RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig
SESSION NO. / WEEK NO. 6
5. SOCIAL SELF
Overview
This module will talk about human beings as complex creatures that
generally attempt to view themselves positively. As they attempt to do
so, they are heavily influenced by the social forces that surround them.
With this, we will discuss in detail all the social aspects of the self by
exploring the ways how social situations and concepts influence our
self-concept and self-esteem.
Study Guide
You can complete this module at your own phase. It means you
can take every part to study depending on your capability to do
so.
This module starts with a brief overview about what the topic is
all about. It will also tell you the learning outcomes we would want
you to accomplish after completing this module. The presentation
of topic has complete resources you can check for further readings
and clarifications.
Requirements involve learning activities and assessment which
are available on the last part of the module. Take time to study
each lesson carefully to apply these new learnings appropriately
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Learning Outcomes
•
Explain the role of the environment in the formation of Social Self
•
Explain the concept of social identity and why it is important to the self.
•
Discuss theories and concepts that explain the social self.
•
Describe how self-evaluation maintenance theory helps to explain how
we react when other people’s behaviors threaten our sense of self.
•
Describe the concept of self-presentation and the various strategies we
use to portray ourselves to others.
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Topic Presentation
Every human has the need to belong. According to Aristotle, 'Man is by
nature a social animal’. The self is not created in isolation. We are not
born with our own perceptions about who we are. Most of the time, we
gain these impressions through our observation and interaction with
others. How do we know if we are good or bad? Beautiful or ugly? These
can only be answered when we look at those around us.
The self has meaning only within the social context. The more we
interact with others, the more we are grasping the concept of who we
are relative to others. Mostly, the social situation we are in defines our
self-concept and our self-esteem. We rely on the so-called ‘social reality’
to help us determine what to think, feel, and do. Therefore, this form
our social self and identity.
THE SOCIAL SELF
The social self refers to the significant portion of the self and its behavior
that is socially directed and influenced. This involves our interaction
with the environment in both directions as we consider how the
environment shapes us as a person and how we help shape the kind of
society we live in with the type of self we have.
The self is influenced by the groups we belong to. We have primary
groups that we consider as the closest among the people we interact
with such as family, peers, and friends. We have secondary groups who
we interact less such as colleagues, acquaintances, and the like.
Aside from the groups, the society in general, through the agents of
socialization also affects our social self. We are bound to interact with
family, peer groups, religion, school, economic systems, legal systems,
and mass media. Our interaction to these agents greatly affects how we
internalize our own identity.
Last but not the least is the person’s culture. The construct of the self
may differ from the culture where they came from. How we present
ourselves publicly is also affected by the culture. One’s culture could
teach him to be independent, individualist, and egocentric, while the
non-western culture could teach him to be more interdependent—
gaining connectedness rather than individuality. Any of these cultures
can be adapted by a person and will become a significant foundation of
his social identity.
SOCIAL IDENTITY
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Henri Tajfel contributed the theory of Social identity where he
emphasized how a person’s sense of who they are is based on their
group membership. He reiterated that the groups where we belong to
are important sources of our esteem and gives us a sense of social
identity—the sense of belonging to the social world.
People divide how they see others through the ‘them’ and ‘us’
perspective which can be done through the process of social
categorization.
Tajfel believed that stereotyping among groups is a normal cognitive
process as individuals tend to group things together most of the time.
When we stereotype, we tend to emphasize (1) differences among
groups. (2) The similarities of things in the same group.
As we evaluate others using the ‘them’ and ‘us’ perspective, there are
three mental processes involved in Social Identity Theory and they
take place in a particular order.
Social
Categorization
Social
Identification
Social
comparison
1. CATEGORIZATION
We categorize objects for us to understand and identify them. In the
same way, we categorize people (including ourselves) in order to
understand our social environment. We use social categories to affirm
which category we fit in within the society.
Categorization helps us to function in a normal manner as it gives us
cues on the appropriate behavior we should portray when dealing with
other people within the social context. As a student, we will be
respectful towards our teachers as authority figures while we may not
give the same level of respect to our colleagues and peer groups.
Categorization is the foundation of how we learn to respond to people
according to how we categorize them and ourselves too.
2. SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION
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In this stage, we adopt the identity of the group we have categorized
ourselves at. This means that we will internalize the identity we
acquired from the category we belong to and from there, we will act as
one. If you are a student, you will act as a student—studying and
conforming to the norms prescribed to students. Remember that the
said identification will be emotionally significant to you and your selfesteem is bounded to the group where you belong.
3. SOCIAL COMPARISON
Once you are able to categorize yourself and at the same time, establish
your identity within a group, you will then tend to compare yourselves
and your group to others.
