Chapter 3 - The Self

• What is the Self?

• Where Self-Knowledge Comes From
• Self and Information Processing
• Self Esteem, Self-Deception, and Positive
Illusions
• Self-Presentation
 What is the Self?

• Self Knowledge
– Self Awareness
• Interpersonal Self
– Public Self
• Agent Self
– Executive Function
 True Self – Two Approaches

• Self as impulse
– Inner thoughts or feelings
• Self as institution
– Public behaviors, especially official roles
 Cultural Differences of Selfhood

• Independent self-construal
– What makes the self different
• Interdependent self-construal
– What connects the self to the group
 Purpose of the Self

• Gain social acceptance

• Play social roles
– Society creates and defines roles
– Individual seeks and adopts them
 Self-Awareness

• Attention directed at the self

– Private self-awareness
– Public self-awareness
• Usually involves evaluative comparison
 Self Compared to Standards

• Concepts of how things might possibly be

– Ideals, norms, expectations, moral
principles, laws, past experiences
• Around age 2, begin use of standards
– Beginning of self-awareness
 Self-Awareness and Behavior

• Self-awareness
– improves behavior
– enables people to be more socially
desirable
• When self-awareness feels bad – seek to
escape it
– By drinking alcohol – removing inhibitions
– Through suicide – extreme escape
 Purpose of Self-Awareness

• Self-regulation
• Adopt the perspective of other people
• Manage behavior in pursuit of goals
 Food for Thought - Eating Binges
and Escaping the Self
• Importance of self-awareness
– Eating allows escape from negative
thoughts about self
– Eating can serve as a distraction from
negative thoughts about self
 Food for Thought - Eating Binges
and Escaping the Self
• Dieters are high in public self-consciousness
– Low in private self-awareness
• Includes ignoring hunger
• Losing awareness of “fullness”
Where Self Knowledge Comes From
 Looking Outside
• Looking-Glass Self (Cooley, 1902)
– You imagine how you appear to others
– You imagine how others will judge you
– You develop an emotional response as a
result of imagining how others will judge
you
• Generalized Other (Mead, 1934)
– Feedback from others tell us who and what
we are
 Evaluating Looking-Glass Self

• People do respond to feedback from others

• May not know how people regard them
– People are reluctant to give negative
comments
– People may not be receptive to negative
comments
 Looking Inside

• Introspection
– Privileged Access
• Limitations of Introspection
– Development – Children under 11
– Nisbett and Wilson attack on privileged
access (1977)
– We may know what we think and feel, but
not why
 Looking At Others

• Social Comparison
– Upward social comparisons
– Downward social comparisons
Self-Perception and Overjustification Effect

• Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1965)

– Intrinsic motivation
– Extrinsic motivation
• Overjustification Effect
– Intrinsic motivation diminishes for activities
associated with expected rewards
 Fluctuating Image(s) of Self

• Phenomenal Self (Working Self-Concept)

– Unusual aspects about you become
prominent
– Being lone member of some category
• Heightens self-awareness
• Can impair performance
 Why People Seek Self-Knowledge

• Appraisal Motive
– Looking for the truth about oneself
• Self-Enhancement Motive
– Looking for flattering things about self
• Consistency Motive
– Looking for confirmation about current
belief about self
 When Motives Compete

• Appraisal Motive
– Weakest motive
• Self-Enhancement Motive
– Strongest motive (emotional appeal)
• Consistency Motive
– Second preference (cognitive appeal)
 Tradeoffs - Self-Handicapping

• Self-Handicapping
– Failure can be blamed on obstacle
– Success assumes higher competence
• Berglas & Jones (1978) experiment
– Noncontingent choose obstacle to
maximum performance on second IQ test
 Self-Knowledge and the Duplex Mind

• Automatic Egotism
– Automatic, self-enhancing
• Modesty
– Conscious, deliberate control
Self and Information Processing
 Self and Information Processing

• Self-Reference Effect
– Information bearing on self is processed
more deeply and remembered better
• Endowment Effect
– Items gain in value to person who owns
them
 Can Self-Concept Change?

• Self-Concept is consistent with public self

– People expect you to stay the same
– Changing social environment may change
inner self
– Convince others that you have changed
– Allow others to see your changed behavior
• Memory Shifts to Fit New Self-Concept
Self-Esteem, Self-Deception,
and Positive Illusions
 Self-Esteem

• High Self-Esteem
– Positive views
• Low Self-Esteem
– Absence of strong positive views
 Is Bad Stronger Than Good?
Basking and Blasting
• Group membership may enhance positive
feelings about self (Cialdini et.al, 1976)
– Basking - Linking oneself to winners
– Blasting - Criticizing a rival group
• People show a stronger tendency to blast
(negative) than bask (positive)
 Is Bad Stronger Than Good?
Basking and Blasting
• Loyal fans experience changes in their own
confidence level based on the success or
failure of their team
– Losing had a stronger effect than winning
 Low Self-Esteem

• Research on Low Self-Esteem

– Do not want to fail
– Self-concept confusion
– Focus on self-protection
– More prone to emotional highs and lows
• Myth of Low-Self Esteem in United States
Feel Good About Failure?

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 Distorted Perceptions of Nondepressed

• Positive Illusions
– Overestimate good qualities
– Underestimate faults
– Overestimate control over events
– Unrealistically optimistic
 Self-Deception Strategies

• Self Serving Bias

• More skeptical of bad feedback
• Junk Mail Theory of Self-Deception
• Comparisons with those slightly worse
• Skew impressions of others to highlight own
good traits as unusual
 The Social Side of Sex
Self-Esteem and Saying No to Sex
• Evidence does not show that high-esteem is
associated with youngsters saying no to sex
• Link between self-esteem and virginity in men
(age 20) but not women
• Women with high self-esteem ignore
pregnancy risk and underestimate dangers of
sex
 Benefits of High Self-Esteem

• Initiative
– Confidence you can do the right thing
– More adventurous in activities
• Feels Good
– Helps one to overcome bad feelings
– If they fail, more likely to try again
 Why Do We Care About Self-Esteem?

• Sociometer Theory
– Self-esteem is a measure of social
acceptability
• Self-esteem feels good
– Theory of terror management
 Negative Aspects of High Self-Esteem

• Narcissism
– Subset of high self-esteem
– Tend to be more aggressive and violent
• Higher Prejudice
– Tend to think their group is better
 Pursuit of Self-Esteem

• May have harmful consequences

– Can compromise pursuit of competence
– Impairs autonomy
– Pressure to meet expectations of others
– Weakens individual intrinsic motivation
– Impairs learning
– Can damage relationships
– Can be harmful to health
 Self-Presentation

• Behaviors that convey an image to others

• Public Esteem
– More important than private self-esteem
• Public Behavior
– Acting for the audience
 Functions of Self-Presentation

• Social Acceptance
– Increase chance of acceptance and
maintain place within the group
• Claiming Identity
– Social validation of claims to identity
 Good Self-Presentation

• Demonstrate Positive Traits

• Behave with Consideration of Audience
• Tradeoff
– Tendency toward favorable presentation
• Modesty
– More prevalent in long-term relationships
• Risky Behaviors
 What Makes Us Human?

• What makes us special?

– Self-Awareness
– Self-Concept
• Self is a human tool for
– Gaining social acceptance
– Participating in culture