The Self

Self concept - how do we know we are us?

• The mirror/mark test is generally used to test animals and young children to see if they recognise themselves and posess self-awareness. The animal is marked and then given access to a mirror. If the animal then touches or investigates the mark, its taken as an indication that the animal perceives the reflected image as itself, rather than of another animal. As of 2016, only great apes, dolphins, orcas, and the Eurasian magpie have passed the mirror test
• When looking in the mirror, young infants (6-12 months) seem to think the baby in the mirror is another baby. They may smile and approach the 'other baby' in a friendly way. Toddlers (20-24 months) seem to clearly recognise that the reflection in the mirror is their own. This is demonstrated in mirror tests

We experience changes from childhood to adulthood: self-recognition and bodily self-concept come along with awareness of appearance, hobbies, and activities.

Harry Triandis: 3 selves 

• private self: the way a person understands themselves (e.g I'm a hard-working student)
• public self: the way a person is perceived by others (e.g others think I'm smart)
• collective self: a person's sense of belonging to a social group

Triandis suggested that different cultures emphasise different aspects of the self. In collectivistic societies, the public and collective selves are given much greater emphasis than the private self. In individualistic societies, the private self receives the greatest emphasis.

Individualism vs. collectivism

• Individualistic cultures are characterised by individualism - the prioritisation or emphasis of the individual over the group. These cultures are oriented around the self, and being independent. People are loosely tied. Personal achievements are emphasised
• Collectivist cultures emphasise family and group goals above individual needs or desired. Rules promote unity, family and selflessness. Working with others and cooperating is the norm; everyone supports one another. "The nail that stands out gets pounded down" - Japanese proverb

Independent view of the self (generally found in individualist cultures)

• A way of defining oneself in terms of one's own thoughts, feelings and actions
• Uniqueness is valued and desired; focus on differentiation
• Self-actualisation is an important goal
• Focus on individual agency

Interdependent view of the self (generally found in collectivist cultures)

• Way of defining oneself in terms of one's relationships to other people, and recognising one's behaviour as often determined by others
• Connectedness is valued
• Social and relational motivation
• Seek consistency with other's views and expectations
• Increased mimicry, pro-social behaviour, non-confrontational strategies

Self-concept evolved during individual life and is shaped by culture, cultural and societal expectations related to gender, and can be influenced by historical context. Relationship to others is important to self-concepts - independent vs interdependent self.

We know ourselves through introspection (process whereby people inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings and motives), observing own behaviour, attributing causes for behaviour internally or externally, and comparing with others. People do not rely on introspection often, it is not always pleasant to think about ourselves and can lead to rumination.

Self-awareness theory

• The more people report thinking about themselves the more they are likely to be in a bad mood
• When people focus their attention on themselves they evaluate and compare their behaviour to their internal standards and values. They become more objective and judgmental observers of themselves
• In front of mirrors (when self-aware) people hold to their moral standards more, avoid cheating etc (Beaman et al, 1979).

Self-perception theory

• When our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behaviour and the situation in which it occurs
• We infer inner feelings from behaviour, only when not sure how we feel
• People judge whether their behaviour really reflects how we feel or if the situation made us act that way

Attribution theory

• We explain behaviour (of others and our own) by observing it and explaining to ourselves its causes, attributing them to inernal vs. external factors
• Intrinsic motivation: people engage in an activity because of enjoyment and interest, not external rewards or pressures
• Extrinsic motivation: people engage in an activity because of external reasons, not because of enjoyment and interest

Over-justification effect: rewards can hurt intrinsic motivation. In the face of external reward people underestimate the extent to which their behaviour was motivated intrinsically

Mindsets

• Fixed mindset: the idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change
• Growth mindset: the idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow
• Mindset affects motivation - people with fixed mindsets more likely to give up and do poorly on subsequent tasks after failure

Two-factor theory of emotions (Schachter & Singer, 1962): states that emotion is based on 2 factors - physiological arousal and cognitive label. According to the theory, when an emotion is felt, a physiological arousal occurs and the person uses the immediate environment to search for emotional cues to label the physiological arousal. This can sometimes cause misinterpretations of emotions based on the body's physiological state. When the brain doesn't know why it feels an emotion, it relies on external stimulation for cues on how to label the emotion. Schachter & Singer (1962) conducted a study which found that out of 4 groups, participants who were given no information about an injection's side effects were more susceptible to environmental cues determining their mood. These findings support the 2 factor theory.

Misattribution of arousal: Arousal from one source can enhance the intensity of how the person interprets other feelings. Dutton & Aron (1974) studied this. In their experiment, males walked over either a scary suspension bridge above a deep ravine, or a stable and safe bridge. At the end of each bridge, an attractive female experimenter met the participant, gave them a questionnaire which indcluded an ambiguous picture to describe and her number to call for further questions. Men who walked over the scary bridge were more likely to call the woman to follow up, and their stories had more sexual content.This is because they had transferred (misattributed) their arousal from fear to high levels of sexual feeling

Social comparison theory

• We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to others
• The theory revolves around 2 important questions: when do you engage in social comparison, and with whom do you choose to compare yourself?
• Upward social comparison: comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability
• Downward social comparison: comparing ourselves to people who are worse than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability

We adopt other people's views in some circumstances - "looking glass self" Cooley, 1902. We see ourselves and the world thorugh the eyes of other people. We may adopt other's views when we want to get along with them. Social tuning - the process whereby people adopt another person's attitudes.

Self-control: ability to make choices and direct our actions in the present and plan for the future. Ability to subdue impulses in order to achieve longer-term goals. Willpower.

Thought suppression: when we attempt to avoid thinking about something. We particularly cannot do this. Participants in one study were asked to verbalise their stream of consciousness for 5 minutes, while trying not to think of a white bear. If a white bear came to mind, they were told to ring a bell. Despite explicit instructions to avoid it, participants thought of a white bear more than once per minute, on average.

Self-esteem: reflects an individual's overall subjective emotional evaluation of their own worth. Self-esteem compasses beliefs about oneself, as well as emotional states. Smith & Mackie (2007): "the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it". Low self-esteem is associated with low self-control and low self-efficacy and depression (Baumeister et al, 2003). High self-esteem motivates to persevere in times of difficulty (Taylor & Brown, 1988), is related to narcissism, and protects from mortality salience - thoughts of death and related anxiety (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997).

Narcissim:

• The pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own atrributes. The term originated from Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water.
• It may be a conviction about one's own unparalleled greatness contigent on recognition by others (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001)
• Addiction to self-esteem (Baumeister & Vohs, 2001)
• Associated with low empathy and interpersonal aggresiveness
• Twenge & Foster (2010): percentage of first-person pronouns in the lyrics of the 10 most popular songs from the year 1980 - 2007, and average scores for college students on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory measured. Steady increase in both - may suggest that narcissism may be increasing