Social Psych: The Self

Chapter 1

What factors affect self-concepts?

culture, group membership (ie. religion), social labels, narratives

Twenty Statements Task

a sociological instrument that assesses self-concept by asking individuals to write down 20 different answers to the question "Who am I?" or "I am..."

Individualism

a sociological spectrum emphasizing how individuals place importance of the individual over the collective, valuing personal autonomy, self-reliance, and freedom

Collectivism

a sociological spectrum describing how individuals are strongly interconnected and prioritize group goals, harmony, and loyalty over their own personal desires

People raised in Western Cultures have more…

independent self-construals

People raised in Eastern Culture tend to have more…

Interdependent self-costruals

Answers of 20 statement task from people in Western cultures:

I am a singer, I am intelligent, I am kind

Answers of 20 statement task from people in Eastern cultures:

I am a brother, I am a husband, I am a USF faculty member

Independence and Interdependence is a psychological typology describing

how individuals tend to conceptualize themselves

Social Identity Theory

how we derive identity from our various group memberships - we tend to identify with the positive qualities and disvalue or do not claim negative qualities

The Looking Glass Self

when we use other people’s perceptions to generate a self-concept - this explains why social labels are so consequential

End of History Illusion

our self-narrative leads us to believe our greatest growth is behind us

Goals for the self

fostering self-understanding, developing a healthy self-image, forming authentic relationships through compassion, and achieving goals that are self-concordant (aligned with personal values) to gain a sense of fulfillment and growth

self-presentation

the ways in which people present themselves based on how they want people to think of them

Self-Monitoring

observing and regulating one’s behaviors in accordance with a desired presentation of the self

Self-Verification

sometimes we choose situations and self-presentations that confirm how we feel about ourselves even if our self concept is negative

Self-Enhancement

when we choose situations and self presentations that make us feel good about ourselves (ie. choosing less attractive friends so we feel more attractive standing next to them)

self-improvement

involves a motivated effort to enhance personal abilities, often influenced by social comparisons and driven by a desire for personal growth and a more fulfilling life

self-evaluation

the process by which individuals assess their own traits, abilities, and performance, often using social comparison and feedback from others to form their self-concept

Spotlight Effect

We believe that others pay closer attention to us than they actually do - moreover that they notice more negative things about us

Social Comparison Theory

we compare ourselves (normally to people similar to us) to people around us to better understand our opinions and abilities

Positives of Self Evaluation

facilities self-improvement, we self-evaluate so we can gradually improve

Contingencies of Self-Worth

Comparisons in domains that are central to our identities (ie. self-relevant domains) have the greatest impacts on our self-esteem and self-evaluation

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Models

We maintain a positive self-evaluation by manipulating three levels of social comparison: performance, closeness, and self-relevance

Example of Performance in Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

I didn’t do well, I’ll do better next time. We make excuses or distort our past performance

Example of Closeness in Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

it’ll hurt us more if someone we see everyday and are friends with beats us out of a scholarship vs. someone who we never have met

Example of Self-Relevance in Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

we often downgrade the self-relevance of things to us ie. chess isn’t very important to me, I don’t really like it etc.)

Sociometer Hypothesis

Self Esteem helps us decide whether we need to make changes to our social behavior to protect our relationships - sometimes sociometers are defective

Significance of community in racist society

it is important that an intervention occurs as people grow up feeling implicit less than - it is important that people from oppressed backgrounds develop a positive-racial ethnic identity -

Self-Complexity

Having a multifaceted sense of self protects us from threats

Proof that self-knowledge is limited beyond our awareness

implicit attitudes often predict behavior better than explicit attitudes

Better than Average Effects

most people think of themselves as slightly better than average on most measures of attractiveness, intelligence, and creativity

Dunning-Kruger Effect

highly incompetent people lack the skills to evaluate their own competence

Johari Window

illustrates the four parts of a person's public and private self in relation to their awareness and the awareness of others

4 Parts of Johari Window

Open area (known to self and others), the Hidden area (known to self, unknown to others), the Blind area (unknown to self, known to others), and the Unknown area (unknown to self and others).