Chapter 5: The Self

StudyBlue printing of Chapter 5: The Self html, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre, a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code, del, dfn, em, font, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp, small, strike, strong, sub, sup, tt, var, b, u, i, center, fieldset, form, label, legend, table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td { margin: 0; padding: 0; border: 0; outline: 0; font-size: 100%; background: transparent; } body { line-height: 1; } blockquote, q { quotes: none; } blockquote:before, blockquote:after, q:before, q:after { content: ''; content: none; } /* remember to define focus styles! */ :focus { outline: 0; } /* remember to highlight inserts somehow! */ ins { text-decoration: none; } del { text-decoration: line-through; } /* tables still need 'cellspacing="0"' in the markup */ table { border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0; } /* end RESET */ .header { min-width:800px; } .logo { padding:6px 20px 2px 20px; margin:0; font-size:25px; font-weight:bold; color:#808285; position:relative; border-bottom: 1px solid #c5c5c5; } .logo-blue { color:#70adc4; } .logo-desc { font-weight:normal; font-size:19px; color:#cccccc; margin-top:50px; position:absolute; display: none; } .back-button { position:absolute; top:20px; right:20px; font-size:13px; line-height:25px; color:rgb(0,175,225); font-weight:normal; } .back-button a { color:rgb(0,175,225); } .instructions { padding:0; margin:0; width:100%; position:relative; color:rgb(100,100,100); } .step-holder { border-left:1px solid #ededed; margin-left:20px; } .steps { padding:15px 0; float:left; width:24%; border-right:1px solid #ededed; text-align:center; } .steps-01 { } .steps-02 { } .steps-03 { } .steps-04 { } .label { padding:5px 10px; } .print-button { } .print-button a { background-color:rgb(0,175,225); color:white; line-height: 19px; padding:9px 8px 5px 30px; font-size:14px; text-decoration:none; background-image: url(images/printer.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 7px 50%; -moz-border-radius: 5px; -webkit-border-radius: 5px; } .print-button a:hover { background-color:black; } .theNote .content { width: 8.0in !important; margin: 5px auto; padding:20px; background-color:white; } .theNote .header { border-bottom: 1px dashed #C8C8C8; font-size: 17px; padding: 0 0 10px; line-height: 19px; color: #00ADE1; min-width:500px; } .theNote .body { font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 10px 0; } .theNote{ padding:6px 0; clear:both; background-color: rgb(200,200,200); } .theNote h3{ color: rgb(100,100,100); } .theNote h1, .theNote h3{ background-color:white; padding:2px 20px; width:8.0in !important; margin: 0 auto; font-size: 15px; } .theNote h1{ padding-top: 10px; font-size: 15px; } .theNote h1:first-child{ font-size: 20px; } .theNote h3 { font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; } #options { border: 3px double #ccc; padding: 5px 12px; margin: 10px 50px 10px 20px; float: left; } #info { border-top: 1px solid #ccc; padding-top: 5px; font-style: italic; } li { margin: 5px 10px 5px 25px; } ul li { list-style: disc; } ol li { list-style: decimal; } img { border: 0; } table { clear: both; width: 100%; border: 1px solid #c5c5c5; border-width: 1px 0; margin: 0; page-break-after: always; } table#page { page-break-after: auto; } td { text-align: center; font-size: 12px; border-bottom: 1px dashed #c5c5c5; height: 1.75in; width: 50%; padding-left: 15px; } .leftside { border-right: 1px solid #cccccc; padding: 0 15px 0 0; } .bottom td { border-bottom: none; } .clearfix { clear:both; line-height:1px; height:1px; } img { max-width:80%; max-height:150px; margin:20px; } @media print {.header { display: none; } .content .header{ display:inherit; } table { border: 1px dashed #bbb; border-width: 1px 0; } .theNote{ background-color:white; } } Thinking about the Self: Personal vs. Social Identity Personal-social identity continuum - the two distinct ways that the self can be categorized. At the personal level, the self can be thought of as a unique individual, whereas at the social identity level, the self is thought of as a member of a group Intragroup comparisons - judgments that result from comparisons between individuals who are members of the same group Because we don't experience all aspects of our self-concept simultaneously, which aspect of our identity is salient at any moment will influence our thoughts about ourselves and have consequences on our behaviors Intergroup comparisons - judgments that result from comparisons between our group and another group. What differs in this is that we are thinking of ourselves as individuals, but your thinking of yourself is different when you are thinking of yourself as a member of a category that you share with others. Bottom line - we have a coherent image of the self, while recognizing that we define ourselves and behave differently in different situations. Who I am Depends on the Situation Our tendency is to see the self differently, depending on what relationships with others we consider and according to context, increases with age. The extent to which we have multiple aspects of