Psychology 2035A/B Chapter 6: The Self

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2035A/B
• Professor: Sarah Babcock

Document Summary

Identify some key aspects of the self-concept and describe the spotlight on. Self-concept: collection of beliefs about one"s own basic nature, unique qualities, and typical behaviour. Self-schemas (beliefs) are developed from past experiences and are concerned with personality traits, abilities, physical features, values, goals, and social and cultural roles. Self-concept is apt to be relational based on relationships with others. Possible selves: one"s conceptions about the kind of person one might become in the future (hazel markus) Developed from past experiences, current behaviour, and future expectations. Make people attentive to goal-related info and role models. Morgan & janoff-bulman (1994) psychological adjustment is best for individuals who experienced traumatic events if they can envision a variety of positive selves. Motivation linked to positive selves is contextually based. When people are focused on success-likely contexts they"re more motivated to perform if they"re also thinking about a desired future. Once the self-concept is established, individual has a tendency to preserve and defend it.