PSYC 2530 - Chapter 14 - The Self

William James

this person theorized the epistemological self (the “me”) and the ontological self (the I”), and how self-awareness connects to both

Epistemological self - James

the “me” → knowledge of one’s own experiences, personality traits, and attributes; the self that you know

Ontological self - James

the “i” → the somewhat mysterious inner self of thinking, observation, and experience; the self that you experience

4 purposes and functions of the self - “me”

1. Self-regulation

2. Information-processing filter

3. Relate to others

4. Identity

Self-regulation - functions of the self

Retain impulses and maintain focus on long-term goals

Information-processing filter - functions of the self

Pay attention to information that matters the most; maintain self-image

Relate to others - functions of the self

Understand other people, empathize w/ them by imagining how we would feel

Identity - functions of the self

Understand where we fit in, develop a life story

3 types of self-knoledge

1. declarative

2. procedural

3. narrative

Declarative - types of self-knowledge

the facts and impressions of ourselves that we consciously know and can readily describe

Procedural - types of self-knowledge

knowledge that is expressed through actions rather than words

Narrative - types of self-knowledge

the story you tell yourself about yourself to make sense of what happened to you in the past and what you might do in the future

Self-esteem

part of the declarative self - your overall opinion about whether you are good or bad, worthy or unworthy, or somewhere in between; contains everything you know/think you know about your traits and abilities

2 aspects of self-esteem

1. self-liking

2. self-competence

• highly correlated, but not distinct

Levels of self-esteem

Self-esteem can be too low, or too high - men typically have higher self-esteem than women but this is less likely among women who blame the system (patriarchy)

Self-reference effect

occurs when people between remembers something that is self-relevant - increases accessibility and may vary by culture

How to increase self-esteem

Accomplishing important task, give people opportunities for success, but some strategues can backfire (ex. someone having daily affirmations about themselves that they don’t necessarily believe and can make them feel worse)

Self-efficacy

You belief that you can successfully do something - sets the limits for what you attempt to do

Self-schema

All of one’s ideas about the self, organized into a coherent system - not based only on memories of specific events

Possible selves

images we have/can construct of other possible versions of ourselves - may affect goals, can affect mate preferences, want to fulfill needs for self-esteem, competence, and meaning but still be similar

Self-discrepancy theory

We become distressed when our sense of who we truly are (actual self) doesn’t match who we want/think we should be (ideal self, ought self)

Actual self

Who we truly are

Ideal self

The version of ourself that we want to be/what we are like at our best

Ought self

The version of ourself that we think we should be vs. what we would like to be

When we cant meet our ideal self

Depression related emotions; promotion focus/reward based (GO system)

When we cant meet our ought self

Anxiety-related emotions; prevention focus/punishment based (STOP system)

Procedural self

unconscious patterns of behavior that are characteristic of an individual and the behaviors through which people express who they are - includes social skills, styles of relating to others, and unconscious self-knowledge, includes observational learning

3 aspects of the procedural self

1. relational self-schema

2. relational self

3. implicit self

• difficult to change

Relational self-schema

Self-knowledge that directs how we relate to others

Relational self

Patterns of social skills and style of relating to others

Implicit self

Unconscious self-knowledge that includes the relational self and is measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

measure of reaction time, in which participants are asked to push one of two buttons as quickly as possible, depending on which of four concepts is displayed to them

Implicit self-esteem - IAT

Respond more quickly when “me” and “good” are paired than when “me” and “bad” are paired - positively but weakly correlated w/ explicit sef-esteem

Narcissism - self-esteem

People high on this trait score lower implicit self esteem than explicit self esteem

Narrative self

the story that you tell about yourself

Components of the narrative self

Components include: personal memories, life themes, self-concept, turning points, future goals, social and cultural influences

Active self

what you are feeling and doing in the present moment

Working self-concept

how you see yourself in the moment

mental health and congruence

Congruence (acting in accordance to one’s personality traits) is associarted w/ bette psychological adjustment

self-concept differentiation

seeing oneself as having different personality traits in different contexts - low levels of this is associated w/ better mental health

how to improve self-knowledge

learn about yourself lie you would learn about others (realistic accuracy model) - introspection, seeking feedback, observing known behaviors