LECTURE 2 – THE SELF

1. LECTURE 2 – THE SELF January 10th, 2008 PSYC 2120R 3.0 – Social Psychology http://silver.yorku.ca/2008w-hhpsyc2120r-03 "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” John Donne, 17th century poet

2. Road Map • Knowing Ourselves • How we come to know ourselves • Self-control and self-efficacy • Feeling Good about Ourselves • Theories • Self-serving Biases • Self-Esteem

3. Who am I? • I am _________________________ • I am _________________________ • I am _________________________ • I am _________________________ • I am __________________________

4. Who am I? • Self-Concept: the content of the self; our knowledge about who we are • Self-Awareness: the act of thinking about ourselves • Self-Schema: beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information Duality of our self-perception The “Known” or “Me” (self-concept) and the “Knower” or “I” (self-awareness) William James (1842-1910)

5. Self-Concept • Children – physical characteristics • “I have brown eyes” • Adults – psychological traits, characteristics, how others view us

6. Self-Concept People’s Self-Concepts Differ: • Independent versus Interdependent Selves • Possible Selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) • The selves we wish or hope to be and the selves we fear becoming • Self-concept clarity (Campbell) • “My beliefs about myself often conflict with one another” • “In general I have a clear sense of who I am and what I am”

7. Function of the Self Three main functions • Managerial • Helps to define our relationship to the physical and social world • Helps us to engage in long-term planning • Organizational • Self-schemas • The information we notice, think about, and remember is organized around our self-view • Emotional • Helping to determine our emotional responses AGAIN, ABCs: Managerial (B), Organizational (C), Emotional (A)

8. Road Map • Knowing Ourselves (self-concept) • How we come to know ourselves • Self-control and self-efficacy • Feeling Good about Ourselves • Theories • Self-serving Biases • Self-Esteem

9. Knowing ourselves Two of several possible ways: • Introspection • Social Interaction

10. 1. Introspection • The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives Problems • Don’t use it as often as you might think • Believed reasons for thoughts and feelings may be wrong “Self-contemplation is a curse that makes an old confusion worse” Poetry by Roethke

11. Introspection: Dating Couples… • Wilson (1985): Distinct mental systems are used to control and explain our behaviours • How happy are you with your relationship? • Question predicted whether still dating months later • Analyze your feelings about your relationship and then rate how happy you are with it? • Did not predict whether still dating • Might have analyzed less important factors

12. Introspection: Two-Factor Theory of Emotion • Schachter & Singer (1962) • Physiological arousal • Appropriate explanation • Gave an arousing pill (epinephrine) or non-arousing pill to participants (told for vision) • Given personal questionnaire that makes a confederate angry • Measured outrage at an intrusive questionnaire • When aroused, more outraged

13. 2. Social Interaction • Looking Glass Self (Cooley, 1902; Mead, 1934) - We see ourselves as a reflection of how others see us. • Social Comparison Theory We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people Social relationships help to define the self. We have different “selves” that respond to different social situations. William James (1842-1910)

14. Social Interaction: Social Comparison Theory • We compare ourselves with others who are similar on important attributes or dimensions (or anyone who is around…) • We compare ourselves to others when there is no objective standard • Downward Social Comparisons can make us feel better • Upward Social Comparisons can inspire us (sometimes…)

15. Lockwood & Kunda (1997) Superstars like me… • First- and final-year accounting students read about a final-year superstar accounting student • Provide “unrelated” self-ratings of ability

16. Lockwood & Kunda (1999) • Thinking about their usual self or their “best” self • Read article about a more senior superstar

17. Road Map • Knowing Ourselves • How we come to know ourselves • Self-control and self-efficacy • Feeling Good about Ourselves • Theories • Self-serving Biases • Self-Esteem

18. Self-Control • “the exertion of control over the self by the self” • An attempt to change the way he or she would otherwise think, feel, or behave • Baumeister’s: self-control resembles a muscle

19. Self-Efficacy “a sense that one is competent and effective” • Believing that you are high in self-efficacy can lead you to persist when facing difficulties • Differs across domains

20. Road Map • Knowing Ourselves • How we come to know ourselves • Self-control and self-efficacy • Feeling Good about Ourselves • Theories • Self-serving Biases • Self-Esteem

21. What makes us happy? The recipe for happiness • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/

22. Theories • Self-Discrepancy Theory • Higgins (1987) • Self-Completion Theory • Wicklund & Gollwitzer (1982) • Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory • Tesser (1988) • Self-Verification • Swann

23. Theories: Self-Discrepancy • We become distressed when our sense of who we truly are (actual self) is discrepant from our desired or expected self-conception (ideal or ought self; Higgins, 1987) • Actual to Ideal discrepancy can lead to depression-related emotions • Actual to Ought discrepancy can lead to anxiety-related emotions • Want to minimize the gap • Work harder • Dismiss personal responsibility

24. Theories: Self-Completion • When people experience a threat to a valued aspect of their self-concept, they are highly motivated to seek social recognition of that identity (Gollwitzer & Wicklund, 1985).

