Self Regulation?
The deliberate exertion of control to alter one’s
responses (e.g., thoughts, emotions, and
actions)
We have…
- A set of standards and a commitment to them (cultural or individual)
- The ability to self-monitor
- The capacity for change
Willpower?
Mental energy needed to change activities of the self to meet desired standards
Ironic Process of Mental Control?
- To suppress “the thought” we must have…
- An automatic process that monitors “the thought”
- A controlled process to distract from “the though” and towards a competing topic
-> Must think about “the thought” to get rid of it!
One definition of ”The Self” from Sedikides & Gregg (2007)?
- Multiple
- Capable of self-reflection
- Responsive to the social world (real or imagined)
Self-Concept? Comprised of?
The description and evaluation of oneself,
including psychological and physical
characteristics, qualities, skills, roles, etc.
Comprised of self-schema which organize
information about the self with respect to
specific domains of your life
Working self-concept
Set of self-aspects that are currently activated by
situational cues and strongly influence thoughts,
feelings, and actions in the moment
Self-Complexity?
How much individuals have
different and relatively
independent ways of
thinking about themselves
Self-concept Clarity?
The extent to which one’s
self-concept is clearly and
consistently defined
Individualism/Collectivism as Types of Social Relations
- Individualistic emphasis on
people’s autonomy, private
fulfillment, uniqueness - Collectivistic emphasis on
interpersonal harmony, group
cohesion, and social duty
-> impacting self-construal
Independent self schema
- Bounded, unitary, stable self
- Behavior organized around internal repertoire of private thoughts, feelings, and actions
- Goals to be unique, express self, realize internal attributes, promote own goals
- Others important for social comparison
- Self-esteem based on ability to express self, validate internal attributes
Interdependent self schema?
- Flexible, variable self
- Behavior organized around statuses, roles, relationships
- Goals to occupy one’s proper place, engage in appropriate action, group goals
- Relationships (in specific contexts) important for self-definition
- Self-esteem based on ability to adjust, maintain harmony
Being multicultural effect on self schema? Chinise-Canadian study
- People born outside of Canada in a Chinese culture, could speak Chinese, spent equivalent amount of time in Canada
- Assigned to either Chinese or English language condition
- Open-ended self-description
- Chinese language condition -> more collective self-statements
- Activating individual or collective orientations
Levels of our social ”selves”, the personal self?
- Self concept: Individuated
- Evaluation: Tratis
- Frame of reference: Interpersonal comparison
- Social motivation: Self-interest
Levels of our social ”selves”, the relational self?
- Self concept: Roles and Relations
- Evaluation: Roles
- Frame of reference: Reflection
- Social motivation: Other’s Benefit
Levels of our social ”selves”, the collective self?
- Self concept: Social Identity
- Evaluation: Group Prototype
- Frame of reference: Intergroup Comparison
- Social motivation: Collective Welfare
Self-categorization Theory?
Self-categorization is inherently
variable and highly dependent on
contextual shifts in frames of
reference/situated goals and motives
Selves can be made salient, study?
- People read story about a trip to the city
- Asked to circle pronouns (We/Us, They/Them, or It)
- Completed 20 “I am” task and coded for personal, relational, and collective self-definitions
- More social self-descriptions by the “we” prime compared to the “they: and “it” conditions
Human capacity for introspection, definiton
Looking inward into conscious thoughts, feeling, motivations, and intentions
Human capacity for introspection, problems?
- Self-enhancement
- Variable
Social psychologists assert we have limited access to our internal attitudes, beliefs, traits, and psychological states?
- We don’t have the ability to really understand all the cognitive processes that are occurring in our brain
- Impact association test, where the explicit answers contradicts IAT
- This is a disciplinary position for social psychology, utilised when constructing experiments and questioning participants
Knowing the Self Though Seeing Ourselves Though the Eyes of Others, two conecpts?
- Symbolic Interactionism
People use their understanding of how others view them as the primary basis for knowing and evaluating themselves - The looking class self
Others reflect back to us (like a mirror) who we are by how they behave towards us
reflected appraisal?
what we think other people think about us
Significant others or the generalized
other make appraisals of you…
which you incorporate into your self-
concept
Not necessarily accurate
-> Maybe external but not internal
characteristics
Self-perception Theory?
We look at our past behaviors
to make judgments about
ourselves (as we would for
others)
Particularly when attitudes are
weak or ambiguous
Critically evaluating “power posing”
- Quite controversial, has not been able to be replicated
