The Self

Question 1

William James “Principles of Psychology”?

Answer 1

Duality of Self

The “Me”
- Self as object that can be observed
- “I have property x”

The “I”
- Self as agent doing the observing
- Self as the perceiver
- Self-consciousness

Question 2

What is self-consciousness?

Answer 2

The “I”
Self-awareness

Question 3

What is self-concept?

Answer 3

The “Me”
Conception of one’s self as a physical, social, psucholgical, and moral being

Question 4

What is Self-esteem?

Answer 4

– Global evaluation (positive vs. negative) of one’s self
* Feelings of competence
* Feelings of liking and acceptance

Question 5

Example of self-concept structure

Answer 5

General self-concept
Divided into Non-adcamidc self-conecpt and Academic -Self-concept.
Further divded into physical apperace, family, math skills etc.

Question 6

A common way of assessing the Self-Concept?

Answer 6

Twenty Statements Classification Scheme

I am … times 20

Classify the answers into:
Personal Characteristics (friendly, happy, ambitious)
Ascribed Identities (age, race, ethnicity, daughter)
Social and Group Identities (student, Democrat)
Interests/Activities (painter, stamp collector, jazz fan)
Material Possessions (owner of a super cool sports car)
Abstract/Existential (me, a person)

Question 7

How do we know a child has a sense of self?
- Linguistic markers

Answer 7

age 18 months
- Self-referencing (“I” “Me” “Mine”)
– Nonverbal recognition of self-accomplishment
(VIDEO: puzzle completion)
– Narrative language use
* reference to personally significant events

Question 8

How do we know a child has a sense of self?
- Cognitive-behavioral makers

Answer 8

(18-24 months)
– Imitation and role-taking
– Mirror self-recognition
– Rouge test

Question 9

How do we know a child has a sense of self?
- Emotional markers?

Answer 9

Age 2.5-3
- Self-conscious emotions
(shame, guilt, embarrassment, pride)
- Require ability to evaluate the self (“I” self evaluates the “me” self)
- Empathy

Question 10

Other animals with mirror self-recognition?

Answer 10

• Chimps, organgutans, gorillas
• Elephants
• Dolphins
• Humans
• Recent discovery: magpies

Question 11

Where does the self-concept come from according to Charles Cooley?

Answer 11

“Looking Glass Self”
* Charles Cooley (1864-1929)
– “Human Nature and the Social Order”
* “Each to each a looking glass, reflects the
other that doth pass”
– Self is socially constructed
* Our sense of self is built upon the life-long experience of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others (i.e., through the “looking glass”)

Question 12

Issues with the Looking Glass Self

Answer 12

How many mirrors???
- We have a variety of interactions with different people
- Do we have different selves with different people?

Question 13

Unitary vs. Multiple Selves

Answer 13

• Multiple selves correspond to multiple
  roles–we see ourselves differently in each social role
• Think about how you see yourself as:
  – Son/daughter
  – Friend
  – Student
  – Romantic partner
  – Worker
• Do you have a different self for each
  relationship?

Question 14

Is it Adaptive to Have Multiple Selves?

Answer 14

– Multiple selves à lower well-being and self-esteem
* During university years
* 20 years later during mid-life
– Low well-being and self-esteem in university -> multiple selves 20 years later
– Frequent relationship and career changes -> multiple selves
* Conclusion: A highly differentiated self-concept
reflects psychological fragmentation and lack of
an integrated core self

Question 15

Definition of Self-Esteem - Evaluation (positive vs. negative) of one’s self as a physical, social, psychological, and moral being? Two concepts measured

Answer 15

– Affective component
* Feelings about the self; self-liking
– Cognitive component
* Thoughts about one’s competencies, abilities

Question 16

Ways to measure self-esteem?

Answer 16

• Self-report scales
• Similarity between actual and ideal self
• Observer report
  – Parent and teacher ratings for kids
  – Can someone else know your self-esteem?
• Pictorial measures for children

Question 17

What happens to self-esteem across the lifespan?

