psy235 rn: self & identity

Explain the basic idea of reflexivity in human selfhood – how the “I” encounters and makes sense of itself (the “Me”)

Reflexivity refers to the self’s ability to reflect upon itself. William James conceptualized this as the interaction between the "I" (the self as the knower) and the "Me" (the self as the known). The "I" is the active, thinking subject, while the "Me" consists of the characteristics and roles a person attributes to themselves. This dynamic allows individuals to construct and interpret their identity.

Describe fundamental distinctions between one of three different perspectives on the self: the self as actor

From an early age, people enact social roles and display traits in interactions. This perspective emphasizes how individuals perform behaviors in response to social expectations.

Describe fundamental distinctions between one of three different perspectives on the self: the self as a motivated agent

As individuals develop, they set goals, values, and future aspirations. This perspective focuses on how a person directs their actions based on inner desires and long-term objectives.

Describe fundamental distinctions between one of three different perspectives on the self: the self as an autobiographical agent

In late adolescence and adulthood, individuals construct life narratives, integrating past experiences into a cohesive story about who they are and where they are going.

Describe how a sense of self as a social actor emerges around the age of 2 years and how it develops going forward.

Around age 2, toddlers begin to recognize themselves in mirrors and use personal pronouns like "I" and "me." This marks the emergence of the social self. Over time, social roles and traits become more ingrained through interactions with caregivers, peers, and cultural expectations. By adulthood, individuals have a well-developed sense of self as a social actor shaped by external feedback.

Describe the development of the self’s sense of motivated agency from the emergence of the child’s theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and values in adolescence and beyond. theory of mind

~age 4-5: Children begin to understand that others have thoughts, feelings, and perspectives different from their own. This realization marks the emergence of intentionality in actions.

Describe the development of the self’s sense of motivated agency from the emergence of the child’s theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and values in adolescence and beyond. Middle childhood to adolescence

children start to form goals based on personal aspirations rather than immediate social feedback.

Describe the development of the self’s sense of motivated agency from the emergence of the child’s theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and values in adolescence and beyond. adolescence and beyond

Individuals refine their values and long-term ambitions, solidifying their sense of self as a motivated agent who makes deliberate choices about their future.

Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and cultural functions narrative identity serves. Definition

Narrative identity is the internalized story a person creates about themselves, integrating past experiences, present self-concept, and future aspirations. It serves two main functions

Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and cultural functions narrative identity serves. psychological function

Helps individuals find meaning in their experiences, maintain a coherent self concept, and navigate life challenges.

Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and cultural functions narrative identity serves. cultural function

Connects individuals to broader social groups, traditions, and collective identities by aligning personal stories with cultural narratives.

Autobiographical reasoning:

The ability, typically developed in adolescence, to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analyzing one’s own personal experiences.

Big Five:

A broad taxonomy of personality trait domains repeatedly derived from studies of trait ratings in adulthood and encompassing the categories of (1) extraversion vs. introversion, (2) neuroticism vs. emotional stability, (3) agreeable vs. disagreeableness, (4) conscientiousness vs. nonconscientiousness, and (5) openness to experience vs. conventionality. By late childhood and early adolescence, people’s self-attributions of personality traits, as well as the trait attributions made about them by others, show patterns of intercorrelations that confirm with the five-factor structure obtained in studies of adults.

Ego:

Sigmund Freud’s conception of an executive self in the personality. Freud imagined the ego as observing outside reality, engaging in rational though, and coping with the competing demands of inner desires and moral standards.

Identity: 

Sometimes used synonymously with the term “self,”. I adopt Erik Erikson’s conception of identity as a developmental task for late adolescence and young adulthood. Forming an identity in adolescence and young adulthood involves exploring alternative roles, values, goals, and relationships and eventually committing to a realistic agenda for life that productively situates a person in the adult world of work and love. In addition, identity formation entails commitments to new social roles and reevaluation of old traits, and importantly, it brings with it a sense of temporal continuity in life, achieved though the construction of an integrative life story.

Narrative identity:

An internalized and evolving story of the self designed to provide life with some measure of temporal unity and purpose. Beginning in late adolescence, people craft self-defining stories that reconstruct the past and imagine the future to explain how the person came to be the person that he or she is becoming.

Redemptive narratives:

Life stories that affirm the transformation from suffering to an enhanced status or state. In American culture, redemptive life stories are highly prized as models for the good self, as in classic narratives of atonement, upward mobility, liberation, and recovery.

Reflexivity:

The idea that the self reflects back upon itself; that the I (the knower, the subject) encounters the Me (the known, the object). Reflexivity is a fundamental property of human selfhood.

Self as autobiographical author:

The sense of the self as a storyteller who reconstructs the past and imagines the future in order to articulate an integrative narrative that provides life with some measure of temporal continuity and purpose.

Self as motivated agent: 

The sense of the self as an intentional force that strives to achieve goals, plans, values, projects, and the like.

Self as social actor:

The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be construed in terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social roles.

Self-esteem: 

The extent to which a person feels that he or she is worthy and good. The success or failure that the motivated agent experiences in pursuit of valued goals is a strong determinant of self-esteem.

Social reputation:

The traits and social roles that others attribute to an actor. Actors also have their own conceptions of what they imagine their respective social reputations indeed are in the eyes of others.

The Age 5-to-7 Shift:

Cognitive and social changes that occur in the early elementary school years that result in the child’s developing a more purposeful, planful, and goal-directed approach to life, setting the stage for the emergence of the self as a motivated agent

The “I”: 

The self as knower, the sense of the self as a subject who encounters (knows, works on) itself (the Me).

The “Me”:

The self as known, the sense of the self as the object or target of the I’s knowledge and work.

Theory of mind: 

Emerging around the age of 4, the child’s understanding that other people have minds in which are located desires and beliefs, and that desires and beliefs, thereby, motivate behavior.