Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana (Seay) Harvey Welcome! Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana (Seay) Harvey

The Self

What is the Self? Self Knowledge Self Awareness Interpersonal Self Public Self Agent Self Executive Function

True Self – Two Approaches Self as impulse Inner thoughts or feelings Self as institution Public behaviors, especially official roles

True Self??

Self-Concept Write down 10 answers to this question: “Who or What are you?” Count up how many relate to unique qualities about yourself Independent self-construal (e.g., shy, creative, talented, fun) Count up how many relate to your relationship to other people Interdependent self-construal (e.g., a mother, a friend, a conservative, a Catholic)

Self-Concept Independent self-construal What makes the self different Values uniqueness, individual accomplishment Interdependent self-construal What connects the self to the group Values connectedness, conformity, group harmony

Cultural Differences of “The Self”

Cultural Differences of “The Self”

Purpose of the Self Gain social acceptance Learn place in society Play social roles Society creates and defines roles How does your behavior differ when interacting with a professor, a coworker, a parent, or a friend?

Self-Awareness Private self-awareness Public self-awareness Attention directed at the self Private self-awareness Emotions, thoughts, desires Introspection Public self-awareness Appearance, reputation, dominance Social comparison

Looking At Others Minimize comparisons Avoid upward comparisons Social Comparison (Self evaluation) In situations where the self-concept is threatened, we: Minimize comparisons Avoid upward comparisons Try to self-enhance by making downward comparisons

Upward Social Comparison Assessment of how we measure up against others who are more skilled or fortunate than ourselves. Good: makes you strive to improve self Bad: develop low self-esteem

Downward Social Comparison In the face of a threat to self-concept people may prefer to compare themselves with others they perceive as ‘worse off’ than themselves. Good: protect self-esteem and reduce anxiety Bad: not try to improve self

Self Compared to Standards Standards: Ideas of how things might possibly be Ideals, norms, expectations, moral principles, laws, past experiences Around age 2, begin use of standards Beginning of self-awareness Good, Bad, Nice, etc

Self Compared to Standards Self-awareness and behavior Improves behavior Take test in front of mirror: decrease cheating (Diener & Wallbom, 1976) Enables people to be more socially desirable

When people are aware the are falling short of standards: Figure 3.2 Self awareness theory, proposed by Duval and Wicklund (1972), suggests that some situations, such as looking in a mirror, lead to self-awareness. Self-aware people feel bad because they notice any discrepancies between who they are and standards. They can either “shape up” by matching the behavior to the standard, or “ship out” by trying to escape the self-aware state.

Self Compared to Standards When self-awareness feels bad – seek to escape it By drinking alcohol – removing inhibitions Through suicide – extreme escape

Purpose of Self-Awareness Self-regulation Adopt the perspective of other people Manage behavior in pursuit of goals

Looking Outside Looking-Glass Self You imagine how you appear to others You imagine how others will judge you You develop an emotional response as a result of imagining how others will judge you

Evaluating Looking-Glass Self People do respond to feedback from others May not know how people regard them People are reluctant to give negative comments People may not be receptive to negative comments

Looking Inside Introspection Limitations of Introspection Thinking about your own thoughts…. Limitations of Introspection Not fully developed until after 11 We may know what we think and feel, but not why Ex: Sexy girl on car advertisement

Self-Perception Self-Perception Theory People observe their own behavior to infer what they are thinking and how they are feeling Ex: Overjustification Effect

Overjustification Effect Intrinsic motivation Wanting to perform an activity for its own sake i.e., Painting for pleasure Extrinsic motivation Performing an activity for reward i.e., Painting for money

Self-Esteem High Self-Esteem Strong self-concept Positive views Low Self-Esteem Weak self-concept Absence of strong positive views

Low Self-Esteem Research on Low Self-Esteem NOT depression Do not want to fail Focus on self-protection Avoidance of failure and rejection to avoid the loss of self-esteem More prone to emotional highs and lows

Reality and Illusion Overestimate good qualities Underestimate faults Positive Illusions Overestimate good qualities Underestimate faults Overestimate control over events Unrealistically optimistic Bottom line: People want to believe good things about themselves

How People Fool Themselves: Self-deception Self-serving Bias Claim credit for success and deny blame for failure More skeptical of bad feedback Only pay attention to the good feedback Comparisons with those slightly worse i.e., downward comparisons

Why Do We Care About Self-Esteem? Sociometer Theory Self-esteem is a measure of social acceptability. How desirable we are to other people. Self-esteem feels good Theory of terror management Protect self in scary situation “It’s ok, I’m strong and smart – I can handle this robber!”

