The Social Self
Social Psychology
Chapter 3
September 3, 2004
Class #2
Self-Concept

Self-Concept: Set of beliefs and perceptions
about oneself

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Helps determine how individuals will behave
Inconsistency between self-concept and experience
evokes anxiety and threat
Self-schemas

Beliefs about oneself that help our processing of
important self-relevant information
Self-Perception Theory

Bem (1972)
We learn about ourselves by watching our own
actions…
 Do we do this? If so, when?

Social Comparison Theory

Festinger (1954)

When you are uncertain with your own abilities you
evaluate yourself through comparisons with others
 You thought you were doing pretty good with you
B+ average here at Three Rivers until your
brother called from Harvard and happened to
mention to your parents he has straight A’s this
semester
Do we look to others to determine our emotions?

Schachter and Singer Two-Factor Theory
DV: level of arousal
 IV1: injection of epinephrine vs. saline
solution
 IV2: information
 IV3: euphoric or angry “confederates”

Who am I?

US: Individualism
Japan: Collectivism

Trafimow et al. (1997)



Participants were from Hong Kong that used English as a second
language…
 Half given the “Who am I” test in English and half given it
inChinese
 Results:
 English: Personal traits
 Chinese: Group affiliation
Interpretation of these results???
Self-Esteem

How we feel about ourselves

High self-esteem

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Low self-esteem



Happier
Fewer interpersonal problems
Prone to psychological and physiological ailments
Problems with social relationships and
underachievement
High self-esteem is fostered by experience of
unconditional positive regard
High Self-Esteem

High self-esteem denotes thinking well of
oneself

Can be the result of three things:
1. Healthy self-confidence
 2. Exaggerated sense of self
 3. Conceited, egotistical, arrogant sense of self

What is associated with high self-esteem?

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Don’t worry about failure, rejection, humiliation
as much
Have a clearer, more confident understanding of
their identity (who am I?)
Less likely to change opinions and attitudes in
the face of persuasion
Positive affect
Positivity bias—rate others more positively
Low Self-Esteem



Negative, unflattering view of the self
In practice very few people have “low” selfesteem
Some people indicate that they “sometimes” feel
low self-esteem
What is associated with low self-esteem?
Take a more pessimistic approach in order to
protect the self…
 Worry more about failure, rejection, and humiliation
 Not the same as fear of success—they still want
to succeed
 But will look for ways to avoid failures, rejections,
and setbacks

When our self-esteem is in jeopardy…

Do we make downward social
comparisons???
Let me see how my hard-luck friend is making out
these days…
 He just lost his job and his girlfriend just dumped
him
 He probably needs some cheering up


Or maybe we bask in the glory of others?

Yankees caps; Pats sweatshirts
WHAT IS SELF-PRESENTATION?

The process through which we try to control the
impressions people form of us (also referred to
as impression management)
The Great Imposter

In the fall of 1951, a lady glancing through her
daily newspaper inadvertently unmasked one the
most unusual deceptions in Canadian naval
history…
The story credited her son with performing this
emergency operation on the deck of a Canadian
destroyer off the coast of Korea
 One problem…her son had a general practice in a
nearby town

“Playing the part”

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Evidently, Fred Demara stole this guys identity
and was able to successfully “play a part”
Actually he played many different parts over a
span of several decades
Can we be whoever we want to be???
Dramaturgical Perspective

The perspective that much of social interaction
can be thought of as a play, with actors
performances, settings, scripts, props, roles, and
so forth
Considering only your physical
appearance, do you look:
Socially dominant
 Kind and understanding
 Aggressive
 Intelligent
 Conscientious

1= not at all
9 = very much
To what extent do you make a conscious
effort to present yourself in terms of:



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clothing
physical body
way you carry yourself
hair
car
1= not at all
9 = very much
To what extent do you make a conscious
effort to present yourself in terms of:



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apartment/house/your room
friends
organizations/clubs
other?
1= not at all
9 = very much
WHY DO PEOPLE SELF-PRESENT?

Why is it that often people don’t have that
“here I am, take it or leave it” attitude???

