


○ People can have overall tendencies, but also situational! !!

○ At the start of the semester, most students are promotion focused (“I’m going to read everything and get an A+!”) ● Ideal self: A+ student ● Promotion strategy: Approach work, focus on rewards ● Result of not achieving: Feel sad


○ People can have overall tendencies, but also situational! !!

○ At the end of the semester, most students are prevention focused (“I need to study so I don’t fail!”) ● Ought self: Someone who doesn’t fail ● Prevention strategy: Avoid failing, focus on punishments ● Result of not achieving: Feel stressed, anxious, guilty !

Self-Regulation: The process of trying to effectively pursue goals

SELF-REGULATION:SELF-REGULATORY RESOURCE MODEL

!○ Self-control is a limited (but renewable) resource ○ Can be depleted by stress, regular exertion, or overuse ○ Replenishes itself over time (and with glucose) !

!It can be built up in the long-term (like a muscle).

!The more you exercise self-control,

the better you get at exercising self-control (and the more self-control you can exert at a time).

SELF-REGULATION:EGO DEPLETION

○ A state that occurs when all (or most) of your self-control resources have been used up. !

○ Harder to exert self-control, easier to make (stupid) mistakes on difficult tasks. !!!!!

Ego-depletion can be “cured” by resting or consuming a snack that contains glucose.

SELF-REGULATION:RADISH-COOKIE STUDY

○ Students entered a lab that smelled like fresh cookies ○ Saw a bowl of cookies and a bowl of radishes on the table

!○ Under the cover of a “taste testing” study, ½ of them were

assigned to eat the cookies, and the other ½ had to ignore the cookies and eat the radishes instead. !

○ Afterward, they all did a puzzle task ○ They didn’t know, but the puzzle was impossible.

!How long did they spend trying to solve it?

SELF-REGULATION:RADISH-COOKIE STUDY

How long did they spend trying to solve it?

Cookies 19 minutes

Radishes 8 minutes

Control 21 minutes

SELF-ESTEEM

SELF-ESTEEM: TRAIT & STATE

○ The positive or negative evaluation we have of ourselves !

○ An individual’s attitude toward the self

• Trait: Enduring level of regard for yourself; relatively stable across time

• State: Your current feelings; based on recent events, changes throughout the week/day, etc.

CONTINGENCIES OF SELF-WORTH

○ Self-esteem relies on success & failure in (self-defined) important domains, called contingencies of self-worth. !

○ Domains that are usually important: ● Academics / Work ● Sports / Fitness / Health ● Social life ● Can be anything that you find important...no matter how silly.

SELF-ESTEEM

○ Remember self-complexity theory! !

○ The more domains on which you base your self-worth, the more resilient your self-esteem will be after failure. ● If all you care about is school, a D will be devastating. ● If you care about academics, sports, and social life, a D will still

hurt, but it will hurt less and for a shorter amount of time (as long as you’re still doing well in those other domains).

SELF-ESTEEM

○ After experiencing failure in one domain, thinking about other domains in which you excel will protect self-esteem ● This is a very functional and protective mechanism!

• It also helps to think about other domains before the self-esteem blow.

• If you fear failing in an important domain, focusing on other domains in which you are currently succeeding can help “buffer” the negative feelings

SELF-ESTEEM’S ORIGINS:SOCIOMETER HYPOTHESIS

○ Why do people have self-esteem? !

○ Sociometer Hypothesis (Leary et al., 1995) !

○ Self-esteem is an internal index of how likely it is that other people will like us and include us in things.

○ Self-esteem is a quick-and-dirty way to assess how we stand in the eyes of others. !

Self-esteem is like a how-much-do-people-like-me thermometer.

SELF-ESTEEM’S ORIGINS:SOCIOMETER HYPOTHESIS

○ Why do people have self-esteem? !

○ Sociometer Hypothesis (Leary et al., 1995) !

○ Self-esteem is an internal index of how likely it is that other people will like us and include us in things.

○ Self-esteem is a quick-and-dirty way to assess how we stand in the eyes of others. !

