Chapter Three: The Social Self

• The capacity for self-reflection is necessary

  • Allows people to understand their own motives, emotions, and causes of their behavior

• The self is heavily influenced by social factors

• ABCs of the self

  • A: Affect

  • B: Behavior

  • C: Cognition

• Cocktail Party Effect: The tendency of people to pick a personally relevant stimulus, like a name, out of a complex and noisy environment

  • Shows that the self is a brightly lit object of our attention

The Self-Concept

• Self-Concept: Sum total of beliefs that people have about themselves

  • Made up of self-schemas

  • Self-schemas: Beliefs about oneself that guide the processing of relevant information

  • Schematic: An attribute you contribute you yourself

  • Aschematic: An attribute you don’t contribute to yourself

  • Double Consciousness: People who identify with two cultures may have a double consciousness, in which they hold different self-schemas that fit within each culture

• Our sense of identity is biologically rooted

  • Synaptic connections in the brain provide the biological base for memory, which makes possible the sense of continuity that is needed for a normal identity

  • Our sense of self emerges in childhood through our social interactions

  • The self can be transformed or completely destroyed by damage to the brain and nervous system

    • Severe head injuries

    • Brain tumors

    • Diseases

    • Exposure to toxic substances

  • Certain areas become more active when participants viewed self-referent words, pictures, and perspectives

• Nonhuman animals and self-recognition

  • Only great apes (chimps, gorillas, orangutans) seem capable of self-recognition

  • Emerges in young adolescence and is stable across the life span, until old age

  • First clear expression of the concept “me”

• The self as a social concept

  • Looking-glass Self: Other people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves

    • We come to know ourselves by imagining what significant others think of us and then incorporating these perceptions into our self-concepts

  • The self is relational

    • We draw our sense of who we are from our past and current relationships with the significant others in our lives

    • Our self-concepts match our perceptions of what others think of us

    • People can distinguish between how they perceive themselves and how others see them

    • We can tell when our perceptions of what others think of us are more or less correct

  • Our self-concepts come from

    • Introspection: A looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings

      • Gives us self-knowledge

      • Not always accurate in self-knowledge

      • It’s possible to think too much and be too analytical, which confuses our self-knowledge

      • People overestimate the positives

        • Overrate their own skills, etc.

      • Many people have insight into their own biases

        • People who harbor biased self-perceptions accurately describe themselves as biased when prompted

      • Affective Forecasting: People have difficulty projecting forward and predicting how they would feel in response to future emotional events

      • Impact Bias: People overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions

        • People don’t fully appreciate the extent to which our psychological coping mechanisms help us to cushion the blow

        • When we introspect about the emotional impact of us of a future event, we become so focused on that single event that we neglect to take into account the effects of other life experiences

    • Self-Perception Theory (Daryl Bem): People can learn about themselves the same way outside observers do - by watching their own behavior

      • People learn about themselves through self-perception only when the situation alone seems insufficient to have caused their behavior

      • Vicarious Self-Perception: You can infer something about yourself by observing the behavior of someone else with whom you completely identify

      • Self-Other Knowledge Asymmetry (SOKA): We know ourselves better than others do when it comes to traits that are internal and hard to observe, but there is no self-other difference when it comes to traits that are external and easy to observe

        • Others may actually know us better than we know ourselves when it comes to observable traits that can be touchy for self-esteem purposes (blind spots)

      • Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Changes in facial expression can trigger corresponding changes in the subjective experience of emotion

        • Facial expressions affect emotion through a process of self-perception

        • Facial movements spark emotion by producing physiological changes in the brain

      • Other expressive behaviors can also provide us with sensory feedback and influence the way we feel

        • Body Posture: Your emotional state is revealed in the way you carry yourself

        • People can lift their spirits by expansion and lower their spirits by contraction

          • Expansion: Stand erect w shoulders raised, chest expanded, and head held high

          • Contraction: Slump over with shoulders drooping and head bowed

      • Overjustification Effect: Reward for an enjoyable activity can undermine interest in that activity

        • Intrinsic motivation is undermined by some types of rewards (ex: money) but not others (ex: praise)

      • Intrinsic Motivation: People engage in an activity for the sake of their own interest, the challenge, or sheer enjoyment

      • People are more likely to be creative when they are intrinsically motivated in relation to the task

      • Extrinsic Motivation: People engage in an activity as a means to an end / for tangible benefit

    • Other people

      • Social Comparison Theory: When people are uncertain of their abilities or opinions they evaluate themselves through comparisons with similar others

