Identity, Self-Concept & Self-Esteem – Exam Review Notes

Definitions

  • Self: immediate awareness of one’s body, thoughts, feelings, agency.
  • Self-concept: total inferences a person holds about self (traits, roles, schemas).
  • Identity: socially defined aggregate of self-definitions (roles, possibilities, values).
  • Self-esteem: evaluative dimension of the self-concept.

Formation & Historical Context

  • Pre-modern societies = identity fixed by rank, family, occupation.
  • Early modern era (1500{-}1800): rise of individuality, biographical writing, inner self.
  • 19^{th}–20^{th} c.: inner self seen as source of creativity/values; concept of “identity crisis” emerges.
  • Modern Western culture: greater freedom → more choice, ambivalence, burden of crafting identity.

Self-Knowledge & Possible Selves

  • Self-concept = collection of self-schemas (no single, coherent entity).
  • Development: early contingency → family/gender → competencies → abstract traits (adolescence).
  • Social feedback shapes self-concept, but is filtered through personal biases.
  • Possible selves (ideal, ought, feared) guide motivation & emotion:
    • Discrepancy vs. ideal → dejection (sadness).
    • Discrepancy vs. ought → agitation (anxiety/guilt).
  • Public validation crucial for claiming desired identities.

Self-Esteem Fundamentals

  • Built from (1) others’ evaluations, (2) personal efficacy experiences.
  • Generally stable (test–retest r=.904 over 2 weeks).
  • Hierarchical: global level + domain-specific facets.
  • High SE → clear, stable self-knowledge; low SE → “self-concept confusion.”
  • Behavioral patterns:
    • Low SE: more influence-susceptible, situationally variable, focus on failure avoidance.
    • High SE: goal-oriented, better self-management, but overreact to ego threats.

Motivations about Self

  • Two core motives:
    • Favorability: seeking positive views, self-enhancement.
    • Consistency: confirming existing self-views.
  • Empirical split:
    • Affect level → prefer favorable feedback.
    • Cognitive level → accept feedback consistent with self-beliefs.
  • Terror-management & social-exclusion theories: SE buffers anxiety and fear of rejection/death.

Challenges: Low Self-Esteem & Self-Defeating Behavior

  • “Low” SE in studies usually moderate; key issue = lack of clear positives.
  • Motive split:
    • Low SE → self-protection (avoid risks, remedy deficits).
    • High SE → self-enhancement (seek distinction).
  • Self-defeating acts grouped:
    1. Counterproductive strategies (poor judgment).
    2. Trade-offs (accept harm for other goals).
    3. Deliberate self-destruction (rare in normals).

Identity Crisis

  • Not universal; culturally modern.
  • Four identity statuses (Marcia):
    • Identity achieved (crisis + commitment).
    • Moratorium (in crisis/exploration).
    • Foreclosure (commitment without crisis).
    • Diffusion (no crisis, no commitment).
  • Two crisis types:
    1. Identity deficit: old definitions rejected; exploration follows (often adolescence/midlife).
    2. Identity conflict: incompatible commitments; feelings of entrapment.

Escape from Self

  • Aversive self-awareness → desire to deconstruct identity (focus on present sensations).
  • Features: narrow time frame, concrete thought, reduced emotion/inhibition.
  • Examples:
    • Alcohol use: lowers self-awareness, reduces inhibitions.
    • Masochism: humiliation, loss of control, pain used to dissolve ego.
    • Binge eating: dieters/obese eat to mute negative self-focus.
    • Suicide: extreme attempt to end intolerable self-awareness.

Key Takeaways

  • Modern identity = opportunity and burden; demands continuous self-definition.
  • Healthy functioning balances favorable self-views with realistic feedback.
  • Understanding motives behind SE levels, identity work, and escapist behaviors is central to personality psychology.