1. Identity and the Self
Aim: To begin exploring the codes that make us who we are and which we use to express identity

2. Consider these two points of view – which approach do you find yourself in most agreement with?
“I am who I am because of the time and place I was born and the culture I was raised in. My family gave me a set of values and so has my town, my religion, my community and my country. Add these all up and that’s who I am”
“I have got an identity – at least my friends seem to think so, but I’m not really sure who I am. I know that I’m more like some people than others, but this changes as I try out new identities. I don’t really want to take on an identity if it means I can’t be different when I want to be”

3. First Approach
“I am who I am because of the time and place I was born and the culture I was raised in. My family gave me a set of values and so has my town, my religion, my community and my country. Add these all up and that’s who I am”
This view sees identity as a product of culture – we are fashioned by social and cultural forces together with a sort of genetic blueprint which moulds us into the individuals we are.

4. Second Approach
“I have got an identity – at least my friends seem to think so, but I’m not really sure who I am. I know that I’m more like some people than others, but this changes as I try out new identities. I don’t really want to take on an identity if it means I can’t be different when I want to be”
This view has a different take on the relationship between culture and the individual. Here, culture provides a set of resources which we are free to use in the construction of our own identity. Rather than being fixed into place by powerful forces, identity is more like a butterfly.

5. The Debate Neither is right or wrong
They represent two sides of a debate over the nature of identity

6. Components of Identity
Career
Political views
Religious beliefs
Relationships
Ethnic identity
Personality
Body image

7. SELF All the Characteristics of the Person
Self-concept: everything the person believes to be true about him/herself
Includes traits, preferences, social roles, values, beliefs, interests, self-categorization
Self-understanding develops throughout the lifespan

8. Self-Awareness in Infancy
Dot-of-rouge experiment
Recognize selves in mirror at months
15-23 months
Personal pronoun use
Picture recognition
Self-referencing, ownership, self-monitoring

9. Self in Early Childhood
Confusion of self, mind, and body
Concrete descriptions
Physical descriptions
Activities – what they do
Overestimation of abilities

10. Self – Middle & Late Childhood
Shift to internal traits and abilities
Social role descriptions
Real and ideal selves
More realistic about abilities

11. Perspective Taking
Opposite of egocentrism – the ability to assume another’s perspective
Children who are good at this are popular
Development progresses through stages (Selman)

12. Self in Adolescence Abstract-idealistic Self-conscious/ preoccupied
Contradictions within self
Fluctuating picture across time/situations
Possible selves
Self-integrations as they get older

13. Self in Adulthood Self-awareness (emotional intelligence)
Accept own good and bad qualities
Possible selves become more realistic
Life review – evaluation of successes & failures; more likely as you get older

14. Self-Concept This is the idea we have of ourselves as individuals
Consists of 3 elements
- SELF IMAGE
- IDEAL SELF
- SELF-ESTEEM

15. Self-Worth/image Meaning Purpose
Living up to your identity & your destiny

16. Activity – The Ideal Self
The ideal self is the kind of person you would like to be
Think about the 3 designations:
- Intellectual Self- deals with your intelligence and your ability to make good decisions
- Emotional Self- deals with your emotions and how you deal with them and also your self-esteem
- Bodily Self- has to do with your body and how good you take care of it
Sum up the ideal male or female according to society or the media. How far is your ideal self similar or different to these?

17. The Ideal Self An easier concept in theory that is in in practice
Trying to probe the Ideal Self in any kind of public context results in gatekeeping: we filter out information that could cause negative perceptions
Usually get role models and the ideal self confused

18. Activity – Role Models
Who are your role models and heroes/heroines? What qualities do you admire in them? If you would like to be more like these people, what more than their success (money, fame, adulation etc) do you want?

19. Self-Esteem: What is it?
Evaluative part of the self-concept
emotional
Difference between the real and ideal self
Have you realized your potential?
Do you value the trait, but have little potential?
Ideal self includes the “ought” and the “wish” selves
Measure of our sense of meaning in life
This includes purpose
Self-respect (Have you lived up to who you are?)