our self concepts is important, but it differs across our lives. Self-complexity - how the self-concept is organized. For those whose self-concepts are organized complexly, important aspects of the self are distinct from one another. For those whose self-concept is low in complexity, there is greater overlap in different components of the self. High self-complexity is basically that important aspects of the self are distinct from one another, failure in one domain is less likely to affect how one feels about oneself overall. Identity interference - when two important social identities are perceived as being in conflict, such that acting on the basis of one identity interferes with performing well based on the other identity. Independent self-concept- in individualistic cultures, the expectation is that people will develop a self-concept as separate from or independent of others. Men are expected to have an independent self-concept more than women. Interdependent self-concept - in collectivist cultures, the expectation is that people will develop a self-concept in terms of the connections or relationships with others. Women are expected to have an interdependent self-concept more than men. One aspect of the self might be especially relevant to a particular context. Features of the context can make one aspect highly distinctive, with that aspect of identity forming the basis of self-perception Who I Am Depends on Others' Treatment How others treat us and how we believe they will treat us in the future has important implications for how we think about ourselves. We can emphasize or minimize features if we anticipate being in the presence of others who will either accept or reject us based on those features. Some features, such as skin color, are less easily minimized. Self-Awareness Subjective self-awareness - the first level of self to emerge. It is the recognition that the self is separate from other objects in one's physical environment. Objective self-awareness - the organism's capacity to be the object of its own attention, to know that it is seeing its own self in a mirror, for example Symbolic self-awareness - the uniquely human capacity to form an abstract representation of the self through language Possible Selves: The Self over Time Possible selves - images of how the self my be in the future - either dreaded possible selves to be avoided or desired potential selves The image of a possible future self can influence our motivation, but we must see the possible self as being potentially attainable. Self-efficacy - the belief that one can achieve a goal as a result of one's own actions. Collective self-efficacy is the believe that by working together with others, a goal can be achieved. Self-Esteem: Attitudes toward the Self Self-esteem - the degree to which the self is perceived positively or negatively; one's overall attitude toward the self The Measurement of Self-Esteem The most common method of measurement is the 10-item Rosenberg scale. Self-esteem can also be responsive to specific situations. Short-term increases or decreases (state self-esteem) can be induced easily in a lab setting Self-reference effect - people's orientation toward stimuli that are associated with the self. People show a preference for object owned by and reflective of the self. Self-Serving Biases Above-average effect - the tendency for people to rate themselves as above the average on most positive social attributes Is High Self-Esteem Always Positive? High self-esteem is strongly associated with bullying, narcissism, exhibitionism, self-aggrandizing, and interpersonal aggression. It's possible that high self-esteem coupled with instability results in the most hostility and defensive responding. Do Women and Men Differ in Their Levels of Self-Esteem? When women are excluded from important life arenas, they feel more strongly devalued and have worse self-concepts than men Men have reliably higher self-esteem than women In North America for minority groups, both genders are likely to experience broad social devaluation based on racial category. Social Comparison: Knowing the Self Downward social comparison - a comparison with someone who does less well than the self Upward social comparison - a comparison with someone who does better than the self Social comparison theory - Festinger suggested that people compare themselves to others because, for many domains and attributes, there is no objective yardstick with which to evaluate the self, so other people are therefore highly informative. How the (generally) positive self perception that most have achieved depends on how we categorize the self in relation to whom we are comparing ourselves to. The categorization affects us by influencing the meaning of the comparison Self-evaluation maintenance model - the perspective that suggests that in order to maintain a positive view of the self, we distance ourselves from others who perform better than we do on valued dimensions, but move closer to others who perform worse. This view suggests that doing so will protect our self-esteem Social identity theory - our response when our group identity is salient. Suggest that we will move