Psych 3330- lecture self concept: personal and social identity

self concept

personal identity and social identity

social identity and obedience in Milgram’s study

-particpants followed orders because the tendency to obey authority figures

self-schema 

-organized collection of beliefs and feelings about self 

-influences the information we take in and memories we recall 

-guides our beheavior 

Basic motivations 

-need to feeel good about ourselves (self-esteem) 

-need to belong and feel acceptedd by others (group acceptance_ 

-need to be recognized as individual 

-need for uniqueness- need to be different and stand out from the crowd 

Need for uniqueness and belief in conspiracy theories

-Imhoff and Lamberty

-proposed that supporting conspiracy theroies may feed a high need for uniqueness, allowing one to feel they stand out from a group

-need for uniqueness motivates belief conspiracy theories

-self attributed need for uniqueness was postively correlated tendency to believe in conspiracies (conspiracy mentality)

-a fictiitous conspircy theory were believed by those high in conspiracy mentality more when it was stated have been supported by the minority than when it was supported by the majority

social basis of self-concept

1. socialization

2. looking glass self/reflected apprasial

-how other people react to us

1. context/distictiveness (solo status)

2. social comparision

-appearance

-occaption

-status

-relationships

-education

1. social identiy-group

2. gender roles-culture

3. social roles

social roles

-norms

-roles influence what we wear, how we speak to others, beheave, and how we think

-beheavior and others beheavior

gender differences in self-concept

-women emphasize rational interdependence

-men emohasize membership in social groups

differences in individualist and collectivist cultures 

individualist cultures-independent view of self 

collectivist cultures- inderdependent view of self 

-self is seen as interdependent and connected to others and social groups to which one belongs 

-relationships, and relation to the groups which one belongs 

independent self construal

-interal ablities, thoughts and feelings

-being uniqe

-achieving individual goals and needs

-direct in communication

interdependent self-constural

-exteral and public features (roles, status, relationships)

-belonging and fitting in

-engaing in proper beheavior

-focus on group needs and goals

-indirect communciation

culture and beheavior 

-Singelis proposed that the effects of culture are mediated through an individual self-image 

-culture shapes attitudes, values, and self-concept, affect beheavior 

collectivism predicts mask use during Covid-19 pandemic

predication- people in more culturally collectivisit regions that priotize group needs over their own and will be more likely to wear a mask than those in more culturally individualist regions

-mask usage was found positvely association with collectivitism

-data was collected from 3141 counties in USA and 67 countries across worl

-highest in collectivist culutes like South Korea, and Mexico

-lowest in indiviualist cultures like USA and UK

-within USA, the degree of collectivistm in region was postively associated with mask usage

self-esteem

-personal evluation of our self worth

-attitude of ourselves

high self esteem=feeling good about ourseleves

self-discrepancy theory 

actual self- who we feel we are 

ideal self-who we would lime to be 

-discrenpancies can lead to sadness, low self-esteem and depressed mood 

social comparision theory

-learn about our own ablities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to others

-upward and downward social comparision

-situational or dispostional factors that make one experience uncertainity about self can increase self comparision

social comparision orientation measure

-comparing one’s abliites and achievements

-one’s opinions with others

social media, social comparision and self esteem 

-people present idealized versions of themselves on social media 

-passively viewing social media content can lead to upward social comparision 

-negative comparisions of the self with others is associated with negative affect and reduced self-esteem 

individual differences

-those high in social comparision orientation are more likely to compare themselves to others on social media than those low in social comparision oritetation

-those with high self-esteem are less likely to expeirnece negative emotions after both upward and downward soical comparisin

upward social comparision to “superstars”

-accounting students read a news st0ry about a very high achieving 4th year accoubting student of the same gender (a superstar)

-the 1st year students were inspired by the story and self-ratings were higher than controls

-4th year students had reduced self-ratings compared to controls

protecting and boosting self-esteem 

-self-enhancement (above average effect) 

-self serving attributions 

-self-handicapping which is giving ourselves a reason to fail in advance 

types of self-awareness 

subjective self awareness: external world of objects, people and events (all animals have this awareness) 

objective self awareness: yourself as an outside observer (lacks in animals) 

self-awareness theory

-focus our attention objectively on our ourselves, become more aware of our attitudes and dispostion

-compare ourselves aganist our standards of what we believe our beheavior should be

-cause negative evalutions

cultural differences

study by Heine et al (2008)

-looking in mirror affected self perceptions in American but not Japanese students

self-regulation/self-control

process which we try to control our thoughts, feelings and beheavior

controversial theory- limited energy avalible for self control, and when depleted our control is diminished

what motivates us

extrinsic motivation- the desire to engage in an activity because of exteral rewards or presures

intristic motivation-engage in beheavior for interal rewards like personal satisfaction

self-presntation

-impression management 

-efforts to control the impressions that others form of us 

-how we see ourselves 

-observes can influence whether or not we attain our goals 

-goals our important 

-want to change our impression that others have percieved 

-high self-monitoring 

self-monitoring

-the degree to which an individual regulates their beheavior on the basis on the basis of the external situation (high self monitors)

-the basis of their own beliefs and attitudes (low self monitor)

=low self monitors have stable factors like personal attitudes

-stable close relationships

why do low self monitors have more close relationships compared to high self monitors?

low self monitors- are honest about who they are compared to high self montiors might create a narrative to fit in which doesn’t reflect their values or beliefs

-low self monitors are more consistent and reliable

-high self montiors adapt to different situations to fit social expecations

social identity 

-group based on individual concepts based on membership and identifaction with social groups 

-age, gender, ethnicity, religion, hobbies, poltics, occuopation, status 

social identity theory (Tajfel)

motivated by groups:

1. distant from other groups

2. postive qualities

-feel good about our good, we feel good about ourselves

-biased negative perceptions of other groups

BIRGomg and CORFing

Basking in reflected glorry:

-sharing in the glory that is not actually yours

-emphasizing an association with sucessful others

-sucessful others in your social identiy

cutting off reflected failure:

-distancing yourself from the failures of others

-concealing your association with unsucessful others