Social Self

Overview the purpose and adaptive/evolutionary function of the "self".

1. Social Psychology
Lecture 2, Week 2
The Social Self
Semester 2, 2008
Lecturer: James Neill

2. Overview
●What is the “self”?
●What is the “social
self”?
●Self-constructs
●Evolutionary functions
●Adaptational functions
●Self-complexity
●Social comparison
●Social feedback
●Strategic self-
presentation
●Self-monitoring
●Self-regulation

3. What is the self?

5. What is “self”?
●Describe yourself e.g.,
●“I am…” statements
●What do I promote?
●What do I defend?
●Usually includes social
roles e.g.,
●Gender, ethnicity
●Social identity
●Group memberships

7. Self
Groups
Culture
Environ-
ment
Note:
Fuzzy
boundaries

8. What is the “self”?
Many, varied theories about
the purpose and function of
the ‘self’ –
e.g., in arts, philosophy,
science, culture, religion, and
through history.

9. What is the “self”?
Psychologically...
collection of cognitively-held
beliefs that a person
possesses about
themselves.

10. What is the “self”?
However…
“Self” seems to extend
beyond the physical self
(body), to include
psychologically meaningful
personal possessions and
personal space.

11. What kinds of impressions are
these people trying to make,
using their clothing?

12. What is the “self”?
“The self is an important
tool with which the
human organism makes
its way through human
society and thereby
manages to satisfy its
needs.”

13. What is the “self”?
Traditionally, “self”
was seen as
representing
stable, genetically
determined
“character” – or
later, “personality”.

14. What is the “self”?
More recently, “self”
was understood to
evolve during a
lifetime,
i.e.
Partly stable, partly
changing.

15. What is the “self”?
Most recently, “self” has been further
complexified and increasingly seen
as:
●Dynamic & changeable
●Multiple / Plural
●Hierarchical
●Situationally & cognitively influenced
●Culturally constructed

16. What is the “self”?
The psychological self includes:
●Attitudes
●Cognitions
●Emotions
●Group Memberships (Social Identity)
●Ideal / Imagined Selves
●Memories
●Possessions
●Self-Beliefs
●Self-Concepts
●Self-Images
●Social Roles

17. What is the “self”?
To determine “What is self”,
use diagnostic clues:
●Who am I?
●What are you prepared to
defend?

18. 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

19. Which
ones are
most
aware of
their own
race?

20. What is the “social
self”?
●Humans are gregarious,
group-based creatures.
●A significant portion of our
‘self’ and its ‘behaviour’ is
socially directed and
influenced.

21. What is the “social
self”?
Some argue that ‘self’ is entirely
a function of the environment.
e.g., “Self” as a construct of post-
industrial, capitalist society and political
systems which promote self-identity and
choice-making, and then markets to the
“self”.

22. What is the “social
self”?
●Interpersonal self or social self
part of self that engages face-to-face, in
relation with others.
●Social roles -> Social identity or
Societal self
can include ethnicity, gender, age, place
of residence or any other social
categorization that helps characterize a
person’s identity.

23. Purpose of the self
●Gain social acceptance
●Play social roles
●Society creates and
defines roles
●Individual seeks and
adopts them

24. Self-ConstructsSelf-Constructs
(Operationalization)(Operationalization)
Self-EsteemSelf-Esteem
Self-ConceptSelf-Concept
Self-EfficacySelf-Efficacy
Self-CongruenceSelf-Congruence
illustrate how social psychologists study illustrate how social psychologists study
people’s selves, in cognitive, affective, people’s selves, in cognitive, affective,
and behavioral terms.and behavioral terms.

25. Self-esteem
●Global feelings of self-worth
●Value placed in & degree of liking
of self.
●Often based on and closely related
to social comparisons. (e.g., too
thin, too fat)
●People are motivated to see their
self as worthy/worthwhile (Fiske,
2004).

26. Self-esteem
●High Self-Esteem
●Positive views
●Low Self-Esteem
●Absence of strong positive
views

27. Self-esteem
●Healthy to have a slightly
inflated sense of self value
(Taylor).
●Self-esteem serves as a
sociometer for one’s standing
in a group (Fiske, 2004).
●Self-esteem has been
overemphasized in Western
society, to the detriment of
actual skill (Baumeister)

28. 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)

29. 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

30. 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

31. Distorted perceptions of
nondepressed
●Positive illusions
●Overestimate good qualities
●Underestimate faults
●Overestimate control over events
●Unrealistically optimistic

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. Self-presentation
●Behaviors that convey an image
to others
●Public esteem
●More important than private self-
esteem
●Public behaviour
●Acting for the audience

38. Functions of self-
presentation
●Social acceptance
●Increase chance of acceptance and
maintain place within the group
●Claiming identity
●Social validation of claims to
identity

39. 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

40. Self-concept
●Cognitive representations of the self.
●Now commonly seen as a set of multi-
dimensional and hierarchically organized
domains of self-concept, e.g.,
●Physical Self-Concept
●Academic Self-Concept
●Social Self-Concept
●Same-Sex Relations
●Opposite-Sex Relations
●Parent Relations, etc.
●Top-down vs. bottom-up debate

41. Self-efficacy
●Belief in one’s capacity to
succeed at a given task.
e.g. Public Speaking Self-Efficacy
●Bandura recommended
specific rather than general
measures of Self-efficacy.

