Ch 3 Self and Identity

in addition to generic view of isolated being (self), what else does the self involve

multifaceted with possible selves and social selves

self-concept

individual’s overall cognirep of their autonomous being across different domains; just cognitive part of self (global cognirep); generic prototype (vague)

concept

mental representation of a category of objects

domains

a specific area or category of interest or performance such as academics, physical beauty, friendships, work/career, and myriad other realms that may be more important to some people than to others

affect

the experience of emotions and feelings

salient

something that stands out

solution to whether self was malleable or stable

self-concept is a collection of several self representations

what prior research concerned researchers whether self was malleable (easily changed) or stable

Early theorists in the 1950’s focused heavily on potential functions of self including providing a sense of continuity over time and providing an organized explanation for one’s experiences, so it was seen as a stable construct that regulated feelings and behaviors. A problem arised: self-concept was more likely to be reported on than in other situations

two parts of the self

cognitive and affect

need

condition must be met in order to maintain life or nurture well being; need for survival and thrival

biological need

requirement for survival

psychological need

requirement for survival and thirval

maslow’s need in five S’s

Sustenance, safety, social, self-esteem, and self-actualization

sustenance in maslow

food and water; biological need

safety

protection from physical harm; biological need

social in maslow

bonds with other; psychological need

self-esteem

feelings of worth and value; psychological need

self-actualization

reaching one’s full potential

self-determination theory

self is a product of an interaction between social contexts and an active striving for a unified self: ARC (3 core psychological needs)

autonomy for ARC

freely chosen behavior fitting one’s value; result of psychological existentialism

relatedness in ARC

need to have meaningful social bonds; desire for affiliation (being in the vicinity of others) and creating social bonds with others

competence in ARC

need to function effectively within an environment; main features are progress towards accomplishing task and the mastery of it

psychological existentialism

the creation of self-interests and values to buffer against our anxiety about our place in the world

layers of self-concept

needs, different domains, and self-schema

self-schema

individual’s cognirep of their self that is specific to a particular domain (specific cognirep), more exemplar (multiple detailed examples) based

types of domains

general domain, specific domain, and detailed domain

self-schema leading to self

collection of self-schema’s (specific cognirep) for diff domains creates self-concepts (global cognirep), major component of the self (global cognirep and subjective feelings); schema’s→self-concept→self

mental images of the self come in two forms

generic across contexts and specific to different domains

defining and creating self relates to

how one’s self-concept energizes and directs behavior (motivation), while regulating the self shows how managing thoughts, feelings, and behavior

self-awareness

conscious recognition of one’s internal states and interactions with others

self-awareness in relating to self-concept

Having self-awareness does not mean having self-concept (vice-versa)

self-consciousness

trait of chronic (more often than normal) engagement in self-awareness

four levels of consciousness

unconsciousness, consciousness, self-awareness, and meta-self awareness

unconsciousness as a conscious level

nonresponsive to self & environment

consciousness as a conscious level

focusing attention to environmental processing external stimuli

meta-self-awareness as a conscious level

being aware that one is self-aware

mindfulness

attention to the present moment while attempting to not react nor classify experiences; receptive attitude towards one current experiences

how infants have a sort of self (they do not have though)

With consistent information, an infant can differentiate between self and other object without conception of the self like the rooting reflex (turning head to direction of touch from cheek)

rochat’s level of self-awareness

confusion, differentiation, situation, identification, permanence, and meta

confusion (0) for rochat’s

zero self awareness, not rlly a level because of lack of awareness (implicit cognition)

differentiation (1) for Rochat’s

recognize mirror movement as similar to own movement (implicit cognition)

situation (2) for Rochat’s

recognize mirror movement is unique to self (explicit cognition)

Identification (3) for Rochat’s

recognize mirror image is self (complex cognition)

Permanence (4) for Rochat’s

recognize photograph is of self (complex cognition)

meta (5) for Rochat’s

recognize self from third-person perspective (“he, she, they”) (complex cognition)

rochat’s level when child has formed cognirep of their existence and feelings of some potential self

rochat’s level 3 (identification)

differentiation for self-concept

expanding self-concept into multiple components (multiple self-schemas), able to be pushed too far however

encountering new experiences and new tasks

we learn through these interactions with the environment

growth and development of self-concept happens with

constant process of differentiation and integration

integration for self-concept

process of creating a coherent self-concept that provides an overall view of who a person is

self-complexity

extent to which we have a self-concept that is multidimensional rather that unidimensional

someone with high self complexity

will have multiple aspects of self that are non-overlapping

self-complexity (multiple aspects of self non-overlapping) buffer for maintaining mental health as

with a unidimensional self-concept, one aspect collapses, the whole self-concept collapses

self-complexity and construal

a situation making the self more salient, the aspect will move closer psychologically distance which provides implications for well-being