The social self

Who believes in the individual self

individualist/western cultures

Who believes that there is multiple versions of the self

collectivists

What is the individual definition of self

Baumeister: the self is a persons belief about themselves including their attributes

3 other definitions of the self

• Mead: self is defined through our interactions with others

• looking glass self: we see ourselves how we think others see us

• Tajfel & Turner

  • social identity: defines self in term of group membership

  • personal identity: defines self in terms of individual traits & personal relationships

What are the 2 cognitive ways we know ourselves

self knowledge, self discrepancy theory

Self knowledge

• self-schema: beliefs & ideas people have about themselves

• Markus

  • working self concept: we have discreet self schemas (different ones come out in certain contexts)

Self discrepancy theory

• Higgins

• cognitive constructs about ourselves: venn diagram of ideal, actual & ought self

• ought self: what you think you should be in terms of what society wants from you

• discrepancies in self causes discomfort

What are the 2 behavioural ways we know ourselves

self perception theory, social comparison theory

Self perception theory

• we define ourselves by making attributions about our own behaviours & that leads to self-definition

• cognitions match behaviour

• intrinsic (personally rewarding) vs extrinsic (external reward) motivation

Social comparison theory

• Festinger

• people compare themselves to others to have a benchmark

• we seek out for similar people to validate ourselves

• upward comparison: compare to someone who seems better (lowers self esteem but motivates)

• downward comparison: compare to someone who seems worse (increases self esteem & defence strategy)

What is self esteem

confidence in our worth/abilities, judgement of the self & attitudes toward the self

What are the 4 types of self esteem

1. global: overall opinion of yourself at any time (negative-positive)

2. domain-specific: self esteem in regard to a particular area/topic (comes in adolescence)

3. trait: accumulated lifelong perception of social inclusion & exclusion/personality (stable & is moderate-high)

4. state: self esteem in a particular moment/state, can change easily

4 things high self esteem is associated with

• higher self knowledge & lower confusion on self concept

• more confidence (motivational/self enhancing orientation)

• lower anxiety & social rejection

• good index of social acceptance & belonging

What is the danger of having a high self esteem

narcissism

How do we maintain high self esteem

• self-serving bias: we take credit for success but we don’t blame ourselves for failure

• long term we hold onto positive feedback more than criticism

• self presentation: controlling how we present ourselves