The Self
Self: a symbol-using individual who can reflect in his or her own behavior
- the “I” and the “me” (Mead)
- “I” is the active thinker
- “me” is what’s being thought about
Mead: We are constantly interacting through symbols, we co-act and react to symbols others
give us as well
- Preparatory stage: occurs before language, infant, uses symbols but only imitating
- Play stage: self emerges as language is learned, pre-school age, kids start to play make-
believe, take on the role of others, but only one role at a time
- Game stage: can assimilate all roles at one time, knows how they fit together to define
“me”
James: less concerned with how the self develops (like Mead), more concerned with emotional
identity and the concept of “me”
How do we emotionally identify with something?
- Physical
- Spiritual
- Social
- Material
TST (twenty statements test) Kuhn/McPartland 1954
- Twenty “I am…” statements
- statements are categorized into four groups
1. Physical self-descriptors (ie- blonde)
2. Social self-descriptors (daughter)
3. Attributive self-descriptors (happy)
4. Global self-descriptors (human)
- In the 1950’s the majority of Americans were focused on social descriptors, by the late
1970’s most were attributive
- Individualist v. Collective cultures
- In individualist cultures, what’s important in defining the self is the self
(attributive self-descriptors)
- For collectivist cultures, others are important when defining the self
(social self-descriptors)
Self as a knowledge structure-
- self concept is culturally constructed (like a folder, any info about the self goes in) and
always changing
- self-esteem is the evaluative portion of self concept
- self schema is an organized system of beliefs (part of self concept)
- to be aschematic is to have no schema
Markus: People who had a schema for their gender made decisions more quickly (when asked
questions about themselves) than those who did not- schema is a short cut
Social Identities-
- Group performance and social identity: Ingroups (us) vs. Outgroups (them)
- Always changing: if your ingroup is successful, they are part of your identity
BIRGing- Basking in reflected glory
If the ingroup fails, we disown them, CORFing- cutting off reflected failure
Example: Cubs win, you say, “We won!” = BIRGing
They lose, you say, “They suck!” = CORFing
- you cannot cut yourself off from your ethnic identity
- unexamined ethnic identity can breed self-hatred, not being aware of who you are and
interpreting the messages from others can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies and
internalizing messages about your group
1. If you don’t examine your ethnic identity, you incorporate what everyone else thinks
of it into your life
2. Ethnic identity search- usually sparked by an incident
3. Achieved ethnic identity- comfortable accepting/rejecting info about your culture
(aware that you are being seen)
Pubic self-awareness- being aware of public aspects
Motivations of the Self
Self-enhancement- (hot approach) people look for things to make them feel good
Self-verification- (cold approach) want to hear what matches with your thoughts (verifying your thoughts)
Self-esteem- low self-esteem less likely to take risks
Self-evaluation- learn who we are when we compare ourselves to others
· Downward comparison: comparing yourself to other people who are lower than yourself (changing your reference group)
· Real self (what you are) vs. ideal self (what you want to be): dejection related emotions
· Real self vs. “ought self” (should do): agitation and anxious related emotions that can result in either depression or anxiety
Regulation often means you let go in another area
(EX: study hard—reward—go shopping)
-tendency to use cues from others presentations for your own presentation (give people what they want to see)
Low- guided by attitudes and beliefs (not good actors)
High- actors/psychologists-like to read others behaviors and act in accordance to that behavior and who are very concerned about what people think)
The Self
* How we organize information about ourselves
- + and – categories. We take all the feedback we get from others and group them into a positive and negative category in our minds. People with a higher self-esteem usually had a clearer understanding of the + and – information
* Self aspirations
- What you ought to be vs. what you really are (Self discrepancy)
- What you ought to be vs. your actual self (Agitated related emotions – Guilt and shame)
- Actual self vs. ideal self (Dejection related emotions – Sadness or depression)
* Self as a target of awareness and contemplation
- 1) Self-awareness (Public vs. private)
o Private – when you are aware of yourself and your actions
o Public – When you are aware that others are watching you.
Private Vs. Public
-Intensified feelings -Stick to social standards of behavior
-Clarification of knowledge -Evaluation apprehension
-Adherence to personal standards -Momentary loss of self-esteem
- 2) Self-consciousness – an ongoing trait, habitual self-awareness
o People who are high in private self-consciousness are highly privately self-aware and tend to be sick less often.
o A study rated students on high or low self-consciousness and gave everyone a very hard test. Halfway through the test they gave the students a break and there were alcoholic beverages present. The people who rated high on the private self-conscious scale and received the negative feedback from the difficult test, drank more then the people who were rated low. The alcohol intake caused the students to be less self-conscious and also aided in self – handicapping (a scape goat). Also, people who are high in public S.C. are more likely to conform to social norms and are more likely to judge others.
o Name study- judging a person on a name stereotype, women get judged more by their name but at the same time are the ones that do most of the judging.
