nature, orgins, and functions of the self

self concept

a persons knowledge about himself or herself, including ones own traits, social identities, and experiences.

stable

central aspects of the self concept

malleable

aspects made accessible in specific social situations, motives, and cues

working self concept

the portion of ones self concept that is currently activated and strongly influences thoughts, feelings, and actions.

culture and socialization

• identities

• roles

• traits

• cultural trends towards independence or interdependence

appraisals

people learn about themselves over the course of their everyday social interactions in a variety of ways.

• appraisals they get from others (people learn about and judge themselves on the basis of how other people pericieve them

• social comparisons

• self perceptions

reflected appraisals

• the looking glass self

• what we think other people think of us compared to actual appraisals.

social comparison theory

people come to know themselves partly by comparing themselves with similar others:

• upward comparison

• downward comparison

the better than average effect

on many abilities and traits, most people think they are better than average( a statistical impossibility)

self perception theory

people form impressions of themselves by observing their own behavior and the situation in which it occurs

• for example, people use their movements to know themselves (facial feedback hypothesis)

self regulation

a set of processes for guiding ones thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to reach desired goals

• the ability to self regulate is based on three capacities of the human mind that emerged with the evolution of the human cortex

  • self awareness

  • goal setting

  • mental time travel

self-awareness theory

awareness of the self-increases self-regulation

• self awareness highlights the gap between what one is doing and what one should/could be doing

• strategies for coping with negative discrepancy include distraction from self-focus and commitment to do better.

self discrepancy theory

people feel anxiety when they fall short of how they ought to be but feel sad when they fall short of how they ideally want to be

• ought self

• ideal self

internalized attitudes, values, and goals guide behavior only to the extent that people are self-aware

self awareness helps to bring behavior in line with cultural morals and values

escaping self-awareness

• we try to escape self awareness when we perceive ourselves as falling short of our standards but feel incapable of changing our behavior.

goals

goals generally serve either basic survival needs or psychological security or growth motivations

• goals can be activated by consciously bringing them to mind or by being unconsciously cued by the environment.

construal level theory

people focus more on concrete details when thinking about the near future and focus more on abstract meaning when thinking about the distant future

• short run: pragmatic concerns matter

• long run: abstract concerns matter

affective forecasting

• predicting ones emotional reactions to potential future events

• these predictions are often inaccurate

• the predictions often overestimate the impact of a salient factor( winning the lottery)

• affective forecasting affects our behaviors

self regulatory challenges

• hot processes are driven by strong emotions

• cold processes rely on level headed reasoning

  • activated through mindful attention

• performance on a delay of gratification task at age four predicts a variety of indicators of self-regulatory success up to 30 years later.