Lesson Proper for Week 10

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY? THAT IS THE QUESTION!

William James – a psychologist and philosopher who had a significant influence on the
development of psychology in the United States
– the father of American psychology
– the first to teach a psychology course in the U.S.

THREE COMPONENTS OF THE EMPIRICAL SELF

William James used the term “the empirical self” to refer to how people answer
the question “Who am I”? His analysis is broad. James grouped various components of
the empirical self into three subcategories, that is, (a) the material self, (b) the social
self, and (c) the spiritual self. (University of Washington, n.d.)

1. “Material Self refers to tangible objects, people, or places that carry the
designation “my” or “mine.” Two subclasses of the material self can be
distinguished” (University of Washington, n.d.), that is, the bodily self and
extracorporeal (beyond the body) self. Rosenberg (1979) referred to the
extracorporeal self as the extended self.

“People’s emotional responses to their possessions also attest to their importance

to the self. A person who loses a wallet often feels greater anguish over a lost
photograph than over any money that is missing. Similarly, many car owners react with
extreme anger when their cars are damaged, even when the damage is only slight in
physical terms. Finally, many people who lose possessions in a natural disaster go
through a grieving process similar to the process people go through when they lose a
person they love.” (McLeod, 1984 cited in Belk, 1988).

 Body. For James, it is the core of the material self. It is the innermost part of our
material self. We are directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live
without. We strive hard to make sure that these body functions are well and
 good. Intentionally, we are investing in our bodies. Any ailment and disorder
directly affect us. Some people get certain body parts insured. For example,
Mariah Carey used 1 billion USD to insure her vocal cords and legs. David
Beckham also used 70 million USD to insure his legs.

Rudolf Hermann Lotze – a German philosopher and logician. He had a medical

degree and was well versed in biology. He argued that if the physical world is governed
by mechanical laws, then relations and developments in the universe can be explained
as the functioning of a world mind.

 Clothes – William James believed that clothing is an essential part of the material
self. He believed a person’s clothes are one way they express who they feel they
are. Clothes are a way to show status, thereby forming and maintaining one’s
self-image. In his book, Microcosmus, Lotze stipulated that “anytime we bring
into the surface of our body, we invest that object into the consciousness of our
existence taking in its contours to be our own and making it part of the self.”
The fabric and style of the clothes we wear bring sensations to the body, directly
affecting our attitudes and behavior. Thus, clothes are placed in the second hierarchy of
material self. Clothing is a form of self-expression. We choose and wear clothes that are
a reflection of our self.

 Immediate family – It includes our parents, siblings, and other family members.
We view them as parts of ourselves. According to the Business Dictionary, your
immediate family includes spouse, parents, grandparents, children (adopted,
half, and stepchildren are generally included in the definition), grandchildren,
siblings, and in-laws (mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, and son). (What Is
Considered Immediate Family?, n.d.)

Immediate and other family members can be determined using the following two
ways:
 Relation by blood – This means they share the same lineage or parent, such as
siblings, children, or grandchildren.
 Relation by marriage – This means they share a common bond through the
marriage of one member of each family, such as with in-laws or stepchildren.
(What Is Considered Immediate Family?, n.d.)
 Home – Home is where our heart is. It is the earliest nest of our selfhood. The
home is an extension of self because, in it, we can directly connect ourselves.

1. Social self refers to how we are regarded and recognized by others. James’s
analysis of the social self was broad. “James went on to make an additional point
about these social selves. He posited an instinctive drive to be noticed and
 recognized by others.” (University of Washington, n.d.) James argued that we
affiliate not because we like company, but because we crave recognition and
status. Building on James’s analysis, modern researchers proposed that we also
possess a relational self, which is self-defined in terms of specific interpersonal
relationships. The relational self includes all “individuals we regard as “ours,”
such as our parents, siblings, romantic partners, close friends, and colleagues.”
(Andersen & Chen, 2002; Chen, Boucher, & Tapias, 2006)

Social Comparison Theory

“Social comparison theory proposes that we use social comparisons to construct our
self-concept, especially when we have no other objective standard available to us
(Festinger, 1954). How do you know if you are shy, competitive, rich, anxious, or
anything else? These subjective ideas only become meaningful in comparison to
others. For example, if you are walking alone on the beach, then you may not even be
thinking about your physical appearance. However, when someone much more
attractive than you walks by, the unflattering social comparison can deliver a small
shock to your previously contented self-concept (Bachman & O’Malley, 1986; Marsh,
Köller, & Baumert, 2001).“ (The Social Self)