closer to positive others with whom we share an identity, but distance ourselves from other ingroup members who perform poorly or otherwise make our social identity negative. In a nutshell, we distance ourselves from people in our group that perform better than us, and seek closeness to those who do worse than us, in order to protect self-esteem. However, this all depends on our relationship with the one we compare ourselves to. For example, we may evaluate others highly if they make our group look good. Also, we may highly rate another that outperforms us if they aren't a threat to our self-image. Black sheep effect - when a member of the ingroup behaves in a way that threatens the value of the group identity and is intensely derogated as means of protecting the group identity Self-Presentation and Self-Regulation We all have a strong desire for others to perceive us positively. Ingratiation - the attempt to make others like us by praising them Self-monitoring - the monitoring of people by their behavior in response to others' expectancies. Low self-monitors are not very effective at doing this and instead prefer to act consistently according to their personal view. High self-monitors are quite effective at monitoring their behavior and adjust their actions according to others' expectations or the situation. Self-monitoring captures people's willingness and ability to regulate their behavior. Low self-monitoring involves a focus on internal cues (such as beliefs) as a basis for behavior. High self-monitoring means people are concerns with how others will react. High self-monitors know how to obtain positive evaluations from others. They tend to have higher self-esteem than low self-monitors For low self-monitors, depression results when there is a discrepancy between the self and what the individual thinks he or she should be. For high self-monitors, depression results when there is a discrepancy between the self and what he or she thinks other people expect. Introspection - attempts to understand the self by self-examination; turning inward to assess one's motives Introspection isn't always the best way to understand ourselves, because often we don't know or have conscious access to reasons for our actions. The Self as Target of Prejudice Emotional Consequences: How Well-Being Can Suffer What are the self-esteem consequences of being a member of a devalued social group? How do targets of prejudice maintain their self-esteem? Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice might be self-protective among those who are discriminated against. This allows negative outcomes to be considered external. Sometimes the outcomes do come from prejudice, sometimes they don't. However, there is overwhelming evidence that the more group members perceive discrimination against their group, the worse their well-being. Degree of harm to well-being for attributions made, in order of worst implications for well-being to best implications to well-being: Internal, stable attribute that is applicable across many situations (I'm stupider than anyone else) WORST Internal, stable attribute that is applicable to few situations (It's prejudice, but I can avoid the few bad sexists left) Internal, unstable attribute that is applicable to many situations (I'm bad at math, but if I try I can get better in the future) Internal, unstable attribute that is applicable to few situations (I'm bad at baseball, but I don't have to play often) External, unstable attribute that is applicable to few situations (Bad luck that I got this professor this semester) BEST Cognitive Consequences: Performance Deficits Perceived prejudice can affect not only psychological well-being, but can also interfere with our ability to learn and acquire new skills. When we are in a position in which we feel we need to hide our identity and worry about how others perceive us, it can be distracting. Behavioral Consequences: Stereotype Threat Stereotype threat - people's belief that they might be judged in light of a negative stereotype about their group or that they may, because of their performance, in some way confirm a negative stereotype of their group When people value their ability in a certain domain (such as math), but it's one in which their group is stereotyped as performing poorly (such as women & math), stereotype threat may occur. Those vulnerable to stereotype threat that are reminded (overtly or subtlety) that the stereotype may apply to them, performance may be undermined. Ways to respond to stereotype threats are to distance themselves from the domains in which they are vulnerable, distance the self from the group identity, or distance from the stereotypic dimensions that represent a threat to their performance in a particular valued domain. For example, high math-identified women can distance themselves with stereotypic dimensions that are incompatible with math success (such as leaving work to raise children, being flirtatious) but not dimensions deemed irrelevant to math success (being empathic, being fashion conscious). Anxiety about stereotype threat effects, even if not self-reported, does cause stereotype threat performance deficits.