Understanding Ourselves in a Social Context

1. Chapter 5

The Self:
Understanding Ourselves in a Social Context
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2. Discussion Question

• Do you consider yourself to be an aboveaverage driver?
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3. Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

5.1
What is the self-concept, and how does it develop?
5.2
To what extent do people know themselves through
introspection, and what are the consequences of
introspection?
5.3
In what ways do people come to know themselves by
observing their behavior?
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4. Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

5.4
In what ways do people use others to know
themselves?
5.5
When are people likely to succeed at self-control,
and when are they likely to fail?
5.6
How do people portray themselves so that others will
see them as they want to be seen?
5.7
What are the pros and cons of having high selfesteem?
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5. The Origins and Nature of the Self-Concept

5.1 What is the self-concept, and how does it develop?
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6. Self-Concept

• The overall set of beliefs that people have about
their personal attributes
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7. Origins of the Self (1 of 2)

• Rudimentary Self-Concept
– Some primates
– Humans at 18 to 24 months
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8. Origins of the Self (2 of 2)

• Child’s self-concept
– Concrete
– References to characteristics like age, sex,
neighborhood, and hobbies
• Maturing self-concept
– Less emphasis on physical characteristics
– More emphasis on psychological states and how other
people judge us
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9. Figure 5.1 What Do We See as Key Attributes of Other People’s Selves? Participants were asked to imagine that they saw an old friend that they knew when they were 25 years old but had not seen in 40 years. They were given a list of ways in which their f

Figure 5.1
What Do We See as Key Attributes of Other People’s Selves?
Participants were asked to imagine that they saw an old friend that they knew when they were 25 years
old but had not seen in 40 years. They were given a list of ways in which their friend had changed and
rated each one according to how much it would alter their view of their friend’s true self, on a scale that
went from 0% (“this change has no impact on his/her true self”) to 100% (“this change completely alters
his/her true self”). People thought that changes in their friend’s morality (e.g., how cruel he/she was)
would alter his/her true self more than other changes. People thought that changes in perceptual abilities
(e.g., changes in vision) would have the smallest impact on their friend’s true self.
(Data from Strohminger & Nichols, 2014)
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10. Cultural Influences on the Self-Concept (1 of 3)

• The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
– American proverb
• The nail that stands out gets pounded down.
– Japanese proverb
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11. Cultural Influences on the Self-Concept (2 of 3)

Independent View of the Self
Interdependent View of the Self
• Defines self through own
internal thoughts, feelings,
and actions and not other
people’s
• Defines self through
relationships to other
people
• Recognizes that others’
thoughts, feelings, and
actions affect one’s
behavior
• Connectedness and
interdependence valued
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12. Cultural Influences on the Self-Concept (3 of 3)

Independent View of the Self
Interdependent View of the Self
• Independence and
uniqueness valued
• Uniqueness frowned
on
• Held in many Western
cultures
• Held in many Asian
and non-Western
cultures
But there are also differences within cultures! Not all Westerners
are independent and not all Easterners are interdependent.
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13. Choosing a Traditional Role over Career When Harvard-educated Masako Owada abandoned her promising career to marry Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan and assumed the traditional roles required of her, many Western women questioned her decision. At issue for m

Choosing a Traditional Role over Career
When Harvard-educated Masako Owada abandoned her promising career to
marry Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan and assumed the traditional roles required
of her, many Western women questioned her decision. At issue for many was
cultural interdependence versus independence of the self.
Source: Tsugufumi Matsumoto/Pool/AP Images
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14. Figure 5.2 Date of Statehood and Frequency of Popular Baby Names This graph shows selected U.S. states and the year they attained statehood. It can be seen that the more recently a state became part of the union, the less likely parents were to give their

children popular names. Researchers view this
as evidence that residents of these states have a more independent self-view.
(Based on Varnum & Kitayama, 2011)
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15. Functions of the Self

• Four main functions:
1. Self-knowledge
The way we understand who we are and organize this
information
2. Self Control
The way we make plans and execute decisions
3. Impression management
The way we present ourselves to others and get them to see
us as we want to be seen
4. Self-esteem
The way we maintain positive views of ourselves
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16. Knowing Ourselves Through Introspection