Social rejection is the fastest way to lower someone’s self-esteem.

MOTIVATION FOR SELF-ESTEEM:SELF-EVALUATION MAINTENANCE MODEL

○ We are motivated to view ourselves positively (to have positive self-esteem) !

○ To do this... ● We seek out evidence to support this conclusion, rather than

using evidence to form them objectively. ● We act like lawyers, not detectives. !

○ Some people also engage in self-affirmations !

○ Two of the most common processes used to maintain self-esteem are reflection and comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg

MOTIVATION FOR SELF-ESTEEM:REFLECTION (BASKING IN REFLECTED GLORY)

○ We flatter ourselves by “basking in the reflected glory” of people we know or are associated with. !!!!

○ If the Illini win a football game, you’re more likely to wear blue and orange on Monday & talk about “our” win. !

○ If the Illini lose, you’re more likely to wear anything but blue and orange, and you’ll talk about “their” loss.

MOTIVATION FOR SELF-ESTEEM:DOWNWARD SOCIAL COMPARISONS

Comparison is likely when: !

• The person is a relevant other • The domain of success is important to us personally !

Reflection and social comparison motivate us to maintain friendships with people who are:

(a) Successful in domains that we don’t prioritize

!and !

(b) Less successful in domains that we do prioritize. !

○ Two pairs of friends entered the lab !!!

○ Played “Catchphrase” !!!

○ Game either described as ● “Word Game” (low relevance) ● “Verbal Ability Task” (high relevance)


When it’s low relevance, people help their friends do well.

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MOTIVATION FOR SELF-ESTEEM:REFLECTED GLORY

When it’s high relevance, people make the clues just as hard for friends as for strangers!

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○ For things that are relevant to our self-concepts (contingencies of self-worth), we would choose friends who are worse than us (downward comparisons) !

!○ For things that are not relevant to our self-concepts,

we would choose friends who are better than us (basking in reflected glory) !

○ Note: This is not necessarily what everyone does, and there are reasons why you’d want to do the reverse. This is just what you should do if maintaining high self-esteem is your only motivation.

MOTIVATION FOR SELF-ESTEEM:SELF-EVALUATION MAINTENANCE MODEL

SELF-VERIFICATION THEORY

○ People strive for stable, accurate beliefs about themselves – whether they’re good or bad. !!

○ These beliefs make things seem coherent and allow us to predict outcomes. !!

○ This means that people with negative self views should actually prefer negative feedback and prefer to interact with people who will give them negative feedback.

SELF-VERIFICATION THEORY:RELEVANT STUDIES

• Identity Cues: Things that we own/wear/do to signal our identities to others (also known as conspicuous consumption).

!

• When we question our own identities, we can point to those things as examples of who we are for self-verification.

BUT...

○ If the Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model says that people are motivated to maintain high self-esteem, no matter what... !!

○ ...and Self-Verification Theory says that people are motivated to maintain consistent self-views, even if these self-views are negative...

!How can these both be true?

ANSWER: SEMM AND SVT GUIDE DIFFERENT PROCESSES.

!!

○ Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model: ● Emotional responses to feedback.

!!

○ Self-Verification Theory: ● Cognitive assessment of validity.

SEMM VS. SVT

○ Gave participants with positive or negative self-beliefs either positive or negative feedback about themselves. !

!○ Participants with negative self-beliefs thought that the

negative feedback was more diagnostic, accurate, valid, and believable than the positive feedback. ● Self-verification prevailed. !

○ However... ● All participants felt emotionally better about getting the

positive feedback and disliked getting the negative feedback.

SEMM VS. SVT

!○ Just because people with negative self-views found the

negative feedback more accurate/diagnostic doesn’t mean they “liked” it or that it made them feel good. !!

○ We want to verify our senses of self (cognitive; self-verification theory) while also feeling good (emotional; self-evaluation maintenance model).

SELF-ESTEEM QUESTION

You are a great runner; you recently ran a half-marathon, and you finished in the top 5% of runners in your age group. Given your success, you decide to try taking up swimming. You get in the pool, and quickly realize that you are horrible at swimming. You get tired very easily, and you can’t go fast at all. !

