week 24 - relationships and self identity

Question 1

Explain the basic idea of reflexivity in human selfhood—how the “I” encounters and makes sense of itself (the “Me”).

Answer 1

The ancient Greeks seemed to realise that the self is inherently reflexive—it reflects back on itself.

the self is what happens when “I” reflects back upon “Me.” The self is both the I and the Me—it is the knower, and it is what the knower knows when the knower reflects upon itself.

Question 2

Describe fundamental distinctions between three different perspectives on the self: the self as actor, agent, and author.

Answer 2

Actor - The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be construed in terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social roles.
Agent - The sense of the self as an intentional force that strives to achieve goals, plans, values, projects, and the like.
Author - The sense of the self as a storyteller who reconstructs the past and imagines the future in order to articulate an integrative narrative that provides life with some measure of temporal continuity and purpose.

Question 3

Describe how a sense of self as a social actor emerges around the age of 2 years and how it develops going forward.

Answer 3

For human beings, the sense of the self as a social actor begins to emerge around the age of 18 months.

Numerous studies have shown that by the time they reach their second birthday most toddlers recognize themselves in mirrors and other reflecting devices.

Many of the classic psychological theories of human selfhood point to the second year of life as a key developmental period. For example, Freud (1923/1961) and his followers in the psychoanalytic tradition traced the emergence of an autonomous ego back to the second year.

Freud used the term “ego” (in German das Ich, which also translates into “the I”) to refer to an executive self in the personality. Erikson (1963) argued that experiences of trust and interpersonal attachment in the first year of life help to consolidate the autonomy of the ego in the second.

Question 4

Describe the development of the self’s sense of motivated agency from the emergence of the child’s theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and values in adolescence and beyond.

Answer 4

In this rich passage, Erikson intimates that the development of a mature identity in young adulthood involves the I’s ability to construct a retrospective and prospective story about the Me

Question 5

Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and cultural functions narrative identity serves.

Answer 5

Narrative identity - An internalised and evolving story of the self designed to provide life with some measure of temporal unity and purpose. Beginning in late adolescence, people craft self-defining stories that reconstruct the past and imagine the future to explain how the person came to be the person that he or she is becoming.
As one example of the tight link between culture and narrative identity, McAdams (2013) and others (e.g., Kleinfeld, 2012) have highlighted the prominence of redemptive narratives in American culture. Epitomised in such iconic cultural ideals as the American dream, Horatio Alger stories, and narratives of Christian atonement, redemptive stories track the move from suffering to an enhanced status or state, while scripting the development of a chosen protagonist who journeys forth into a dangerous and unredeemed world (McAdams, 2013). Hollywood movies often celebrate redemptive quests.

Question 6

autobiographical reasoning

Answer 6

Autobiographical reasoning - The ability, typically developed in adolescence, to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analysing one’s own personal experiences.

Question 7

ego

Answer 7

Ego - Sigmund Freud’s conception of an executive self in the personality. Akin to this module’s notion of “the I,” Freud imagined the ego as observing outside reality, engaging in rational thought, and coping with the competing demands of inner desires and moral standards.

Question 8

identity

Answer 8

Identity - Sometimes used synonymously with the term “self,” identity means many different things in psychological science and in other fields (e.g., sociology). In this module, I adopt Erik Erikson’s conception of identity as a developmental task for late adolescence and young adulthood. Forming an identity in adolescence and young adulthood involves exploring alternative roles, values, goals, and relationships and eventually committing to a realistic agenda for life that productively situates a person in the adult world of work and love. In addition, identity formation entails commitments to new social roles and reevaluation of old traits, and importantly, it brings with it a sense of temporal continuity in life, achieved though the construction of an integrative life story.

Question 9

narrative identity

Answer 9

Narrative identity - An internalised and evolving story of the self designed to provide life with some measure of temporal unity and purpose. Beginning in late adolescence, people craft self-defining stories that reconstruct the past and imagine the future to explain how the person came to be the person that he or she is becoming.

Question 10

redemptive narratives

Answer 10

Redemptive narratives - Life stories that affirm the transformation from suffering to an enhanced status or state. In American culture, redemptive life stories are highly prized as models for the good self, as in classic narratives of atonement, upward mobility, liberation, and recovery.

Question 11

reflexivity

Answer 11

Reflexivity - The idea that the self reflects back upon itself; that the I (the knower, the subject) encounters the Me (the known, the object). Reflexivity is a fundamental property of human selfhood.

Question 12

self as autobiographical author

Answer 12

Self as autobiographical author - The sense of the self as a storyteller who reconstructs the past and imagines the future in order to articulate an integrative narrative that provides life with some measure of temporal continuity and purpose.

Question 13

self as motivated agent

Answer 13

Self as motivated agent - The sense of the self as an intentional force that strives to achieve goals, plans, values, projects, and the like.

Question 14

self as social actor

Answer 14

Self as social actor - The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be construed in terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social roles.

Question 15

self esteem

Answer 15

Self-esteem - The extent to which a person feels that he or she is worthy and good. The success or failure that the motivated agent experiences in pursuit of valued goals is a strong determinant of self-esteem.

Question 16

social reputation

Answer 16

Social reputation - The traits and social roles that others attribute to an actor. Actors also have their own conceptions of what they imagine their respective social reputations indeed are in the eyes of others.

Question 17

the age 5 to 7 shift

Answer 17

The Age 5-to-7 Shift - Cognitive and social changes that occur in the early elementary school years that result in the child’s developing a more purposeful, planful, and goal-directed approach to life, setting the stage for the emergence of the self as a motivated agent.

Question 18

the “I”

Answer 18

The “I” - The self as knower, the sense of the self as a subject who encounters (knows, works on) itself (the Me).