WHEN DO PEOPLE SELF-PRESENT?
We do all these things…but is it
really a waste of time???

Social Spotlight Effect
 Researchers say we may overestimate the extent to
which we’re in the public eye
 According to research from Cornell University
psychologist Thomas Gilovich, most people greatly
overestimate the amount of attention that others pay
to their appearance, causing themselves needless
angst
 So, don't beg off that party invitation because your
hair dresser cut it too close, or because your clothes
made the style pages in 1981
Wear your Manilow T-shirt -- no one's looking

Gilovich, Medvec, & Savitsky (1996, 2000)
The famous “un-cool T-shirt” experiments
 These researchers got students to wear a “Barry
Manilow” t-shirt into their classes

The Social Spotlight Effect
esearch
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Predicted
Actual
Control
The students who wore the t-shirt predicted that
nearly half of the others would know who was on
the shirt
The Social Spotlight Effect
esearch
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Predicted
Actual
Control
In reality, less than a quarter of the other
subjects recalled who was on the shirt
Egocentric Bias

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We focus on our own behavior in a social
situation, so we may think it is equally the focus
of others
This egocentric bias can lead to the “spotlight”
effect - people believe that the social spotlight
shines on them more brightly than it really does
In reality, people just don’t notice us as much as
we think they do
Nevertheless, many of us have…


Public self-consciousness
 The tendency to have a chronic awareness of
oneself as being in the public eye
Self Monitoring

The tendency to be chronically concerned with one’s
public image and to adjust one’s actions to fit the
needs of the current situation
In deciding how to behave in a given
situation, do you:


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Examine your own attitudes, feelings, and
opinions?
Consider what other people expect of you
and act accordingly?
Are you good at acting?
Self-monitoring

High self-monitors:
Inconsistent across situations
 Good at assessing what others want and
tailoring their behavior to fit those demands


Low self-monitors:
Look inside themselves to decide how to act
 Don’t change as much across situations

A word of caution…

Self presentation is sometimes deceptive,
but usually not…
 Because trust is necessary in social
relationships, people go to great lengths
to detect liars
Goals of Self-presentation

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To be seen as likeable (ingratiation)
To be seen as competent (self-promotion)
To be seen as powerful (intimidation)
Our obsession with attractiveness:
Getting “the right look”…

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Why would someone want to undergo over 20
operations to try to obtain the “perfect” figure
and face?
What would drive a woman to spend a fortune
to look like a “Barbie”?
Cindy Jackson, the small town Ohio woman
did just that…
Cindy: Before…
Cindy: After…
A total transformation?
1979
1990
1994
2003
Cindy as a child…
For Michael Jackson it didn’t quite work
out as well…
Lunch with Michael Jackson:
What do you think they talked about?
Making ourselves physically
attractive…

Research seems to indicate that attractive
people receive many benefits, including:

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They are seen as more honest
They are more likely to be hired for managerial
positions and elected to public office
They receive shorter sentences for felonies
Realizing this, most people try to make
themselves more attractive…

In 1999, Americans had approximately
4.6 million plastic surgeries…
 Over
4 million Americans currently wear
braces or other orthodontic devices
 People in the U.S. spend $33 billion a year
on diet foods, weight loss programs, and
health club memberships
Appearing likeable

We are generally interested in being liked
by people with whom we want to start or
maintain a friendship and by people who
are in positions of power
Appearing likeable

Sex differences in likeability:
 Women more likely to:
 Smile
 Compliment others
 Agree with others
 Present themselves modestly
Are women more agreeable?

Research seems to support this contention…
 One explanation stresses socialization - women may
get more social rewards for being agreeable
 Girls become more nonverbally agreeable as they
move through adolescence and learn social
expectations
 Another explanation stresses biology - women have
lower levels of hormones that may incline men to be
more disagreeable and confrontational
Are women more agreeable?