It’s now time to exercise again. Which workout do you want to choose?

!A) Running

B) Swimming

SELF-ESTEEM AND CULTURE

○ Individualists care about self-esteem ● Create situations to make people feel good about themselves.

○ Collectivists care about self-improvement ● Create situations to improve themselves (often requires

reflecting on failure…bad for self-esteem, good for motivation).

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SELF-ESTEEM AND CULTURE:HEINE ET AL. (2001), CREATIVITY TEST

○ Canadian and Japanese subjects did a “creativity” task ● Canadian = Individualistic ● Japanese = Collectivistic !

○ Participants were given false feedback about the task ● ½ randomly told they scored “very high”; other ½ “very low” !

○ Able to work on a similar task for as long as they wanted !

!○ Canadians worked longer if they had done well before. ○ Japanese worked longer if they had failed before.

SELF-ESTEEM AND CULTURE

○ If you are a collectivist and fail at a task, you are more likely to want to do it more (so you can get better). ● If you are good at running but bad at swimming, you would

want to swim more so you can improve.

!○ If you are an individualist and fail at a task, you are more

likely to want to do it less (so you don’t feel bad). ● If you are good at running but bad at swimming, you would

avoid swimming so you don’t ding your self-esteem.

!○ BUT...

● Doing the task more often is how you get better!

DANGERS OF SELF-ESTEEM

○ Threats to high self-esteem (in people who care about self-esteem) can lead to aggression and violence. ● Remember: When self-esteem is threatened in one domain,

people try to reclaim it from another domain. ● Especially likely when the high self-esteem is unearned

!○ Many psychopaths, murderers, and violent gang members

have exceptionally high self-esteem. ● They tend to be assertive, defiant, and narcissistic ● They really like themselves.

SELF-ESTEEM DANGERS

○ Emotion is at the core of motivation. ● Remember Self-Discrepancy Theory! ● Discrepancies between actual and ideal/ought selves motivate

behavior through negative emotions like guilt or sadness. !!

○ If you feel incredibly satisfied with yourself, why would you do anything to improve or change? !!

High self-esteem can lead to LESS goal-directed behavior.

SELF: ILLUSIONS & BIASES

○ Unrealistic positive views about the (“actual”) self ● Believe positive traits describe you better than negative traits.

•Positive traits are unique to you... • “No one is as creative as I am, at least

not in the same way.” !

• ...but negative traits are shared. • “Everybody blows off class sometimes.” !

Are positive illusions healthy or unhealthy?

ILLUSIONS & BIASES:UNREALISTIC OPTIMISM

People believe that positive (negative) events are more (less) likely to happen to them than to others.

Life Event How much more likely to happen to you?

Liking your eventual job 50 times

Own your own home 44 times

Get an award for your work 13 times

Live past 80 11 times

Have a mentally gifted child 6 times

ILLUSIONS & BIASES:UNREALISTIC OPTIMISM

People believe that positive (negative) events are more (less) likely to happen to them than to others.

Life Event How much more likely to happen to others?

Have a drinking problem 58 times

Attempt suicide 56 times

Get divorced after a few years 49 times

POSITIVE BIASES: BENEFITS & COSTS

○ Benefits ● Elevate positive mood, lower negative mood ● Foster healthier social bonds by increasing altruism ● Promote goal-directed behavior

!!!!

○ Costs ● Overestimation of abilities can lead to poor performance ● Disconfirming evidence can lead to aggression and hostility

SELF: ILLUSIONS & BIASES

○ These illusions are mostly found in Western samples !

○ East Asian samples show fewer illusions/biases and don’t show the negative effects of low/negative self views !

○ Why? !

○ Positive self-views, autonomous control, and optimism are largely individualistic (independent) values. ● Westerners typically hold independent values ● East Asians typically hold interdependent values

SELF-PRESENTATION

SELF-PRESENTATION:HOW WE SHOW OURSELVES TO OTHERS

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

○ Trying to get others to see us how we want to be seen ● The process of self-presenting to keep the “face” you want

!!