20. Self-Esteem: What is it?
Influenced by the reactions of others
Generalized other, great ubiquitous “they”
People are susceptible to flattery
It is tougher to accept criticism

21. Self-Esteem: What is it?
Self-serving bias
Overrate ourselves
Blame our failures
Claim our victories
As a rule, only depressed people truly have low self- esteem

22. “Why is being wrong so socially traumatic to students?”
What’s the problem?
“Why is being wrong so socially traumatic to students?”
This comment on a discussion list pretty much sums up why I’m interested in this topic.
Why are students afraid of making mistakes and is being wrong, in classes or otherwise, socially traumatic?
Organizations asking why their new college graduate employees fall apart at criticism
There has been a lot of discussion in the past couple of years about new college graduates and feedback
Many managers say that students get very defensive at criticism, can’t handle negative feedback, and expect to get raises and promotions immediately 22

23. The Self-Esteem Movement
Propagated primarily in the educational system
Curricula aimed at increasing students’ self-esteem
Everyone born after 1970…
Focus has been on increasing self-esteem that is not rooted in reality
Researchers now suggesting that students need to be able to identify their talents
The Psychology of Self-Esteem Branden (1969)
Self-esteem was viewed as vital to success
Journal articles on SE doubled in the 70s & 80s, increased another 50% in 90s, # books doubled
Schools developed self-esteem enhancing curricula 23

24. What Was Taught “Keep your head up, feel good about yourself” vs.
“take responsibility for your work”. Forsyth et al (2007)
“You can do anything!”
No use of the word “failure”
Everyone got all good grades, doing little work
Unrealistic expectations of success
Students report being bored in class
Researchers attempted a self-esteem manipulation with D & F students after a test and told them either to “keep your head up, feel good about yourself” vs. “take responsibility for your work”.
Students who were told to feel good about themselves actually ended up doing worse 24

25. What Resulted: Attitudes
“Being happy is the most important thing”
We should always feel good about ourselves
Generation Me discusses many of the changes that occurred during the self-esteem movement
There is a debate about whether there has been an increase in the narcissism scores of kids who grew up in the self-esteem movement, but not a lot of debate about the fact that there were these changes
One of the biggest issues was that kids were encouraged to not focus on their real skills, because that resulted in “contingent” self-esteem.
Decrease in negative feedback in schools; some disallowed red pens for correcting mistakes, some stopped correcting certain mistakes
Thought that any negative feedback would result in the crumbling of children’s self-esteem 25

26. What Resulted: Attitudes
Carol Dweck’s research Effort is considered a sign of stupidity When children are told that they are smart, they choose an easier task. Panic when they are challenged or think they are engaging in “a lot of effort”.
Effort vs. Ability
When children are told that they are smart (brilliant), choose easier task
Effort is a sign of stupidity
Panic when they are challenged
I’m supposed to be good at everything!
Often think of effort as much less than what we would (Zinn et al, under review)
This doesn’t hold across all cultures 26

27. Result – Confused Parents
Encouraged delicate handling of children
Shielded them from negative emotions, criticism
Praised kids regardless of what they did
Carol Dweck’s research
Parents often think that helping their kids build self- esteem is done by shielding them from criticism and praising their talents
Protecting kids from hurt, failure, criticism, & disappointment has made them more vulnerable
Parents think SE is something you give to kids by shielding them from criticism and praising their talents
“In the old days, the parents would be driving kids home from Little League saying ‘when you struck out, you didn’t keep your eye on the ball.’ Now they say, ‘the ref robbed you.’”
Protecting kids from hurt, failure, criticism and disappointment has made them more vulnerable. 27

28. What Resulted - Behaviors
“We’ve created college students who are woefully vulnerable to pinpricks”
Students seem to be incapable of handling negative feedback.
Being told that you can and will be able to do anything results in young adults who feel jipped when they discover that this may not be the case (no one has ever told them that this shouldn’t be the case)
When students are confronted by something that may be difficult for them they are surprised and don’t know how to react 28

29. What Self-esteem Cannot Do?
Improve school performance
Improve social relationships
Guarantee good leadership
Prevent risky behavior such as drinking
Promote health

30. References
Wikipedia
Google