Lecture 4- social self and self-regulation

Define self-concept

A person’s knowledge about themself, including one’s own traits, social identities, and experiences

Where did early conceptualisations come from?

• James, the ‘me’

• Freud, the ‘ego’

What influences our self-concept (identities, roles, traits)?

• Culture

• Socialisation

How does group membership influence self-concept?

We adopt similar traits as those in our social groups

Describe social identity theory

People define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify

How does gender influence self-concept?

• Men and women are more similar than different

• Differences are exaggerated and imagined

• Differences assumed to be biological but are culturally based

• Gendered behaviour is learning what is ‘appropriate’

• Impact of social norms and stereotypes

Describe social role theory

• Gender differences in self-concept are related to a long history of role distribution between genders

• Assumption those roles are part of men and women’s natures

What false inference is made about women?

Women do more socially oriented and caregiving behaviours because that is what they are intrinsically good at

What false inference is made about men?

Men assume positions of leadership and power because that is what they are intrinsically good at

Define self-schema

• An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalisations about an attribute that is part of one’s self-concept

• Assumed to be most mostly stable and easily accessible

• Some aspects can be made more accessible based on situation or motivation

How do we measure self-schemas?

• Implicit Association Test (IAT)

• Stereotype congruent trial → schema congruent trial → schema incongruent trial

How do we learn about our ‘self’?

• Everyday social interactions

• Appraisals from others

• Social comparisons

• Self-perceptions

What is symbolic interactionism?

• Importance of an individual in our life as the primary basis for self

• Unimportant individuals (e.g strangers) play less of a role

What is the looking-glass self?

• Significant people in our lives reflect back to us who we are by how they behave toward us

• We make appraisals (assumptions) about what they think about us

What are reflected appraisals?

• What we think other people think of us

• Assumptions

What are inaccuracies of reflected appraisals due to?

• Distortion in feedback from others

• People often ‘soften’ their feedback to you

• Assume snapshots of behaviour will lead to generalisations

Describe social comparison theory

People come to know their self-concept by comparing themselves

What is downward comparison?

Comparing oneself with those who are worse off

What is upward comparison?

Comparing oneself with those who are better off

What errors are made in social comparison?

• Overestimating your own attributes

• Underestimating the attributes of others

What is the better-than-average effect?

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

How do people form impressions of themselves, according to self-perception theory?

• Observing their own behaviour

• And the situation in which it occurs

What things enter our self-schema?

Things that seem to occur frequently

What is the facial feedback hypothesis?

The idea that changes in facial expression elicit emotions associated with those expressions

What is cognitive dissonance?

An uncomfortable state produced by awareness of inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviour

What does cognitive dissonance produce?

• Motivation to process and resolve the inconsistencies

• Sometimes the result is a change in attitude to match behaviour

Describe the 1st stage of cognitive dissonance

• Individual perceives action as inconsistent with attitude (attitude-discrepant behaviour)

• Especially when the attitude is important, self-defining

Describe the 2nd stage of cognitive dissonance

• Individual perceives the action as freely chosen

• Not attributed to external causes

Describe the 3rd stage of cognitive dissonance

• Individual experiences an uncomfortable state of arousal

• Anxiety, unease

Describe the 4th stage of cognitive dissonance

• Individual attributes arousal to the inconsistency

How can cognitive dissonance be reduced?

Attitude change

What is self-perception often used for?

To determine emotional states

What is the two-factor theory of emotion?

• Emotions are an interaction of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal based on contextual clues

Two factor theory of emotion:

Emotion = ?

Arousal x cognitive appraisal

Define misattribution of arousal

• Mislabelling the source of arousal

• Transfer arousal from one event to another

What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?

Physical reactions to stimuli happen before and determine the associated emotional experience

John drank 3 cups of coffee before watching a cup final match, in which his local team were playing.

He starts feeling anxious and experiences an increased heart rate.

What is the correct attribution:

a) He recently drank 3 cups of coffee.

b) The football match is intense, he is nervous about who will win.

a) He recently drank 3 cups of coffee.

John drank 3 cups of coffee before watching a cup final match, in which his local team were playing.

He starts feeling anxious and experiences an increased heart rate.

What is the misattribution:

a) He recently drank 3 cups of coffee.

b) The football match is intense, he is nervous about who will win.

b) The football match is intense, he is nervous about who will win.

