Lecture 1 - Self-Awareness

Question 1

What are social descriptors of self-awareness?

Answer 1

Group membership e.g. student, English

Question 2

What are personal descriptors of self-awareness

Answer 2

Idiosyncratic traits and close personal relationships e.g. young, outgoing

Question 3

Who came up with the distinction between social and personal identity/individual and collective?

Answer 3

Tajfel and Turner (1979)

Question 4

Who came up with the 3 types of self?

Answer 4

Brewer and Gardner (1996)

Question 5

What is the individual self?

Answer 5

Personality traits that distinguish you from others e.g. friendly

Question 6

What is the relational self?

Answer 6

Dyadic relationships that assimilate you to others e.g. mum

Question 7

What is the collective self?

Answer 7

Group membership e.g. academic

Question 8

What affects these 3 types of self?

Answer 8

Context

Question 9

What is self-awareness?

Answer 9

A psychological state encompassing traits, feelings and behaviour. Realisation of being individual

Question 10

Are we aware of ourselves all the time?

Answer 10

No

Question 11

Does everybody have the same level of self-awareness?

Answer 11

No, some people are more self-aware than others

Question 12

What is a fundamental part of human beings?

Answer 12

Reflexive thought

Question 13

How does self-awareness set us apart from animals?

Answer 13

Animals don’t have it to same extent we do

Question 14

Are we born with self-awareness

Answer 14

No - it develops between 1.5 and 2 years

Question 15

Who developed the mirror test?

Answer 15

Gallup (1970)

Question 16

What is the mirror test?

Answer 16

Test whether child/animal are aware whether the image they see in the mirror is themselves

Touch mark on selves or reach out to touch it in mirror

Question 17

Which animals may pass the mirror test?

Answer 17

Chimps

Question 18

What two types of self did Carver and Scheier (1981) come up with?

Answer 18

Private and public self

Question 19

Describe the private self

Answer 19

Act according to thoughts, feelings and attitudes

Question 20

Describe the public self

Answer 20

Social image which can be seen and evaluated by others

Evaluation apprehension (people often more nervous and uncomfortable)

Enjoy success, admiration

Adhere to social standards of behaviour

Self-conscious – can effect behaviours e.g. tongue-tied or errors

Question 21

What is chronic self-awareness?

Answer 21

Very stressful - constantly aware of shortcomings

Question 22

What can be a consequence of chronic self-awareness?

Answer 22

Avoidance behaviour: drinking, drugs (defence mechanisms for chronic self-awareness)

Big issue in teenagers – identity goes through a strong sense of development

Question 23

What happens with reduced self-awareness?

Answer 23

Deindividuation

No monitoring of own behaviour (e.g. impulsive, reckless)

Question 24

What is mindfulness?

Answer 24

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1991)

Incorporates self-awareness

Additionally includes acceptance, and not being reactive

Goes beyond awareness of self

Question 25

What are some consequences of heightened private self-consciousness?

Answer 25

More intense emotion, accurate self-perception (inward looking so better able to judge/adjust internal state to react to things and maintain positive self), adhere to personal beliefs

Question 26

What is a positive of heightened private self-consciousness?

Answer 26

Less stress-related illness

Question 27

What is a negative of heightened private self-consciousness?

Answer 27

Depression and neuroticism

Question 28

What are some consequences of public self-consciousness?

Answer 28

Focus on perception by others, nervousness, loss of self-esteem, adhere to group norms, avoid embarrassment (conscious with what other people think), concern with physical appearance (self and others)

Question 29

What is self-knowledge?

Answer 29

Self-awareness – access information How you store information about yourself (schema) Same cognitive processes for self as others

Question 30

What are self-schemas?

Answer 30

Act, think, behave, feel Stereotypes of yourself Highly structured cognitive network used to make sense of the world, predictions, and what others and ourselves are likely to do in different situations In different contexts, different nodes will be activated

Question 31

What is self-schematic?

Answer 31

Important part of self-concept - significant part of identity

Question 32

What is aschematic?

Answer 32

Aschematic - not that important to me - not important part of the self

Question 33

What do insults target?

Answer 33

Schematic (things that matter)

Question 34

What are the "how it should be" theories of how self-schemas develop/self-development theories?

