The Self Flashcards
(49 cards)
Reflexive thought
Distinction from other animals
Humans are able to think about who we are would like to be and want to be seen by others
Cognitive constructs
self and identity are cognitive constructs that influence social interaction and perception
themselves are influenced by society
Psychoanalysis Freud
self as hard to understand and analyze (because of the depth of the conscious)
Freud: unsocialise and selfish libinal impulses (the ID) are REPRESSED by internalisied societal norms (the SUPEREGO)
Can come to surface by hypnosis or psychotherapy:
Psychodynamic self
Freud: unsocialise and selfish libinal impulses (the ID) are REPRESSED by internalisied societal norms (the SUPEREGO)
Can come to surface by hypnosis or psychotherapy
Collective self
Description of other selves, we/us, grounded in group life, group minds
Individual self
Description of an individual, myself/me
Symbolic interactionism
G.H Measure: Human interaction creates the self and is largely symbolic
We interact with words/non-verbal cues that contain more meaning and symbolizes more than behavior
Symbols of interaction must have shared meanings (eg. lets eat it=both know variety of choices)
Looking-glass self
Seeing oneself like others do
Studies: people tend to see themselves as they thought others saw them
Problem: We are not actually able to take the role of another person
Self-construal motivations
Our motives to view others and be viewed
We try to improve our self-image
Self-enhancing triad
We overestimate our good points, control over events, have unrealistic optimism
Role of public/private self-presentation
We present ourselves different in private than we would do in public
Self-conception goes into direction of action in public
Self awareness
Self awareness is a process in which we pay attention and sense ourselves as an object
Comes and goes and has a huge impact on our lives
Objective self-awareness
To be aware of yourself as an object
Fascinated by everything that brings our attention on being an object (mirror/be in front of audience)
We try to bring our self closer to our ideal standards, overcome shortcomings to avoid negative emotions
Self-awareness theory
We can be aware of:
Private-self: private thoughts, feelings, attitudes
We try to match our behavior to internalized standards
Public self: public image, how others see us
Try to present yourself to others in a positive light
Deindividuation
When people lose their sense of socialized individual identity (eg. though alcohol)
Can’t control their actions, engage in unsocialised/antisocial behavior (engage impulsively)
Reduced objective self-awareness/opposite of self-awareness
Self schemas
Similar to schemas but more complex and varied
Attributes that we feel like make us different from others
Different CONTEXTS activate different nodes/aspects of self
We use them in a strategic way (inflexible/clearly divided schemas have disadvantages)
Priming positive/negative self-schema can highly affect our mood and this highly affects our mood
Self-concept
No single brain system/area is responsible for our sense of self
Complex and multi-faceted, large number of discrete/separated/single schemas
Integrated self schemas
are better for us
EG. James believes: amazing cook/awful musician
Sally believes good cook/not great musician = less boundaries and mood swings
Schematic and aschematic
On some dimensions we have more of a clear self-concept than on others
Depends on what’s important to us (eg. convinced of being creative)
Self-discrepancy theory (Higgins 1987)
Theory about the consequences of comparing us to our ideal self
Three different types of self-schema
Actual self=How we actually are
Ideal self=How we want to be
Ought self=How we think we should be
Self-guides=Ideal/ought self mobilizes different types of self-related behavior
Self regulation=Strategies we use to match our behavior to the ideal/ought standards
Emotional vulnerability=Self-discrepancies make us emotional vulnerable, and priming an ideal/ought self can make us feel sad/agitated
Regulatory focus theory
People have two separate self-regulation systems
Linked to self-discrepancy and self-regulation
Promotion-focused people=Look for inspiration/role models/strategies to achieve success
Show motivation on tasks to achieve gains/non-gains
Prevention-focused people=try to avoid failures and negative events
Have negative role models
Motivation on tasks based on loses/non-loses
We are habitually either one or other, depends a lot on our influences in childhood (Reinforcement)
Studies: the promotion focus can lead to behavioral tendencies towards group/against outgroup
Making inferences from our behavior
We learn about ourselves by examining internal cues (private thoughts/feelings )
If these are weak, we learn through making inferences of our own behavior about ourselves
Self-perception theory
We make internal/external attribution for our behavior, especially on task performance
Internal attribution/intrinsic interests
=Self-motivation, Working because we enjoy it, often better performance
External attribution/extrinsic rewards
=Working because it pays off, less commitment, avoid challenges
Overjustification effect=Our motivation increases by free will (intrinsic motivation)
Especially if external determinants for our behavior are absent
Trick =Focus more on rewards that are performance contingent than task contingent
Performance-contingent=Characteristics of performance (eg. listening to music while running)
Task-contingent=Features of the task (counting calories while running)
Social comparison theory (Festingers 1954)
People want to be confident that they behave, think and feel in the right way
We compare ourselves with others and try to adapt a socially approved way of thinking
especially to groups we feel we belong
Performance wise =Make downward comparisons (positive self concept)
(Often occur between groups „we are better than you“)
Upward-comparisons (harmful effect on our self-esteem)
(EG. Silver-medalist, upward comparisons, bronze-medalist downward-comparison)