42. Self-efficacy
●e.g. Social Self-Efficacy for Relating to
Teachers
1. I can get along with most of my
teachers.
2. I can go and talk with most of my
teachers.
3. I can get my teachers to help me if I
have problems with other students.
4. I can explain what I think to most of my
teachers.
5. I ask the teacher to tell me how well I'm
doing in class.
(Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 2005)

43. Rogers: Self-congruence
ACTUAL
IDEAL EXPERIENCE
Incongruence  Anxiety  Defense

44. Self has evolutionary
functions
●Self-bias
e.g., access to resources
●Self-organization / Self-
complexity
e.g., adaptability & self-insight/self-control
●Self-promotion
e.g., for increased likelihood of mating
●Social comparison
e.g., motivation to improve
●Social control
e.g., storage of social norms and rules

45. Self has evolutionary
functions
●Self-bias
e.g., access to resources
●Self-organization / Self-
complexity
e.g., adaptability & self-insight/self-control
●Self-promotion
e.g., for increased likelihood of mating
●Social comparison
e.g., motivation to improve
●Social control
e.g., storage of social norms and rules

46. Self has adaptational
functions
“People’s selves allow
them to regulate their
own behavior, an
advantage for both self
and group.”

47. Self has adaptational
functions
“The self can serve various
social psychological
functions; having a self is not
only knowing where your
skin ends, but also how to
get along in a group.”
(Fiske, 2004, p. 176)

48. Self-complexity
People generally see
themselves as more
complex and others as
less complex.

49. Self-complexity
There are individual variations
in self-complexity, with self-
complexity being
advantageous
e.g., less depressed, better able to
handle stress, etc.

50. Self-complexity
…includes having
multiple possible
selves.

51. Social comparison
Everyone uses social comparison to:
●Understand how they are doing
(through comparison with
similar others)
●Feel better
(through downward
comparison)
●To improve
(through upward comparison)

52. Social feedback
Symbolic interactionism:
All self perceptions are
based on one’s history
of social interactions.

53. Social feedback
Reflected appraisal:
One’s sense of self is
based on how one
perceives that others
perceives one.

54. Social feedback
Spotlight effect: People
tend to think other
people notice and
evaluate them more
than they actually do.

55. Social feedback
Transparency Effect:
People tend to think
that their inner self
‘leaks out’ and is more
obvious than it really is.

56. Self-discrepancies
Actual-Ideal -> Promotion Focus
(failure -> Depression)
Ideal-Ought -> Prevention Focus
(failure -> Anxiety)

57. Self-discrepancies
Self-evaluation maintenance theory
●More relevant the comparison,
the more threat
●Closer the person is, the more
emotion
(+ve or –ve)

58. Strategic self-presentation
●Ingratiation
(being liked)
●Self-Promotion
(being competent)
●Intimidation
(being in control)
●Exemplification
(Worthy, saintly)
●Supplication
(Helpless)

61. Self-monitoring
●High
(adjusts behavior to situation;
monitors situation)
●Low
(principled attitudes guide
behaviour)

62. Self-regulation
●Monitoring and controlling self-
presentation and behavior uses
up valuable self-regulatory
resources.

63. Self-awareness
●Attention directed at the self
●Private self-awareness
●Public self-awareness
●Usually involves
evaluative
comparison.

64. Self-awareness
In general, people spend
little time actually thinking
about themselves.
(but a lot of time is spent
thinking about self-presentation
and self-preservation)

65. Self-awareness
●Certain situations
(e.g., mirrors, cameras,
audiences, self-development
exercises, increase self-
awareness)
●Individual differences in self-
consciousness

66. 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

67. Self-awareness and
behaviour
Self-awareness
●Improves behaviour
●Enables people to be
more socially desirable

68. Self-awareness
Causes us to notice self-
discrepancies and can
produce temporary
reductions in self-esteem.

69. Self-awareness
To cope, we either adjust
our behavior to meet our
standards or withdraw from
self-focusing situations.
e.g., watch TV, play sport,
alcohol, suicide.

70. Self-awareness

71. Purpose of self-awareness
●Self-regulation
●Adopt the perspective of
other people
●Manage behavior in pursuit
of goals

72. 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

73. When motives compete
●Appraisal motive
●Weakest motive
●Self-enhancement motive
●Strongest motive (emotional
appeal)
●Consistency motive
●Second preference (cognitive
appeal)

74. Self-knowledge and the
duplex mind
●Automatic egotism
●Automatic, self-enhancing
●Modesty
●Conscious, deliberate control

75. 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 the person
who owns them

76. Can self-concept change?
●Self-concept tends to be 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.

77. References
●Fiske, S. T. (2004). The self: Social to the
core. In S. T. Fiske (2004). Social beings: A
core motives approach to social psychology.
(Ch 5, pp. 169 – 214). Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley.
●Hoover-Dempsey, K.V., & Sandler, H.M.
(2005). Final Performance Report for OERI
Grant # R305T010673: The Social Context of
Parental Involvement: A Path to Enhanced
Achievement. Presented to Project Monitor,
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.
Department of Education, March 22, 2005.

78. Open Office Impress
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