* Motivations of the self
- Self enhancement or self verification
o Hot – Some say we seek good information to enhance ourselves (Self enhancement)
o Cold – Others say we seek good information to verify what we already know (Self verification)
- Self esteem and risk taking
o People with lower self-esteem take less risks.
- Self-evaluation maintenance in social relationships (social comparison)
o Comparing up or down to certain groups in attempt to satisfy the self.
§ Upward comparison à low self-esteem
§ Downward comparison à high self-esteem
* Presentation of the self to others
- Strategic vs. Authentic presentation
o How we let out the info we have about ourselves.
- Self presentation failure
o Something embarrassing happens to you. You first try to make excuses and when that fails you then try to enlist others into saving your self-esteem.
- Self-monitoring
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Self-Awareness:
Results of Private Self-Awareness:
- Feelings intensify
- Adhere to personal standards
- Clarifies knowledge
Results of Public Self-Awareness:
- More likely to stick to social standards of behavior
- Momentary loss of self-esteem
- Evaluation apprehension
*Think of self-awareness as a state
- What you ought to be vs. what you are- Self-Discrepancy
- What you ought to be vs. actual self- Agitation related emotion
- Actual self vs. ideal self- when these do not match, you get sad (dejection)
Self enhancement= only want to hear positive
vs.
Self-Verification= only want to hear what we believe
*Higher one’s self-esteem, the more likely to take risks
Social Comparison- self-evaluation maintenance in social relationships
Downward Social Comparison:
Why we watch Jerry Springer, those types of shows make us feel better about
ourselves.
Self-Affirmations:
Ex: Stuart Smalley
Things we tell ourselves to make us feel better
o We only present ourselves in ways which are beneficial to the situation
o Ex: The way you act on a first date
Self-Presentation Failure
- when, for some reason, we do not present ourselves the way we wanted to
- when we may make excuses (plausible works better)
Self-Handicapping
- When you intentionally sabotage yourself so that you have an excuse to fail
High Self-Monitor: can alter one’s behavior to the situation, give people what they want
Low-Self Monitor: Guided by one’s beliefs, don’t care what other people think
The Self
Origins of the Self
The "I" and the "me"
Mead and Development of the Self
James and the Self as a process of identification
Our Past in contemporary research
We are aware that we are seen by others
Distinction between I and Me is useful
Mead
We are constantly interacting through symbols.
We are constantly co-acting or reacting to the symbols others send us as well.
Preparatory stage
Play stage
Game stage
James
Biggest concern was the emotional identification and the concept of "me"
How do we emotionally identify with something?
Self as a knowledge Structure
Cultural construction of self concept
Self schemas
Spontaneous self concept
Social identities
Group performance and social identification
Ethnic identity of minority groups (Clark and Clark)
Clark and Clark
Unexamined ethnic identity can breed self hatred. Not being aware of who you are and interpreting the messages of others can lead to self fulfilling prohecies—internalizing messages about your group.
Results: lower self esteem for you and your group.
III. Self as a Target of Awareness and contemplation
Self-Awareness (public vs. private)
Self consciousness: habitual self awareness
Private Self Awarenesstemporary state of being aware of private self aspects
*Intensified feelings
*Clarification of knowledge
*Adherence to Personal Standards
Public Self Awareness
Temporarily being aware of public self aspects
Stick to social standards of behavior
Evaluation apprehension
Momentary loss of self esteem
Self-Consciousness
Like Self Awareness, except as a psychological trait
Private: more likely to have behavior match personal standards as well as others expectations of them
Public: often much more concerned with what others think of them and are more likely to judge a book by its cover.
Self regulation
Real self vs. ideal Self: Dejection related emotions
Real self vs. "Ought self": agitation related emotions
Motivations of the self
Self Enhancement or Self-verification
Self-esteem and risk taking
Self Evaluation maintenance in Social relationships (social comparison)
Self affirmation
Self Affirmations
"I am fun to be with. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me. Well, not everybody. But that's their problem. And your
problem. Okay, I'm sorry, this is not my best show."
As a treat to his inner child, Stuart wears a skeleton for Halloween. "Because it's scary and because it reminds me
I'm a human being. And that's okay . . . I think it makes me look thinner."
Presentation of the Self to Others
Strategic vs. Authentic Self presentations
Self-presentation failure
Self-handicapping
Strategic self presentations
Self-monitoring:
Strategic Self Presentations
Exemplification
Modesty
Intimidation
Supplication
ingratiation