Is High Self-Esteem Always Good? Narcissism Excessive self-love and selfish orientation Tend to be more aggressive and violent Have difficulties maintaining romantic relationships Initiative Confidence you can do the right thing More risky/adventurous in activities

Self-Presentation Behaviors that convey an image to others i.e., interpersonal self , or, looking glass self Behaviors may be different depending on who is present Women in one study behaved less intelligently if they believed an attractive man preferred unintelligent women Public Esteem More important than private self-esteem Public Behavior Acting for the audience

Where does Self-Esteem come from? Parent-child relationships: Showing acceptance, affection, interest, and involvement in children's daily lives Firmly and consistently enforcing clear limits on children's behavior Allowing children freedom within these limits and respecting initiative Favoring non-coercive forms of discipline Denying privileges and discussing reasons, rather than physical punishment

Where does Self-Esteem come from? Performance feedback Everyday feedback about our performance quality impacts our self-esteem. Social comparisons To interpret whether performance represents a success or failure, we need to compare our results with goals and expectations of ourselves and others. Downward or Upward

Good or bad?

Fluctuating Image(s) of Self Phenomenal Self (Working Self-Concept) Image of self that is currently active in person’s thoughts Self-concept of the moment Unusual aspects about you become prominent Being lone member of some category (gender, race, handicap, etc.) Heightens self-awareness Can impair performance

Phenomenal Self = Working Self-Concept Kevin lives in Canada and loves to play hockey. His self-concept is strongly connected with: “I am a hockey player”

Phenomenal Self = Working Self-Concept Kevin’s family moves to Alabama. Hockey is not as popular. Kevin adjusts his self-concept to: “I am an athlete. I used to play hockey.”

Why People Seek Self-Knowledge Appraisal Motive Looking for the truth about oneself Want honesty in their abilities Able to adjust self-effort if given truth

Why People Seek Self-Knowledge Self-Enhancement Motive Looking for flattering things about self Not seeking the truth Want to be reassured of good qualities only

Why People Seek Self-Knowledge Consistency Motive (self verification) Looking for confirmation about current belief about self Want honesty in something you already believe Want to be reassured of good and bad

Why People Seek Self-Knowledge Why would someone post their photo on “HotorNot.com” ? Appraisal Motive Looking for the truth about oneself Self-Enhancement Motive Looking for flattering things about self Consistency Motive Looking for confirmation about current belief about self

When Motives Compete Seeking self-knowledge: Most useful & accurate should win!! Appraisal Motive Weakest motive Self-Enhancement Motive Strongest motive (emotional appeal) Consistency Motive Second preference (cognitive appeal)

Self-Handicapping Self-Handicapping: avoid effort in the hopes of keeping potential failure from hurting self-esteem Failure can be blamed on obstacle

Self-Handicapping Behavioral handicapping Make a task harder in fear of not successfully completing that task If they do in fact fail, they can simply place the blame on the obstacles rather than placing the blame on themselves EXAMPLES: alcohol consumption, selection of unattainable goals, refusal to practice

Self-Handicapping Claimed self-handicapping Coming up with justifications for potential failures If they do not succeed in the task, they can point to their excuses as the reasons for their failures EXAMPLES: saying that you are experiencing various physical and psychological symptoms

Self and Information Processing

Self and Information Processing Self-Reference Effect Tendency for individuals to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance

Self-Reference Effect Example Researchers presented a list of words (e.g., friendly) and asked one of four questions about each word (Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker, 1977): • Is it a long word? • Is it a rhythmic word? • Is it a meaningful word? • Does it describe you? Participants were then asked to recall as many words as possible

Experiment.... Write down your favorite 5 letters of the alphabet. How many are actually used in the spelling of your name? All? Majority?