1. Social Psychology by David G. Myers 9th Edition
The Self in a Social World
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2. Questions for Discussion
Are our impressions about ourselves generally accurate?
Are our impressions about others generally accurate?
How does our social surroundings shape our behavior?
Do our attitudes determine our behaviors or do our behaviors determine our attitudes?
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3. The Self in the Social World
“At the center of our world, more pivotal for us than anything else, is ourselves”
“If you are a person with vision loss, you have dealt with it. You wear glasses or contact lenses. However, if you are a person with hearing loss, the odds are 3 in4 that you have not dealt with it. Why don’t hard of hearing people, unless their need is profound, regard hearing aids as glasses for ears?
We spend billions of dollars on hair dye, teeth whiteners, botox, face lifts, etc.
Why may this be?
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4. The Self in the Social World
We are concerned with our self image.
But do others really care, or are they so preoccupied with themselves that they don’t notice?
Has it ever happened to you, that something you thought was very noticeable went unnoticed by someone?
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5. Spotlights and Illusions
Spot Light Effect: the idea that others are paying more attention to one’s appearance than they really are.
This phenomenon is very common among teenagers, because they have a heightened sense of “self-consciousness” and fear of social rejection
Experiment Conducted in Cornell University: Students were asked to wear embarrassing Barry Manilow t-shirts to class. The students thought at least half of their peers would notice, but only 23% did.
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6. Spot Lights & Illusions
Illusion of Transparency: The illusion that our private feelings or beliefs can be easily “found out” by others
Ex. thinking that someone else can “see right through you”
If we forget to bring a gift to a party we think “everyone thinks I’m a jerk”
We agonize over things others hardly notice
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7. The Self in the Social World
Your attitudes about how you “should” present yourself to other people will influence how you act in various social situations, such as at work, a social gathering, or with your family members.
Can you describe different ways you behave, based on the social situation?
What are some attitudes you have which influence how YOU behave?
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Self-Concept: Who Am I?
Our sense of self
Self-concept: A person’s answers to the question “Who am I?”
Take a few minutes and write down the first five answers that come to mind when you think about this question.
This is your self-concept.
Self-schemas: the elements of your self concept and the beliefs by which you define yourself.
Self-reference effect: the tendency to process efficiently and remember well information related to oneself.
When we can relate things to ourselves we remember them better
Possible selves: Images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future
In the future, I want to be (name 5 things):
In the future, I don’t want to be (name 5 things):
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9. Other Components of the Self
Your self-esteem is your overall sense of self-worth which you continually use to evaluate your skills, traits, strengths, and weaknesses.
Your self-esteem both affects and is affected by the social roles that you play.
Your self-esteem can be positively or negatively affected by experiences you have with significant people in your life, such as family members, friends, romantic partners, and coworkers or supervisors at your job
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Self-Concept: Who Am I?
Development of the social self
The roles we play:
College student, parent, sales person, etc. At first, we may feel self conscious, but these roles are slowly absorbed into our sense of self.
Social identity:
The social definition of who you are: your race, religion, gender, academic major, etc.
When you are in a group that has a completely different social identity we can become self conscious. Example: a black student on an all white campus.
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Self Concept
Social comparisons:
How do we know that we are short or tall? Rich or poor? Smart or dumb?
We compare ourselves to others. We may feel smart amongst certain people, dumb amongst others, handsome in one group, ugly in another.
Social comparisons diminish our satisfaction
Success and Failure:
Success feeds self-esteem
Other people’s judgments:
When people think well of us, it helps us think well of ourselves. Can you think of any examples?
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Who Am I? The Self
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Self-Concept: Who Am I?
Self and Culture
Individualism:
the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications (Western Culture)
Collectivism:
giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often extended family) and defining one’s identity accordingly (Asia, Africa, Central and South America)
Interdependent self:
Construing one’s identity in relation to others
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14. What Affects Self-Concept?
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Self-Concept: Who Am I?
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Self-Concept: Who Am I?
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Self-Concept: Who Am I?
Self-knowledge: “There is one thing, and only one thing in the whole universe which we know more about than we could learn from external observation. That one thing is ourselves”
Explaining our behavior: Is our behavior always easy to explain?
Why did you choose this university? Why did you lash out at your roommate? Why did you fall in love with that person?
Sometimes we know, other times we don’t.
Has there every been a time when you could not explain your behavior?
Predicting our behavior: People also err at predicting their behavior.
Dating couples commonly think they will be together for a long time, while family members and friends often know better. Why do you think this is so?
Predicting our feelings: Sometimes we think we will feel a certain way, but then we don’t.
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Self-Esteem
Self-esteem: Overall self-evaluation of self-worth
Self-esteem motivation:
When those with high self esteem fail, they sustain their self worth by perceiving others as also failing.
The “dark side” of self-esteem
Low self esteem predicts increased depression, drug use, and other forms of delinquency.
When self esteem is threatened, people may react by putting others down.
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19. Perceived Self-Control
Self-efficacy:how competent or effective you perceive yourself to be at completing tasks and generally “getting through life.”
A strong sense of self-efficacy has been linked with assertiveness, high self-esteem, less anxiety, and less depression (Bandura, 1997).
Locus of control: how much you feel “in control of” your life circumstances. Someone with a weak locus of control would tend to feel like a “victim” of outside forces, rather than feeling capable of determing one’s situation in life.
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Locus of Control
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Is It All About Control?
“If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.”
(Jesse Jackson, The March on Washington, 1983)
If you believe that you are in control of your destiny, through choices and action plans, are you capable of achieving anything, in spite of bad circumstances?
Can anyone overcome bad circumstances? Why or why not?
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Learned Helplessness
Learned helplessness occurs when you believe that you have no control over events in your life.
Learned helplessness can cause depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, and substance abuse (Seligman, 1975).
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Learned Helplessness
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Self Serving Bias
The self-serving bias is our tendency to attribute our successes to our own abilities and talents and to attribute our failures to external factors, such as bad luck or having negative circumstances in life.
The group-serving bias is our tendency to view people in a group to which we belong (ethnic or professional group) as “better than” those who belong to a different type of group.
Is this true of most people?
Do you tend to do this?
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25. False Consensus and False Uniqueness
The false consensus effect refers to our tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people agree with an opinion that we have.
The false consensus effect also refers to our tendency to believe that “everyone” must do the same thing, in order to explain our own bad behaviors.
We do this to make ourselves feel better about our opinions and actions. Do you do this?
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26. False Consensus and False Uniqueness
The false uniqueness effect refers to our tendency to view our talents and accomplishments as unusual, or not typical of “most people.”
We do this as a means of boosting our self-esteem.
It is good to have a strong sense of self-esteem, but we must also keep our accomplishments in perspective. In other words, STAY HUMBLE!
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27. Some Final Concepts about the Self within the Social World
Self-presentation is expressing yourself in a manner which creates a positive impression upon others and also helps to preserve your self-esteem.
Self-monitoring is behaving how others expect you to behave, so that you will receive social acceptance. This can be an adaptive skill, but how could it be harmful to your self-image?
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28. Some Final Concepts about the Self within the Social World
Self-handicapping is protecting your self-image by behaving in a way that can serve as an easy excuse for later failure.
Ex. This occurs when you don’t put forth your maximum effort on a task due to a fear of failing at it. Then you can say, “Well, I wasn’t trying that hard anyway.”
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Unrealistic Optimism
According to Neil Weinsten (1982), many of us have an unrealistic optimism about our futures. We think we will get better jobs than most of our classmates, be happier, make more money, etc.
Why do you think this is so?
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