Madiha Anas Department of Psychology Beaconhouse National University Meeting the Self

Self in History Aristotle, Plato, Homer  Self = Soul Descartes: “I think; therefore, I am.”  Self = Consciousness Locke, Hume  Self = Sensory experience Kant, Schopenhauer  Self as Knower  Self as Known

What is the Self? Infancy:  one recognizes that one is a separate individual Childhood:  one labels personal qualities and abilities Adolescence:  the self becomes critically important as a basis for making life decisions Middle & Late Adulthood:  the self continues to change, though generally not as extensively

Areas of Self Self-concept Self-esteem Self-serving bias Self-presentation Self and the culture

SELF-CONCEPT The set of beliefs we hold about who we are.

The self-concept The self-concept is the sum total of a person’s beliefs (i.e., cognitions) about their own personal attributes. These beliefs can be about affect, behaviour, cognitions, motives, etc.

Sources of Self-Concept  Conceptions of the self vary greatly depending on the culture one lives in. WesternEastern IndependentInterdependent Emphasizes uniquenessEmphasizes shared attributes Separate from othersEmphasizes social relationships

Emotions and Self-Concept Those with an independent self frequently experience ego-focused emotions such as pride or frustration Those with an interdependent self experience other- focused emotions such as amae  Japanese emotion  Amae: "to depend and presume upon another's love or bask in another's indulgence", a sweet feeling of dependency  Can you think of one such emotion from our culture?

Aspects of Self-Concept Self-schemas describe the dimensions along which you think about yourself. Self-schemas:  Guide behavior in relevant situations.  Aid memory for relevant information  Influence inferences, decisions, & judgments

Aspects of Self-Concept Possible selves are conceptions of potential future selves.  represent hopes and fears for the future  help people focus and organize plans for pursuing goals.

Aspects of Self-Concept Self-Discrepancies  Discrepancies between one’s actual self-concept and one’s hoped for ideal selves produce dejection-related emotions.  Discrepancies between the actual self and our ought selves produce rejection-related emotions. Actual Self Ideal Selves Ought selves Dejection-type emotions Rejection-type emotions Self-discrepancy

Self-Esteem The result of the self’s evaluations of the self- concept.

Self-esteem Self-esteem is the evaluation we make of ourselves. We have an overall sense of self-esteem as well as self-esteem in more specific domains. Evaluations can be positive, negative, neutral, ambiguous. We also have  implicit self-esteem or less conscious self-esteem  explicit self-esteem More conscious self-esteem

Self-Esteem How we feel about ourselves  High self-esteem Happier Fewer interpersonal problems  Low self-esteem Prone to psychological and physiological ailments Problems with social relationships and underachievement

How self-esteem affects us High self-esteem has all sorts of benefits.  Can you think of examples? Conversely, low self-esteem predicts an altogether poorer life experience.  Think of examples.

High Self-Esteem High self-esteem denotes thinking well of oneself  Can be formed in three levels: 1. Healthy self-confidence 2. Exaggerated sense of self 3. Conceited, egotistical, arrogant sense of self

What is associated with high self-esteem? Don’t worry about failure, rejection, humiliation as much Have a clearer, more confident understanding of their identity (who am I?) Less likely to change opinions and attitudes in the face of persuasion Positive affect

Low Self-Esteem Negative, unflattering view of the self In practice very few people have “low” self- esteem Some people indicate that they “sometimes” feel they have low self-esteem

What is associated with low self-esteem? Take a more pessimistic approach in order to protect the self…  Worry more about failure, rejection, and humiliation Not the same as fear of success—they still want to succeed But will look for ways to avoid failures, rejections, and setbacks

Self-esteem: Questions to think about Does someone else’s self-esteem have an effect on you? If yes, how? Is self-esteem something constant in all cases or does it fluctuate?

Self-serving Bias Tendency to attribute one’s success to internal causes, but attribute failures to external causes

Self-serving bias Kingdon (1967) interviewed successful & unsuccessful American politicians about major factors in successes & failures. Tended to attribute wins to internal factors (hard work, reputation) but failures to external (lack of money, national trends) Actually involves 2 two biases – 1.) Self-enhancing bias  (taking credit for success) 2.) Self-protecting bias  (denying responsibility for failure)

Self-Presentation Self-presentation involves attempting to control the impressions we convey to others to obtain desired outcomes.

Self-Presentation  Public self-presentations can affect our private self-concepts.  To be successful in self-presentation, we need to be able to step into other people’s shoes.

Self-Presentation People generally intend to make a good impression. They do this by  conforming to the norms of the situation  self-promotion  ingratiation or flattery

Self-Presentation Self-promotion can be tricky, as one tries to avoid appearing egotistical. Modesty is another tricky self-presentation strategy  it is most effective when the person has a success that is well-known to others.

Culture and the Self: A Note The coverage of the self in this chapter has disproportionately emphasized the independent self. Many of the processes discussed may take a different form or be nonexistent in cultures with an interdependent self.