5.2 To what extent do people know themselves through
introspection, and what are the consequences of
introspection?
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17. The Way of Introspection (1 of 2)

• Introspection
– The process whereby people look inward and examine
their own thoughts, feelings, and motives
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18. The Way of Introspection (2 of 2)

• People do not rely on introspection very often.
• Why not?
– Not always pleasant to think about ourselves
– Reasons for our feelings and behavior can be outside
conscious awareness
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19. Focusing on the Self: Self-Awareness Theory (1 of 4)

• The idea that when people focus their attention on
themselves, they evaluate and compare their
behavior to their internal standards and values
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20. Focusing on the Self: Self-Awareness Theory (2 of 4)

• Sometimes people go far in their attempt to
escape the self.
– Focusing on the self can be very aversive.
– Ways to turn off “internal spotlight” on oneself:
Alcohol abuse
Binge eating
Sexual masochism
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21. Focusing on the Self: Self-Awareness Theory (3 of 4)

• Not all means of escaping the self are damaging.
– Religious expression
– Spirituality
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22. Focusing on the Self: Self-Awareness Theory (4 of 4)

• Self-focus is not always damaging or aversive.
– Example: if you have experienced a major success
– Can also remind you of your sense of right and wrong
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23. Figure 5.3 Self-Awareness Theory: The Consequences of Self-Focused Attention When people focus on themselves, they compare their behavior to their internal standards.

(Adapted from Carver & Scheier, 1981)
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24. Judging Why We Feel the Way We Do: Telling More Than We Can Know (1 of 3)

• It can be difficult to know why we feel the way we
do.
– What is it about your sweetheart that made you fall in
love?
– How much does sleep affect your state of mind?
– What really determines what mood you’re in?
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25. Judging Why We Feel the Way We Do: Telling More Than We Can Know (2 of 3)

• College students recorded daily moods every day
for 5 weeks (Wilson, Laser, & Stone, 1982)
• Kept track of things that might predict their moods
– Weather, workload, sleep
• Students estimated how their mood was affected
by these variables
• Overall, inaccurate with what predicted their mood
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26. Judging Why We Feel the Way We Do: Telling More Than We Can Know (3 of 3)

• Causal Theories
– Theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and
behaviors; often we learn such theories from our
culture.
• Problem
– Schemas and theories are not always correct. Can
lead to incorrect judgments about the causes of our
actions.
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27. The Consequences of Introspecting About Reasons (1 of 2)

• Reasons-Generated Attitude Change
– Attitude change resulting from thinking about the
reasons for one’s attitudes; people assume their
attitudes match the reasons that are plausible and easy
to verbalize
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28. The Consequences of Introspecting About Reasons (2 of 2)

• Problem
– Focus on things that are easy to put into words
– Ignore feelings harder to explain
– Hard-to-explain feelings are the ones that often matter
in the long run
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29. Liz Lemon Makes a List In an episode of the TV program 30 Rock, Liz Lemon (played by Tina Fey) made a list of the reasons why she liked and disliked her boyfriend Dennis (played by Dean Winters). According to research on self-generated attitude change, th

Liz Lemon Makes a List
In an episode of the TV program 30 Rock, Liz Lemon (played by Tina Fey) made
a list of the reasons why she liked and disliked her boyfriend Dennis (played by
Dean Winters). According to research on self-generated attitude change, the act
of making this list might have changed her mind about how she felt, at least
temporarily.
Source: Patricia Schlein/PS3 WENN Photos/Newscom
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30. Knowing Ourselves by Observing Our Own Behavior

5.3 In what ways do people come to know themselves by
observing their behavior?
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31. Self-Perception Theory (1 of 2)

• Self-Perception Theory
– The theory that when our attitudes and feelings are
uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by
observing our behavior and the situation in which it
occurs
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32. Self-Perception Theory (2 of 2)

• Infer inner feelings from behavior
– Only when not sure how we feel
• People judge whether their behavior
– Really reflects how we feel
– Or the situation that made us act that way
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33. Peanuts Cartoon

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34. Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation (1 of 4)

