week 1, lecture 2: defining the self

define the self

the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that arise from the awareness of self as object and agent — Hoyle

• includes reflexive consicousness or self-reflection

what are the goals of moderl psychological study of teh self

• what it means to have a self

• how the self operates

• purpose of the self

what are baumeister’s 3 parts of the self?

1. self knoweldge (sellf concept)

   1. information about self

   2. self awareness

   3. self esteem

   4. self deception

2. interpersonal self (public self)

   1. self presentation

   2. member of groups

   3. relationship partner

   4. social roles

   5. reputation

3. agent self (executive function)

   1. decision making

   2. self control

   3. taking charge of sits

   4. actvie responding (ajdusting)

what is the problem of personal identity?

even if we beleive it is an illusion, something makes us beleive we have a sense of self

what is the historical direction for study of self

in chronological order:

1. plato

2. aristotle

3. descartes

4. locke

5. hume

6. william james

7. cooley

8. mead

the substantialists

descartes and others had this perspective on the “ship of theseus”

the metaphysical view that the self is a distinct, permanent, and independent entity or "substance" that underlies all of our thoughts, experiences, and actions

• the philosophical view that the core of your identity is an unchanging, underlying "substance" that anchors who you are throughout your life

• substantialists = the ship is 100% the same as teh original bc its numeriacally identical

  • physical parts are just temporary mateiral extensions of a permannet reality

aristotle (384-322BCE)

substance

• physical properties of an enttiy, substance is material

• f

form

• the essence of an identtiy or its function

• bc its form never changed, teh refurbished theseus is teh true theseus

• persoanl identity resides in the soul (a spiritual.immaterial enttiy that enters teh body at birth and departs upon death)

john locke (1632-1704)

memory, you are what you can remember

1. distinguisthed btw teh terms “man”

   1. man = physical aspects of existence

   2. person = personal identity

      1. identity = episodic memory

2. think aristotles substance and form

past selves, now, future, continuity

david hume (1711-1776)

• skeptic, never perceive true causes directly, we can only infer them

• personal identity is an illusion, there is no self

• we’re just experiencing sepearete perceptions

• the sense that they’re bound together is just a trick of the mind, created by quick succession

• anti-substantialist counterargument

  • Philosophers who reject the substantialistic self use the Ship of Theseus to prove their point:

    • David Hume’s Bundle Theory: Hume argued that the "self" is an illusion. Just as the ship is nothing more than a temporary collection of planks, the human mind is just a shifting bundle of thoughts and perceptions. There is no underlying substance holding you together

    • Buddhist Philosophy (Anatta): Similarly, Eastern philosophies reject substantialistic notions. They view both the ship and the self as impermanent, conditionally arisen phenomena with no fixed, permanent core. [1]

william james (1842-1910) ch 10 consciousness reading on the self

he’s somewhere in the middle,

• we treat each other as though have a self

• you owe me money, you committed a crime, justice

• social aspect holding each other responsible

• there must be something holding us together

3 components of self (empirical self)

1. material self : body, famil , adn all things owned

2. social self = self known by others, many soical selves

   1. roles are all real aspects of the self

3. spiritual self = state of consciousness, ones own subjecive reality

   1. inner self, intangible

• the self as a knower is the awareness of ones empirical sel f

• the first to examine self esteem

how do oyu kow if soemhing is part of your material self

by your emotianl reaction

• if their success makes u proud, or failure hurts you, theyre a part of you

once soemthing becoems part of the self

we value it more

waht is the modern day sysnonym for the material self?

the extended self,

• def = soemthing oyu own, all the (material things) ppl places and things that are psychologically part of who you are

• evidence that possessions are part of extended self

  • mere ownership effect

    • givne cheap items, rates own item and more valuable than identitcal ones

    • couple minutes

    • ego threatened. = stronger effect

  • endowmnet effect

    • mug 2x money than they would have paid for it

    • owning it for a few minites doubles its value…

  • name letter effect

    • like our initials a lot

  • implicit egotism

    • more likely to live in cities and pick jobs related to our names

      • laura the lawyer

      • susie sells seashells by the sea shore (bret pelham article)

      • unconscous

      • romantic partners whose names resemblers their own

      • there isnt just one job for everyone, unconsocuslsy attracted to some decisions

social self according to James

includes al of the roles we play as well as how others are evaluating us

spiritual self accoridng to james

tratis abilites talents

perceived abilities

emotional states

tastes, hbbies, prefs

modern classifications of empirical self

1. colelcive self. = group memberships (im hcinesse, culture)

2. Personal self (tangible and intangibel aspects, material and immaterail)

3. soical.= social roles ppl play

4. relational = close relationships, freind, spouse, parent,

emotional self accoridng to james

somewhere btw hume and substnaitialists

• the one thing that ties us together is feeligns

• what ties our feelings togetehr is this feeling of warmth and familairity, its mine

  • capras syndrome = can recognize someone but doesnt feel assoc emotins (eg, mom, familiar)

    • on the phone no issue, can tell its his father — autitory cortex

    • cannot tell in the visual cortex

  • the person seems like an imposter to them

  • depersonalization = detached as an observer of own exp

what were the 4 main positions of self?

1. aristotle and spiritualists = huamns alone posess an immaterial soul that provides our sense of personal identity

2. locke = ideneity is a psychological phenomena, tied to memories which are stored in the throat

3. hume = identity is an illusion. we are fooled into thinking soemthing unites our vairous perceptions. but the unity is false

4. james = identity is a psychologcial phenomena, deirved from a feeling that accompanies all of our percpetions, thoughts, and experiences.

   1. btw the substanitalists and hume

according to james, which was teh most imporatnt part of self is more imporatnt?

the most abstract internal tratis are the most imporatnt parts of the slef

1. spiritual self

2. social self

3. mateiral self

the reaosn you think you have those traits is bc other ppl told you that… i disagree..

how did values of self differ in different cultures

individualsitic. = emphasized differenes (i am a tennis player)

collectivistic = emphasized cooperative, connected (contextaulized, im quiet with my parents,, i play tennis ont eh weekends)

historical view of the self (baumeister)

• peope back then didnt have hard choices to make

• choices prearranged

• 1000 years ago

• career, marry, home, relgion, no education

• based on= diaries, autobiographies, novels

• ppl dressed for social status, not changing

• martin luther dividing religion, industrailzation, urbanization = choices

the person we see on the outsdie may not be the real person insdie

• small medieval communities, homes,

• everyone is extremely known

• changed to being stragners

is there a real you?

• brain science = self is an illusion bc we cannot find a self center in the brain

• the self does not appear to be that stable = walter mischel showed that beh can vary a lot acorss sits

• post modernists = theres no stable, unified self, the self is fluid, shiftign with culture, roles, contexts (social)

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