Social Aspects of self 2/22/16

Self concept: cognitive component

o Knowledge of self
Traits and abilities
o Once gathered:
Complex and resistant to change
Egocentric bias
Self referenced (remembered better)
Remember things in our favor
o Ego protection device of sorts
Self esteem: affective component
o The way we feel about ourselves
o Measurement:
Self-discrepancy theory
People that have low morals or bad morals can have a very
positive self outlook
Actual vs. ideal self
o If actual self is worse than ideal self, then youll feel
worse about yourself
o The closer they are, the better you feel
Related to self-awareness
o Make people more self-aware with mirrors, video tapes,
and drawing attention to their actions as they are
performed
o Ego protection devices
Self-serving bias
Self-handicapping
Setting up an external reason for failure before perfomring the
task
Basking in reflective glory (BiRGing)
Associating yourself with people or groups that succeed and
have good reputation in hopes that the positive vibes would
rub off on them
Muhammad Ali effect
Downward Comparison
Feel better when we can compare to someone who is worse off
than we are
Self presentation: behavioral component
o Impression management devices
Self monitoring
Self promotion
Self regulation
o However often hard & tiring: ego-depletion