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Our self concepts
are social constructs. We acquire them in part from other people's reactions
to us and beliefs about us. For that reason we may have multiple self-concepts,
each related to a different social role and a different group with which
we interact. We also construct aspects of our self-concepts by comparing
ourselves to others. We may see ourselves as good or bad at a given task
depending on the abilities of the reference group with which we compare
ourselves.
Self-Attribution
and Self-Perception Theory
Daryl Bem proposed
Self-Perception Theory
We observe others
and explain their behavior, we
observe ourselves and explain our behavior. Therefore,
self-attribution proceeds much like other-attribution, especially when
internal cues are weak or ambiguous. Try
to figure out how self-perception is involved in explaining cognitive
dissonance.
Perceiving
and Evaluating the Self
HOW DO WE FORM
A CONCEPT OF SELF EXACTLY?
Different views
on this in social psychology. Some
say we "introspect". Essentially
read off knowledge of self through cognition. Others
caution us about the entire notion of introspection. Nisbett
and Wilson research again (knowing more than we can tell). Obvious
biases (positive and negative in self-evaluation)
Others say through
observations of our own Behavior. This
is Daryl Bem's Self-Perception theory. We
"watch" ourselves behave and "infer" the kind of person
we are from the kinds of behaviors we do.
There's a catch,
though: We use our behaviors as a clue to our self-concepts IF AND ONLY
IF
• the behavior
was not coerced (i.e., not "manded")
• we don't
already have a firm belief about ourselves in "this realm" to
begin with
Others say through
comparisons of our own behavior with others
This is Festinger's
Social Comparison theory. We
behave (e.g., get 70% on a test)
We look to see
how others performed. If
the others performed even better, we infer? If
the others performed worse, we infer? Social
comparisons can be made "up" or "down"
Upward social comparison
is? (look this up) How
smart would you infer you are after having made an upward social comparison?
Downward social
comparison is? (look this up) How
smart would you infer you are after having made a downward social comparison?
"Usually"
we make social comparisons that are just a "little" upward (e.g.,
we compare ourselves to people who are just a little smarter). Why do
we do this, do you think? For example, we often raise self-esteem by identifying
with our group (football team that just won) vs. distancing ourselves
from group when performs poorly.
Social comparisons
thus also affect how we feel about ourselves (our self-esteem) and are
used strategically to bolster our self-esteem. However,
some people fairly consistently make extreme upward comparisons (e.g.,
by comparing themselves to someone who is a LOT smarter than them). People
who are clinically depressed do this often. Women
have been shown to do this more than men.
Others say we form
a self-concept through principles of learning and feedback that we receive
from others. Won't
really cover learning ideas here; they're pretty obvious
Although not a
behaviorist, Cooley emphasized the influence of the environment on our
self-concept. You
do need to know Cooley's concept of a "looking-glass self" and
how our self-concept is affected by feedback from others:
"Each to each
a looking-glass
Reflects
the other that doth pass"....
"A self-idea
seems to have three principal elements: the imagination of our appearance
to the other person, the imagination of his judgment of that appearance,
and some sort of self-feelings, such as pride or mortification....the
thing that moves us to pride or shame...[is] the imagined effect of this
reflection upon another's mind." (p. 266 from Kollock and O'Brien
who reprinted Cooley's original work from the early 1900's).
Know that this
idea isn't completely empirically validated (self-perception and PERCEPTION
of others' perceptions of self are the most highly correlated. Self-perception
& others' actual perceptions are not)
Important to Cooley:
Idea of reflected self-appraisal
Experiments on
the vicious interactive cycles involving our "looking-glass"
self (self-concept), self-esteem, and behavior
The scar face experiment
Snyder
et al.'s dating experiment
Cultural
Dependence on the Self-Serving Bias
People in Western
cultures tend to have inflated views of themselves, a phenomenon that
may be explained in part by biased feedback from others, by people's varying
definitions of success, by the self-serving attributional bias, and by
the inability of the incompetent to judge their own incompetence. Some
studies indicate that such self-inflation does not occur in Asian cultures,
perhaps due to cultural conditions that promote a more communal, less
individualistic outlook.
Cross-Cultural Differences in the Balance of Social Identity and Personal
Identity
In every culture,
people describe themselves partly in ways that emphasize their unique
personality traits - their personal identity - and partly in ways that
emphasize the groups to which they belong - their social identity. Depending
on which identity is primed, a person's self-esteem may increase or decrease
on hearing of the outstanding performance of other members of his or her
group. Many studies have demonstrated that social identity is stronger,
and personal identity weaker, in Eastern cultures (and in other collectivist
cultures) than in Western cultures.
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