self and identity

the self:

  • distinguish between the main concepts related to the self

    • “I and me”

    • the self concept

    • identity

    • salience 

    • prominence

      • what are the last two need to look up definition!!!!


  • The self

    • ability to take oneself as an object and see oneself as others do

    • its a process that we construct and ascribe meaning to through interactions with others

      • created through metacognitive meathods

    • its relfexive we are able to think about how we appear to others

  • I and me

    • the I

      • part of the self that acts

        • part of verbs 

        • i went to the fridge

        • i play vr

        • i like to sleep

      • responds to stimuli in the enviroment

    • The me

      • the part that relfects and evaluates itself

      • taking self into consideration when thinking about how others see us 

  • example video

    • the I 

    • clapping from the kid trying to eat the butter, sugar, egg, and flour

  • Could I also be called the Id (part of the brain responsible for compulsive actions, wants, needs, etc.)?

  • Could the I be called meta-cognition (thinking about thinking)

  • Self concept

    • the view/conception of who we are as people

  • Identities:

    • inernalized meanings/descriptions/characteristics of ourselves

    • seperated by how we view ourselves in:

      • by ourselves

      • in a group

      • in certain social situations

      • as a member of a catagory

    • Person:

      • identities

    • roles:

      • students, 

      • friends

      • worker,

      • parent

    • group:

      • band member 

      • teamate

    • category

      • gender

      • class

      • race/ethnicity

      • age

      • sexuality

  • characteristics

    • salience

      • likelyhood that an identity will be played out within/across situations

      • the identity that is most likely to be activiated is most salient

    • prominance

      • importance/centrality of an identity

      • the identity that we value the most thus making it the most prominant 

      • prominance can influence salience but not always

    • commitment 

      • the number and strength of ties within an identity

      • the identity in which we know the most people and with whom we have the deepest emotional ties with others has the most commitment 

  • identity theory

    • examines how society shapes how we view ourselves and how those views affect our behavior

    • society → Self → behavior

    • identity control theory

      • how people seek to confirm the meanings of who they are in various contexts

      • this helps to show how identities can be stable over the years but also how they can change