Social Psych - The Self and Self-Presentation

Self

Our conceptions of who we are and how we interacts with others and our environment

Self Concept

Our own set of self-related schemas; our traits, skills, social groups we’re apart of etc.

Public Self

The image of ourselves that we try to convey to others

Social Comparison

by comparing self to others we can figure out ‘where we stand’ and asses ourself

Downward social comparison

Comparing our own performance to someone less capable than us; boosts how we feel about ourselves

Upward social comparison

Comparing our performance to someone more capable than us; can provide is insight/info to make ourselves better

How do we learn about ourselves?

1. social comparisons

2. views of others

3. introspection

Looking Glass Self

people learn about themselves by imagining how others view them

Issue with the looking glass self?

A person’s self concept DOESN’T match up with how their friends, family, coworkers view them.

Introspection

looking inward, examining own thoughts + feelings

Issues with introspection?

a. we don’t think about our self-concept a lot

b. we aren’t conciously aware of our motives + why all the time

c. affective forecasting - thoughts + feelings are more valid than why we think/feel that way

What type of social comparisons do those with low self esteem make more?

More upward social comparisons

What type of social comparisons do those with high self esteem make more?

More downward social comparisons

What are the different aspects of the self?

• self-concept

• self-awareness

• self-esteem

Self-schemas

a variety of different aspects of the self

Self-Reference Effect

Connecting information to yourself makes it more rememberable

Personality traits

The specific + stable personality characteristics that describe an individual

Social Identity

the sense of ourself that involves our membership in social groups

Self-Awareness

The extent to which we are currently fixing our attention on our own self-concept

Self-Conciousness

publicly induced self-awareness that happens when our self-concept becomes highly accesible bc of concerns of being observed/judged

Private self-conciousness

The tendency to introspect about our inner thoughts + feelings

Public self-consciousness

tendency to focus on our outer public image + be aware of the extent that we’re meeting standards set by others

Narcissism

Excessively high self-esteem, admiration, + self-centeredness

Self-verification theory

people tend to seek confirmation of their self-concept, either pos. or neg.

What factors influence self-verification?

1. when seeking close relationships, we seek out those who verify our self-views

   • close relations: self verifications

   • distant relations: self-enhancing

2. the part of our self-concept we are seeking feedback + with who

Labeling bias

happens when we are labeled + others views + expectations of us are affected by the labeling

Self-labeling

when we develop others’ labels into our self-concept

Internalized prejudice

happens when individuals turn prejudice directed toward them by others onto themselves

Social identity theory

we draw part of our sense of identity + self-esteem from the social groups we belong to

Self-presentation

tendency to present a positive self-image to others with the goal of increasing our social status

Self-monitoring

tendency to be both motivated + capable of tegulating our behavior to meet the demands of social situations

What are self-presentational motives?

1. audience pleasing (wants approval)

2. self-construction (we have an ideal self + we want to self-present to validate ideas of it)

What are all the self-presentation strategies:

- Ingratiation

- Intimidation

- Self-Promotion

- Exemplification

- Supplication

Ingratiation

behaviors are designed to convince another person about the attractiveness of their qualities (complimenting others); the most common self-presenting strategy

Intimidation

goal is to arouse fear in others; takes control by displaying power (ex: employee + manager)

Self-Promotion

goal is to gain respect + seem competent; “tooting own horn”

Exemplification

goal is to arouse guilt in others; martyrdom; done by presenting self as martyr (you can go to the party, i’ll stay)

Supplication

goal is to arouse sympathy in others; advertises own weaknesses

Does self-presentation affect the self-concept?

• The phenomenal self-concept

• Carryover effects

The phenomenal self-concept

The surroundings that you’re in activate part of your self concept; not everything is activated at once

Carryover Effects

Starting to believe what you’ve been self-presenting

High self monitoring

people always concerened with public self, are better at self-monitoring + presenting, good with social cues to monitor self for impression management

Low self monitoring

more likely to behave consistently across all situations regardless of social situations; might not pick up social cues well

Self-handicapping

any action that is done to blame an external factor on failure while still attributing success to self; setting up obstacles to success prior to being evaluated

Why do people self handicap?

• attribution theory

• concerned only with internal/external + stable/unstable factors

Behavioral Handicaps

actively participating in a behavior that causes/links to a situation (actually creating an obstacle)

Claimed Handicaps

Simply saying that something is wrong, something external that can be blamed if failure happens

Examples of self-handicapping?

• lack of effort/practice

• drug choice

• self-reported symptoms

Outcomes of self-handicapping?

• self-esteem buffering

• self-defeating behavior

  • other people’s interpretations (high self-monitos/handicappers are less likely to believe over low; can’t BS the BS’er)

Inaccurate Covariation Detection

not knowing how good/accurate self-handicapping was bc we have no comparison + don’t usually get feedback

Difference between self-handicapping + excuses

• self-handicapping happens before vs excuses happen after

Sandbagging

self-presenting strategy of claiming inability to create artificially low expectations for performance; saying things are worse than they are