        • The self is malleable according to our need to fit in with those around us

        • People judge themselves in relation to others even when more objective standards really are available

        • People are less influenced by social comparisons when objective information is available

      • Facebook and social comparison

        • Two types of usage

          • Active usage: Ppl post info about themselves and communicate with others

          • Passive usage: People consume info from other people without making direct contact

        • Facebook usage may undermine a person’s well-being

          • The link between Facebook usage and self-evaluation depends on whom we compare ourselves to

          • People on facebook tend to portray themselves in overly flattering ways, which increases the likelihood that the social comparisons we make are not personally favorable

      • Two-factor Theory of Emotion: A person experiences the symptoms of physiological arousal and makes a cognitive interpretation that explains the source of the arousal

        • The reactions of the people around us help us interpret our own arousal

        • Some studies corroborated these findings but others didn’t

    • Autobiographical Memories: Recollections of the sequences of events that have touched your life

      • Memories shape the self-concept

      • Self-concept shapes our personal memories as well

      • Recency Rule: When people are prompted to recall their own experiences, they typically report more events from the recent past than from the distant past

      • Reminiscence Bump: Older adults tend to retrieve a large number of personal memories from their adolescence and early adult years (busy and formative years in one’s life)

      • People tend to remember transitional firsts

      • Not all experiences leave the same impression

      • Flashbulb Memories: Enduring, detailed, high-resolution recollections

        • Humans are biologically equipped for survival purposes to “print” dramatic events in memory

        • Not necessarily accurate or consistent over time

        • Recollections feel special

      • People tend to distort the past in ways that inflate their own sense of importance and achievement

      • People feel psychologically closer to memories that are positive rather than negative

      • When our self-concept changes, so does our visual perspective on the past

        • Our current self-concept colors how we see our past selves - Lisa Libby and Richard Eibach

      • The process of remembering can be a positive emotional experience

        • Nostalgia: A sentimental longing for the past

    • Our cultures

      • Individualism: One’s personal goals take priority over group allegiances

        • People strive for personal achievement

      • Collectivism: A person is first and foremost a loyal member of a group

        • People derive satisfaction from the status of a valued group

      • Individualism and collectivism are so deeply ingrained in a culture that they mold our very self-conceptions and identities

      • Independent view of self: The self is an entity that is distinct, autonomous, self-contained, and endowed with unique dispositions

      • Interdependent view of self: The self is part of a larger network that includes one’s family, coworkers, and others with whom one is socially connected

      • Our cultural orientations can color the way people perceive, evaluate, and present themselves in relation to others

      • Our cultural orientations toward conformity or independence may lead us to favor similarity or uniqueness in all things

        • American college students see themselves as less similar to other people than do Asian students

      • Dialecticism: An Eastern system of thought that accepts the coexistence of contradictory characteristics within a single person

      • Social class is another cultural factor that can influence the self-concept

Self-Esteem

• Self-Esteem: Our positive and negative evaluations of ourselves

• Self-esteem is a state of mind that fluctuates up and down in response to success, failure, social relations, and other life experiences

• People typically view parts of the self differently

• Self-esteem stays roughly the same from childhood through old age

  • People who are high or low in self-esteem remain in that relative position throughout life

  • Average level of self-esteem in a population varies over the course of a lifetime

The Need for Self-Esteem

• Sociometer Theory (Mark Leary and Roy Baumeister): People are inherently social animals and the desire for self-esteem is driven by a primitive need to connect with others and gain their approval

  • Sociometer: A mechanism that enables us to detect acceptance and rejection and translate those perceptions into high and low self-esteem

  • Self-esteem serves as a rough indicator of how we’re doing in the eyes of others

  • Terror Management Theory (Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, Thomas Pyszczynski): Humans are biologically programmed for life and self-preservation, so they cope with the fear of their own death by constructing worldviews that help to preserve their self-esteem

Are There Gender and Race Differences?

