The Social Self: Lecture #2 topics  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” “female” “short” “Ph.D. student” “dog lover” “psychology”

Who am I? the self-reference effect: enhanced _________ & _________ of self- relevant 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): HIGH LOW

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): placebodrug- informed drug- uninformed happy confederate angry confederate

How do I see myself? private self- consciousness:  focus on _________ thoughts & feelings  more likely to act according to _________ standards public self- consciousness:  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 actual self: who you are _________ ought self: how you _________ be ideal self: how you _________ to be

How do I see myself? an unfortunate victim of “choking”…?

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?

self-presentation: shaping what others think of us strategic ingratiationself-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  more likely to engage in _________ low self-monitors:  less concerned about adjusting actions to fit social expectations  behaviour _________ across situations  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): Canadian self-esteem scores: Low High Japanese self-esteem scores: LowHigh

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? 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? not at alla littlemoderatelyveryextremely

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? St. John’s, NFLD Saskatoon, SK gin kangaroos So-Jin Kang surgeon

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? response unimportant domain no important domain yes

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): HIGH LOW