25. Theories: Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) • One’s self-concept can be threatened by the behaviour of a close individual (Tesser, 1988) • Determined by (a) closeness of individual and (b) relevance of behaviour

26. Theories: SEM continued • Study by Campbell, Fairey, and Fehr (1986) • Test 1: Both receive 6/12 • Test 2: You receive 8/12; other receives 11/12 • Which test do you prefer?

27. Theories: SEM continued • If not a self-relevant domain (i.e., great hockey player) – we can bask in the reflected glory of another. • If is a self-relevant domain (i.e., great cook) – we reduce the threat by: • Distancing from the person • Redefine task relevance • Become more skilled in the domain!

28. Contrast: Self-Verification • Remember: two main needs • Verification of people's self-views (thoughts and feelings about the self). • 95 married couples (Swann et al., 1992) • Greater marital commitment when the spouse’s views matched their own

29. Road Map • Knowing Ourselves • How we come to know ourselves • Self-control and self-efficacy • Feeling Good about Ourselves • Theories • Self-serving Biases • Self-Esteem

30. Self-Serving Biases • Explaining positive and negative events • Better-than-average • Unrealistic Optimism

31. Biases: Explaining Positive and Negative Events Differently • Upcoming Test • If perform well, will make an internal, stable attribution (“I’m smart!”) • If perform poorly, will make an external, unstable attribution (“I was unlucky”) • Group performance • If succeed – you contributed more than others • If fail – you contributed less to the failure than others

32. Biases: Better-than-average • How many expect to do better than the class average on the next exam? • Subjective dimensions (“moral goodness”) trigger this tendency more than objective dimensions (“intelligence”). • Better-than-average attributes are considered more important.

33. Biases: Unrealistic Optimism • How likely are you to: Get divorced? Get fired from your job? Draw a good salary? Develop a drinking problem? Die from lung cancer if you don’t stop smoking? Upside: Promotes self-efficacy, health, and well-being (but need a dash of realism) Downside: May not adequately prepare for the worst

34. Road Map • Knowing Ourselves • How we come to know ourselves • Self-control and self-efficacy • Feeling Good about Ourselves • Theories • Self-serving Biases • Self-Esteem

35. Self-Esteem • Defined as: “a person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth”

36. Books on Self-Esteem

37. Self-Esteem • Defined as: “a person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth” • Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale • Scoring: reverse the numbers for items 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 (1 becomes 4, 2 becomes 3, 3 becomes 2, 4 becomes 1) • Add all numbers for the 10 items • Scores range from 10 to 40 with higher scores reflecting higher self-esteem • 30-40 High SE; 10-20 Low SE

38. Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne, & Correll (2003) • Measured Explicit Self-Esteem (Rosenberg scale) • “the conscious and deliberately reasoned evaluations of self” • Measured Implicit Self-Esteem (IAT) • “highly efficient evaluations of self that occur unintentionally and outside of awareness” • Implicit Association Task • Reaction time measure – speed of associating self-words (my, myself) with positive words (holiday, warmth) as opposed to negative words (cockroach, vomit) • See https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ to try one

39. IAT 1 – Training 1 Pleasant Unpleasant Happiness L R

40. IAT 1 – Training 2 Me It Myself L R

41. IAT 1 – Critical Trial 1 Me It Pleasant Unpleasant It L R

42. IAT 1 – Critical Trial 2 It Me Pleasant Unpleasant It L R

43. Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne, & Correll (2003) • Measured Explicit Self-Esteem (Rosenberg scale) • Measured Implicit Self-Esteem (IAT) • Examined relationship with Narcissism • Grandiose self-views (potentially concealing unacknowledged self-doubt) • “I really like to be the center of attention” • “I like to look at myself in the mirror” • “I am more capable than other people”

44. Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne, & Correll (2003) • Participant with High Explicit SE but Low Implicit SE showed the highest levels of narcissism (defensive?) • Participants with High Explicit SE and High Implicit SE showed low levels of narcissism (secure) • Suggests we may need to re-conceptualize self-esteem

45. Questions

46. Next Class • Social Cognition and Social Perception • Assigned Reading: Chapter 3 • Reminder: Midterm 1 is on January 31st