• Intrinsic Motivation
– Engage in an activity because of enjoyment and
interest, not external rewards or pressures
• Extrinsic Motivation
– Engage in an activity because of external reasons, not
because of enjoyment and interest
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35. Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation (2 of 4)

• Many teachers or parents reward kids for good
grades with compliments, candy, gold stars, or
toys.
• Other programs reward kids for reading books.
• But do these programs increase or decrease a
child’s love of reading?
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36. Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation (3 of 4)

• We have to consider the effects of rewards on
people’s thoughts about:
– Themselves
– Their self-concept
– Their motivation to read in the future
• Danger of reward programs
– Reading for rewards, not because it’s actually
enjoyable
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37. Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation (4 of 4)

• Overjustification Effect
– The tendency of people to view their behavior as
caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them
underestimate the extent to which it was caused by
intrinsic reasons
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38. Figure 5.4 The Over justification Effect During the initial baseline phase, researchers measured how much time elementary school students played math games. During the reward program, they rewarded the children with prizes for playing with the games. When

the rewards were no longer offered (during the
follow-up phase), the children played with the games even less than they had during the
baseline phase, indicating that the rewards had lowered their intrinsic interest in the games.
(Adapted from Greene, Sternberg, & Lepper, 1976)
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39. Preserving Intrinsic Interest (1 of 2)

• Task-contingent rewards
– Rewards that are given for performing a task,
regardless of how well the task is done
• Performance-contingent rewards
– Rewards that are based on how well we perform a task
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40. Preserving Intrinsic Interest (2 of 2)

• Avoiding over-justification when using rewards
1. Rewards will undermine interest only if interest was
initially high.
2. The type of reward makes a difference.
Performance-contingent rewards are less damaging to intrinsic
interest
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41. Mindsets and Motivation

• Fixed mindset
– The idea that we have a set amount of an ability that
cannot change
• Growth mindset
– The idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that
we can cultivate and grow
• Mindset affects motivation
– Fixed mindset more likely to give up and do poorly on
subsequent tasks after failure
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42. Sally Forth Cartoon

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43. Understanding Our Emotions: The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion (1 of 3)

• Example
– Consider how happy, angry, or afraid you feel at any
given time.
How do you know which emotion you are experiencing?
Don’t we know how we feel without having to think about it?
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44. Understanding Our Emotions: The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion (2 of 3)

• Stanley Schachter (1964)
– Experience of emotion is similar to other types of selfperception
– Infer our emotions by observing our behavior
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45. Understanding Our Emotions: The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion (3 of 3)

• Schachter’s theory
– We experience emotions in a two-step self-perception
process:
1. Experience physiological arousal.
2. Seek an appropriate explanation for it.
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46. Figure 5.5 The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion People first experience physiological arousal and then attach an explanation to it.

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47. Schachter and Singer, 1962 (1 of 4)

• Research Question
– Given the same degree of physiological arousal, will
people “feel” different emotions depending on their
environment?
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48. Schachter and Singer, 1962 (2 of 4)

• Cover Story: Injection of “Suproxin” test of vision
– IV 1: Physiological Arousal
epinephrine informed
– (shake, heart pound, face flush)
epinephrine ignorant
– (mild, harmless, no side effects)
Placebo
– (saline, mild, harmless, no side effects)
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49. Schachter and Singer, 1962 (3 of 4)

• Cover Story: Injection of “Suproxin” test of vision
– IV 2: Environmental Cues (Mood of “Stooge”)
Euphoric/happy (playing games)
Angry (insulting questionnaire)
– DV = Participant’s mood
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50. Schachter and Singer, 1962 (4 of 4)

• Results
– Epinephrine-informed group
Did not become angry when exposed to angry stooge
– Had alternate explanation for their arousal (the drug)
– Epinephrine-ignorant group
Became euphoric
– Joined stooge in playing games
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51. Implications of the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

• Implications
– Emotions are somewhat arbitrary.
– Emotions depend on our explanations for arousal.
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52. Finding the Wrong Cause: Misattribution of Arousal (1 of 2)

• To what extent do the results found by Schachter
and Singer (1962) generalize to everyday life?
– Do people form mistaken emotions in the same way as
participants in that study did?
– In everyday life, one might argue, people usually know
why they are aroused.
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53. Finding the Wrong Cause: Misattribution of Arousal (2 of 2)

• Misattribution of Arousal
– Making mistaken inferences about what is
causing them to feel the way they do
• Arousal from one source (e.g., caffeine, exercise,
a fright) can enhance the intensity of how the
person interprets other feelings (e.g., attraction to
someone).
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54. Is It the Bridge, or Are You in Love? When people are aroused for one reason, such as occurs when they cross a scary bridge, they often attribute this arousal to the wrong source—such as attraction to the person they are with.

