Social self and self regulation

Self concept

Persons knowledge about oneself including traits, experiences etc

Influences: social, culture, SIT, gender (social role theory)

Self schema

Integrated set of memories, beliefs about an attribute that is part of one’s self concept. Mostly stable, learn from social interactions

Sources of self

Symbolic interactionism (importance of them close to us)

Looking glass self

Reflected appraisals (what we think others think of us)

Downward comparison

Comparing oneself with those who are worse off

Upward comparison

Comparing oneself with those who are better off

Better than average effect

In many ability and traits most people think they are better than average

Self perception theory

People form impressions of themselves by observing their own behaviour and the situation it occurs in

Facial feedback hypothesis

Changes in facial expression elicit emotions associated with those expressions

Two factor theory of emotion

Emotions are an interaction of arousal and interpretation of that arousal

Emotion = arousal * cognitive appraisal

Cognitive dissonance

When attitude and behaviour don’t match we change our attitude to match our behaviour

Self awareness

Intensified emotional response. Adherence to personal standards. Highlights gap between doing and could be doing

Self discrepancy theory

Feel negative when falling short of our expectations. Conflict between actual, ideal and ought selves

Impacts = negative effect, reducing self esteem. Improve by self control

Self esteem

Evaluative component of self concept. Subjective appraisal, varies depending on context.

Sources = self awareness and goal discrepancies and developmental influences

Mood regulation

Low SE deflect positive feelings, externalise successes. After failure less likely to improve mood

Narcissism

Unstable mood, rely on validation, crave attention, lack empathy

Self regulation

Set of processes for guiding oneself to reach goals. Based on self awareness, goal setting, mental time travel

Willpower

Capacity to overcome temptations that could stop long term

Hot vs Cold processes

Hot = driven by strong emotions

Cold = level headed reasoning

Both activated through mindful attention, reduce temptation

Delay gratification

Performance at age 4 can predict self regulation. 30 years later

Theory of planned behaviour

Behaviour is complex and unrational.

Interact with social norms to act morally, external ‘brake’ on behaviour

Interact with availability of self control to inhibit actions