Chater 4: The Self Flashcards
(43 cards)
Self concept
A persons knowledge about themselves, including one’s own traits, social identity and experiences
If I ask “who are you” whatever you say is ur self concept
Social identity theory
People define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify
-I’m a student at uo and I’m a psych major (group I’m apart of)
Social identity theory study
Participants thought they were most similar to the group the researchers told them they belonged to
Independent
Conceives the self as containing a set of psychological qualities that are distinct form other people
-traits
-“how do I differ from others”
-goals
Interdependent
Highlights the individuals roles within family and social relationships and emphasizes responsibilities that accompany these roles, rather than the individuals self centred pursuit of happiness
-views the,selves in relation to other people
-social/individual roles
-responsibilities
Bicultural individuals
-if lived long enough in two diff cultures individuals can internalize the belief systems of both
Frame switching
“Priming”
Being primed around dads side and moms side to bring out diff sides for the diff sides of fam
Ex: moms side is more conservative
Social role theory
Gender differences in behaviour, personality, and self definition related to:
-long history of role distribution between sexes
-error prone assumptions that those are essential to men and women’s nature
Soldier role theory interferences:
-more likely to adopt characteristics based on their roles
-women;they give birth so their assumed the care taker role
-men; go to work so they assume the leadership role
Self-schema
An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about an attribute that is part of one’s self concept
-we have these for our more stable attributes ex: im polite
Malleable
Aspects made accessible in specific social situations, motives, and cues
Ex: romantic
Working self-concept
The part of ur self identity that is active and relevant in a given moment
-ex: me being a student
Helps explain why we act diff in diff situations
Solo status
A sense that one is unique in some specific manner in relation to other people in the current environment
- when you have something diff from everyone around you
Ex: female engineer in a room full of male engineers
How do we come to know the self?
-appraisals they get from others
-social comparisons
-self perceptions
Looking-glass self
We see ourselves based on how we think others perceive us (do they think I’m boring )
And we think about ourselves based on this imagined judgement (maybe I really am boring…)
Who knows us better?
For emotions we know ourself more (internal)
Other people are better at assessing observable traits (external)
Reflected appraisal
Similar to looking glass self, but focuses more on actual feedback. So we get feedback, we internalize it, and it influences our self concept
Social comparison theory
People come to know themselves partly by comparing themselves with similar others
Downward comparison
Ex: compare ur self to a slower runner
-higher self esteem
Upward comparison
Ex: compare ur self to a faster runner
-lower self esteem
Errors in social comparison
-over or underestimating ur own attributes
-over or underestimating the attributes of the person ur comparing ur self too
Better than average effect
On many abilities and traits, most people think they are better than average
Self perception theory
People form impressions of themselves by observing their own behaviour and the situation in which it occurs
-uses your own queues to know who you are
-ex:if you can’t sleep u use that as a queue to “maybe I’m anxious”
Two-factor theory or emotion
Peoples emotions are the product of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal based on contextual queues
Emotion= arousal (feeling some sort of alertness in ur body ex: sweaty palms, heart beat) X cognitive level (give meaning to that arousal)
