2 Social Self

What effect is an example of the self being an important object of our own attention?

Cocktail Party Effect ⇒ the tendency of people to pick up on personally relevant stimulus

From around how many months old can a toddler recognise themselves in the mirror?

18~24 m/o

How is the concept of self associated with the brain? What does this highlight?

• specific brain regions become more activated when people 1) see pictures of themselves, 2) see self-relevant words, and 3) play first person perspective video games 

• highlights importance of self concept 

What is meant by “social self”?

• sense of self is forged (constructed, maintained, negotiated) by social interactions with others 

• “social self” = parts of self knowledge derived from social interactions 

What are the ABC aspects of social self?

• Affect (self esteem) ⇒ how people feel about self / self evaluation

• Behaviour (self presentation) ⇒ how people present self to others

• Cognitive (self concept) ⇒ how people understand self (e.g. self beliefs)

What is the name of the scale used to measure self esteem using questionnaires? State the trend in the scores for self esteem across the lifespan

• Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE Scale)

• increases from adolescence →adulthood

• peaks during 50~60 y/o

• decreases at an accelerating pace

Is self esteem stable or not?

• self esteem is a state of mind that does fluctuate up and down (open to change from env influences)

• but overall it is relatively stable (individuals with relatively high self esteem at one stage of life are likely to be the same decades later) 

Typically high self esteem prospectively predicts what?

success and wellbeing in life domains such as relationships, work, and health

What are the two different aspects of self esteem? Explain the differences, pointing out which is stable and which is dynamic

(Hint: t___ self esteem and s____ self esteem)

• trait self esteem ⇒ person’s enduring level of self regard across time and context (stable)

• state self esteem ⇒ changeable self evaluation a person experiences as momentary feelings about the self (dynamic)

• captures dynamics across different timescales (longitudinal approach vs daily diary, for e.g.)

What are the two levels of self esteem?

• General ⇒ overall high/low self esteem

• Domain-specific ⇒ self esteem within specific areas 

What two theories illustrates why we have the need for self esteem

Sociometer theory & Terror management theory

Explain the sociometer theory

• idea that humans are inherently social animals, desire for self-esteem is driven by primitive needs of connection and approval (pursuit of self worth is aspect of human motivation)

• sociometer detects acceptance/rejection, translating into high/low self esteem

Explain the terror management theory 

• people are biologically programmed for life/self-preservation 

• self esteem acts as protective shield to control/manage anxiety that arises from certain worldviews (e.g. religious existential views) 

What are the impacts of high and low self esteem in general?

• people with high/positive self esteem tend to be happy, healthy, productive, successful, confident

• people with low/negative self esteem tend to be more depressed, pessimistic, prone to failure, less confident

What are the costs of having unrealistically high self esteem?

• high self esteem doesn’t always ensure good life outcomes

• pursuing/boosting high self esteem can be costly despite benefits (e.g. anxious, neglect needs, stress etc)

• inflated egotism (arrogance) & narcissism

  • tend to be fragile & insecure

  • volatile reaction to threats to self esteem

  • need to reassert feelings of superiority

What factors determine how people feel about themselves (i.e. what factors contribute to self esteem)? 

• self discrepancy theory ⇒ self esteem defined by match between how we see ourselves vs how we want to see ourselves 

  • ideal self (who I want to be), ought self (who I should be), actual self (who I am)

What emotions do we tend to feel when we fall short in comparisons between ideal vs ought vs actual self? (2 ans)

What factors influence the intensity of such emotions? (3 ans)

• disappointment and sadness (idea vs actual self) 

• shame and guilt (ought vs actual self) 

• intensity of ↑ varies depending on

  • amount of discrepancy

  • importance of discrepancy to self

  • how much we focus on self discrepancies

Self esteem is contingent on what? 

(hint: domain)

• on successes and failures in domains on which a person has based their self worth 

• self esteem ↑ when things go well in domains deemed important 

How can culture affect self esteem?

• individualistic cultures (with individual goals) foster higher levels of self esteem than collectivistic cultures (with social obligations and collective goals)

What is the name of an effect that demonstrates how people tend to be self conscious in public settings?

Spotlight effect ⇒ tendency to believe the social spotlight shines/emphasises an individual more than it does, due to self consciousness of self behaviour & image

How can self-presentation vary across different domains of life?

• e.g. private vs public vs online presentation  

What is meant by strategic self presentation and why do we do it? In what ways could it potentially be hazardous?