Question 19

the “me”

Answer 19

The “Me” - The self as known, the sense of the self as the object or target of the I’s knowledge and work.

Question 20

theory of mind

Answer 20

Theory of mind - Emerging around the age of 4, the child’s understanding that other people have minds in which are located desires and beliefs, and that desires and beliefs, thereby, motivate behaviour.

Question 21

Define and list different forms of relationships.

Answer 21

Intimate relationships
Marriage is one type of this
Formal relationships - bound by the rules of politeness
Most cultures have young people treat older people better
Ex. workplace friendships
Generally less relaxed since they require more work
Informal relationships - friends, lovers, siblings
People you relax with
We express our true feelings in these
Work relationships

Question 22

confidante

Answer 22

Confidante - A trusted person with whom secrets and vulnerabilities can be shared.

Question 23

Machiavellianism

Answer 23

Machiavellianism - Being cunning, strategic, or exploitative in one’s relationships. Named after Machiavelli, who outlined this way of relating in his book, The Prince.

Question 24

objective social variables

Answer 24

Objective social variables - Targets of research interest that are factual and not subject to personal opinions or feelings.

Question 25

shunning

Answer 25

Shunning - The act of avoiding or ignoring a person, and withholding all social interaction for a period of time. Shunning generally occurs as a punishment and is temporary.

Question 26

subjective social variables

Answer 26

Subjective social variables - Targets of research interest that are not necessarily factual but are related to personal opinions or feelings

Question 27

Understand cultural processes as variable patterns rather than as fixed scripts.

Answer 27

Culture is a word that suggests social patterns of shared meaning. In essence, it is a collective understanding of the way the world works, shared by members of a group and passed down from one generation to the next. For example, members of the Yanomamö tribe, in South America, share a cultural understanding of the world that includes the idea that there are four parallel levels to reality that include an abandoned level, an earthly level and heavenly and hell-like levels. Similarly, members of surfing culture understand their athletic pastime as being worthwhile and governed by formal rules of etiquette known only to insiders. There are several features of culture that are central to understanding the uniqueness and diversity of the human mind.

Question 28

Understand research methods when studying culture in psychological science.

Answer 28

Ethnographic studies - the scientist spends time observing a culture and conducting interviews
Cross sectional studies - vulnerable to ethnocentric bias

Question 29

Appreciate cultural awareness as a source of personal well-being, social responsibility, and social harmony.

Answer 29

The understanding of culture as a learned pattern of views and behaviors is interesting for several reasons.

it highlights the ways groups can come into conflict with one another. Members of different cultures simply learn different ways of behaving.

Modern youth culture, for instance, interacts with technologies such as smart phones using a different set of rules than people who are in their 40s, 50s, or 60s.

Older adults might find texting in the middle of a face-to-face conversation rude while younger people often do not

Question 30

Explain the difference between individualism and collectivism.

Answer 30

Individualism - belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values
Collectivism - belief system that emphasises the duties and obligations that each person has toward others

Question 31

Define “self-construal” and provide a real life example.

Answer 31

Self construal - the extent to which the self is defined as independent or as relating to others
The relational independent self-construal: The relational independent self-construal describes one’s uniqueness and individuality. The independent self is concerned with personal attributes and characteristics. Examples: I am a boxer.

Question 32

collectivism

Answer 32

Collectivism - The cultural trend in which the primary unit of measurement is the group. Collectivists are likely to emphasise duty and obligation over personal aspirations.

Question 33

cross cultural psychology

Answer 33

Cross-cultural psychology (or cross-cultural studies) - An approach to researching culture that emphasises the use of standard scales as a means of making meaningful comparisons across groups.

Question 34

cultural intelligence

Answer 34

Cultural intelligence - The ability and willingness to apply cultural awareness to practical uses.

Question 35

cultural relativism

Answer 35

Cultural relativism - The principled objection to passing overly culture-bound (i.e., “ethnocentric”) judgements on aspects of other cultures.

Question 36

cultural script

Answer 36

Cultural script - Learned guides for how to behave appropriately in a given social situation. These reflect cultural norms and widely accepted values.

Question 37

cultural similarities

Answer 37

Cultural similarities - An approach to understanding culture primarily by paying attention to common features that are the same as or similar to those of other cultures

Question 38

enculturation

Answer 38

Enculturation - The uniquely human form of learning that is taught by one generation to another.

Question 39

independent self

Answer 39

Independent self - The tendency to define the self in terms of stable traits that guide behaviour.

Question 40

individualism

Answer 40

Individualism - The cultural trend in which the primary unit of measurement is the individual. Individualists are likely to emphasise uniqueness and personal aspirations over social duty.

Question 41

interdependent self

Answer 41

Interdependent self - The tendency to define the self in terms of social contexts that guide behaviour.

Question 42

observational learning

Answer 42

Observational learning - Learning by observing the behaviour of others.

Question 43

ritual

Answer 43

Ritual - Rites or actions performed in a systematic or prescribed way often for an intended purpose.

Example: The exchange of wedding rings during a marriage ceremony in many cultures

Question 44

self construal

Answer 44

Self-construal - The extent to which the self is defined as independent or as relating to others.

Question 45

situational identity

Answer 45

Situational identity - Being guided by different cultural influences in different situations, such as home versus workplace, or formal versus informal roles.

Question 46

standard scale

Answer 46

Standard scale - Research method in which all participants use a common scale—typically a Likert scale—to respond to questions.

Question 47

value judgement

Answer 47

Value judgement - An assessment—based on one’s own preferences and priorities—about the basic “goodness” or “badness” of a concept or practice.

Question 48

value free research

Answer 48

Value-free research - Research that is not influenced by the researchers’ own values, morality, or opinions.