In social comparison, our self-esteem can only be maintained if
see our group as favorable among other groups. This is a
component in establishing prejudice because once two
considered themselves as rivals; they will keep competing
another so they can maintain their high self-esteem.
we can
critical
groups
to one
To further fuel our self-worth as part of the group, we try to enhance
our self-esteem by basking in the reflected glory of our in-groups. This
means that we tend to emphasize the positive achievements our groups
have to boost our self-esteem. On the other hand, this is not the case
when you do intragroup comparisons. When we compare ourselves to
other people in the group where we are in, their successes may hurt us
more than it boost our esteem.
CONCEPTS EXPLAINING THE SOCIAL SELF
THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF
The concept of the looking-glass self tells us
that part of how we see ourselves comes from
our perception of how others see us (Cooley,
1902).
We use our social interactions as form of a
‘mirror’ so we will know other’s perception
about us. We use these judgments that we
receive from others as a measure of our worth,
values, and behavior.
This theory suggests that our self-concept is
not built on our solitude—isolation from others,
but from our interaction with them through different social settings.
That way, the person and the society are not separate entities but they
complement one another in the formation of the social self.
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How can we take a look on the looking glass self when applied to a
person? It occurs in three steps:
1. An individual in a social situation imagines how they appear
to others.
2. That individual imagines others’ judgment of that appearance.
3. The individual develops feelings about and responds to those
perceived judgments.
LABELING THEORY
One of the concepts that explain one’s
social self is Labeling theory. It
pertains to instances where an
individual accepts a label that was
given to him by someone else after
they have performed a certain action
that deemed inappropriate for a
specific social situation. A person can
be called ‘stupid’ for not being able to
do something expected from him. Over
time, this person will internalize and accept this label and assimilates
himself in the behavior—telling and showing everyone that he is one.
If we are repeatedly labeled and evaluated by others, self-labeling may
occur. Such labels will reach our self-concept no matter how untrue
these labels could be. And the effects of these labels depend mostly on
the nature of the label attributed to us. In these situations, those who
self-label may experience internalized prejudice on how we treat
ourselves. We can be too harsh on ourselves by internalizing much of
these labels without thinking that these are just labels that can still be
worked on.
Oftentimes, our behavior towards ourselves is far more honest and
critical than our behavior towards others and this is where the problem
lies. Too much internalized prejudice may lead to a more negative selfconcept and psychological adjustments.
SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY
Social comparison occurs as the last stage of the social identity theory
and as a concept, it happens when we learn about our abilities, skills,
appropriateness and validity of our opinions, and about our relative
social status by comparing our own attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
with those of others.
It arises on dimensions where there are no correct answers or objective
standards to rely on. Therefore, we rely on others’ beliefs for
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information. Examples would be what should be the proper attire for a
job interview? What type of wedding should you get? These social
situations do not have a definite standard but they all rely on what
other people believe would be the best response.
We use social comparison as a way for us to develop our self-concept—
form accurate conclusions about our own attitudes, abilities, and
opinions. However, social comparison has a significant impact on our
self-esteem as well. When we are able to compare ourselves to others
favorably, we feel better about ourselves. But when others are
performing better than we are, our self-esteem tends to suffer.
We do social comparison in two directions and both sides affect our selfesteem in different ways:
1. Downward social comparison occurs when we attempt to create a
positive image of ourselves through favorable comparisons with others
who are worse off than we are.
Example: Your examination score that is a few points higher than your
friends.
2. Upward social comparison occurs when we compare ourselves with
others who are better off than we are. Upward comparison may lower
our self-esteem by reminding us that we are not as well off as others.
With such comparisons that may threaten our self-esteem and selfconcept, self-evaluation maintenance theory arises.
SELF-EVALUATION MAINTENANCE THEORY
This theory asserts that our self-esteem can be threatened when
someone else outperforms us, particularly if that person is close to us
and the performance domain is central to our self-concept. When
threats occur, the theory states that we will typically try to rebuild our
self-esteem using one of three main strategies:
1. The first is distancing, where we redefine ourselves as less close to
the person in question.
Example: Playing less with someone who kept beating you in a game.
2. The second option is to redefine how important the trait or skill
really is to your self-concept.
Example: You deciding that the game is not an important aspect of who
you are so you will choose another game to play.
3. The third strategy is to improve on the ability in question.
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Example: If you really love the game, you will keep practicing so you
can improve and beat your groupmates.
By using these strategies, we will be able to regain our self-concept and
esteem little by little which can be shattered through continuous
comparisons. However, some people cannot cope up easily on such
comparisons which could affect how they present themselves to other
people.
