January 31^st, 2000

People different from rocks---they have a sense of self, but what is that?

William James (1900)---2 fundamentally different senses of self

One is inside looking out

Like stream of consciousness--everything you think, believe---similar to Lewin’s field space

This view is homonculous, meaning there is a person inside looking out

Explained behavior of “big guy” by saying it’s the little guy inside the mind’s doing

“Self as knower”

“Self as known”--knowledge we have about ourselves

Behaviorists viewed the self as “fuzzy” and not worth studying

Gordon Allport--8 senses of self

*Spiritual self---values and beliefs

*Social self---interaction based

*Material self---defined by things you own

8^th one = self as knower---(Allport) tried to study for years---finds it difficult so he scraps the idea

Evidence for self as known:

Self consciousness or self awareness---when we are in a state of self consciousness, we act differently

It was initially believed that in this state, performance always suffered because the situation was aversive or uncomfortable

However, some people actually do better when self aware

---depends on what you think about the self

---if you have a positive comparison with your ideal, then being self aware is positive

COMPONENTS OF THE SELF:

Cognitive Self concept (knowledge about traits)

Affective Self esteem (how we evaluate ourself)

Behavioral Self perception (viewing own behavior)

Self perception theory---Bem

*Analyze behavior when we’re not aware of our traits

*Classic attitudinal theory

*Often don’t know what our own attitudes are

*Analyze your own behavior to see what underlying attitude is

*Doing same thing as friends/others would do if they were asked about us

“Are you religious?” “Are you athletic”

Study: Subjects asked to respond to questions worded slightly differently

One case: I sometimes go to church……….Usually answer yes

Then see themselves as religious

Second case: I always go to church………..Usually answer no

See themselves as not religious

Self concept: multiple selves (people differ in number of selves)

--people act differently depending on who they’re with/context

Also differ in complexity of selves---more or less interlinked (diff contexts bring out different traits)

e.g. When I am a student, only my creative side comes out---complex

For some people, all their traits apply in every context

Also matters how you define your self---if people just like you for being an athlete, then if you blow out a knee, your self concept is shot

People with high self complexity do not overreact to bad things---have more selves

---Do not react euphorically to good things either

Low self complexity people are like yo-yos (they are always up and down with emotions)

Evidence that you should not put all your cognitive eggs in one basket

THE NATURE OF SELF CONCEPT IN DIFFERENT SOCIETIES:

--Many criticize social psychology for being the study of 18 year old college students

--Western societies are individualistic cultures (You’re responsible for your own behaviors, traits reflect you)

--Eastern societies are more collectivistic (behaviors result from obligations/roles to others; the self is fluid and variable)

SEE FIGURE 4.1 FROM TEXT

Previously thought that some research done in social psychology might only apply to western societies (attributing behaviors to traits, eg.)

However, cross cultural psychology shows that most of our research does apply to all individuals