UNIT 1: The self

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Learning Objective 1: Distinguish between the “I” and the “me,” as developed by George Herbert Mead, and demonstrate how people engage in this “dual thinking” about their self.

• According to George H. Mead (1863-1931), how does the "I" and the "me" help us understand the dual nature of the self?

  • The me is the object The self we see in the mirror, our personal person the one that is us. the I, in contrast, Is the subject of thought, the person feeling Pride or embarrassment. the eye is the part of the self that's judging and making judgment calls. it's the part of the self that sets our goals and evaluates our progress. it's a part that thinks don't mess this up during your job interview do they like me when you're talking to someone cute, and what will people think of me when we've been caught doing something wrong.

  • me Ed describe the eye as a running current of awareness. and observer of the me always watching, planning, and considering.

• Explain the Theory of Mind and how individuals are able to see themselves at different stages of their lives

  • The theory of mind is explained by the recognition that other Minds exist, followed by the realization that we can try to imagine others mental States

  • We begin to develop the theory of mind when we are babies. they discover not only that they exist but other people exist.

  • by 2 years old children are able to express themselves - they know they feel, want, and think - and they're able to imagine that other people also feel, want, and think.

    • Soon they'll be competitive with a sibling who they think has the same wants know that their caregivers will be pleased if they fall instructions and learn to play cooperative games like hide and seek. August things required ability to imagine what's going on in someone else's mind which is the theory of mind

      • We all went through this process. have to skip giving which requires imagine what that someone else might like we learn to lie which involves trying to price a false belief into the mind of another and by the time we were in elementary school we could effectively model Collective effort of many brains at once.

• Explain how more recent science on mirror neurons helps us understand the way our sense of self is connected to others

  • . Mirror neurons link one brain to another as if they were not two minds but one. we are neurons also respond to motions.

    • so if someone Smiles our brain Smiles with them you don't juist understand that the person smiling is happy we actually feel happy

    • Most of us have mirror neuron systems are just sensitive enough. they allow us to feel what others are feeling without being so engrossed in other people minds and that we forget our own we are in the Goldilocks zone

  • Recent research on mirror neurons suggests that our sense of self is intimately connected to our perception of others, as these neurons fire both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing the same action, contributing to empathy and social learning. This interconnectedness underscores the social nature of human identity, highlighting the role of social interactions in shaping our sense of self and understanding of others.

Learning Objective 2: Summarize Charles Horton Cooley’s theory of the looking-glass self and the research that has been done on the looking glass self.

• Explain Charles Horton Cooley's theory of the Looking Glass Self

  • the Looking Glass self Theory is defined as the self that emergence as a consequence of seeing ourselves as we think other people see us

    • his famous quote I am not what I think I am, I'm not what you think I am, I am what I think you think I am.

    • this means that we rely on how we think other people perceive us to see. They are our mirrors on which we form our self-concepts

• Describe the In-depth Interview and explain the process of coding: Describe sociologist Morgan Johnstonbaugh's research findings from interviewing people on the self.

  • in -depth defined as intimate conversations between a researcher and a research subject, a person who agrees to participate and a research project.

  • Sociologist Morgan Johnston was research findings found that young woman saw the gazes of friends whom they trusted to be complimentary. in doing so they cultivated looking glasses that would reflect them back as they wanted to see themselves and hoped generalized others would see them that way too

  • Coding- A process in which segments of text are identified as belonging to relevant categories ..

• Do studies show that our self concepts have more in common with what we think other people think of us or what others actually think of us?

  • To study the show that our concepts of self have more in common with what we think others people think of us. this is all the Looking Glass self Theory,

• How might the experience of a "hermit" like Christopher Knight be explained in relation to the the Looking Glass self?’

  • Christopher Knight, also known as the hermit, expressed that he lost his sense of self and kindness, becoming indifferent to others' opinions. He described a state of detachment where he no longer cared about his self-concept or societal expectations.

  • He said that some people just wanted him to be a warm and fuzzy person spewing all the friendly hermit wisdom like Dumbledore. he said that there was nothing to tell and that The Human Condition didn't reveal itself and just went away. with other people, he lost his identity so.

  • the human self/identity/Condition didn't refuse itself it went away. he lost his identity which goes in hand with the Looking Glass cell theory which proposes that our identity comes from how we think others perceive us

• Explain how the Looking Glass self can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  • Self fulfilling prophecy is a phenomenon in which what people believe is true becomes true, even if it wasn't originally true.

