Unit 3: The Social Self

Question 1

What are the three components of the self?

Answer 1

1. Self-concept
2. Self-esteem
3. Self-presentation

Question 2

What is self-concept?

Answer 2

Self-concept is the cognitive component and it involves how people come to understand their own actions, emotions, and motivations. It is the sum total of the beliefs that a person has about their own personal attributes. It is made up of beliefs (self-schemas) about oneself that guide how self-relevant information is cognitively processed.

Question 3

What is self-esteem?

Answer 3

Self-esteem is the affective component and it involves how people evaluate themselves and defend their self-esteem against threats. Self-esteem is generally stable across the lifespan but there are individual differences. For some people self-esteem fluctuates in response to daily experiences.

Question 4

What is self-presentation?

Answer 4

Self-presentation is the behavioural component and involves how people present themselves to other people. It is the strategies people use to shape what other people think about them.

Question 5

When does self-recognition begin to occur in humans?

Answer 5

Self-recognition is believed to begin occurring in humans between 18 to 24 months based on evidence that infants in this age range start being able to recognize themselves in a mirror.

Question 6

What role does self-recognition play in the development of self-concept?

Answer 6

Self-recognition is important to self-concept because the self is a frame of reference that influences cognitions, emotions, and behaviours. A necessary first-step in the development of self-concept is the ability to see yourself as a distinct entity.

Question 7

What role do others play in the development of self-concept?

Answer 7

The second step of developing self-concept is drawing a sense of who we are from past and current relationships with significant others (e.g. parents, friends). In particular, we integrate into our self-concepts our perceptions of what we think other people think of us; however, these perceptions are not necessarily accurate.

Question 8

Describe the self-perception theory as proposed by Bem.

Answer 8

Bem’s self-perception theory proposes that people can learn about themselves by watching their own behaviour. By observing their own behaviour as well as the situation in which it takes place, people can make inferences about their thoughts, feelings, and motivations when their internal states are weak or difficult to interpret. However, people only do this when there is not a compelling reason (i.e. pressure or threat of punishment, reward) for the situation alone to have caused their behaviour.

Question 9

What is intrinsic motivation?

Answer 9

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation stemming from factors within a person, such as personal interest, enjoyment, or challenge.

Question 10

What is extrinsic (external) motivation?

Answer 10

External motivation refers to motivation originating from factors outside the person, such as money, grades, or avoiding punishment.

Question 11

What is the overjustification effect?

Answer 11

When introducing a reward (extrinsic motivator) for performing an intrinsically motivated behaviour undermines intrinsic motivation. When an external motivator is introduced people start to question whether the activity was worth pursuing for the sake of the internal factors that previously sparked intrinsic motivation.

Question 12

When do rewards enhance intrinsic motivation?

Answer 12

Sometimes rewards can enhance it by providing positive feedback about competence, for example, when someone receives verbal praise they perceive to be sincere from someone they respect.

Question 13

Describe the social comparison theory as proposed by Festinger.

Answer 13

Social comparison theory proposes that people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others. Festinger theorized that people engage in social comparison when they are in a state of uncertainty because more objective information is not available to engage in self-evaluation. In these situations, people evaluate themselves through comparisons with similar others.

Question 14

What is downward social comparison?

Answer 14

When people comparing themselves to other people who are less able or fortunate to cope with personal inadequacies.

Question 15

Describe the two-factor theory of emotion as proposed by Schachter.

Answer 15

The two-factor theory of emotion proposes that people experience emotion based on physiological arousal and their cognitive interpretation of that physiological arousal. When people are unclear about their emotional states, they will sometimes interpret how they feel by observing other people who are in the same situation.

Question 16

Under what conditions does the social context not influence one’s interpretation of unclear emotional states according to Schachter’s theory of emotion?

Answer 16

1. When physiological arousal is too intense because it will be experienced as aversive regardless of how other people are behaving.
2. Additionally, because people look to things that preceded the change in physiological state for an explanation the observation of other people must occur before they experience the arousal.

Question 17

What is individualism?

Answer 17

Individualism refers to a cultural orientation in which people value the virtues of independence, autonomy, and self-reliance. In individualistic cultures members’ personal goals are prioritized over group allegiances.

Question 18

What is collectivism?

Answer 18

Collectivism refers to a cultural orientation in which people value the virtues of interdependence, cooperation, and social harmony. In collectivistic cultures loyalty and motivation to be part of a group (e.g. family, team, company, church, state) are prioritized over individual goals.

Question 19

In what ways can individualistic and collectivistic cultural orientation influence one’s self-concept?

Answer 19

1. Influences the way people perceive, evaluate, and present themselves in relation to others
2. Influences the culturally ingrained orientations to conformity and independence

Question 20

Why do people need self-esteem?

Answer 20

1. self-esteem serves as an indicator of how other people evaluate us. It helps us to connect with others by activating our need to gain other people’s approval and acceptance when our self-esteem is lowered.
2. Terror Management Theory proposes that self-esteem helps provide meaning and purpose, and buffers against anxiety that arises in the face of our fear over the inevitability of our own death.

