1. Tom Farsides:
25/09/03
The Social Self

2. Self-esteem & Self-enhancement How is depression possible?
Lecture contents
Introspection
How useful are self-reports?
Self-perception
Can others’ behaviours change who we are?
Self-esteem & Self-enhancement
How is depression possible?

3. The self-concept
The self-concept is the sum total of a person’s beliefs (i.e., cognitions) about their own personal attributes.
These beliefs can be about affect, behaviour, (other) cognitions, motives, etc.
Sometimes evaluations of these beliefs (i.e., self-esteem) is considered part of the self-concept.

4. The development of self-awareness and identity
‘Subjective’ self-awareness
‘Objective’ self awareness
Symbolic self-awareness

5. Self-assessment: The perils of introspection
Nisbett & Wilson (1977)
People often cannot explain the causes and correlates of their own behaviour.
Wilson (1985)
Analysing the reasons for our preferences and actions (e.g., choosing a painting) may make us reach decisions we later come to regret.
Wilson & Schooler (1991)
Analysing the reasons for our preferences and actions (e.g., ranking jams) may make us reach objectively bad decisions.
Wilson & Kraft (1993)
Analysing the reasons why we are in romantic relationships can reduce our satisfaction with them.

6. Benefits of introspection
Millar & Tesser (1989)
Need to match introspection ‘type’ (i.e., of feelings, of thoughts) with behaviour type (i.e., relationships, decision-making).
There may be other benefits to be derived from introspection, even if is not always accompanied by ‘genuine’ self-knowledge, e.g., in health (Pennebaker, 1997).

7. Trafimow et al. (1997)
“Students who took the test in English focused more on personal traits, while those who took the test in Chinese were more focused on group affiliations” (Brehm et al., 2002, p. 67)

8. Bem’s (1972) self-perception theory
To the extent that
(i) people’s internal states are weak or difficult to interpret, and
(ii) they believe their behaviour to be unconstrained (e.g., by promise of reward or threat of punishment),
then people will infer their attitudes (beliefs and feelings) from their behaviour.

9. Self-perception research
Rhodewalt & Agustsdottir (1986)
People subtly induced to describe themselves in positive terms scored higher on a subsequent self-esteem test than people who were not so induced.
Swann & Ely (1984)
People subtly induced (by leading questions) to describe themselves as either introverted or extroverted subsequently defined themselves as such, but only when not previously certain about their level of dispositional introversion/extraversion.

10. Self-perception of motivation
The over-justification effect
Providing extrinsic reasons (rewards, punishments) for behaviour formally engaged in for intrinsic reasons (enjoyment, duty) results in reduction of intrinsic motivation to engage in those behaviours (and thus in spontaneous expression of such behaviours).
This is the ‘paradoxical effect of reward on motivation’.

11. Lepper et al. (1973)
Making play into work

12. Self-perception and performance quality
Eisenberger & Cameron (1996)
Post-performance rewards for quality of performance can enhance intrinsic motivation as long as such rewards were not guaranteed in advance for completion of the performance.
Amabile (1996)
Overjustification decreases performance quality as well as intrinsic motivation.

13. Self-esteem: Self-perception of self-value
Self-esteem is the result of the self’s evaluations of the self-concept.
Self can be evaluated in part (‘specific’) or whole (‘summary’).
Evaluations can be positive, negative, neutral, ambiguous, and ambivalent.
‘State’ and ‘trait’ self-esteem.

14. How self-esteem affects us
High self-esteem has all sorts of benefits.
Conversely, low self-esteem predicts an altogether poorer life experience.

15. Four mechanisms to improve self-esteem
Self-enhancement
Four mechanisms to improve self-esteem
Self-serving cognitions
Self-handicapping
Basking in reflected glory
Downward social comparison

16. Self-serving cognitions
Schlenker et al. (1990)
People tend to take credit for their own successes and distance themselves from failure.
Weinstein (1980)
Unrealistic optimism.
Often ‘explained’ by reference to the person’s particular characteristics (Kunda, 1987).

17. Self-handicapping
If we (i) are unsure of our success on a task we value and (ii) feel we should do well, we may claim or create a handicap to our own performance.
We do this in order to (i) build an advance excuse for possible future failure that might otherwise damage our self-esteem and/or (ii) be able to claim additional credit should we nevertheless succeed.

18. Basking in reflected glory
BIRGing
Basking in reflected glory
Enhancing self-esteem by identifying or claiming affiliation with a successful group.
Cialdini et al. (1976)
BIRGing and CORFing
Used most after threats to individual self-esteem
Hirt et al. (1992)
Sometimes, we cannot CORF
This affects out individual functioning

19. Downward social comparisons
Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954).
In the absence of objective criteria, people may evaluate themselves relative to similar others.
People can use this phenomenon proactively (Wills, 1981).
Low or threatened self-esteem  motivated downward social comparison  relatively positive evaluation of self  improved or secured self-esteem
This works by demonstrating that:
I am better (off) than someone else.
I am better (off) than I could be.

20. A sequence of self-biases
Self-relevant
information
Automatic
emotional
assessment
Reflective
cognitive
assessment
Verify overrides
enhance,
if necessary