Two Types of Social Comparison:

 Upward Social Comparisons – “we compare ourselves to someone better than
us. This type of comparison can be useful when we want to improve on a
particular skill. Most people who like to watch cooking shows with celebrity chefs
enjoy getting tips on how to make their food taste or look better. The same is true
for people who get ideas about home decorating from Martha Stewart or by
reading magazines with ideas, or when athletes learn from coaches. However,
constantly comparing ourselves to people who have excelled can lead to
frustration or even depression.” (The Social Self) Why cannot my cupcakes look
as good as the ones on Pinterest?

 Downward Social Comparisons – when we compare ourselves to someone

worse than we are. This might not help us improve, but it makes us feels better.
For example, my cupcakes may not win any cupcake reality show contest, but it
is better than the cupcake my daughter tried to make. My tennis skills may not be
on a professional level, but I am better than the guy in the next court who cannot
hit a single ball over the net. (The Social Self)

How do we know the self is social?

1. “Self-perception theory notes that when we form impressions of others, we do so
by observing their behavior and then making guesses about those people’s
values, opinions, and so on. The theory suggests that we form our self-concept in
 the same way; we observe our behavior and form our self-concept by inferring
what our values, opinions, and so forth are based on our behavior.
2. Self-discrepancy theory is the idea that instead of one single self-concept, we
have three self-concepts. Our actual self is our perception of who we are right
now, while our ideal self is the person we would like to be. Finally, our ought self
is the self-concept we have that reflects what we think other people in our social
world expect of us. The self-discrepancy theory hypothesizes that when our
actual self and ideal self do not match, we will feel dejection-related emotions,
such as disappointment and shame. Meanwhile, when our actual self and ought
self do not match, we feel agitation-related emotions, such as guilt or anxiety.

3. Self-expansion theory suggests that we all want to grow and improve over time,
reaching the best possible self-concept. One way to “expand” our self-concept is
to include other people into our cognitive view of self, which provides us access
to other people’s skills, memories, perspectives, and so on. A measure of the
degree to which we have included someone else into our self-concept is called
the Inclusion of the Other in the Self scale, which asks people to choose one pair
of overlapping circles out of seven choices. The choices show the progressive
degrees of overlap with one circle labeled “self” and the second circle labeled
‘other.’” (The Social Self)

2. Spiritual Self – “is our inner self or our psychological self. It is comprised of our self-
perceived abilities, attitudes, emotions, interests, values, motives, opinions, traits, and
wishes. Many aspects of the spiritual self are evaluative. People think of themselves as
attractive or unattractive, intelligent or unintelligent, and honest or dishonest.”
(University of Washington, n.d.)

James claimed that the spiritual self is the most intimate version of self because
of the satisfaction experienced when one thinks of one’s “ability to argue and
discriminate, of our [one’s] moral sensibility, and conscience, of our indomitable will”
(James 1890, 164) is purer than other sentiments of satisfaction. Then, James
described several bodily processes in which becoming introspective can make the acts
entirely mindful, conscious processes, thereby providing further insight into an intimate,
spiritual self.
“James concluded that our possessions, which are aspects of the material self,
and our emotions, attitudes, and beliefs, which are components of the spiritual self, are
closely related. As Abelson (1986) observed, this similarity is captured in our language.
A person is said to have a belief from the time the belief is first acquired to the time it is
discarded or lost. We also say things like “I inherited a view” or “I cannot buy that!”
Finally, we speak of people who have abandoned their convictions or disowned an
earlier position. These terms imply that possessions and attitudes share an underlying
conceptual property: they are both owned by the self (see Gilovich, 1991; Heider, 1958
for an elaboration of this view).
Our tendency to treat our opinions as possessions can create interpersonal
difficulties. When people find themselves in a disagreement, they often react as if they
are being personally attacked, instead of simply acknowledging that different people
have varying perspectives (De Dreu & van Knippenberg, 2005). In turn, this perception
leads them to become belligerent and uncompromising. Mediators are often needed to
broker solutions, in part, because they are not invested in holding one view or the
other.” (University of Washington, n.d.)