The Person in the Situation: Self-Concept, Gender, and Dispositions Chapter Five The Person in the Situation: Self-Concept, Gender, and Dispositions

Dispositions and Self-Esteem Dispositions are consistencies across time and settings like traits, they are enduring individual differences Self-esteem is a kind of disposition people’s judgments of their own worthiness

Self-Concept and Identity Who am I? Who am I?! self-concept is the information about ourselves that resides in memory identity is the collection of important concepts that define an individual Self-concept is formed through social comparison and self-perception

Figure 5.1 Percent of schoolchildren who mentioned their sex in spontaneous self-description.

Priming and Situational Distinctiveness Spontaneous self-concept is the collection of aspects of identity that are available to awareness at any time priming those aspects of identity brings them to the forefront of consciousness the distinctiveness of an identity trait in a given situation makes that aspect of identity salient

Me v. We Identity is also shaped by social and cultural factors social identity theory addresses our identification with a group and the benefits we derive from it the minimal intergroup situation demonstrates that we favor members of our ingroup, to the detriment of members of an outgroup

Optimal Distinctiveness Theory Sure, we identify with an ingroup but we also want to be seen as distinctive individuals Optimal distinctiveness theory examines how we strike a balance between similarity (with an ingroup) and distinctiveness (as an individual)

Cultural Differences in Identity Independent versus interdependent selves our membership in an individualist versus collectivist culture can shape our identity identity may be a matter of “me” in an individualist culture, and “we” in a collectivist culture nonetheless, members of a collectivist culture can appreciate their personal distinctiveness

Self-Esteem: Liking for the Self Most, but certainly not all, people have positive self-esteem Self-esteem derives from personal experience, reflected appraisals by others, relationships, social comparison, group comparisons

High Self-Esteem: Yippee! People with high self-esteem typically have more certain self-views People with high self-esteem engage in self-serving judgments People with high self-esteem are happier than those with low self-esteem People with high self-esteem have greater satisfaction with their personal relationships

High Self-Esteem: Eh? Narcissism represents an exaggerated love of the self threatened egotism predicts the sometimes hostile reaction by narcissists to challenges to their self-views People with secure high self-esteem confidently hold positive self-views People with defensive high self-esteem hold positive self-views that are fragile and vulnerable to threat

Concept Review

Gender and Social Behavior Gender stereotypes are expectations about how women and men should behave Women and men don’t differ on most dispositions however, men are higher in homicidal aggression than are women women and men differ in aspects of mate selection and romantic attraction women and men differ in helping styles

Causes of Gender Differences Biological explanations hormonal differences, evolutionary basis of parental investment Social and cultural explanations socialization, cultural constraints A little of both? evolutionary and social factors interact to predict gender differences in behavior

Interactions Between Persons & Situations Self-monitoring: individual differences in relying on external or internal cues to guide behavior Need for cognition: individual differences in liking to think Achievement motivation: individual differences in performance goals Uncertainty orientation: individual differences in learning new things about oneself

Dispositions and Health Dispositional optimism is associated with lower distress in several areas Intelligence is positively correlated with health and longevity Type-A coronary-prone behavior is associated with stress-related illness