The Social Self:
Lecture #2 topics
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Who am I?
How do we know who we are?
How do we see ourselves?
How do we want to be seen?
How do we feel about ourselves?
Who am I?
self-concept:
 sum total of beliefs we have of ourselves
 answers to “_________ ?”
 composed of self-schemas: mental templates
that guide how we process _________
information
Who am I?
“Korean”
“Ph.D. student”
“short”
“psychology”
“female”
“dog lover”
Who am I?
the self-reference effect:
enhanced _________ & _________ of selfrelevant information
How do we know who we are?
introspection:
 looking _________ to our own thoughts &
feelings
 can be inaccurate when causes of our own
behaviour are not _________
 e.g., Nisbett & Schachter’s (1966) fake pill study
How do we know who we are?
RESULTS (Nisbett & Schachter, 1966):
Shock tolerance
HIGH
LOW
No pill
Fake pill
How do we know who we are?
self-perception theory (Bem, 1972):
 observing our own _________ to infer our
thoughts & feelings
 occurs when internal states are _________ /
_________ can’t account for our behaviour
How do we know who we are?
facial feedback hypothesis:
changes in _________ can trigger changes
in subjective emotions
 e.g., Strack’s (1988) & Laird’s (1974, 1984) studies
How do we know who we are?
(courtesy of Gary Larsen)
How do we know who we are?
social identities:
 _________ memberships; the “_________” part
of our self-concepts
 our self-concepts are defined in relation to other
people
How do we know who we are?
social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954):
we compare ourselves to _________ when we
can’t _________ assess our own abilities,
opinions, or emotions
 e.g., Schachter & Singer’s (1962) vitamin shot study
How do we know who we are?
RESULTS (Schachter & Singer, 1962):
placebo
happy
confederate
angry
confederate
druginformed
druguninformed
How do I see myself?
private selfconsciousness:
 focus on _________
thoughts & feelings
 more likely to act
according to
_________ standards
public selfconsciousness:
 focus on _________
 more likely to
_________ behaviour
to _________ social
situation
How do I see myself?
self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1989):
discrepancy between how we are & how we want
to be determines how we feel about ourselves
ought self:
how you _________ be
actual self:
who you are _________
ideal self:
how you _________ to be
How do I see myself?
an unfortunate victim of “choking”…?
How do I see myself?
How do I see myself?
How do I see myself?
dealing with excessive self-awareness:
 act _________ with personal values/ socially
accepted ideals to reduce self-discrepancies
 withdraw from self-awareness completely
 e.g., _________ , _________ , _________ ,
_________ , _________ , _________
How do I want to be seen?
self-presentation:
shaping what others think of us
_________
_________
_________- _________
How do I want to be seen?
How do I want to be seen?
How do I want to be seen?
self-presentation:
shaping what others think of us
strategic
ingratiation
_________ - _________
self-promotion
How do I want to be seen?
self-monitoring:
controlling one’s behaviour to meet social
expectations
How do I want to be seen?
high self-monitors:
 _________ behaviour
according to social
expectations
 behaviour _________
across situations
low self-monitors:
 less concerned about
adjusting actions to fit
social expectations
 behaviour _________
across situations
 more likely to engage
in _________
 more likely to be
_________
How do I feel about myself?
self-esteem:
 _________ component of the self consisting of
_________ & _________ self-evaluations
 trait & state (context-dependent) self-esteem
 individual differences in stability
How do I feel about myself?
sociometer hypothesis
(Leary & Baumeister,
2000):
 based on evolutionary
perspectives
 self-esteem = barometer of
social _________ /
_________
 social inclusion =
_________ self-esteem
terror management
theory (Greenberg et
al., 1997):
 self-preservation vs.
death awareness
 “_________ _________ ”
help us cope with
mortality
 high self-esteem =
_________ adherence to
worldviews
How do I feel about myself?
Heine (1999):
Japanese self-esteem
scores:
Low
High
Low
High
Canadian self-esteem
scores:
How do I feel about myself?
East Asian cultures:
 _________
 interdependence
 emphasis on the
_________
 individual needs are
_________
 ego enhancement is
_________
Western cultures:
 _________
 independence
 emphasis on the
_________
 individual needs are
_________
 ego enhancement is
_________
How do I feel about myself?
1
2
3
4
5
not at all
a little
moderately
very
extremely
To what extent are you:
(1) …happy?
(2) …friendly?
(3) …smart?
(4) …funny?
(5) …friendly?
(6) …hard-working?
(7) …tidy?
(8) …creative?
(9) …confident?
(10) …easy-going?
How do I feel about myself?
We’re all better than average:
 50% of business people rate their morals as “90”
on a scale from 1 to 100
 86% of Australians rate their job performance as
“above average”
 most university students believe they will live 10
years longer than their statistically predicted age
of death
How do I feel about myself?
false uniqueness effect:
 we’re more unique than we really are
 belief that our _________ are _________
common than they really are
false consensus effect:
 _________ people support our opinions than
they really do
 belief that our _________ are _________
common than they really are
How do I feel about myself?
implicit egotism:
 _________ preference for the letters in our
_________ over other letters in the alphabet
 influences preferences, career choice,
residence, & other major life decisions
How do I feel about myself?
surgeon
gin
kangaroos
So-Jin Kang
St. John’s, NFLD
Saskatoon, SK
How do I feel about myself?
taking credit for success, but not for failure:
we make _________ attributions for
_________ outcomes & _________ attributions
for _________ outcomes
unrealistic optimism:
we’re more likely to experience _________
events & less likely to experience _________
ones
How do I feel about myself?
self-handicapping:
 making excuses for past & future performance
 e.g., “_________”
 sandbagging
 e.g., “_________!”
 self-sabotage
 e.g., “_________”
BIRG-ing:
 “basking in the _________ glory” of others
How do I feel about myself?
self-evaluation maintenance:
when a significant other outperforms us,
self-esteem
threatened?
unimportant
domain
no
important
domain
yes
response
How do I feel about myself?
downward social comparisons:
 comparing ourselves to people who are
_________ off than us
 most likely to occur after a _________ event
 self-sabotage
downward temporal comparisons:
 we’re better today than we were in the past
How do I feel about myself?
self-esteem is beneficial:
 optimism & other positive illusions help us cope
with adversity
 promotes happiness, caring, & productivity
 high self-esteem people: _________ adjusted
on personality tests
How do I feel about myself?
self-esteem has a dark side:
people with extremely _________ self-esteem
can be _________ : excessive self-love,
unjustified positive & grandiose self-views
 e.g., Bushman & Baumeister (1998) noise blast study
How do I feel about myself?
RESULTS (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998):
Noise blast intensity
HIGH
Essay praised
Essay criticized
LOW
Low narcissism
High narcissism