LECTURE 4: SELF-KNOWLEDGE (STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION)

Q: What is an Associative Network Model of the self?

our brain stores personality traits as a web of connected ideas.

Here is how it works:

• Trait Summary: You have a general label for yourself (like "I am kind").

• Memories (Exemplars): This label is connected to real examples from your past (like "I helped a friend move").

• Spreading Activation: When you think about one of these memories or the trait itself, that "node" lights up. The energy then travels down the connection, automatically lighting up all the related memories and traits next to it.

In short: Thinking about one specific behavior automatically triggers your brain to remember who you are as a person.

Q: What is the Self-Reference Effect ("The Golden Folder")?

A: we remember info better when we relate it to ourselves. linking new info to the self activates a network of memories/goals. The self acts as a superstructure for memory, strengthening recall. but when the self is disrupted, this advantage vanishes

(Rogers et al., 1977)

Q: What is the Distinctiveness Postulate (McGuire)?

A: The principle that people tend to highlight, notice, and define themselves by aspects of their identity that make them feel most unique in a given context

Q: What is Self-Complexity Theory (Linville)? Difference between high and low self-complexity?

A: Theory proposing that the self is represented in terms of multiple aspects and roles

• High self-complexity involves having many distinct, non-overlapping self-aspects, which acts as an emotional buffer against stress (preventing a failure in one domain from ruining overall affect)

• low self-complexity involves fewer, highly overlapping roles, leading to extreme emotional swings.

Q: What does the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (Campbell et al., 1996) measure?

A:The Self-Concept Clarity scale (SCC) measures "the extent to which self-beliefs are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and stable." High scorers exhibit higher self-esteem and stability, while low scorers ruminate more and experience chronic self-doubt.

Q: What is the difference between Episodic and Semantic Autobiographical Memory regarding the self?

A:

• Episodic Memory: Memory for specific personal life events and experiences involving direct self-reference and personal ownership (e.g., Patient R.B., who lost the feeling of "owning" past memories).

• Semantic Memory: General, context-free factual knowledge about the world and oneself (e.g., Patient K.C., who lacked episodic memory but retained accurate semantic self-knowledge and stable trait descriptions).

Q: What is the Self-Memory System (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce)?

A: A model proposing that autobiographical memory is not a neutral database of events. a working self (current goals, motives, and self-conceptions) directs what memories are retrieved and how they are reconstructed to maintain a coherent, goal-consistent self-image.

Q: What are the Four Functions of Autobiographical Memory (Williams, Conway, & Cohen)?

A:

1. Self-Directive Function: Using past experiences to guide current thoughts and behaviors.

2. Self-Defining/representative Function: Creating a coherent sense of personal identity and historical continuity.

3. Social Function: Developing, maintaining, and nurturing interpersonal relationships.

4. Adaptive Function (Mood Regulation): Using positive memories to cope with stress or regulate negative affect.

Q: What are Redemption and Contamination life narrative sequences (Dan McAdams)?

A:

• Redemption Sequence: Transformation of personal suffering into positive-affective life scenes that serve to redeem and justify one’s life

• Contamination Sequence: A narrative theme where an exceptionally positive life event is ruined or spoiled by a subsequent negative outcome that contaminates everything preceding it

self schemas

A cognitive structure, derived from past experience, that represents a person’s beliefs and feelings about the self in general and in specific situations

• reference point to judge others