Week 24: Relationships and Self-Identity Flashcards
three central metaphors for the self
- The Social Actor
The self may be seen as a social actor, who enacts roles and displays traits by performing behaviors in the presence of others. - The Motivated Agent
The self is a motivated agent, who acts upon inner desires and formulates goals, values, and plans to guide behavior in the future. - The Autobiographical Author
The self eventually becomes an autobiographical author, too, who takes stock of life — past, present, and future — to create a story about who I am, how I came to be, and where my life may be going.
Learning Objectives:
Explain the basic idea of reflexivity in human selfhood—how the “I” encounters and makes sense of itself (the “Me”).
Describe fundamental distinctions between three different perspectives on the self: the self as actor, agent, and author.
Describe how a sense of self as a social actor emerges around the age of 2 years and how it develops going forward.
Describe the development of the self’s sense of motivated agency from the emergence of the child’s theory of mind to the articulation of life goals and values in adolescence and beyond.
Define the term narrative identity, and explain what psychological and cultural functions narrative identity serves.
reflexive
The idea that the self reflects back upon itself; that the I (the knower, the subject) encounters the Me (the known, the object). Reflexivity is a fundamental property of human selfhood.
For human beings, the sense of the self as a social actor begins to emerge around the age of ________.
18 months (1.5 to 2 years of age)
* We also start to feel embarrassment, shame, guilt, and pride all having to do with the concept of self
Freud’s ego
Sigmund Freud’s conception of an executive self in the personality. Akin to this module’s notion of “the I,” Freud imagined the ego as observing outside reality, engaging in rational thought, and coping with the competing demands of inner desires and moral standards.
Erikson on experiences of trust and interpersonal attachment
experiences of trust and interpersonal attachment in the first year of life help to consolidate the autonomy of the ego in the second.
Mead & Reflection
Noting how other people in my social world react to my performances. In the development of the self as a social actor, other people function like mirrors—they reflect who I am back to me.
I am the me that I think others see
Big five - OCEAN
Five, broad general traits that are included in many prominent models of personality. The five traits are neuroticism (those high on this trait are prone to feeling sad, worried, anxious, and dissatisfied with themselves), extraversion (high scorers are friendly, assertive, outgoing, cheerful, and energetic), openness to experience (those high on this trait are tolerant, intellectually curious, imaginative, and artistic), agreeableness (high scorers are polite, considerate, cooperative, honest, and trusting), and conscientiousness (those high on this trait are responsible, cautious, organized, disciplined, and achievement-oriented).
Children and stages of self attribution
Age 4
*simple behavioral traits
- nice & helpful
- I have long brown hair
Age 10
*More complex traits
- moody & honest
- good at math not at gym
Late childhood and early adolescence
*Traits tend to correlate in ways that conform and relate to the Big Five (OCEAN)
*self concepts also tend to include social roles
- I am a good student
- I am the eldest daughter
self as social actor
The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be construed in terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social roles.
social reputation
The traits and social roles that others attribute to an actor. Actors also have their own conceptions of what they imagine their respective social reputations indeed are in the eyes of others.
Idea behind motivated agent
When we observe others we only see how they act but are never able to access the entirety of their internal experience.
*Everyone tries different identities based on agents that motivate them to change or try something new as part of their identity
Theory of Mind
The human capacity to understand minds, a capacity that is made up of a collection of concepts (e.g., agent, intentionality) and processes (e.g., goal detection, imitation, empathy, perspective taking).
the age 5-7 shift
Cognitive and social changes that occur in the early elementary school years that result in the child’s developing a more purposeful, planful, and goal-directed approach to life, setting the stage for the emergence of the self as a motivated agent.
self-esteem
The extent to which a person feels that he or she is worthy and good. The success or failure that the motivated agent experiences in pursuit of valued goals is a strong determinant of self-esteem.
Erikson developmental challenge of identity
Sometimes used synonymously with the term “self,” identity means many different things in psychological science and in other fields (e.g., sociology). In this module, I adopt Erik Erikson’s conception of identity as a developmental task for late adolescence and young adulthood. Forming an identity in adolescence and young adulthood involves exploring alternative roles, values, goals, and relationships and eventually committing to a realistic agenda for life that productively situates a person in the adult world of work and love. In addition, identity formation entails commitments to new social roles and reevaluation of old traits, and importantly, it brings with it a sense of temporal continuity in life, achieved though the construction of an integrative life story.
Autobiographical Author - the “I”
The self as knower, the sense of the self as a subject who encounters (knows, works on) itself (the Me).
