Lecture 2: Self and Identity

the self

-a symbolic construct reflecting consciousness of our own identity and an awareness that we exist as a being, separate from other beings

Brewer & Gardner

-suggest there are many different forms of self and identity:

• collective self

• individual self

• relational self

collective self (Brewer & Gardner)

-attributes shared with ingroup members and distinct from outgroup members

individual self (Brewer & Gardner)

-attributes that make us unique relative to other people

relational self (Brewer & Gardner)

-relationships one has with specific other people

Fazio

-found participants described themselves in different ways when asking them loaded questions that made them search through their self-knowledge for information that presented the self in different lights

Abrams & Hogg

-people experience different selves depending on situational factors

-yet also feel they have a coherent self-concept that integrates all their selves together

self awareness

-a psychological state in which people are aware of their traits, feelings and behaviours

Lewis & Brooks (self awareness in babies)

-put a spot of rouge on the nose of babies and put them in front of a mirror

-9-12 months treated the image as another child

-around 18 months recognised the reflection was themselves

public self-awareness

-when people are aware of how they appear to others

private self-awareness

-when people become aware of some aspects of themselves, but only in a private way

consequences of private self-awareness

• intensified emotional response → focussing on the self makes us focus on our state of mind, intensifying our emotions

• clarification of knowledge → focusing on internal events means we can report them with greater accuracy

• adherence to personal standards of behaviour → true beliefs become emphasised and less susceptible to external forces

intensified emotional response (consequence of private self awareness)

-Scheier & Carver

-participants read aloud positive or negative statements whilst looking in a mirror or not

-participants who looked in the mirror during this task became more extreme in their emotional responses

clarification of knowledge (consequence of private self awareness)

-Gibbons

-participants were given a placebo and told it is a drug that would increase arousal

-were looking in a mirror or not

-those in front of the mirror experienced less arousal and side effects than those who could not see themselves

-mirror induced self-awareness → ignore placebo and focus on their feelings leading to more accurate knowledge

adherence to personal standards of behaviour (consequence of private self awareness)

-Scheier & Carver

-asked to write an essay that goes against their attitudes/beliefs

-were looking in a mirror or not

-induces cognitive dissonance

-writing the essay in front of the mirror → less attitude change

-private self-awareness may increase adherence to one’s true beliefs

consequences of public self awareness

• evaluation apprehension

• adherence to social standards of behaviour

evaluation apprehension (consequences of public self awareness)

-makes us realise we are being observed by others

-fear of negative evaluation → nervousness and reduced self esteem

-larger audiences increases anxiety during public speaking

adherence to social standards of behaviour (consequences of public self awareness)

-more likely to conform to group norms even if this goes against personal opinions

-Bateson examined the effect of an image of a pair of eyes on contributions to an honesty box

-people paid nearly three times as much when eyes were displayed rather than a control image

self-consciousness

-individual differences in chronic self-awareness is referred to as self-consciousness

-the extent to which an individual is chronically aware of their traits

privately self-consciousness

-experience more intense emotions

-greater tendency to suffer from depression and neuroticism, due to rumination on feelings of unhappiness

-act in line with personal beliefs

-less likely to suffer ill health due to noticing symptoms earlier

publicly self-consciousness

-concerned with others’ perceptions of them and so adhere to group norms

-avoid embarrassing situations

-more concerned with their appearance, and judge others according to appearance

self concept/knowledge

-the complete set of beliefs that people have about themselves, which form their understanding of who they are

-all hold a complex self-concept made up of a number of discrete self-schemas

self schemas

-how we expect ourselves to think, feel and behave in a particular situation

-consist of:

• perception of ourselves

• our experiences on this dimension

-self schemas vary in their importance to the self, in relation to a particular trait we may be: self-schematic, somewhat schematic or A-schematic

self-schematic (self schemas)

-traits that are highly important aspects of the self

somewhat schematic (self schemas)

-traits that describe the self to some extent

A-schematic (self schemas)

-traits which are irrelevant to the self

self schemas and well-being

-buffer against the impacts of negative self-schemas with more positive self schemas

-expands opportunities for social interaction, pleasure and personal growth

-with multiple schemas conflict can arise between self-schemas, leading to distress

theories of self

-theories of self comparison

• self-discrepancy theory

-theories of social comparison

• social comparison theory

-theories of group comparison

• social identity theory

-inter-dependence theories

• Michelangelo phenomenon

self-discrepancy theory (theory of self-comparison)

-Higgins

-the self consists of:

• actual self → how we are at present

• ideal self → how we would like to be

• ought self → how we think we should be

-compare actual self to internalised standards of the ideal and ought self

-motivate to ensure match between actual, ideal and ought self

discrepancies (self-discrepancy theory)

-discrepancies between actual self and their ideal and ought self leads to psychological discomfort

-Higgins had participants think about the discrepancy between their actual and ideal self, vs their actual and ought self

• actual-ideal discrepancy related to dejections

• actual-ought discrepancy is related to agitation

Altintas - method (self-discrepancy theory)

-176 undergraduates

• experimental group → think of their best possible ideal self

• control group → read neutral information

Altintas - results (self-discrepancy theory)

-those in the experimental group had significantly higher levels of positive affect, motivation and academic commitment compared to the control group

