4. BUILDING SELF- KNOWLEDGE

Sasha recently ended a long-term relationship

and has embraced their newfound independence, feeling excited about their personal growth and new opportunities. According to research on self-concept clarity, how is Sasha most likely to feel about their self-

concept?

A. Sasha is likely experiencing self-concept confusion because a social role change always decreases one's self-concept clarity, at least temporarily

B. Sasha is unlikely to experience self-concept confusion because they feel positively about the change

C. Sasha is unlikely to experience self-concept confusion because their self-complexity is high

D. Sasha is unlikely to experience self-concept confusion because age is the most important factor in determining self-concept clarity

B. Sasha is unlikely to experience self-concept confusion because they feel positively about the change

intrapersonal

occurring within the individual mind or self

intrapersonal sources

self-perception and introspection

self-perception

we observe our overt behaviours and use these observations to infer what we're like (similar to how we infer what other people are like)

introspection

we direct our attention inwards to our internal states (thoughts and feelings) and use this self-awareness to draw conclusions about what we are like

What do we prioritize between self-perception(behaviour) or introspection(inside)

prioritization of internal states

Prioritization of introspection > behaviour(self-perception) to get to know one study

in general, internal states was more informative > friends/family or behaviour for several months

How does access to internal states vs. behaviour shape others' impressions? - prioritization of introspection>behaviour study (rating stranger's interviews of cognitive/affective, behavioural, control conditions) (interviewee's self rates)

Cognitive/affective interviews was the highest correlation between self-rating and stranger rating.

Lower for control (getting both cognitive/affective and behavioral)

Why do we prioritize thoughts and feelings (vs. behaviors) to construct self-knowledge

Behaviour can be influenced by external factors, and be ambiguous w different conclusions vs. thoughts and feelings are more revealing of inner self

When can self-perception be more useful for forming self-knowledge than internal states

When ppl are unclear about their internal states

RESULTS: accuracy of introspection/Are people aware of what impacts their mood study (daily diary report for 5 weeks, rltship of mood and predictor)

fairly accurate judgement of self predictors influencing mood (few errors) for both observer participants and are relying on shared theories of predictors not understanding

what are the implications of "accuracy of introspection/Are people aware of what impacts their mood study (daily diary report for 5 weeks, rltship of mood and predictor) "

people do not have a genuine understanding of why they think and feel the way they do

What is introspection not very useful at explaining

explaining why we feel these feelings in the first place (ex. why do i feel bored/excited/etc)

Interpersonal

relating to relationships or communication between people.

Symbolic interactionsim

the self-concept depends on our social interactions (no self without others)

Interpersonal sources of self-knowledge

social comparison

social comparison

comparing ourselves with others to form conclusions about our relative standing on attributes, abilities, opinions, etc

what does social comparison believe about self-perception and introspection

introspection and self-perception often rely on comparison

is social comparison automatic or manual

automatic

How does upward social comparison influence self-esteem

Decrease in self-esteem

What is upward social comparison?

comparing ourselves to people that are better than us resulting in a decrease in self-esteem

What is downward social comparison

comparing ourselves to people that are worse than us leads to an increase in self-esteem

How does downward social comparison influence self-esteem

increase in self-esteem

Looking-glass self (interpersonal source)

we construct our self-concept based on how others see us

What is going on during looking-glass self?

inferring how others see us using direct feedback, behaviours towards us

what does it mean if the looking-glass self theory is accurate

how we see ourselves is a direct internalization of how other people see us

Relating to the looking-glass self, what does people's self-reports have a strong positive relationship with

how they think they are perceived by others (may or may not be related to how this other person ACTUALLY sees me)

What relationships matter more when it comes to the looking-glass self

How people that are more important to us see us

Why is there the absence of correlation between how I see myself and how other ppl see me?

because we rarely get full honest feedback about what we are like (and gets interpreted by us) and feedbacks can be contradictory

we often dismiss or rationalize away negative feedback

Social Identity Theory (source of self-knowledge)

we place ourselves and others into social groups and this process shapes our shape concepts

Self-stereotyping

taking on and conforming to the shared identity of a social group in order to be accepted as part of that group by others

steps of social identity theory

1. what are the characteristics of the social group I value 2. self-stereotyping 3. validation by others that I'm a good member of the group

social identity theory evidence

when the group is important to sm, ppl adopt descriptions of themselves in line with that group

Social Identity Theory Evidence study (comparing performance on RT task to ratings of in-group)

Results: Faster RTs for traits on ppl see themselves matching ingroup (vs. traits w mismatch)

ppl are faster when there is a match between self-concept and their in-group/ faster when not descriptive of them and their ingroup (both for yes/yes and no/no)

What does the Social Identity Theory Evidence study (comparing performance on RT task to ratings of in-group) suggest about self and ingroup

perception of self is linked with perception of ingroup

What does the Social Identity Theory Evidence study (comparing performance on RT task to ratings of in-group) suggest about self and outgroup

ppl form some parts of their self-knowledge by trying to reject features they think are characteristics of an out-group

Does social identity theory mean everyone in that one group is similar

flexibility in social identity by uniqueness while conforming

where does the difference of self-description/behaviour in social identity determined by

expectations/standards for that identity & people's unique strengths and preference (ex. Griffyndor is being loyal and brave but ron is more stronger at being loyal and harry is more brave)

Including close others in the self (source of self-knowledge)

similiar to incorporating groups into our identity, also do this with people we are closest to

Do people confuse their partners' traits for their own - including others in the self study (same RT task with married graduate students) results

participants were slower and made more mistakes on traits that differed between self and spouse (for both me and not me judgements)

had slower RT for trait just for them and not spouse as they are confused who this trait belong to

Rachel has always though of herself as a hardworking person. However, recently she has begun to notice that her colleagues often work longer hours and take on more projects. Rachel now feels that she needs to push herself harder to match their level of commitment. Which source of self-knowledge is Rachel primarily relying on in this situation?

A. introspection

B. Self-perception

C. Social comparison

D. The looking-glass self

C. Social comparison

Sophia tends to feel anxious at parties because

she thinks that she doesn't make a great first

impression on others. Research into the looking-

glass self would suggest that she feels this way

because:

A. She is relying on her own internal evaluation of her social skills, which is independent of others' perceptions

B. She imagines the others view her negatively based on her past experiences, and this belief influences her feelings about herself

C. She is comparing herself to others and believes she is not as socially skilled as her peers

D> She has internalized feedback from others but does not adjust her self-concept based on those perceptions

B. She imagines the others view her negatively based on her past experiences, and this belief influences her feelings about herself