Source: Omika/Fotolia
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55. Figure 5.6 Misattribution of Arousal When a woman approached men on a scary bridge and asked them to fill out a questionnaire, a high percentage of them were attracted to her and called her for a date. When the same woman approached men after they had cro

Figure 5.6
Misattribution of Arousal
When a woman approached men on a scary bridge and asked them to fill out a
questionnaire, a high percentage of them were attracted to her and called her for a date.
When the same woman approached men after they had crossed the bridge and had rested,
relatively few called her for a date.
(Adapted from Dutton & Aron, 1974)
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56. Using Other People to Know Ourselves

5.4 In what ways do people use others to know
themselves?
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57. Self-Concept Does Not Develop in a Solitary Context

• Self-concept shaped by people around us
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58. Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others (1 of 5)

• How do we use others to define ourselves?
– Measure our own abilities and attitudes by comparing
to other people.
If you donate $50 to charity and find out your friend donates
$10, you can feel generous.
If you find out your friend donated $100, you might not feel as
generous!
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59. Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others (2 of 5)

• Social Comparison Theory
– The idea that we learn about our own abilities and
attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people
• The theory revolves around two important
questions:
– When do you engage in social comparison?
– With whom do you choose to compare yourself?
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60. Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others (3 of 5)

1. When do you engage in social comparison?
– No objective standard exists to measure against
– When we experience uncertainty
– Example: New office donation program, not sure what
amount would be generous, you are especially likely to
compare yourself to others.
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61. Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others (4 of 5)

2. With whom do you choose to compare yourself?
– Initial impulse: anyone who is around
Occurs quickly and automatically
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62. Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others (5 of 5)

• Goal: know the furthest level to which we can
aspire
– Upward social comparison:
Comparing to people who are better on a particular ability
• Goal: feel better about yourself
– Downward social comparison:
Comparing to people who are worse on a particular trait or
ability
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63. Knowing Ourselves by Adopting Other People’s Views (1 of 2)

• We adopt other people’s views in some
circumstances
– “Looking glass self” (Cooley, 1902)
We see ourselves and the social world through the eyes of
other people
• Adopt other’s views when we want to get along
with them
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64. Knowing Ourselves by Adopting Other People’s Views (2 of 2)

• Social Tuning
– The process whereby people adopt another person’s
attitudes
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65. Figure 5.7 Social Tuning to a Likable Experimenter Participants took a test of automatic prejudice toward black people, after interacting with an experimenter who was likable or unlikable and wore an antiracism T-shirt or a blank T-shirt. When the experim

Figure 5.7
Social Tuning to a Likable Experimenter
Participants took a test of automatic prejudice toward black people, after interacting with an experimenter
who was likable or unlikable and wore an antiracism T-shirt or a blank T-shirt. When the experimenter
was likable, participants showed less automatic prejudice when she was wearing the antiracism T-shirt
than when she was not (the higher the number on the scale, the more the anti-black prejudice). When
the experimenter was unlikable, participants reacted against her views: They showed more automatic
prejudice when she was wearing the antiracist T-shirt than when she was not. These results show that
people tend to automatically adopt the views of people they like, but automatically reject the views of
people they do not.
(Adapted from Sinclair, Lowery, Hardin, & Colangelo, 2005)
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66. Knowing Our Future Feelings by Consulting Other People

• Affective Forecasts
– People’s predictions about how they will feel in
response to a future emotional event
• Example: Predicted first date compatibility based
on either:
– Reading profile of date
– Reading about how much another person enjoyed the
speed date
– Results:
Affective forecasts better when based on other person’s
evaluation rather than reading profile
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67. Self-Control: The Executive Function of the Self