Testosterone:
A
hormone present in both males and
females – but usually in much greater
quantities in males – responsible for
important aspects of sexual development

People with higher levels are more
confrontational and smile less
Opinion Conformity as an
Ingratiation Strategy

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How likely are you to change your opinions to
agree with someone else?
Would you be more likely to agree with someone
who’s attractive?
Zanna and Pack (1975)

In this experiment, women anticipated
interacting with a man who was either:


Not Highly Desirable
Highly Desirable
Zanna and Pack (1975)
And who held either:
 Traditional views of women
 believing the ideal woman to be a passive,
emotional homebody
 Untraditional views of women
 believing the ideal woman to be
independent and ambitious
Zanna and Pack (1975)

The women then filled out questionnaires for
the male student to look at, including one
reporting their own attitudes about gender roles
Opinion Conformity:
Amount of
Attitude
Conformity
(Shift toward
man’s views)
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
0.0
Undesirable
Man
Desirable
Man
Women about to interact with the
undesirable man did not shift their
opinions
Opinion Conformity:
Amount of
Attitude
Conformity
(Shift toward
man’s views)
5.0
3.7
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
0.0
Undesirable
Man
Desirable
Man
However, women about to interact
with the desirable man adjusted their
opinions to match his more closely
Zanna and Pack (1975)
• The researchers’ findings demonstrate that
people sometimes change their public opinions
to get desirable others to like them
The Goal: To Appear Competent
 Self-promotion
 An
attempt to get others to see us as
competent
Staging Performances
Goal:
To Appear
Competent
Staging Performances


Because successes are sometimes overlooked we
may seek opportunities to stage performances, or
demonstrate our competence in public
Conversely, people who are incompetent at
something will avoid public stagings
Staging Performances
Goal:
To Appear
Competent
Claiming
Competence
Claiming Competence

These high self-promoting people
rarely just tell others about their
abilities…
 They
exaggerate with elaborate stories
 Always have a “better story”
Staging Performances
Goal:
To Appear
Competent
Claiming
Competence
Using the Trappings
of Competence
Using the Trappings of Confidence:
Oh, the tricks of the trade…

Good self-promoters often surround
themselves with the props and habits
of competence, such as:
 waiting
to return our phone calls
 carrying cell-phones and pagers
 wearing clothes associated with competence
Staging Performances
Goal:
To Appear
Competent
Claiming
Competence
Using the Trappings
of Competence
Making Excuses or
Claiming Obstacles
Making Excuses and Claiming Obstacles

Some people go so far as to create real
obstacles
 Self-Handicapping
(see next slide)
Making Excuses and Claiming Obstacles

Self-handicapping



The behavior of withdrawing effort or creating obstacles to
one’s future effort
Self-handicapping is utilized prior to situations where
probability of success is uncertain or unlikely, whereas
attributions are made after feedback has been given regarding
performance
Many researchers have found that people often engage in
self-handicapping prior to an event that may threaten selfesteem, and provide a plausible excuse for failure rather than
taking full responsibility upon themselves (Haemmerlie,
Montgomery, & Zoellner, 1996)
Haemmerlie et al. (1996)

Identified are two types of selfhandicapping:
 Behavioral handicaps
 Self-reported handicaps
Behavioral types

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These are the most obvious, and are overt
actions that reduce the likelihood of success.
Things such as inhibiting drugs and alcohol,
reduced effort and practice, and distracting
environment are examples of these obstacles
Although they are sometimes perceived as more
negative, they are the most convincing and
effective due to the observable nature
Examples of behavioral types…

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Taking condition-impairing drugs
Not practicing
Consuming alcohol
Choosing unattainable goals
Giving competitors a performance advantage
Self-reported types
These are claims that a condition exists
that is impeding to performance that may
or may not be true…
 These have a less costly effect to
performance and include things like
psychological and health problems, bad
mood, and traumatic life events (Leary, et
al., 1986)

Behavior vs. Self-reported

Studies have shown that when faced with a
choice between the two, subjects will opt for the
self-report because it provides an excuse for
poor performance without actually lowering
their chances for success, and that men more
often provide behavioral barriers than do
women, which is almost an extreme ratio of all
to none (Deppe, et al., 1991)