Autobiogrphical Author - the “Me”
The self as known, the sense of the self as the object or target of the I’s knowledge and work.
Autobiogrphical Author - the “third stand point of self”
KNOWN AS NARRATIVE ADENTITY
how my past self has developed into my present self, and how my present self will, in turn, develop into an envisioned future self
- the I’s ability to construct a retrospective and prospective story about the Me
Narrative Identity:
An internalized and evolving story of the self designed to provide life with some measure of temporal unity and purpose. Beginning in late adolescence, people craft self-defining stories that reconstruct the past and imagine the future to explain how the person came to be the person that he or she is becoming.
autobiographical reasoning
The ability, typically developed in adolescence, to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analyzing one’s own personal experiences.
self as autobiographical author
The sense of the self as a storyteller who reconstructs the past and imagines the future in order to articulate an integrative narrative that provides life with some measure of temporal continuity and purpose.
redemptive narratives
Life stories that affirm the transformation from suffering to an enhanced status or state. In American culture, redemptive life stories are highly prized as models for the good self, as in classic narratives of atonement, upward mobility, liberation, and recovery.
The fact that different parts of the self impact each other—that the “I” resonates back on the “me”—supports the Greek notion that the self is inherently ______.
a. empirical.
b. self-fulfilling.
c. self-perpetuating.
d. interdependent.
e. reflexive.
e. reflexive.
According to the theory of Erik Erikson, the search for ______is the primary developmental challenge of the teenage years, and this “crisis” extends through adolescence and into young adulthood.
identity
Paulo is in his mid-twenties, and recently he has been considering his life. He thinks back over all of his past experiences as well as what he wants to accomplish in the future. The combination of these actions produces a(n) ______that may be revised several times as his life continues.
narrative identity
Learning Objectives:
Understand why relationships are key to happiness and health.
Define and list different forms of relationships.
List different aspects of well-being.
Explain how relationships can enhance well-being.
Explain how relationships might not enhance well-being.
operationalization
The process of defining a concept so that it can be measured. In psychology, this often happens by identifying related concepts or behaviors that can be more easily measured.
objective social variables
Targets of research interest that are factual and not subject to personal opinions or feelings.
social integration - objective
The size of your social network, or number of social roles (e.g., son, sister, student, employee, team member).
This can be measured by looking at the frequency and amount of social activity or contact one has with others
subjective social variables
Targets of research interest that are not necessarily factual but are related to personal opinions or feelings
social support - subjective
The perception or actuality that we have a social network that can help us in times of need and provide us with a variety of useful resources (e.g., advice, love, money).
Researchers using diary method
allows researchers to examine in-the-moment instances and/or day-to-day trends of how social relationships affect happiness and well-being compared to more global measures.
subjective well-being
The name that scientists give to happiness—thinking and feeling that our lives are going very well.
*scientific term for well-being
three components of subjective well-being
- high life satisfaction
- positive evaluations of one’s life in general - positive feelings
- the amount of positive emotions one experiences in life - low negative feelings
- the amount of negative emotions one experiences in life
health
According to the World Health Organization, it is a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
*Physical dimension of well-being
*free of illness or infirmity
health can be defined in terms of
(A) injury
(B) disease
(C) mortality
health behaviours
Behaviors that are associated with better health. Examples include exercising, not smoking, and wearing a seat belt while in a vehicle.
Well being & Presence of relationships
Researchers have discovered that the more social relationships people have, in general, the more positively their sense of well-being is impacted
*Happiest people spend time less alone
- even a few high quality social relationships was consistently linked with subjective well-being
ostracism
Being excluded and ignored by others.
shunning
The act of avoiding or ignoring a person, and withholding all social interaction for a period of time. Shunning generally occurs as a punishment and is temporary.
Well being & Quality of relationships
Researchers have found that higher friendship quality is associated with increased happiness
- good relationships also translate to better health
- Research has shown that having a larger social network and high quality relationships can be beneficial for health, whereas having a small social network and poor quality relationships can actually be detrimental to health
intimate relationships - the importance of a confidante
confidante: A trusted person with whom secrets and vulnerabilities can be shared.
**more important to happiness than having a large social network
formal relationships
bound by the rules of politeness
*kids respect adults
*workplace relationships
*less relaxed
*require more work
informal relationships
*Friends
*Lovers
*Siblings
- Relaxed; authentic; natural use of language
- vulnerable
- can express true feelings & opinions
dark triad
psychopathy
narcissism
machiavellianism
