The Social Self

Research on the self:

The self is a topic originating from the 1890s. A central figure in the research of the self was William
James, he wrote books such as The principles of psychology, and The consciousness of self.
William James came up with the ,,Me-self” and ,,I-self” theory:
 I is the agent, the actor
o the active part of the self
o holds the will and resembles an agent self
o ,,I choose to do this”
 Me is how I am seen (or how I think I’m seen)
o the self as an object of other people’s observation

Levels of the (me) self: (William James)

1. bodily / physical / material self:
o one’s possesions, clothes, room, car, pet etc
2. inner / spiritual self:
o inner thoughts
o attitudes, abilities, interests, feelings
3. interpersonal self:
o a person’s collection of roles (student, daughter, sister, friend)
4. social self:
o how we interact and portray ourselves with different groups, situations etc
o represents the social identities defined at the level of the collective or the culture

The complexity of the self:

Self- complexity: Linville, 1985
 altough most people consider themselves more complex than others, people do vary in self-
complexity
 a more complex self is more complicated, more costly and more tiring to operate, it also makes
us more protected

Possible selves: people have multiple possible

selves
The future self:
 all that is not characteristic of the individual at the moment, but still can be
 future related components of the self, aims+ ways of achieving them
 mostly positive
How to get to know ourselves?
1.Self-Perception theory (Bem, 1972):
 observing one’s own behavior
 when internal feelings are weak or ambiguous
2.Introspection about inner thoughts and feelings
3.Social comparison (Leon Festinger)
 people get information about themselves by considering other people
 serves two functions
o understanding function: people want to know how good they are and they seek
accurate comparisons with similar others, this helps to predict future performance
o self-enhancement function: people compare themselves especiallí with people who are
doing less well than they are
 downward comparison: comparing with others who are less well off  helps to
make their actual performance feel adequate
 upward comparison: useful for self improvement
4.social feedback: reactions and assessments of others ont he self

How can the complex self be coherent

Accessibility: always a temporal, so-called working self is accessible
Situational attribution: inconsistent behavior is explained by the situation (explaining unusual behavior)
Consistency endeavor: some personality traits are treated as more stable than others
 consistency is expected to be found in feedback of others
 contradictory feedback: avoided, rejected, fades away
 cross-checking inconsistencies: dissonance reduction (to be discussed later), selective memory
Self-esteem: and individual’s positive or negative
evaluation of himself or herself
Goals:
 accurate self-image: seeking for information that determines traits of the self, regardless if they
are good or bad
 stable self-image: seeking for information that confirms what we know
 positive self image: desire for information that gives the self a favorable light, downward
comparison
 progress: upward comparison
Lake Wobegon effect:
 we beleive that we are better than average, but we are average in beleiving that we are better
than average
 a self defense mechanism
 The characterization that "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and the
children are all above average" has been used to describe a real and pervasive human
tendency to overestimate one's achievements and capabilities in relation to others.

Effects of others’ success on self-esteem

Succesful person close to you:
a) you’ll bask in glory: if the dimension of comparison is unimportant and irrelevant
b) you’ll suffer: if it’s relevant

Self-discrepancies and their consequences

Actual self: people’s own image of who they really are right now
Ought self: who people feel they morally should be or who significant people in their lives feel they
should be
 emphasizes responsibilities, prevention focus (avoids the negative)
 if one does not measure up tot he ought self, some bad consequences (punishment) follow
 if one does meet the ought responsibilities, one can be safe and secure, relief
Ideal self: whom a person wants to be or whom some1 else wants the person to be
 concerns desires, wishes, and aspirations
 emphasizes promotion focus (seeks the positive
 if a person fails to reach an idealt he consequence is dissappointment over losing the reward,
not fear of punishments, one feels sad but not guilty
 if they meet the ideal: feeling of accomplishment