5.5 When are people likely to succeed at self-control, and
when are they likely to fail?
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68. Self-Control: The Executive Function of the Self (1 of 3)

• Self-Control
– Making choices about present and plans for the future
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69. Self-Control: The Executive Function of the Self (2 of 3)

• Thought suppression
– Attempt to avoid thinking about something we would
prefer to forget
– Not that efficient!
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70. Self-Control: The Executive Function of the Self (3 of 3)

• Exerting effort on one task limits ability to exert
self-control on another task
• How can self-control be improved?
– Believing willpower is an unlimited resource
– Prayer
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71. Impression Management: All the World’s a Stage

5.6 How do people portray themselves so that others will
see them as they want to be seen?
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72. Actors Engaged in Impression Management

• Impression Management
– The attempt by people to get others to see them as
they want to be seen
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73. David Duke: From Klansman to Politician Impression management in action: In the 1970s, David Duke was a leader in the Ku Klux Klan; in 1991, he ran for governor of Louisiana as a mainstream conservative Republican. A remarkable change occurred in Duke’s

presentation
of self during this time.
Source: (left) Lee Corkran/Sygma/Corbis; (right) Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs Division
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74. Ingratiation and Self-Handicapping (1 of 2)

• Ingratiation
– Flattering, praising, and generally trying to make
ourselves likable to another person, often of higher
status
• Self-handicapping
– Creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves
– If we do poorly on a task, we can avoid blaming ourselves
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75. Ingratiation and Self-Handicapping (2 of 2)

• Self-handicapping
– Behavioral self-handicapping
People act in ways that reduce the likelihood of success so
that if they fail, they can blame it on obstacles rather than
ability
Example: pulling an all-nighter before a test
– Reported self-handicapping
Rather than creating obstacles to success, people devise
ready-made excuses in case they fail
Example: complaining about not feeling well when you take a
test
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76. Culture, Impression Management, and Self-Enhancement

• Culturally universal
– Desire to manage image we present
• Cultural differences
– Kinds of images we want to present
E.g., “Saving face” is important in Asian cultures
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77. Self-Esteem: How We Feel About Ourselves

5.7 What are the pros and cons of having high selfesteem?
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78. Self-Esteem: How We Feel About Ourselves (1 of 3)

• Self-Esteem
– Overall evaluation (positive or negative) that people
have of themselves
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79. Self-Esteem: How We Feel About Ourselves (2 of 3)

• Benefits of high self-esteem:
– Buffers against thoughts of own mortality
Terror management theory
– Motivates us to persevere when going gets rough
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80. Self-Esteem: How We Feel About Ourselves (3 of 3)

• Narcissism
– Combination of excessive self-love and a lack of
empathy toward others
– Has increased in college students since the 1980s
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81. Narcissus at the Pool In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and was so fond of his own image that he couldn’t leave and eventually died. Today, narcissism refers to the combination of excessive self-love a

Narcissus at the Pool
In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and was
so fond of his own image that he couldn’t leave and eventually died. Today, narcissism
refers to the combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy toward others.
Source: SuperStock/Alamy
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82. Figure 5.8 Are People Becoming More Narcissistic? The top (red) line shows average scores for college students on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), a common measure of narcissism, from the years 1980 to 2008. The bottom (blue) line shows the p

Figure 5.8
Are People Becoming More Narcissistic?
The top (red) line shows average scores for college students on the Narcissistic Personality
Inventory (NPI), a common measure of narcissism, from the years 1980 to 2008. The
bottom (blue) line shows the percentage of first-person pronouns (e.g., I, me, mine) in the
lyrics of the 10 most popular songs of the year from 1980 to 2007. As you can see there
has been a steady increase on both measures over time, suggesting that narcissism may
be increasing.
(Based on Twenge & Foster, 2010)
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83. Discussion Question Follow-up

• Based on the research you read in this chapter,
why do you think most people consider
themselves to be above-average drivers?
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84. Summary and Review

• The Self
– Functions and Definitions
• Sources of Self-Knowledge
– Introspection
– Self-Perception
– Social Interaction
• Self-Presentation
• Self-Esteem
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