PSY 223 1st edition Lecture 6 9 10 Outline of Last Lecture I The Self II Sources of Self concept Outline of Current Lecture II Gender and self III Self esteem a Ways to measure b Theories c Group differences d Strategies to enhance IV Self presentation Current Lecture The Self continued Gender and Self Across cultures men generally have more independent views of self women have more interdependent views Differences may be due to socialization cultural stereotypes parental feedback and educational treatment Evolution could also attribute to differences Self esteem Positive or negative view of self Satisfying this need is critical to our entire outlook on life Positive self esteem tend to be happy healthy productive and successful Negative self esteem depressed pessimistic about future prone to failure These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Ways to measure self esteem Rosenberg Self esteem scale 10 items disagree agree to measure self esteem Statements like on the whole I am satisfied with myself Theories on self esteem Leary s Sociometer theory self esteem is a cue to the extent to which we are getting along with others Terror Management theory people are motivated by fear of death and self esteem is a way to conquer that fear Self discrepancy theory self esteem depends on discrepancy between actual self and ideal self o Big differences in actual self and ideal self lower self esteem o Importance of discrepancy matters i e if you don t care that you re short than it doesn t affect your self esteem o Self awareness can make self discrepancies more salient ex Stand in front of class and become self conscious Group Differences in Self Esteem o o o Men higher in self esteem but small difference African Americans higher in self esteem than white but Hispanics Asians and Native Americans are not higher in self esteem than whites Very high self esteem ages 9 12 but then goes down until ages 50 60 but then declines again Sources of Self Esteem family experiences reactions from other important significant others performance feedbacks and social comparisons compare self to others Strategies to enhance self esteem o o o o Positives illusions better than average effect people see themselves better than others especially on more important tasks Implicit egotism unconscious expression of self esteem like letters in our name some of our favorite letters Self serving beliefs self enhancing attribution teachers fault we did poorly on test Self handicapping think you ll do bad on test so go out night before o o o Unrealistic optimism and illusions of control i e don t think you ll get divorced when you get married Basking in reflected glory and cutting off reflected failure wear Bears shirt when they win but avoid wearing Bears shirt when they lose Self esteem is contingent on multiple domains helps when self esteem depends on multiple things instead of just one because when that portion fails then self esteem down Not everyone wants to enhance their self esteem high self esteem can be dangerous Truth matters people with negative self views may not want flattering feedback o Self verification desire to have others perceive us as we perceive us if bad at chess don t say I m good Depends on culture independent cultures want high self esteem and others want more modesty Dark side to high self esteem can lead to self defeating behavior and may make someone unlikeable by others Self Presentation Most people concerned about and try to control the image they present to others Goffman said life is like theatre and we all have a face 2 types of self presentation Strategic self presentation try to shape others impressions to gain influence power approval etc Self verification desire to have others perceive us as we perceive us Self monitoring degree of self presentation according to environment cues We tend to regulate behaviors to meet the needs to social situations o o High monitors sensitive to strategic self presentation concerns changes in different situations Low self monitors more concerned with self verification want people to view them the same in all situations