CHAPTER 4 The Self The Cognitive Self Development and Characteristics of the Self Concept self concept is a knowledge representation or schema that contains knowledge about us including our beliefs about our personality traits physical characteristics abilities values goals and roles as well as the knowledge that we exist as individuals self schemas the self concept becomes more abstract complex and organized into a variety of cognitive aspects Physical characteristics are an important component of the self concept and they are mentioned by many people when they describe themselves personality traits the specific and stable personality characteristics that describe an individual Self Complexity Provides a Buffer against Negative Emotions self complexity the extent to which the individual has many different and relatively independent ways of thinking about themselves benefits of self complexity occur because the various domains of the self help to buffer us against negative events people low in self complexity negative outcomes on one aspect of the self tend to have a big impact on their self esteem Studying the Self concept to the self is particularly well remembered Self Awareness self reference effect The finding that information that is processed in relationship people do not generally focus on their self concept any more than they focus on the other things and other people in their environments Self awareness refers to the extent to which we are currently fixing our attention on our own self concept others who are looking on self awareness is more powerful for the person experiencing it than it is for self consciousness When the self concept becomes very highly accessible due to our concerns about being observed and potentially judged by others deindividuation the loss of self awareness Private self consciousness refers to the tendency to introspect about our inner thoughts and feelings likely to base their behavior on their own inner beliefs and values they let their inner thoughts and feelings guide their actions and they may be particularly likely to strive to succeed on dimensions that allow them to demonstrate their own personal accomplishments Public self consciousness in contrast refers to the tendency to focus on our outer public image and to be particularly aware of the extent to which we are meeting the standards set by others more likely to let the opinions of others rather than their own opinions guide their behaviors and are particularly concerned with making good impressions on others Self Esteem is our Positive or Negative Attitude Toward Ourselves Self esteem refers to the positive high self esteem or negative low self esteem feelings that we have about ourselves We experience the positive feelings of high self esteem when we believe that we are good and worthy and that others view us positively We experience the negative feelings of low self esteem on the other hand when we believe that we are inadequate and less worthy than others people prefer things that are associated with their own names to things that are not associated with their own names Maintaining and Enhancing Self Esteem In short we feel good about ourselves because we do a pretty good job at creating decent lives by others Using Self Presentation to Increase our Status and Self Esteem Social status refers to the extent to which we are viewed positively and esteemed Although self esteem comes in part from our personal accomplishments it is also self presentation The tendency to present a positive self image to others with the influenced by the social situation goal of increasing our social status Basic and natural part of life Men Men are more likely to present themselves in an assertive way by speaking and interrupting others by visually focusing on the other person when they are speaking and by leaning their bodies into the conversation Women More likely to be modest they laugh and smile more and react more positively to the statements of others Women who act assertively may be seen negatively because they violate our expectations about appropriate behavior In fact because self presenting in an assertive way is not as effective for women it can be difficult for women to gain power in organizations We use self presentation to try to convince other people that we are good and worthy people When we are successful in our self presentation and other people view us positively we have high social status When we perceive that we have high social status we experience positive self esteem Self Monitoring and Self Presentation Self monitoring refers to the tendency to be both motivated and capable of regulating our behavior to meet the demands of social situations High self monitors are particularly good at reading the emotions of others and therefore are better at fitting into social situations Low self monitors on the other hand generally act on their own attitudes even when the social situation suggests that they should behave otherwise The Limits of Self Enhancement However although the self enhancing goal is strong and although we definitely enjoy having high self esteem the causal benefits of self esteem seem rather limited Having high self esteem is a good thing because it makes us feel good But except in some limited cases attempts to increase self esteem do not really help us improve our lives and in some cases may backfire The desire for self verifying feedback is so powerful that people who have negative self esteem may in some cases work to verify those negative views by avoiding positive feedback in favor of negative but self verifying feedback Although high self esteem does correlate with many positive outcomes in life overly high self esteem creates narcissism which can lead to unfriendly rude and ultimately dysfunctional behaviors Self esteem is correlated with but does not cause a variety of positive outcomes Social Comparison Helps Create the Self concept Social comparison occurs when we learn about our abilities and skills about the appropriateness and validity of our opinions and about our relative social status by comparing our own attitudes beliefs and behaviors with those of others as predicted by the idea of social comparison the women in Schachter s studies relied on each other to help them understand what was happening to them and to find out how they should feel and respond to their social situations Again the power of the social situation in this case in determining our
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