The Self

1. The Self • September 18th, 2009 : Lecture 3

2. The Self • An individual consciousness of one’s own identity • Feelings, observations, and thoughts

3. Self Awareness • Awareness of the Self as an entity that is distinct from others and the environment • Tested with the Mark Test • AKA “Rouge Test”

4. Mark Test

5. Levels of the Self • Minimal Self • Objectified Self • Symbolic Self (also called “Narrative Self”)

6. Minimal Self • Conscious experience of the Self as distinct from the environment

7. Objectified Self • Cognitive capacity to serve as the object of one’s own (or others’) attention

8. Symbolic Self • Ability to form an abstract mental representation of oneself through language Funny Creative Socially Phobic Efficient Anxious Listless

9. Inherently Social • “My thought of self is … filled up with my thought of others … and my thoughts of others … [are] mainly filled up with myself.” • - James Mark Baldwin

10. The Self-Concept • Everything you know about yourself

11. Self-Schema • Cognitive representation of the Self • Derived from past experience • Guides processing of self-related information

12. Measuring the Self-Concept • Twenty Statements Test (TST) • I am • I am • I am • I am • … • 20. I am .

13. Measuring the Self-Concept • Twenty Statements Test (TST) • I am messy • I am studious • I am an athlete • I am a best friend • … • 20. I am a parent

14. Measuring the Self-Concept • Twenty Statements Test (TST) • I am messy • I am studious • I am an athlete • I am a best friend • … • 20. I am a parent Personality Descriptors Social Roles

15. Self-Complexity • Number of distinct aspects used to define the self-concept

16. Personality Trait Me Not Me Measuring the Self-Schema • “Implicit Personality Test” Not Me Me

17. Self-Schema • Markus (1977) • Participants: 101 female college students • Method:

18. Self-Schema • Markus (1977) • Results: Focus on trait, “Independent”

19. Global Versus Contextualized Self • Global Self-concept • I am • Contexualized Self-concept • I am when . • Buffers negative feelings after failure

20. Working Self-Concept • A subset of your self-concept that is presently accessible • What goes in the working self-concept? • Recently primed aspects of Self • Contextually distinctive aspects • “Central” aspects of Self

21. Self-Concept Centrality • Some aspects of the Self-Concept are more personally important to you than others • “Central” aspects are chronically accessible

22. Measuring Self-Concept Centrality Me Calculating Reliable Caring Kind Conscientious Nerd Funny Fun Loving Adventurous

23. Self-Concept Centrality • Interesting consequences: • Self-Evaluative Maintenance • Self-Handicapping • Self-Verification

24. Self-Evaluative Maintenance • People tend to be threatened when someone close to them outperforms them on a task that is central to the Self-Concept

25. Self-Evaluative Maintenance • Typical responses: • Distance Self from relationship • Distance Self from task domain • If task is not central to Self-Concept: • Vicarious self-esteem boost • Magnitude of self-esteem boost proportional to closeness of relationship

26. Self-Handicapping • Strategy to buffer the self from an anticipated failure or embarrassment by undermining one’s own performance

27. Which is Worse? • You study really hard for a test, get lots of sleep, eat a good breakfast, and then take your test and get a C on it • You go to a bar with friends and drink until 2 am, study drunkenly from 2 to 4 am, sleep from 4 to 10 am, and then take your test and get a C on it.

28. Self-Handicapping • Shepperd & Arkin (1989) • Participants: 100 college students • Method:

29. Self-Handicapping • Shepperd & Arkin (1989) • Results: Average choice of tapes

30. Self-Verification • The need to seek confirmation of one’s Self-concept • Motivated by desire to be understood • Holds true even if Self-View is negative • Only for Central traits

31. Self-Verification • Giesler, Josephs, & Swann (1996) • Background: Depression involves negative view of self, world, and future • Method:

32. Self-Verification • Giesler, Josephs, & Swann (1996) • Results:

33. Multiple Selves • Do we have just one view of the Self? • No • How many Selves in the Self? • Hazel Markus • Independent & Interdependent Selves • Possible Selves • Tory Higgins • Self-Discrepancy Theory

34. Independent & Interdependent Selves • Independent Self • View of Self as distinct from others • Interdependent Self • Self as inherently linked with others • Includes other people in one’s view of self

35. Possible Selves • Type of self-knowledge that pertains to how we think about our potential and our future • Ideal selves we want to become • Neutral selves we could become • Selves we are afraid of becoming

36. Depression Anxiety Self-Discrepancy Theory Ideal Self Who you would ideally like to be Actual Self Who you are now Ought Self Who other people think you should be

37. Self-Esteem • Self-evaluative component of the Self-Concept • Global Self-Esteem • State Self-Esteem • Implicit Self-Esteem

38. Global Self-Esteem • Typical level of self-esteem • Some example items: • On the whole, I am satisfied with myself. • I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others. • I wish I could have more respect for myself (reverse) • I feel that I have a number of good qualities. • All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure (reverse).

39. State Self-Esteem • Self-esteem that fluctuates based on situation/context • Some example items: • I feel good about myself right now • I feel inferior to others at this moment (reverse)

40. Sociometer Theory • The need to belong is evolutionarily adaptive and self-esteem monitors the likelihood of social exclusion • Sociometer • An internal monitor of social acceptance/rejection

41. Perceived Regard • How we believe we are viewed by others • Tend to underestimate how much close others like us

42. Perceived Regard • Method: • Participants bring a friend with them to the lab • Participant and friend fill out a personality survey 3 times: • How you view yourself (Self View) • How you see your friend (Other View) • How you think your friend sees you (Perceived Regard)

43. Perceived Regard • Results: • Friend’s Other View significantly more positive than Participant’s Self View • Participant’s Perceived Regard significantly more positive than Self View • Participant’s Perceived Regard significantly lower than Friend’s Other View

44. Self-Serving Biases • Self-Enhancement • Positive Illusions • Social Comparisons

45. Self-Enhancement • Tendency to see oneself as better-than-average on favourable characteristics • Some examples: • 90% of US adults classify themselves as above average drivers • 1,000,000 High School seniors applying to college were asked to assess their leadership abilities: 70% said they were above average • 94% of University Professors think they are better at their jobs than their colleagues

46. Social Comparisons • Evaluation of oneself by comparing the Self to others • Upward Comparison • Comparison of the Self to someone who is better off than oneself • Downward Comparison • Comparison of the Self to someone who is worse off tan oneself

47. Where Does the Self Reside? • The Brain has it • Prefrontal Cortex • Medial Prefrontal Lobes • Self-referential information processing • Right Prefrontal Lobe • Self-recognition

48. Right Prefrontal Cortex & Self-Recognition

49. I am happy when it is Friday • Next Lecture (9/23): • Self-regulation • Relevant websites: • Improving Self-Esteem: http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/booklets/selfesteem/selfest.html • Detailed site about the Self: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Ebfmalle/410/handouts_new.html