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Identity & Self - Coggle Diagram
Identity & Self
Social comparison theory
Definition: compare to others to evaluate self
- What I should think of self (doing well?)
- How I should act (cultural norms)
Comparison types
- Downwards: someone worse
** For behaviours & abilities
** -> enhance self-image
- Upwards: someone better
** Avoid -> threaten self-image
** Unless using as goal for self-improvement
- Lateral / similar: broad social categories (gender, race, age, experience)
** For perceptions & feelings
* Accurate assessments
Positive self-image = 'master motive' of humans
- If compare with those who share social category (particularly if disadvantaged)
Self-evaluation theory: compare interpersonally to another individual
- Personal identity salient, intragroup comparison
- Align with someone worse, e.g. bad athlete makes us feel better
Social identity theory: compare to another in the same group/category
- Social identity salient, intergroup comparison
- Align with someone better, e.g. good athlete enhances team
- Depersonalisation: self & group members interchangeable
- Bask in reflected glory: group success is own success
- In-group favouritism
- Accentuation effect: emphasise similarities with ingroup, diff with outgroup
- Conform to group norms
Self-serving biases
- Above average effect: people think they're better than average
- Forget / refute -ve feedback, emphasise +ve feedback
- Believe responsible for success, not responsible for failures
- Unrealistic optimism: believe chances for success slightly higher than peers' -> higher motivation, persistence -> higher performance, satisfaction, health
** Cross cultural, increasing
Assumptions
- How we think / feel / behave depends on comparison used
- Positive self-esteem motive -> strategic about comparisons
Self-presentation
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Assume know self better than others
- Because access internal states (feelings, thoughts, intentions)
- BUT can make us less accurate (e.g. knowing intentions, rather than using just behaviour)
Self-other accuracy
- Record background noise & code, ask self & close others to predict
- => Sometimes self more accurate, sometimes others
- Because attend to different behavioural features
Self-perception bias
- Rate self, others rate self, asked if biased
- => Not accurate, but know when biased (overly +ve)
Self-presentation tactics
- Self-promotion: claim we're good at something
- Self-verification: induce others to agree with our views
** Prefer people to verify view of self, even if -ve
- Ingratiation: convey respect for others, sincerely (e.g. praise)
- Self-deprecation: imply not as good as others
- Balance presenting authentic self vs self-enhancing ideal self
Social identity theory
Self-perception depends on person-social identity continuum - many 'selves' - to reduce uncertainty in social environment
Personal identity
- Experience self as individual - personal attributes + relationships
- How you differ from others in group -> intragroup comparison with in-group members
- Self-description depends on referent group
- As many identities as number of relationships
- e.g. parent
Social identity
- Experience self as member of social group
- Similar to others in group
- How you differ from other groups -> intergroup comparison with outgroup members
- As many identities as groups
- e.g. student, Chinese
Salience: part of ID that is focus of attention
- Affects thoughts/feelings/behaviour
- Depends on social context
- Prefer identity that reduces uncertainty & produces self-enhancement
Salience = accessibility + fitAccessibility: how quickly/easily comes to mind
- Chronically: use frequently
- Situationally: cued by context
Fit: whether fits social context
- Structural: relevant to social context
- Normative: makes sense of others' behaviour
Salience factors
- Context
- Distinctiveness (e.g. female surrounded by males)
- Importance to self
- Language of others (e.g. noun -> social, adj -> personal)
Context changes self-definition
- Gender: e.g. females more helping
- Language: e.g. English - individualistic, Chinese - interdependent
Belonging & group ties - positive social identities
- Improves psychological & physical health
- No. of important group memberships -> self-esteem (not no. interpersonal relationships)
Past self: self perceived to be far in past
- Criticise distant past self to feel better about current self
Future possible self
- Suffer in present, to achieve valued future possible self
- Use role models
- Try to avoid -ve future possible self
Self-esteem
Definition: attitude people hold of themselves
- Varies across time & circumstances (explicit & implicit)
Measures
- 10-item Rosenberg scale: explicit, conscious - could be biased by self-presentation & norms
** Success -> higher self-esteem, failure -> lower
- Implicit Associations Test: unconscious
** Nurturing parents -> higher self-esteem, overprotective -> lower
- Explicit & implicit often not correlated
- High self-esteem: self-talk confirms views; less vulnerable to threat after failure (implicit & explicit)
- Low self-esteem: self-talk doesn't help
- Achieving valued goal -> self-esteem (not vice versa)
Culture
- Immigration lowers self esteem - but improves with self-efficacy & social support
Gender: women lower self-esteem than men (particularly if devalued)
Definition
3 overlapping concepts (operationalisations)
- Self-concept: beliefs about self (cognitive)
- Self-schema: mental frameworks to store descriptions e.g. physical, interests, values, groups, future
- No. of self-schemas -> overarching self-concept
- More self-schemas -> higher self-complexity
- Contribute more if important to us or extreme (extensive)
- Hard to change, help navigate social world
- Identity: how we view ourselves (esp in social context)
Self & social interaction inherently linked - reciprocial = symbolic interactionism - self & social interactions influence each other
Self-discrepancy theory
- Relate to self-related emotions/goals/behaviours
- Come from perspective of self & significant others
- Actual: how we are now
- Ideal: how we want to be (internal)
- Ought: how we should be (external - significant others)
- Discrepancy -> -ve emotion -> reduce discrepancy (self-regulate)
** Actual vs ideal: dejection (disappointment, dissatisfaction)
** Actual vs ought: agitation (anxiety, fear, threat)
Self-knowledge
Definition: formulate, organise info about self
Introspection: analyse self
- Misleading: no conscious access to emotional factors
* Past: don't know reasons for feelings / behaviour -> false conclusions
* Future (affective forecasting): focus on big +ve or -ve -> think will be happier/sadder
* Spending: happier spending on others than self
- Helpful: if conscious, rational -> accurate (not unconscious, emotional)
Observer's standpoint: see ourselves as we think others see us
- Can be more accurate
- Focus on dispositional (traits), not situational factors
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