PSSO unit 2

Question 1

What is the self?

Answer 1

• Some say it is an illusion
• No specific spot in the brain that seems to correspond to the self

Question 2

The self’s main parts:

Answer 2

• Self-knowledge (self-concept)
  o A set of belief about oneself
• Interpersonal self or public self
  o the image of the self that is conveyed to others
• Agent self or executive function
  o the part of the self-involved in control, including both control over other people and self-control

Question 3

who makes the self: The individual or society?

Answer 3

• The self: interaction between inner biological processes and a sociocultural network
  o A true or real self?
   Public actions vs inner feelings
  o Culture and interdependence
   Selves differ across cultures
   Independent self-construal a self-concept that emphasises what makes the self different and sets it apart from others vs interdependent self-construal a self-concept that emphasises what connects the self to other people and groups.
  o Social roles (the different roles a person plays, as in a play or a movie)
  o Social systems create and define roles
  o Individuals seek and adopt them

Question 4

What is self-awareness?

Answer 4

• attention directed at the self

Question 5

private self-awareness

Answer 5

• looking inward on the private aspects of the self, including emotions, thoughts, desires and traits

Question 6

public self-awareness

Answer 6

• public self-awareness looking outward on the public aspects of the self that others can see and evaluate

Question 7

Standards

Answer 7

• standards ideas (concepts) of how things might possibly be

Question 8

Self-awareness and behaviour

Answer 8

• Self-awareness can make people behave better.
• Being self-aware makes you compare yourself to moral standards or other ideals.

Question 9

Escaping self-awareness

Answer 9

• People seek to escape from self-awareness when it feels bad.

Question 10

Why do we have self-awareness?

Answer 10

• self-awareness is that it is vital for self-regulation – the process by which the self-controls and changes itself, social acceptance, perspective taking, and goal reaching

Question 11

• looking-glass self

Answer 11

the idea that people learn about themselves by imagining how they appear to others

Question 12

• three components to the looking-glass self

Answer 12

o Imagine how you appear to others
o Imagine how others will judge you
o Develop an emotional response as a result of imagining how others will judge you

Question 13

• generalised other

Answer 13

a combination of other people’s views that tells you who and what you are
* but people don’t always tell the truth.

Question 14

• introspection

Answer 14

the process by which a person examines the contents of their mind and mental states.

Question 15

• Limitations of introspection:

Answer 15

o Development and children’s views of themselves
o People often don’t realise how their minds work

Question 16

• The theory of social comparison

Answer 16

examining the difference between oneself and another person
* Learn about self by comparing with others
* Learning what the facts mean in the context of what other people are like
* Most useful comparisons involve people in the same general category

Question 17

Upward social comparison

Answer 17

comparing yourself to people better than you

Question 18

downward social comparison

Answer 18

comparing yourself to people worse off than you

Question 19

• self-perception theory

Answer 19

the theory that people observe their own behaviour to infer what they are thinking and how they are feeling

Question 20

why people seek self-knowledge

Answer 20

• Appraisal motive
  o To learn the truth about oneself
• Self-enhancement motive
  o Desire to learn flattering things about oneself
• Consistency motive
  o Desire to get feedback to confirm what you already know about self

Question 21

Can the self-concept change?

Answer 21

• Identity slowly changes over time
  o Children add new knowledge and skills
  o Adults take up new hobbies or break bad habits
  o Our body changes throughout our life
• Revising self-knowledge
  o Change how you think of yourself or change your behaviour and a change in self-concept will follow
• Changing the looking glass
  o Changing social circle is a promising way to change the self
• Promoting change
  o Best to enlist support
• New self, new story
  o People tend to revise their stories once the self-concept has changed

Question 22

• self-esteem

Answer 22

how favourably someone evaluates themselves

Question 23

• High self-esteem

Answer 23

competent, likable, attractive, and morally good

Question 24

• Low self-esteem

Answer 24

incompetent, ugly, unlikable, and morally wicked

Question 25

Positive illusions’ of normal people

Answer 25

o Overestimating good qualities o Overestimating one’s control over events o Being unrealistically optimistic

Question 26

How people fool themselves

Answer 26

* People use self-deception strategies (mental tricks people use to help them believe things that are false) to maintain a positive outlook. o Using self-serving bias, a pattern in which people claim credit for success but deny blame for failure o Being more sceptical of bad feedback o Remembering good things more o Making comparisons with those slightly worse o Skewing impressions of others to highlight own good traits as unusual o Choosing definitions wisely

Question 27

Benefits of self-esteem

Answer 27

* High self-esteem often amounts to nothing more than a false belief that one is superior o Students with high self-esteem do have slightly higher marks, but high self-esteem does not lead to good marks * Two main benefits of high self-esteem o Having initiative and feeling good.

Question 28

Negative aspects of high self-esteem

Answer 28

o Narcissism: excessive self-love and a selfish orientation  Not the same as high self-esteem, but related o Higher prejudice o Poorer relationship partners o Antisocial actions o Persistence in the face of failure

Question 29

* Harmful consequences of pursuing self-esteem

Answer 29

o Compromise pursuit of competence o Prevents independence o Pressure to meet expectations of others o Prevents learning o Damaging relationships o Potentially harmful to health