Psych 350 9 12 14 Ch 3 The Self Self concept a person s answer to the question Who am I o Basic demographic characteristics o Things about personality o How you think about yourself varies depending on the situation you are in The Working Self Concept The Self Concept is a more general perspective which includes everything listed The Nature of the Self about o Where does our self concept come from Responses from others The looking glass self we view ourselves through the eyes of others and incorporate their perceptions of us into our self concept o How others react to us is very important o However we think people react to us is much more important Social Comparisons We assess our qualities by comparing self to others o We prefer to compare ourselves similar to others o Am I attractive like everyone else Then based on your crowd you begin to think where you would be on the spectrum o When comparing skills you would probably compare yourself to someone in a similar skill category And not comparing to anyone way better or way worse o If goal is to feel good about self we make downward social comparisons Social comparison is when you seek people that are the same level Downward social comparison is only seeking people that are on a lower level o There are also upward social comparisons Can provide information on how to improve Can inspire you to work towards your goals The way you look at people that are a level higher is different than the way you look at people who are on a lower level but it can also make you feel inferior Ex Looks at the effect that women are portrayed in media women who see these pictures feel like crap compared to someone who is better than them Reflections from Others How does our relationship with other people reflect upon us How we view close others is important for how we view ourselves We try to associate ourselves with people who will make us look good o BIRGing Basking in Reflective Glory o The opposite of this concept We try to distance ourselves from others who make us look bad Self Evaluation Maintenance Theory CORFing Cutting Off Reflected Failure o If a close other excels in unimportant activity then people BIRG o If a close other excels in a personally relevant activity then people feel The difference between interdependent self concept and independent self envy Distance self from the person Decrease importance of activity Can lead to sabotage Our Culture concept Positive Illusions o Overestimate out amount of control o Unrealistic optimism o Overestimate good traits successes Also downplay underestimate faults and failures How Do We Maintain Overly Positive Views of Ourselves o Biases in social comparison choices o Attributions self serving bias Explaining positive and negative events People tend to attribute success to their ability and effort internal attribution People tend to attribute failure to bad luck or the problem s difficulty o Information processing Can I Must I external attributions Textbook Notes Individual self beliefs about our unique personal traits abilities preferences tastes talents and so forth Relational self beliefs about our identities in specific relationships Where does sense of self come from Collective self beliefs about our identities as members of social groups to which we belong o A social psychology answer points to numerous social origins of self knowledge as well as to construal processes from which self knowledge may be derived nurtured and maintained Family and Other Socialization Agents o Socialization agents include parents grandparents siblings and teachers They teach children what they view as socially appropriate and valued attitudes and behaviors They can also help shape sense of self Ex By encouraging certain behaviors and providing opportunities for certain activities which can influence the traits abilities and preferences that we come to associate with ourselves o Sociologist Charles H Cooley coined the phrase the looking glass self to refer to the idea that other people s reactions to us serve as a mirror of sorts reflecting our image so that we too can see it In other words self knowledge is derived in part from reflected self appraisals our beliefs about others appraisals of us The idea is how we think others appraise us not necessarily how others actually see us Our reflected self appraisals often do not correlate highly with the appraisals that Situationism and the Social Self others actually make of us What determines the nature of contextual shifts in the sense of the self o The greatest determinant is what is relevant or appropriate in the current situation Ex Students are rebellious and free spirited in the dorm will shift to a more sober Markus and Wurf coined the term working self concept to refer to the idea that only a subset of a and conventional demeanor around parents or professors person s vast pool of self knowledge is brought to mind in any given context o The subset that is most relevant or appropriate in the current situation Although a person s sense of self may shift depending on the context it s likely that these shifts o Ex A girl who is confident around her friends but becomes insecure about her overly conform to a predictable stable pattern critical mother The social self is defined by two truths o It is malleable shifting from one context to another but at the same time a person s social self has core components that persist across contexts Culture and the Social Self Cultures that promote an independent self construal include much of the West especially northwestern Europe and North America o The focus is on internal causes of behavior o The self is construed as a distinct autonomous entity separate from others and defined by distinct traits and preferences Cultures that foster interdependent self construals the self is fundamentally connected to other people o The imperative is for a person to find a place and fulfill appropriate roles within the community and other collectives families and organization o The self is construed as connected to others and defined by duties roles and shared preferences and traits 9 15 14 How do we maintain overly positive views of ourselves False Consensus and Uniqueness o False Uniqueness we tend to underestimate the commonality of our abilities and desirable behaviors We tend to think that we are better than everyone else More for positive situations and desirable behaviors o False Consensus we overestimate the commonality of our