Self and Identity Flashcards
(43 cards)
What is self-concept?
The knowledge, ideas, attitudes and beliefs about who we are
Self-concept encompasses both personal and social identities.
Who distinguished between personal self/self-identity and collective/group/social identity?
Brewer and Gardner (1996)
This distinction helps to understand how individuals view themselves in relation to groups.
What was the Twenty Statements Test?
*Self-concept was first studied systematically by Kuhn and McPartland (1954)
Procedure:
1) They recruited 288 students at the State university of Iowa
2) Participants had to write 20 responses to the question “Who am I?” in 12 minutes
3) Responses should be spontaneous and not order by importance
Findings:
*People’s self-definitions include
*Sub Consensual Statements: individual traits (e.g. quiet, shy)
*Consensual Statements: Social roles and relationships (e.g. sister)
This test involved participants writing 20 responses to the question ‘Who am I?’ in a fixed time.
What are self-schemas according to Markus (1997) and Dickerson (2012)?
*Cognitive representations (concepts) of the self derived from past experiences
*Represent how the self has been differentiated or articulated in memory
They influence how individuals see themselves and interact with the world.
What is difference between self-schematic and self-aschematic?
Self Schematic: Having a well-defined schema on dimensions considered important
Sel Aschematic: Having less defined schemas on dimensions not considered important
This indicates clarity in self-perception in those areas.
What are the characteristics of schemas?
*There are multiple and complex view of self
*Schemas are stored cognitively as separate nodes
*They are activated differently depending on the context (the self is dynamic)
This signifies less clarity in self-perception in those areas.
What are the three components of self-schemas according to Higgins (1987)?
- Actual Self- How we are now
- Ought Self- How we think we should be
- Ideal Self- How we would like to be
These components represent different aspects of self-perception and aspirations.
What is the function of self-schemas?
*Guides info Processing: Schematic info is easier to process and people judge others based on self important dimensions
*Influences Mood: Feedback to important self schemas affects more deeply
Schematic information is easier to process and judge.
How do self-conceptions differ across cultures and gender?
*Cognitive processing and affective responses are shaped by self construals
- Individualistic Cultures - Value autonomy and uniqueness
- Collectivist Cultures - Value connectedness and social roles
*Women and people in relationships have more interdependent self construals
*Men and single individuals have more independent self construals
These cultural differences shape self-perception and behavior.
What is self-coherence?
Maintaining a stable sense of identity despite variability across time and context
This concept relates to how individuals perceive their identity over time.
What are strategies to maintain self-coherence according to Baumeister (1998)?
*Restrict life to limited contexts (promotes consistency)
*Revise/integrate autobiographies (rewriting history to align with current identity)
*Attribute change to external circumstances (protects core self-concepts)
This promotes consistency in self-perception.
What is introspection?
The process of examining your own thoughts, feelings, motives or reasons for behaving in a specific way.
Limitation of introspection: What did the research by Nisbett and Wilson (1977) find regarding self-insight?
People often lack accurate insight into their internal states and the true causes of their behaviours.
Limitation of introspection: What did the research by Carpenter et al. (2013) find regarding students’ perceptions of their learning?
1) 2 groups of students watched a video lecture on cat biology
2) In 1 condition, the lecturer was confident, fluent and made eye contact
3) In the other condition, the lecturer was nervous, disorganized, avoided eye contact and shuffled through notes
4) Students rate how much they thought they had learned
Results: Despite equal levels of actual learning, students in the first condition thought they learned significantly more
Conclusion: External presentation factors distorted students’ perception of their own learning, showing poor self-awareness and limits introspection
What is the Self-Perception Theor, Bem (1972)?
People infer aspects of themselves by observing their own behaviours or imagining themselves in various scenarios.
Explain Gyn, Wenger & Gaul (1990) research?
1) 2 groups of runners were tested
2) Condition 1- Performed power training on exercise bikes
3) Condition 2- Didn’t train on bikes (control)
4) Half of each group were instructed to imagine themselves sprint running
Results: Those who imagined themselves sprinting and did power training performed best in subsequent sprints
Conclusion: Imagining yourself as something can align your behaviours to match that self-concept, showing that imagined identity influences actual behaviours
How does feedback from others influence self-knowledge?
*Our self-knowledge is shaped by how others see us and treat us
*So, repeated feedback can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, where we internalize others expectations and act accordingly
Explain the Tidy Children Study by Miller, Brickman & Boden (1975)
1) Participants consisted of 5th grade children (ages 9-10)
2) Attribution Condition- Children were told repeatedly they were tidy
3) Persuasion Condition- Children were told they should be tidy
4) Control- No messaging
Result: The attribution group became significantly tidier over time
Conclusion: Being told that you are a certain way encouraged behavioural alignment with identity
Explain the Self-Perception and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy study by Snyder (1984)
1) Participants were told they would interact with an extravert
2) The target person wasn’t actually an extravert but was treated as such
Result: That person behaved more extrovertedly in response to being treated like an extravert
Conclusion: Social expectation and perception from others can shape and reinforce behaviour, even without conscious awareness
What is Self-Categorization Theory as proposed by Turner et al. (1987)?
*We derive a sense of self from group memberships, forming social identities.
*Identities include gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, etc.
How does group identification influence us?
*How we perceive ourselves
*How we evaluate others
*Emotional connections in and out of group
What are the 3 main motives behind seeking self-knowledge identified by Sedikides (1993)?
- Self-Assessment: Desire to gain accurate or valid information about who we are (focus on things we don’t know well)
- Self-Verification: Desire to confirm what we already believe to be true about ourselves (focus on our core traits)
- Self-Enhancement: Desire to obtain favorable information about ourselves (seeking positive, esteem boosting knowledge)
what did Sedikides find?
*Participants were asked to choose questions about themselves to learn more
Results:
*They found that most people prioritized self enhancement questions
*Followed by self-verification
*Then self-assessment
Conclusions: We are primarily motivated to feel good about ourselves
What are self-serving attributions?
*We attribute positive outcomes to internal causes (e.g. skill) and negative outcomes to external causes (e.g. bad luck)
*It helps us maintain a positive self-image
*E.g. Lau and Russel found that 80% of wins in sports were attributed to nternal factors and 80% of losses were attributed to external factors
