PSY325 Lec 1

I-Self

Proposed by William James (1980)

The aspect of the self that is the subject of experience, lives your life, thinks your thoughts, engages in your behaviour, etc. Reflects conscious experience

Me-Self

Proposed by William James (1980)

All aspects that make you who you are (e.g., personality traits, attitudes, beliefs, preferences)

I, agency, awareness, coherence, continuity

4 components of the _-self:

Self-_______, self-_____________, self-____________, and self-_________

Self-Agency

The sense of authorship and ownership over one's own thoughts and actions. (e.,g we think our own thoughts, the agent of our own actions)

Self-Awareness

An appreciation for one's internal states, needs, thoughts, and emotions. (e.g., we exist as an entity with internal states, awareness that we have feelings)

Self-Coherence

A stable sense of the self as a single, bounded entity separate from other people and objects. (e.g., we know that we exits as an entity that is separate from other people)

Self-Continuity

The sense that one remains the same person over time, maintaining a continuous past, present, and future. (e.g., we know we exist as an entity throughout time)

me, material, social, spiritual

3 components of the __-self:

_________ self, ______ self, and _________ self (organized from least to most important).

Material Self

The physical body, possessions, and significant others that reflect a part of who you are. (e.g., the clothing you wear, significant others, physical body)

Social Self

All characteristics recognizable to others and the image projected in various social contexts. (e.g., the image of yourself that you project to other people - we can have multiple)

multiple social selves

you present yourself differently depending on the situation (e.g., in front of your friends, family, social media, etc. Doesn't need to be true, can be based on who you want to be or made up)

Can be congruent with each other or contradictory

Spiritual Self

Our inner conscious experience, morals, values, beliefs, attitudes, and authentic personality traits.

Symbolic Interactionists

Emphasize how social interactions with others shape the self. Self is viewed as a social construction, crafted through linguistic exchanges with others

imitation, adjustment, internalization

Symbolic interactionists focus on:

________ of others' behaviour, attitudes, values, or standards

___________ of behaviour to garner the approval of salient socializing agents

__________ of opinions that significant others are perceived to hold toward the self & others' standards, beliefs, etc. as our own

James Baldwin

stated that the construction of the self is based upon suggestions from others and an individual's sense of self

Habitual Self

(James Baldwin) The collection of attributes and experiences that make up who a person is over time. The _______ ____ is ever-changing (e.g., who you were as an infant is different than who you are today)

Accommodating Self

(James Baldwin) The part of the self that interacts with others, observes, and imitates behavior based on social approval or disapproval.

If people approve the imitation, we internalize those beliefs and they become a part of the habitual self

Looking-Glass Self

Charles Cooley (1902) - The concept that the self-idea is derived from how we imagine others perceive, judge, and react to us.

(e.g., We use our interactions with others to give us a sense of self. What we internalize is what we think other people think of us)

appearance, judgment, feelings

During formative years, our self-idea is composed of:

1. Imagination of __________, 2. Imagination of others' __________, 3. Self-_________ (like pride or shame)

adulthood, stable

Charles Cooley believes that by __________, the self becomes _____ and we don't internalize behaviours from other people anymore

George Mead (1925)

Proposed that there is a two-stage developmental process through which the child adopts the attitudes of others toward the self - Play and Games

Play

the child observes and imitates roles of others in adult society to gain an understanding of those roles, build a self, & learn about who they can be and what they can do

Games

proscribe procedures and rules. the child understands that they don't exist alone, and can now take other peoples perspectives and adjust their behaviour accordingly (e.g., in baseball, you will change how you swing the bat depending on how the pitcher throws the ball)

Behaviourism

__________ largely ignored the self because it emphasized observable constructs and avoided unobservable internal mental states.

Self as personality

states that the self is personality and a collection of traits that make you different from other people

Problem: personality doesn't mean the self, it's a part of the self, but not the self

Self as the experiencing subject

The I-self - states that the self is what experiences our life, feels our feelings, thinks our thoughts, etc.

Problem: the self cannot just be the i-self, there has to be more

Self as beliefs about oneself

The Me-self - perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about oneself

Problem: self is not just the set of beliefs that someone has about themselves

Self as Executive Agent

states the self as a decision maker and doer that regulates one's own behaviour. the ability to set goals, ways to pursue those goals, and engage in these actions

reflexive consciousness

Proposed by Leary & Tangney - the mental capacity that allows an animal to take itself as the object of its own attention and to think consciously about itself