• the effort to shape other’s impressions/perceptions about the self in specific, idealised ways 

• strategic self presentation goals:

  • integration - motivated by desire to get along with others and be liked

  • self promotion - motivated by a desire to gain respect for competence

  • overall to gain favourability, acceptance/approval, influence, power, sympathy, etc 

• has costs & is hazardous ⇒ keeping up with social standards, disparities between ideal and actual self presentation, may result in ED, drug abuse, injuries etc

Explain the conflict between self verification and self enhancement

• self verification - desire to have others perceive us as we perceive ourself (to confirm/verify existing self concept) 

• self enhancement - embellished self 

• conflict between having good impression & accurate impression 

• need for self verification may exceed need for self enhancement - e.g. in relationships, with the need for authenticity 

What are the two broad self verification strategies?

• displaying identity cues (fashion for e.g., to signal facets of identity, to ensure impression confirms self view)

• entering relationships that maintain consistent views of the self

What is meant by self monitoring? Explain the differences between people who are high/low in self monitoring

• self monitoring ⇒ the tendency to regulate behaviour in response to self presentation concerns of situation, to meet demands of social situations

• high ⇒ pragmatic, flexible, adaptive; ready and able to modify self between contexts; sensitive to strategic self presentation concerns

• low ⇒ principled, forthright; viewed as stubborn, insensitive to surroundings; unwilling to compromise

• self monitoring scores drop with age, likely as people become more secure about personal identity

What is meant by self schemas? What functions does it perform? (3 ans)

• units of ideas/beliefs about oneself that guide the processing of self relevant information 

  • self schemas add up to form an individual’s total self concept 

• helps navigate and make sense of information

  • people are attuned to information that maps onto self schema

  • evidence consistent w self schema retrieved more rapidly, info that contradicts is more readily rejected

  • people with self schema in a specific domain process info in that domain more quickly

What are the sources of self concept; where do they come from? (4 ans) 

• socialisation agents (family, friends, teachers, etc) ⇒ their approval/disapproval and comments about behaviour can form self concept 

• influences of other people ⇒ inferences made about self by observing behaviour of someone else with whom one identifies with, evaluate self through comparison 

• introspection ⇒ looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings 

• autobiographical memories and narrated self ⇒ recollection of events of early life 

What does the self perception theory state?

• people can learn about self by observing own behaviour

• esp when situation alone seems insufficient to cause behaviour / internal state is difficult to interpret

  • if certain behaviour arises due to compelling situational pressures / unfavourable situations, internal states not inferred

How can facial expression and body posture influence state of mind/feeling?

• facial expression can trigger changes in subjective experience of emotion

• body posture can provide sensory feedback and influence how we feel 

What is meant by self-other knowledge asymmetry?

• there are certain aspects about the self where the individual may know better than others (traits that are internal, non-evaluative, and hard to observe - optimistic, anxious, easily upset)

• but there are also certain aspects where others know more about the individual (evaluative traits that we have blind spots for - smart, creative, rude)

• traits that are external and easy to observe have no self-other asymmetry (quiet, sociable, messy)

• to know oneself requires a combination of information (observability) and objectivity

What is the theory that suggests there is no absolute self?

• Social comparison theory ⇒ self is relative to others, people evaluate self through comparison

• people tend to describe themselves in ways that set them apart

• social comparison done when in state of uncertainty (objective means of self eval are not available)

• social media is a venue for social comparison

• has directionality (↑ or ↓)

Explain why people may engage in specifically downward social comparison

• boost self esteem through downward comparison with those who are less happy/successful/fortunate ⇒ self protection strategy, especially for domains that pose threat to self esteem 

• defensive tendency 

• ability to cope with life regrets 

What is the name of the bias where people think highly of themselves?

• self enhancement bias

• people are likely to see self as better than average, esp for areas/traits deemed important to self

What processes serve self enhancement functions? (4 ans)

• implicit egoism ⇒ unconscious/subtle expression of self esteem

  • quicker to associate self words w positive than negative traits

• self serving beliefs ⇒ optimistic bias, judge desirable events are more likely to occur than undesirable

  • illusion of control, overestimation of etw people can influence personal outcomes

• self handicapping ⇒ making of excuses in anticipation of future performance, especially in fear of failure

  • self sabotage/hindering of own performance, excuse for failure

  • preserve and protect self esteem

• basking in reflected glory ⇒ group association, increasing self esteem by associating with successful others

  • tendency to cut off reflected failure (dissociating with others who are unsuccessful)

How does culture influence self concept?

• cultural orientations can influence way people perceive, evaluate, & present self in relation to others

• e.g. individualistic - personal achievement, collectivistic - status of shared group

Explain the differences in independent and interdependent views of self

• independent ⇒ a containing set of psychological qualities that are distinct/individual from other people

• interdependent ⇒ highlights roles within family and social relationships, emphasises responsibility 

  • behaviour not explained in terms of mental traits, but instead in terms of networks of social obligations