○ The face you keep with your friends is probably different from the face you keep with your family !!

○ Manage impressions differently with different groups ● Similar to self-concepts/self-schemas ● Remember the different notebooks!

PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE SELF

○ Public self-consciousness ● Our awareness of what other people think about us ● Our public identity

!○ Private self-consciousness

● Our awareness of our interior lives ● Our private thoughts, feelings, and sensations

!○ Even if you’re nervous (increased heart rate, anxious

emotion), you may try to appear calm to others.

SELF-MONITORING

○ Paying attention to your behavior to fit into the situation !

○ There is a lot of variability across people !!

!!!

!○ Some people really try to behave appropriately for the

situation, others don’t care or aren’t capable of attending to that information

SELF-MONITORING

○ Chameleons !!

○ Try to fit into the situation !!

○ Not fake, just flexible

○ Internal Preferences !!

○ Pay attention to selves !!

○ Don’t change themselves to fit different situations

High Self-Monitors Low Self-Monitors

SELF-MONITORING

○ Low Self-Monitors pay a lot of attention to themselves, not a lot of attention to the situation (low “monitoring,” high amounts of self-attention) ● Danielle Staub from Real Housewives of NJ is a Low Self-

Monitor; she is focused on her own experience, and doesn’t pick up on situational cues (2:40 – 4:40)

!○ High Self-Monitors are chameleons; good at changing

their behavior to fit the situation and different norms (high “monitoring,” low amounts of self-attention)

○ Frank Abagnale, Jr. in Catch Me If You Can is a High Self-Monitor; he can adjust to any situation and blend in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsjB-8YL1c0&feature=youtu.be&t=2m40s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFj3OXVL_wQ

SELF-HANDICAPPING

○ The tendency to engage in self-defeating behaviors in order to prevent others from drawing unwanted attributions about you !!!

○ Two main types ● Actually setting up obstacles ● Making excuses

!

• Done to “save face”

• Face: How others view you

SELF-HANDICAPPING

○ Allows you to have a situational excuse for failure ● This way, people will be less likely to make a dispositional

attribution when you fail.

!!

○ If you fail, you have a convenient excuse. ● If I didn’t drink so much last night, I would’ve gotten an A!

!○ If you succeed, you look even better.

● He got an A even though he was so hungover!

SELF-HANDICAPPING

○ Sometimes people provide fake self-handicaps ● Example: Secretly working really hard but hiding this from

your friends/classmates and acting like you don’t !

○ Your textbook calls this “sneaky bookers”; in college, we called this “effortless perfection” !

○ People think that you didn’t put in a lot of effort; didn’t try your hardest (even though you did) ● If you fail, no one knows how hard you worked – they

attribute your failure to simply not putting in any effort ● If you succeed, everyone thinks you did well even though you

barely put in any work, so you look especially good

SELF-HANDICAPPING: GENDER DIFFERENCES

○ Both men and women are equally likely to self-handicap !

!○ Men are more likely to do behavioral self-handicapping

● Actually doing things to cause failure ● Going out until 5 AM the night before a big exam ● Not training properly for the Illinois marathon

!○ Women are more likely to do claimed self-handicapping

● Sneaky booking, talking up excuses, hiding actual work ● Telling people you went out until 5 AM, even if you didn’t ● Hiding how much you’ve really been training, just in case

CH. 3: IMPORTANT POINTS

○ Forming The Self ● Self-Complexity Theory ● Sibling Diversification ● Cultural Differences

!○ Self-Esteem Boosters

● Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model ● Basking In Reflected Glory ● Downward Social Comparisons !

○ Self-Verification Theory

○ Self-Improvement ● Self-Discrepancy Theory ● Upward Social Comparisons ● Self-Regulation

!○ Self-Related Biases

● Self-Image Bias ● Better-Than-Average Effect ● Positive Illusions !

○ Impression Management ● Self-Monitoring ● Self-Handicapping

the social self (psych 201 - chapter 3 - spring 2014)

Education

social self self

social self melanie

self culture

siblings different

social comparisons

social roles

social relationships

younger siblings