-discrepancies can have positive effects and motivate people to do better

social comparison theory

-Festinger

-we define the self by comparing ourselves to others

-we make upward and downward social comparisons

Klein - method (social comparison theory)

-participants asked to select the aesthetically superior picture

-given feedback about their performance

• absolute (40 or 50% correct response)

• relative to other people (20% better or worse on average)

-then given a choice of two tasks: a game of skill or a game of luck to win money

Klein - results (social comparison theory)

-more likely to choose a game of luck when given relative feedback → due to leading a negative self perception

Tafjel & Turner (social identity theory)

-social identity is the part of the individual’s self concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group together with the value and emotional significance of that membership

multiple social identities (social identity theory)

-can help prevent negative psychological outcomes and promote health

-provides more ways for a person to self-protect

-linked to lower depression

context dependent social identities (social identity theory)

-active at a given time and suit the social context

-some of our social identities may be contradictory

social identity theory (theory of group comparison)

-social world is perceived in categories which are themselves socially constructed

-we each belong to some categories and not others

-we discriminate between those categories in a way which is beneficial to our self esteem and our identity

-to achieve positive self esteem related to our group membership it requires social comparison to a group of lower status

-in group favouritism increases our self-esteem

Levine - method (social identity theory)

-recruited Manchester United fans

-directed to take a short walk during which they witness an accident

-group membership manipulated → confederate was either wearing a MU, LFC or plain top

-measured rate of helping confederate

Levine - results (social identity theory)

-helping behaviour increased for in group members

-more likely to help confederate in MU top than LFC or plain top

Levine - method of second study (social identity theory)

-same method as study 1

-told they are taking part in a study about being football fans

-focussing on the positives of being a football fan

-measured helping behaviour to confederate

Levine - results of second study (social identity theory)

-equally likely to help both football fans

-those wearing a plain sports top were less likely to be helped

-helping behaviour is influenced by the most salient identity at the time

interdependence theories

-look at the role of other people and how they ‘shape’ who we are or would like to become

ideal self

-describes an individual’s dreams and aspirations, or the constellation of skills, traits and resources that an individual ideally wishes to acquire

Michelangelo phenomenon (interdependence theories)

-much like Michelangelo sculpted various art forms out of rock, close partners can also sculp our ideal self

-the idea of the partner as the ‘sculptor’ and the ideal self as the ‘sculpted’

-how significant others shape our pursuit of the ideal self

Rusbult (Michelangelo phenomenon)

-significant others can shape individual selves through partner affirmation which has two components:

evidence for Michelangelo phenomenon

• Rusbult found that partner affirmation of each other’s ideal goals is related to personal growth and movement towards the ideal self and partner well-being

• Drigotas found strong associations between perceived partner affirmation and movement towards the ideal self

• when the partner is affirming and the person moves closer to their ideals, this leads to improved personal wellbeing, life satisfaction and psychological health

self-esteem

-evaluative component of self-concept

-subjective appraisal of themselves as intrinsically positive or negative to some degree

-can vary depending on the context we find ourselves in

development of self esteem

-depends to some extent on parenting styles of primary caregivers

• authoritative → enforce rules, disciplining but also responsive, supportive and warm → high self-esteem

• authoritarian → overly strict and demanding, unresponsive to child’s needs → low self-esteem

• permissive → responsive but too relaxed, no restrictions/boundaries → low self-esteem

stability of self-esteem

-Robin

-meta analysis of 50 studies

• 9-18 → fairly unstable self-esteem, adolescence and self-concept still developing

• 20-40s → greatest stability

• 60 → self esteem stability declines, perhaps due to later life changes

consequences of low self esteem

-mood regulation and mental health, actively dampen positive feelings

-feel worse after a negative event

-make fewer goals and plans to improve mood after failure

-associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower mental wellbeing

consequences of high self-esteem

-narcissism

-unstable/fragile and reliant on validation from others

self-motives

-we are motivated to carry out

• self assessment → desire to know ourselves

• self-verification → verify what we already believe to be true about our self concept

• self-enhancement → desire to seek information that allows us to see ourselves in the best light

self-affirmation theory (strategy to enhance the personal self)

-respond to threatened self esteem by publicly affirming positive aspects of the self

Steele - method (self-affirmation theory)

-mormons received the following messages:

• threatening self-concept

• irrelevant threat

• no threat

Steele - results (self-affirmation theory)

-self-esteem threat → 95% agreed to help two days later to assist with a community project

-self-affirmation as a way of self-enhancement

self-serving attribution bias (strategies to enhance the self)

-we interpret events in a manner that is favourable to our view of ourselves

-success is attributed to internal characteristics

-failures attributed to external characteristics

-memory for self-enhancing information

social group membership (strategies to enhance the social self)

-self-enhancement through social group membership

-University football team winning matches → increase in students wearing clothing with university name

-people derive a positive self-concept from the achievements of other group members even if they were not personally instrumental → basking in reflected glory

negative image of social group membership (social group membership)

-social group membership can reflect a negative image and constitute a threat to social and personal identity

-to maintain a positove self-esteem can:

• leave the group

• remain and attempt to alter status of the group

-social creativity to find new dimensions on which the group compares more favourably