Question 21

How does self-esteem influence one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour?

Answer 21

Self-esteem influences one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour because it influences our outlook on life. People with high self-esteem tend to experience more positive moods, self-confidence, motivation in the face of challenges, productivity, success, and health. In contrast, people with low self-esteem tend to experience lower mood, confidence, motivation, poorer health, more failure, and pessimism about the future.

Question 22

Distinguish between the actual self, the ought self, and the ideal self.

Answer 22

The actual self is the person you think you actually are.

The ought self is the person you think you should be in order to meet your sense of duty, obligation, and responsibility.

The ideal self is the person you would like to be that embodies your hopes, wishes, and dreams.

Question 23

Explain self-discrepancy theory.

Answer 23

Self-discrepancy theory says that self-esteem is the match or mismatch between how we actually see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves. The greater the difference between our actual self and our ought and ideal selves, the lower our self-esteem.
The degree to which emotional consequences are suffered as a result of discrepancy depends on three factors: 1) amount of discrepancy, 2) how important the domain in which their is a discrepancy is to us, and 3) how much a person focuses on the discrepancy.

Question 24

Briefly describe the self-awareness theory.

Answer 24

Self-awareness theory proposes that self-focused attention leads people to notice self-discrepancies. This motivates people to cope by either escaping from self-awareness or changing their behaviour to address the discrepancy.

Question 25

What situations tend to evoke self-awareness?

Answer 25

Situations that evoke self-awareness include: talking about ourselves, looking in a mirror, standing before an audience or camera, watching a video recording of ourselves, or acting in a way that draws attention to ourselves.

Question 26

Distinguish between private self-consciousness and public self-consciousness.

Answer 26

Private and public self-consciousness are personality characteristics. Private self-consciousness is a characteristic of people who are introspective and often attend to their own inner states. Public self-consciousness is a characteristic of people who tend to focus on how they are seen by others as social objects.

Question 27

What are the limits to trying to control or change one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours through self-regulation?

Answer 27

Self-control efforts draw from a single common reservoir that becomes fatigued with use and loses strength. This reservoir needs to be replenished when it is depleted in order to strengthen self-regulation again. People can control their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours as long as self-regulation fatigue has not set in.

Question 28

Identify four ways that people use to enhance their self-esteem (i.e. self-enhancement).

Answer 28

1. self-serving cognitions
2. self-handicapping
3. basking in the glory of others
4. downward social comparisons.

Question 29

What are self-serving cognitions?

Answer 29

Self-serving cognitions are illusions that protect our self-esteem. They include things like being unrealistically optimistic, taking credit for success and distancing the self from failure, and overestimating the ability to influence and control outcomes that are not actually within their power.

Question 30

What is self-handicapping?

Answer 30

Self-handicapping is when people engage in behaviours that sabotage their own performance in order to provide an excuse for anticipated failure.

Question 31

What is basking in the glory of others?

Answer 31

Basking in the glory of others is when people show off their connections to other people who have experienced success and share in their victory. On the other hand, people distance themselves from people they are linked to who reflect failure.

Question 32

What is downward social comparison?

Answer 32

Downward social comparison is a self-defence strategy where people compare themselves to similar others who are less successful, happy, or fortunate, which has an uplifting effect on mood and outlook for the future.

Question 33

What is the relationship between self-enhancement, mental health, and perception of reality?

Answer 33

People use self-enhancement strategies to preserve their self-esteem. There is evidence that positive illusions (i.e. perceptions that are more positive than reality) promote higher self-esteem and mental health. However, the cost to this is seen in poorer relation with others as people with high self-esteem are viewed as less likeable by people who are in ego-threat situations.

Question 34

What is strategic self-presentation?

Answer 34

Strategic self-presentation is when people try to shape others’ impressions of them for the purposes of gaining influence, power, sympathy, or approval. It is one of the goals of self-presentation.

Question 35

What is self-verification?

Answer 35

Self-verification is when people want others to perceive them as they truly perceive themselves. That is, people are motivated to verify their existing self-concept in the eyes of others. It is one of the goals of self-presentation.

Question 36

What is self-monitoring?

Answer 36

Self-monitoring is the act of regulating one’s behaviour in order to meet the demands of social situations.

Question 37

What are high self-monitors?

Answer 37

People who are high self-monitor are sensitive to strategic self-presentation concerns and able to modify their behaviour from situation to situation by drawing from a repertoire of selves.

Question 38

What are low self-monitors?

Answer 38

People who are low self-monitors are less concerned about the propriety of their behaviour and express themselves in a consistent manner from situation to situation. These individuals are self-verifiers.

Question 39

Are high self-monitors necessarily more adaptive than low monitors?

Answer 39

The existing evidence does not indicate that either high or low self-monitoring is more adaptive than the other.