Answer 17

Starts very high in childhood and drops significantly in adolescence. Goes up slightly in early twenties and remains quite stable until 50 where it starts to go up and peaks at 70! Extremely low at the end of life

Question 18

Limitations with Internet Studies?

Answer 18

• Sample selectivity
  Are internet users (in 2001) a select
  sample?
• Cross-sectional design
  Cohort effects
  Selective mortality

Question 19

Self-Esteem Programs for
Kids: Positive Illusions?

Answer 19

• Are we creating a generation of
  narcissists?
• “I know I am good because everyone
  keeps telling me so.”
• Origins of narcissism
  – Unrealistic, idealized positive feedback
  – Positive feedback without actual
  accomplishments

Question 20

Can Positive Illusions Be Harmful?

Answer 20

• “Threatened egotism”: Inflated pride is
  easily wounded
• High self-esteem has a “dark side”
  – New York Times
• Media reports of adolescent killers
  suggest that killers felt humiliated by
  peers, suffered from wounded pride and
  powerlessness
• Shame-rage spiral; shame may be
  brought on by excessive pride

Question 21

Positive illusions in undergrads?

Answer 21

• Compared to students with more accurate
  beliefs, students with positive illusions:
  – Generally happier but less happy over the course of
  college
  – Did not perform better in school, despite thinking they
  would
  – More likely to disengage from school (e.g., say “grades
  are not important to me”)
  – More likely to drop out of university

Question 22

Different results from more
recent study (Murphy et al., 2017)?

Answer 22

• Longitudinal study of ~900 Australian high
  school boys, across 2 years
• Overconfidence about intelligence (selfperceptions
  compared to actual grades
  and performance on an IQ test) led to
  increases in self-esteem over time
• Overconfidence about sports led to
  increased sporting effort & increased
  popularity

Question 23

Research suggests… Positive
Illusions are a “Mixed Blessing”

Answer 23

• In the short term, positive illusions are
  associated with:
  – Psychological well-being and self-esteem
  – Better performance on experimental tasks
• In the long term, positive illusions are
  associated with:
  – Decreasing levels of well-being and self-esteem
  for university students, but not high school boys
  – Disengagement from school and increased
  likelihood of dropping out – for university
  students
  – Impact of positive illusions may vary by stage of
  life

Question 24

Assessing the Self with Narrative: Key Components?

Answer 24

• Self-defining memory = single episode in your life
• Life chapters: “Think about your life as if it were a
  book. Please divide your life into its major
  chapters and briefly describe each chapter”
• Key events: peak experience; nadir experience;
  turning point; earliest memory; important
  childhood, adolescent, and adult memory; other
  important memory”
• Significant people: “Each person’s life story is
  populated by a few significant people who have a
  major impact on the narrative.”
• Future script: “As your life story extends into the
  future, what is your script or plan for what is to happen next in your life?
• Stresses and problems: “All life stories include
  significant conflicts, unresolved issues, problems to
  be solved, and periods of great stress.”
• Personal ideology: “Your fundamental beliefs and
  values are an important part of your life story”
• Life theme: “Looking back over your entire life story as
  a book with chapters, episodes, and characters, can
  you discern a central theme, message, or idea that
  runs throughout the text? What is the major theme of
  your life?”

Question 25

What is a trait?

Answer 25

Almost any adjective (or sometimes a
noun) that describes the way some
people are and others aren’t

Traits are the Basic
Building Blocks of Personality

Question 26

Key Elements of Traits?

Answer 26

Personal (‘internal’) traits rather than situational (‘external’)

Consistent across ‘similar’ situations
– People who are friendly at school also tend to
be friendly at home, at work, when they meet
new people, etc.
– But, situations also influence behaviour

Stable across time

Universal dimensions: Individual
differences (across people)
– Useful way of describing and comparing
personality differences in all people

Descriptive, not explanatory
– Why did he talk a lot? Because he’s extraverted

Question 27

What Aren’t Personality Traits?

Answer 27

• Temporary states (e.g., embarrassed)
• Attitudes (e.g., sexist, liberal)
• Cognitive ability (e.g., GRE scores)
• Physical attributes (e.g., tall, short, thin)
• Social categories (e.g., bully, wimp, jock)