2. Madiha Anas Department of Psychology Beaconhouse National University Meeting the Self

3. 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

4. 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

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

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

7. 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.

9. 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

10. 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?

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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

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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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?

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

24. 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)

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

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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.

29. 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.