• Men have higher self esteem when it comes to physical appearance and athletic abilities

• Women have higher self esteem when it comes to ethics and personal morality

• Black Americans have higher self esteem than white Americans

Self-Discrepancy Theory

• Self-Discrepancy Theory: Our self-esteem is defined by the match or mismatch between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves

• Self-Guides: Personal standards

• Our self-discrepancies may set into motion a self-perpetuating process

The Self-Awareness “Trap”

• Self-Awareness Theory: Most people are not usually self-focused, but certain situations predictably force us to turn inward and become the objects of our own attention

  • We enter into a state of heightened self-awareness that leads us to compare our behavior to some high standard

  • The more self-focused people are, the more likely they are to find themselves in a bad mood

  • Coping:

    • Shape Up: Behaving in ways that help reduce our self-discrepancies

    • Ship Out: Withdrawing from self-awareness

  • Private Self-Consciousness: The tendency to introspect about our inner thoughts and feelings

    • You listen to an inner voice and try to reduce discrepancies relative to your own standards

  • Public Self-Consciousness: The tendency to focus on our outer public image

    • You try to match your behavior to socially accepted norms

  • Thinking about God triggers a state of self-focus

• Self-Regulation: The processes by which we seek to control or alter our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and urges in order to live an acceptable social life

  • Conflicts between our desires and the need for self-control are constant

  • Self-control is a limited inner resource that can temporarily be depleted by usage

    • All self-control efforts draw from a single common reservoir

    • Exercising self-control is like flexing a muscle

  • We can control ourselves only so much before self-regulation fatigue sets in

  • Psychological factors can counteract self-regulation fatigue

Ironic Mental Processes

• Choking: Paradoxical type of failure caused by trying too hard and thinking too much

• Ironic Processes: At times, the harder you try to inhibit a thought, feeling, or behavior, the less likely you are to succeed

• Better-Than-Average Effect: People in general believe they are better, more honorable, more capable, and more compassionate

• Self-Enhancement Biases: People think highly of themselves most of the time

• People are more likely to see themselves as better than average when it comes to personal traits that are important

• Implicit Egotism: An unconscious and subtle expression of self-esteem

  • People are quicker to associate “self” words with positive traits than with negative traits

  • The positive associations people form with the sight and sound of their own name may draw them toward other people, places, and entities that share this most personal aspect of “self”

    • Links result from a statistical fluke

    • Name effect may result from an ethnic bias

• Self-Serving Beliefs

  • Inflationary distortions most pronounced with those who’ve done poorly

  • As memories fade, the potential for self-enhancing recollections of test scores is increased

  • People tend to take credit for success and distance themselves from failure

  • Most of us are unrealistically optimistic about the future (optimistic bias)

  • People harbor illusions of control, overestimating the extent to which they can influence personal outcomes

• Self-Handicapping: Actions people take to handicap their own performance in order to build an excuse for anticipated failure

  • People make excuses for past performances and come up with excuses in anticipation of future performances

  • Procrastination: A purposive delay in starting or completing a task that is due at a particular time

  • Helps to provide an excuse for possible failure

  • Some people use self-handicapping as a defense more than others do and in different ways

    • Men self-handicap by taking drugs or neglecting to practice

    • Women self-handicap by reporting stress and physical symptoms

  • Setting goals too high

  • Sandbagging: People play down their own ability, lower expectations, and publicly predict that they’ll fail

• Bask in Reflected Glory: showing off connections to successful others

  • Your self-esteem is influenced by individuals and groups with whom you identity

• Downward Social Comparisons: Comparing self with others who are less successful, less happy, or less fortunate

  • We make temporal comparisons between our past and present selves

Are Positive Illusions Adaptive?

• Positive illusions of self promote happiness, the desire to care for others, and the ability to engage in productive work

• By deceiving ourselves in ways that create positive illusions, we are able to display greater confidence in public than we may feel, making us more successful in our social relations

• Positive illusions can give rise to chronic patterns of self-defeating behavior

Culture and Self-Esteem

• East Asians are quick to associate the self with positive traits, but are more likely to associate the self with contradictory negative traits as well

• People from Individualist and Collectivist cultures are similarly motivated to think highly of themselves

  • Cultures influence how we seek to fulfill that need

Self-Presentation

• Self-Presentation: The process by which we try to shape what other people think of us and what we think of ourselves

  • Most people are acutely concerned about the image they present to others

  • Spotlight Effect: A tendency to believe that the social spotlight shines more brightly on them than it really does

  • Strategic Self-Presentation: Our efforts to shape others’ impressions in specific ways in order to gain influence, power, sympathy, or approval

    • Ingratiation: Acts that are motivated by the desire to get along with others and be liked

    • Self-Promotion: Acts that are motivated by a desire to get ahead and gain respect for one’s competence

  • Self-Verification: The desire to have others perceive us as we truly perceive ourselves

  • Self-Monitoring: The tendency to regulate one’s own behavior to meet the demands of social situations