Answer 34

How we think we should be

Question 35

Who came up with the control theory of self-regulation?

Answer 35

Carver & Scheier (1981)

Question 36

Describe the control theory of self-regulation

Answer 36

Requires self-awareness: assess whether goals met (measure ourselves by) Test – operate to change – test – exit Does current self meet those standards? Self-regulation = bring to standard and then process stops Different private/public standards Need a clear goal/standard trying to reach for good self-regulation

Question 37

Who came up with self-discrepancy theory?

Answer 37

Higgins (1987)

Question 38

Describe the self-discrepancy theory

Answer 38

Three types of self-schema Actual self (present), ideal self (like to be), self ought (should be) Differences between the selves is where change is driven from Change highlighted by emotions feel when there is a change between selves Motivate change and if fail: Actual – ideal: dejection (e.g. disappointment) Actual – ought: agitation (e.g. anxiety)

Question 39

What are "other individuals" theories of how self-schemas develop/self-development theories?

Answer 39

Compare ourselves to others to develop sense of self

Question 40

Who came up with social comparison theory?

Answer 40

Festinger (1954)

Question 41

Describe social comparison theory

Answer 41

Objective benchmark in similar people For performance generally downward comparison (seek out people who perform slightly worse than us to give positive self-concept) But also upwards in some situations (which can affect self-esteem)

Question 42

Who came up with self-evaluation maintenance?

Answer 42

Tesser (1988)

Question 43

Describe self-evaluation maintenance

Answer 43

How we deal with upward social comparison situations: (1) Exaggerate target’s ability (2) Change target (3) Distance self from target (emphasise how different they are) (4) Devalue comparison dimension

Question 44

How did Medvec et al. (1995) lend support to the self-evaluation maintenance theory?

Answer 44

Analysed facial expressions of winners in the Olympics Found silver medallists were least happy (making upward comparison) whereas bronze medallist more likely to have comparison with rest of field

Question 45

What are "other groups" theories of how self-schemas develop/self-development theories?

Answer 45

How we relate ourselves to groups

Question 46

Who came up with social identity theory?

Answer 46

Tajfel and Turner (1979)

Question 47

Describe social identity theory

Answer 47

Use different self-concepts dependent on contextual factors If we put ourselves into (meaningless) groups, we become attached to these groups and are more negative to outgroups Personal identity = unique personal attributes, relationships and traits Social identity = defines self by group membership – associated with inter-group behaviour/group norms

Question 48

Who came up with self-categorization theory?

Answer 48

Turner et al. (1987)

Question 49

Describe self-categorization theory

Answer 49

Self-categorisation to groups – internalise group attributes – collective self – social identity Meta-contrast principle (extenuate differences between groups, extenuate similarities within group). Idealise positive traits within group and extenuate differences between in-group and out-group BIRGing – ‘basking in reflected glory’ – want to be associated with people doing well If group categorisation too salient, perception of self and others becomes depersonalised (people act in accordance with group image rather than own identity)

Question 50

What are self-motives?

Answer 50

Motives that influence development of self

Question 51

What is self-assessment?

Answer 51

Desire for accurate and valid info, seek out truth about self

Question 52

What is self-verification?

Answer 52

Desire to confirm what they know, seek out consistency about self

Question 53

What is self enhancement?

Answer 53

Desire to maintain good image, seek favourable info about self

Question 54

What is self-affirmation theory?

Answer 54

Publicly look to affirm positive aspects e.g. boasting Self-serving attribution bias

Question 55

How is self affected by individualist cultures?

Answer 55

Independent Self Autonomous individual, separate from context Focus on internal traits feelings, thoughts, abilities Unitary and stable across situations Acting true to internal beliefs and feelings, promoting own goals and differences from others

Question 56

How do collectivist cultures influence self?

Answer 56

Interdependent Self Connected with others and embedded in social context Represented in terms of roles and relationships Fluid and variable self, changing across situations Belonging, fitting in and acting appropriately, promoting group goals and harmony

Question 57

What did Semin and Rubini (1990) find about insults in different cultures?

Answer 57

Insults = manifestation of different cultures (Semin & Rubini, 1990) Compared insults in Northern (individualist) Italy and Southern (collectivist) Italy