PSYB10H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Hazel Rose Markus, Construals, Ego Depletion
chapter 3
Nature of the social self
- social psych starts w William James
- “the social self”
- social me > the parts of self knowledge that are derives from social relationships
- the self is not something to be distinguished from the social world, but rather that its a
social entity through and through
- who one is in one social context vs another
INTROSPECTION
- people go beyond introspective efforts to create stories about themselves which is known as
the narrative self
- idea of narrative self = understanding of the social world, including ourselves, is shaped by
construal processes
ACCURACY OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE
- introspection leads to inaccurate conclusions about the self bc we don't have access to
certain mental processes
- other people can be good sources of knowledge about ourselves
- Vizier and Mehl experiment
- we have more info than others do about our inner states ( thoughts and feelings)
- other people have better info for judging our external traits (observing overt behaviour)
- introspection can produce accurate self-knowledge at least for some parts of the self, but for
others, other ppl could be better sources of info
THE ORGANIZATION OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE
- self-schemas = cognitive structure from past experience, that represents a persons beliefs
and feelings about the self in general and in specific situations
- Markus and Wurf
- relevant experiences are stored in memory as part of our conscientious self-schema
- the self-schema of a person who views himself as very high (or low) is conscientiousness is
likely to include more (or fewer) instances of past conscientious behaviour
- Hazel Markus
- ppl who labeled themselves as quite dependent or quite independent = schematic
- ppl who were moderately independent/dependent = ashematic
- self schemas serve as the basic units of organization for self-knowledge and influence our
interpretations and judgements or ourselves and the social world
Origins of the sense of self
FAMILY AND OTHER SOCIALIZATION AGENTS
- by encouraging certain behaviours and providing opportunities for particular activities,
socialization agents can influence the personalty traits, abilities, and preferences we come to
think of as our own
- we come to know ourselves by imagining what others think of us
- Charles H. Cooley
- “looking-glass self” > other peoples reactions to us serve as a minor of sorts
- see ourselves as others see us
- reflected self- appraisals= our beliefs about other’s reactions to us
- we internalize how we think others perceive us not necessarily how they actually see us
- self-views affect the perceptions of other people who then reflect those views back to us as
much as the other way around
- Jennifer Pfeiffer
- activities in the medial prefrontal cortex is heightened when we think about the self
- adolescents (more than adults) largely relied on reflected appraisals when reporting their self
views, suggesting adolescents sense of self is especially likely to be based on their beliefs
about how others view them
SITUATIONISM AND THE SOCIAL SELF
- our social self shifts dramatically from one situation to another
- principle of situationism > the social self changes across different contexts
aspects of the self that are relevant in the social context
- Markus and Wurf
- working self-concept = idea that only a part of a persons large pool of self-knowledge is
brought to mind in any given context (that part is usually relevant/appropriate in the current
situation)
aspects of the self that are distinctive in the social context
- William McGuire and Alice Padawer-Singer
- distinctiveness hypothesis > we highlight what makes us unique in a given social situation
- in the Western world, whats most central to identity is what makes a person distinct
- EX. being white is likely to be often on eminems mind given that the world he occupies is
filled w black artists
Malleability and stability
- paths of reconciliation
- 1. there are core aspects of self-knowledge that are likely to be on the top of the mind
whenever a person thinks about the self
- 2. a persons overall pool os self knowledge remains relatively stable over time providing a
sense of self-continuity even as diff pieces of self knowledge come to the front in diff
contexts
- 3. it is likely that these shifts conform to a predictable stable pattern
- the social self is defined by 2 truths
- 1. it is malleable > shifting from one context to another
- 2. at the same time a persons social self has core components that persist across contexts
CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL SELF
- In western societies, people are concerned about their individuality about freedom and about
self-expression
interdependent and independent self-construals
- cultures that = independent self-construal > the self in an autonomous (self governing) entity
that is distinct and separate from others
- cultures that = interdependent self-construals > the self in connected to other people
- independent = inward focus on the self
- interdependent = outward focus on the social situation
- westerners tend to experience and recall events from the inside out (themselves in the
centre looking out at the world)
- easterners more likely to experience and recall events from the outside in (social world
looking back at themselves as an object
GENDER AND THE SOCIAL SELF
- Susan Cross and Laura Madson
- women in the USA tend to contour the self i more interdependent terms than men do
- men tend to prioritize difference and uniqueness, looking at the self in more independent
terms
- when women describe themselves, they are more likely than men to refer to social
characteristics and relationships
- socialization processes are one influential source where gender differences in self-construal
come from
- girls = focused on interpersonal relationships
- boys = focus on competition, hierarchy, & distinctions among individuals
SOCIAL COMPARISON
- Leon Festinger
- social comparison theory = an influential and enduring theory in social psychology
- when people have np objective standard by which to evaluate their traits or abilities, they
do so largely by comparing themselves to others
- ppl are drawn to comparisons w others roughly similar to themselves
Document Summary
Social me > the parts of self knowledge that are derives from social relationships. The self is not something to be distinguished from the social world, but rather that its a social entity through and through. Who one is in one social context vs another. People go beyond introspective efforts to create stories about themselves which is known as the narrative self. Idea of narrative self = understanding of the social world, including ourselves, is shaped by construal processes. Introspection leads to inaccurate conclusions about the self bc we don"t have access to certain mental processes. Other people can be good sources of knowledge about ourselves. We have more info than others do about our inner states ( thoughts and feelings) Other people have better info for judging our external traits (observing overt behaviour) Introspection can produce accurate self-knowledge at least for some parts of the self, but for others, other ppl could be better sources of info.