    • Stuff is still dependent on those looking glasses of others example it's hard to imagine we're funny if no one ever laughs at her jokes. but, if they do, we may develop our sense of humor to keep them laughing. this way, the Looking Glass self is a self-fulfilling prophecy

      • In short if enough people consistently reflect us in a certain way, their Impressions will shape our impressions of ourselves, and we will act accordingly, bring it into existence the self that I originally saw

• Explain the process of experimental research in the laboratory.

  • What is a variable? Explain the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable.

    • A variable is any measurable phenomenon

    • Independent Variable: This is the variable that you change or control in an experiment. It's the "cause" or the factor that you believe will affect the outcome.

    • Dependent Variable: This is the variable that you measure or observe to see how it changes in response to the independent variable. It's the "effect" or the outcome that you're interested in.

    • Example: Let's say you want to test how the amount of sunlight affects the growth of a plant.

    • - Independent Variable: The amount of sunlight. You control this by placing the plant in different locations with varying levels of sunlight.

    • - Dependent Variable: The growth of the plant. You measure this by observing how tall the plant grows in each location with different amounts of sunlight.

    • So, in this example, the independent variable is the amount of sunlight because you're changing it, and the dependent variable is the growth of the plant because it depends on the amount of sunlight.

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• Distinguish the control group and the experimental group.

  • The control group doesn’t receive any changes, while experimental group does.

    • Control Group: This is the group in an experiment that does not receive the treatment or intervention being tested. It serves as a baseline for comparison to evaluate the effects of the treatment.

    • Experimental Group: This is the group in an experiment that receives the treatment or intervention being tested. It is compared to the control group to assess the effects of the treatment.

• How can lab experiments help scientists make causal claims?

  • Lab experiments help scientists make causal claims by allowing them to manipulate one variable (the independent variable) while keeping all other variables constant. This control over variables enables scientists to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. By comparing the outcomes of experimental groups (exposed to the manipulated variable) with control groups (not exposed to the manipulated variable), scientists can infer that any differences observed in the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable, thus supporting causal claims.

• Explain the experiment using cologne that scientists used to demonstrate the self-fulfilling prophecy.

  • So when the men were givien scented and nonscented perfume, the ones who wore the scented one were more confident and they're attractiveness compared to those who received a nonscented perfume. this experiment was introducing themselves to a hypothetical attractive woman. the scented perfume made the men feel more attractive which gave them a boost in confidence and the confidence made the woman who watched these videos of the men filming or introducing themselves label them more attractive.

    • so in short the men that feel more attractive it made them so.

Learning objective 3: Evaluate the critical role that narrative plays in our sense of self.

• How can memory effect our sense of self?

  • Builds the self narrative. it is our technically not - reality,

• What is a self narrative?

  • Self-narrative is defined as a story we tell about the origin and likely future of ourselves

  • we write it and collaborate with others, though we are its primary author and editor. the non amnesiac brain remembers itself narrative. this is how our eye recognizes our me every morning. we would call a journey we know where we've been and wherever going and then get out of bed and step back on the path. McLean's amusing left him with no such narrative he felt the absence so cutely he was being blank sheet I had just been rolled in type writer. no backstory no motivation, no characteristics.

• Explain how the self narrative relates to fact and fiction about our sense of self.

  • Memory this has a terrible time of truly remembering itself it is called memory distortion. whenever when we try to recollect a memory or a very emotional one it becomes skewed each time you remember it. so it's never a true story of narrative whether I guess

  • metaphorically it's like an oil painting that can never d try because you're always painting it. it's a messy mix of constantly evolving memories which most are semi true at best but are passed back and forth between us and the people in our Lives who serve as looking glasses

Learning Objective 4: Explain how the self is a social fact.

• Explain how our precise nature of consciousness is a product of human interaction.

  • Past self, our present self, and our future selves are all, and other words, social facts. from the moment we develop self-awareness, We Begin constructing a self-concept out of our interactions with others, committing to memory a narrative about who we are, dismissing and Miss remembering things and consistent with ourselves story, and imagining who we might be in the future.

  • peace nature of our Consciousness then is a product of human interaction. had we been born 100 years ago, on the other side of the world, or into a different family, we'd be different, maybe a lot different than we are today.

    • but that doesn't mean you're any less real to their Kim's point, we are real because social facts are real. surround yourself with different looking glasses and you might change but you change into a quite different and equally real version of yourself who will you be tomorrow depends

Key Concepts

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