What are the impacts of self-awareness?

• Intensified emotional response

• Adherence to personal standards (we act in accordance with our self-schema)

What does self-awareness highlight a gap between?

• What one is doing

• What one should/could be doing

What is our ought self?

The person we know we should be

What is our ideal self?

The person we want to be

What is the impact of discrepancies between our ought self and our ideal self?

• Negative effect

• Reduces self-esteem

How do we alleviate or improve the discrepancies between our ought self and our ideal self?

• Engage self-control

• Protect self-esteem via other mechanisms

What is self-discrepancy theory?

• We feel negative when falling short of our expectations

• Conflict between actual, ideal, and ought selves

What is the evaluative component of self-concept?

Self-esteem

What is self-esteem?

• A subjective appraisal of self as positive or negative

• Varies depending on context

What are some sources of self-esteem?

• Self-awareness and goal discrepancies

• Developmental influences (authoritative vs permissive parents)

What are the consequences of low self-esteem?

• Issues with mood regulation

• They will deflect positive feelings

• Following failure, are less likely to make plans to improve their mood

People with low self-esteem more likely to ____ their successes.

a) internalise

b) externalise

b) externalise

People with low self-esteem more likely to ____ their failures.

a) internalise

b) externalise

a) internalise

What are the consequences of high self-esteem?

Narcissism

Describe narcissism

• Unstable/fragile mood

• Reliant on validation from others

What are the positive characteristics associated with narcissism?

• Extraverted

• Unlikely to suffer from depression

• Perform well in public

What are the negative characteristics associated with narcissism?

• Crave attention

• Overconfident

• Lack empathy

Describe Bushman and Baumeister’s (1998) study on narcissism

• Participants wrote an essay which was marked by a confederate

• Who gave either favourable feedback (praise condition)

• Or unfavourable feedback (ego threat condition)

• Then completed a competitive task, in which the loser received a blast of noise

• Noise intensity and duration was determined by the participant (measured aggression)

What did Bushman and Baumeister’s (1998) study on narcissism find?

Positive relationship between narcissism and aggression

How can we maintain self-esteem according to social comparison theory?

• Downward comparisons

• Can make us feel better off than others

When can downward comparisons have a negative effect?

When someone is more successful

What are 4 strategies to maintain self-esteem?

• Exaggerate the ability of the successful target

• Change the target of comparison

• Distance the self from successful target

• Devalue the dimension of comparison

What does it mean to ‘bask in reflected glory’?

When we use the successes of our social group to improve our self-esteem

How does the study about university apparel support the idea of ‘basking in reflected glory’?

Students were more likely to wear apparel displaying their university name when their football team had won than when they had lost

What happens when we do not meet the expectations of our ideal self-schema?

• Experience anxiety

• Reductions in self-esteem

What is self-regulation?

A set of processes for guiding one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to reach desired goals

What 3 key capacities is self-regulation based on?

• Self-awareness

• Goal-setting

• Mental time travel

Where did these 3 key capacities of self-regulation emerge from?

Evolution of the human cortex

What is willpower?

Capacity to overcome temptations, challenges, and obstacles that could impede pursuit of one’s long-term goals

What are hot processes driven by?

Strong emotions

What are cold processes driven by?

• Level-headed reasoning

How are cold processed activated? Why?

• Activated through mindful attention

• In attempt to reduce impulsivity/temptation

What task given to children can predict self-regulation 30 years later?

Delay of gratification task

What is ego depletion?

• Mental fatigue from extended use of self-control

• Behaviour regulation/suppression is more difficult

• Risky or impulsive behaviour is more likely

• Lack of willpower

What biological mechanisms underly self-control?

Engaging in self-control can deplete glucose used to support cognitive systems

Describe Baumeister et al’s (1998) study about the limits of self-regulation

• Hungry participants were split into 2 groups

• One group ate only radishes

• One group ate only chocolate chip cookies

What did Baumeister et al’s (1998) study find about the limits of self-regulation?

• Participants who ate radishes performed worse at problem solving

• Suggests we have limited resources to self-regulate

If goals are not being met…

• Engage self-control

• Align behaviour with self-schema

What happens if self control is limited (ego-depletion)?

• Our ability to align behaviour is removed

• Self-esteem continues to be diminished