History
- Secularisation - Fulfillment occurs in the afterlife is replaced by the idea that you should actively pursue personal fulfillment in this life
- Industrialisation - People have a portable personal identity
- Enlightenment - People can live for themselves by overthrowing orthodox values
- Psychoanalysis - Following Freud’s theory
Psychodynamic self
- Freud
- The idea that unsocialised and selfish libidinal impulses are repressed and kept in check by internal norms
- Eventually these impulses can surface through hypnosis or psychotherapy
Individual self v. Collective self
Shared/Collective self:
- ‘We’ or ‘us’
- Part of a group
- Groups are no longer seen as individuals put together but rather as individuals who have a collective sense of shared identity
- Collective phenomenon can not be understood just through the individual
- The self draws properties from the group
Symbolic interactionist self
Symbolic interactionism - Theory that the self emerges and evolves through human interaction:
- People tend to reconstruct who they truly are
- Human interaction uses symbols, which have a shared meaning
- One most see oneself as others do (= social object), or as a representative of a category (or group, = collective me)
Self-awareness
You are aware of yourself as an object:
- This allows for comparisons (what you are and what you would like to be) - This brings lods of negative emotions
- Private self - Your private thoughts, feelings and attitudes
- Public self - How other people see you, your public image
- Private self-awareness is to try to match your behavior to your internalized standard, public self-awareness is to try to rectify to way in which you present yourself to others
- Elevated self-awareness can be stressful or aversive and is linked to anxiety
- Low self-awareness leads to deindividuation, people fail to control their actions and behaviour.
Self-knowledge - Self-schemas
- People have clearer conceptions of themselves on certain dimensions more than on others.
- On dimensions that are important to us, we will have a clearer evaluation of ourselves. If our evaluation is extreme, we will experience more extreme feelings
3 types of self = Self-discrepancy theory:
- Actual self - How we currently are
- Ideal self - How we would like to be
- ‘Ought’ self - How we think we should be
- To match these ideal and ought selves, we engage is self-regulation
Self-knowledge - Regulatory focus strategy
2 main ways:
- Promotion system - The focus is on your ideal self, you try to attain your hopes and aspirations. In case of failure this can lead to sadness and disappointment
- Prevention system - The focus is on your ought self, you try to fulfill your duties and obligation. In case of failure, this leads to anxiety.
Self-knowledge - Inferences from our behaviour
When we examine ourselves, we make conclusions, and usually inferences - If unsure about your attitudes, you will try to find clues in your own behavior (= self-perception theory):
- The image your have of yourself can affect your behavior
- Overjustification effect - We assume that we freely choose the behavior because we enjoy it (if there are not other factors) - Because of that, the introduction of a reward can reduce motivation
Self-knowledge - Self-comparison
Social comparison theory - We compare our own behavior to others to know how to behave
Usually people compare themselves to slightly worse people. When comparing ourselves to better people, we try to downplay our similarities to that person (= self-evaluation maintenance model)
BIRging - We link ourselves with desirable people or groups or events to improves other’s impression of us (‘I was in the same high school as this famous dude’)
Types of self and identity
Social identity theorists:
- Social identity - Defines us in terms of group memberships
- Personal identity - Defines us in terms of idiosyncratic traits and personal relationships
- This is combined with the individual, relational or collective self
- Check table 4.1 (p. 126)
More recently, 4 types of identities:
- Person-based social identities - Group properties are internalized by individual group members as part of their self-concept
- Relational social identities - Defining the self in relation to specific other people
- Group-based social identities - Same as social identity
- Collective identities - Group members engage in social action to forge an image of what the group stands for
Self-knowledge - Self-coherence
Different strategies:
- Restrict your life to a limited set of contexts
- Keep revising and integrating your autobiography
- Attribute changes in the self externally (= actor-observer affect)
Social identity theory
We have as many identities as there are groups that we feel we belong to and as many personal identities as there are interpersonal relationships. These develop through:
- Categorisation
- Identification
- Comparison
- Psychological distinctiveness
Social identity theory - Categorisation (steps)
- Category is situationally and chronically accessible
- Category has a good structural fit (fits the differences and similarities between people)
- Category has a good normative fit (makes sense of people’s behavior)
- Category satisfies uncertainty reduction
- Category satisfies self-enhancement motives
- Category is the psychologically salient basis for self-conception
If categorization occurs - There is depersonalization
Social identity theory - Self-motives
- Self-assessment - Motivates the pursuit of valid information about yourself (focus on peripheral traits, to find out something new) - 3rd common
- Self-verification - Motivates the pursuit of information that is consistent with the idea you have of yourself (focus on central traits, to confirm something we already know) - 2nd common
- Self-enhancement - Motives the pursuit of information that makes us look good (focus on positive info.) - 1st common
If the concept of ourselves is threatened, we engage in self-affirmation, we focus on affirming our competences in a certain area.
Self-esteem
- Look for a favorable self image (check self-enhancing triad)
- Above-averge effect
- Self-handicapping - Making a public announcement to the reason for an anticipated failure
- People suspend their self-illusions when making an important decision
Self-esteem - Individual differences
- High self-esteem people have a more thorough, consistent and stable stock of self-knowledge (the opposite is called self-concept confusion)
- High self-esteem people have a self-enhancing orientation by which they capitalize on their positive features and purse success (= motivational orientation)
Narcissism - Personality trait which is volatile and comprises of an inflated or grandiose view of oneself. More of a protection mechanism for people with low self-esteem. More prone to aggression when that image is threatened.
Self-esteem - Why?
Terror management theory - We are scared of death and try to reduce that fear with higher self-esteem
As a sociometer - To feel a sense of acceptance and belonging, avoid the anxiety of social exclusion and rejection
Strategic self-presentation
- Self-promotion - Persuade others that you are competent
- Ingratiation - Get others to like you
- Intimidation - Get others to think you are dangerous
- Exemplification - Get others to regard you as morally respectable
- Supplication - Get others to take pity on you
Expressive self-presentation
Demonstrating and validating our self-concept through our actions - Usually requires social validation
Cultural differences in self and identity
Pretty straight forward differences between individualist and collectivistic cultures
Self and identity - A constructivist perspective
We construct our own perceptions of ourselves and others through story-telling:
- We emphasise certain attributes or pick some which we believe define us
How do we develop our self-concept?
- Parenting
- Media
- Culture
- School (education)
- Religion
- Government
What are the consequences of the development of our self-identity?
- Biases
- ‘Better-than-avergae effect’
- Self-serving attributions
What is authenticity?
Your ‘true’ and core self:
- Awareness
- Unbiased processing
- Behaviour
- Reliational orientation