SELF PRESENTATION
This is the tendency to present a positive self-image to others with the
goal of increasing our social status. It is a basic and natural part of our
everyday lives for we all wanted to be seen positively by everyone. The
only question regarding our self-presentation is its degree of honesty.
Are we portraying who we really are or are we portraying something else
to gain validation and approval from more people?
The sociologist Erving Goffman (1959) developed an influential theory
of self-presentation and described it as a mainly honest process, where
people need to present the parts of them required by the social role that
they are playing in a given situation. If everyone plays their part
according to the accepted social standards, then the social situation
will run smoothly and they can avoid embarrassment.
However, other theorists have viewed self-presentation as a more
strategic endeavor, which may involve not always portraying ourselves
in genuine ways because people tend to continuously seek validation
from others. The more they are validated from the false sense of self,
the more they deviate from the supposedly honest process of selfpresentation.
There are different self-presentation strategies used by people so they
can elicit different emotions from a variety of people they interact with.
No matter who uses self-presentation, the tendency to overdo it is
possible.
Ingratiation is to create liking by using flattery or charm. You may tend
to keep showing charm or to keep giving flattery remarks so that people
would like you more. Unfortunately, overdoing it can make people
dislike you for trying too hard to be liked.
Intimidation is to create fear by showing that you can be aggressive.
People who intimidate others wanted to stir fear among other people by
giving cues that he can show aggression either actively or passively.
Exemplification is to create guilt by showing that you are a better
person than the other. People who overuse the exemplification by
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boasting may end up being perceived as arrogant particularly if that
boasting does not appear to reflect their true characteristics.
Supplication is to create pity by indicating to others that you are
helpless and needy. Too much of this would cause people to unlike you
as you become too dependent on what others could provide for you.
Self-promotion is to create respect by persuading others that you are
competent. We promote ourselves through the display of positive
physical characteristics—improving our appearance, posture, and
earning a status by collecting expensive possessions.
GENDER APPROACHES IN SELF-PRESENTATION
According to Dovido and his colleague’s study about the relationship of
social power to visual displays between men and women, men are more
likely to present themselves in an assertive way, by speaking and
interrupting others, by visually focusing on the other person when they
are speaking, and by leaning their bodies into the conversation.
Women, on the other hand, are more likely to be modest; they tend to
create status by laughing and smiling, and by reacting more positively
to the statements of others.
Such difference in approach is probably because of the different
reinforcements that men and women receive for using particular selfpresentational strategies. Men tend to speak out assertively because
our culture tends to depict assertiveness as more desirable in men than
in women.
Self-presentation usually operates in short-term social situations. If we
are to talk about long-term self-presentation projects, where we seek to
build a good reputation with particular audiences, we will be talking
about Reputation Management.
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
Reputation Management is a form of long-term self-presentation, where
individuals seek to build and sustain specific reputations with
important audiences. People often project distinct reputations to
different social audiences. Most of the time, people in authority should
maintain a good reputation to gain and maintain their people’s respect
such as how politicians should be good civil servants to maintain their
constituents’ trust and teachers being a role model to the younger ones
on what behaviors are appropriate.
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Although the desire to present the self favorably is a natural part of
everyday life, both person and situation factors influence the extent to
which we do it. There are some who might do it more frequently than
others because they need it more than others. The individual
differences also play a role in reputation management for some are
naturally better at self-presentation while others find it very difficult.
To better watch out ourselves on how we use self-presentation
strategies and how we regulate our actions, self-monitoring is a
necessary part of reputation management:
Self-monitoring refers to the tendency to be both motivated and
capable of regulating our behavior to meet the demands of social
situations.
High self-monitors are particularly good at reading the emotions of
others and therefore are better at fitting into social situations. On the
other hand, Low self-monitors generally act on their attitudes, even
when the social situation suggests that they should behave otherwise.
References
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Buunk, A. P., & Gibbons, F. X. (2007). Social comparison: The end of a
theory and the emergence of a field. Organizational Behavior and
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Buunk, B. P., Zurriaga, R., Peiró, J. M., Nauta, A., & Gosalvez, I. (2005).
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and to individual differences in social comparison orientation. Applied
Psychology: An International Review, 54(1), 61-80. doi:10.1111/j.14640597.2005.00196.x
Deaux, K., Reid, A., Mizrahi, K., & Ethier, K. A. (1995). Parameters of
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Festinger, L. U. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human
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Galinsky, A. D., Wang, C. S., Whitson, J. A., Anicich, E. M., Hugenberg,
K., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2013). The reappropriation of stigmatizing
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labeling. Psychological
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König, C. J., Hafsteinsson, L. G., Jansen, A., & Stadelmann, E. H.
(2011). Applicants’ self‐presentational behavior across cultures: Less
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