Defining Self

The way people think and feel about

themselves (Brown, 1998).
The human self is a self-organizing,
interactive system of thoughts, feelings, and
motives that characterizes an individual
(Hoyle).

Self vs. Personality

According to Brown:
Self is what people think they are like.
Personality is what people are actually like.

History of the Self in Psychological Science

William James (1842-1910)

Discussed concepts such as self-concept and self-esteem
Used introspection-observation of ones own
consciousness.

Behaviorists (e.g., Watson, Skinner)

Dominated American psychology from 1915-1955.

Psychology is the science of behavior, not of the mind.
Self relegated to non-scientific psychology.

Cognitive Revolution and Re-Emergence of the Self

People are active organisms, capable of planning and
initiating behaviors in order to achieve desired end-states.

Self at the Center of Human

Experience

ENV SELF BEH

William James View of Self

2 Main Components:
Me: the self-concept (knowledge and
thoughts related to who you think you are).
I: the perceiver (the part of self that allows
you to be consciously aware of who you
are).
I sees Me
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Three Components of SelfConcept (James)

Spiritual Self- your internal perception of who you

are.
Personality traits, abilities, interests, feelings, desires.

Social Self- how you are perceived by others.

Largely based on social roles and group memberships.

Material Self- tangible objects, people, or places

that carry the designation my or mine.
Bodily self
Extracorporeal self
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Cognitive Components of the Self

The Self is a collection of knowledge.
Network Models
Self-schemas- cognitive generalizations
about the self, derived from past
experience, that organize and guide the
processing of new self-related
information (Markus, 1977).

Markus' (1977) Self-Schema

studies
Step 1:
Individuals are categorized as independent, dependent, or aschematic.
How would you describe yourself:
Dependent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Independent
Conformist 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Individualist
Follower

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Leader

Markus' (1977) Self-Schema

studies
Step 2 (3-4 weeks later):
Judge whether 69 traits are self-descriptive or not
(RT measured). Each item presented for 2s.
Example:
Individualistic:
Me

Not Me
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Results (Markus, 1977)

Self-schemas
Allow consistent judgments of self
Speed up processing of self-relevant info

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Extensions of Self-Schema
Research

Memory
Acceptance of feedback
Judgment of others

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Self-Reference Effect
Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker (1977):
Step 1:
Structural properties:
Phonemic properties:
Semantic properties:
Self-relevance:

Is kind printed in lowercase letters?

Does kind rhyme with mind?
Does kind mean the same as nice?
Does kind describe you?

Step 2: Surprise recall.

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Self-Reference Effect
Information related to the self is more easily
recalled.
Proportion of Words Recalled
0.35
0.3
0.25
Recall

0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Self

Semantic

Phonemic

Structural

Condition

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Working Self-Concept
Working self-concept- the portion of the self
that is accessible at the moment.
Consists of:
core self-conceptions (stable across
situations).
tentative self-conceptions (change
depending on the situation).
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Self-Complexity (Linville, 1987)

self-complexity entails cognitively organizing
self-knowledge in terms of a greater number of
self-aspects and maintaining greater distinctions
among self-aspects.
A complex cognitive representation of the self
serves to moderate the adverse physical and
mental health effects of stressful events.

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Motivational Views of Self

Self-evaluation motives:
Self-enhancement- people want to feel good
about themselves.
Accuracy- people want valid info about
themselves.
Self-verification- people want info that is
consistent with how they view themselves.
Self-improvement- people want to get better.
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Swann et al. (1987)

Method
Participants were high or low in social SE
Task: read a passage from a book while
evaluator watches
Evaluator gives favorable or unfavorable
feedback.
Participants rate the evaluator and their
current mood.

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Swann et al. (1987)

Results

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Swann et al. (1987)

Results

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Compromises b/w Enhancement

and Verification
Morling & Epstein (1997; Study 2):
Participants were high or low in self-esteem.
Ps read scenarios involving potential dating partners:
Self-verifying partner
Slight or extremely enhancing partner
Slight or extremely belittling partner
Ps rated immediate gut reactions of liking for each partner
And more considerate, deliberate reactions of liking.
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Compromises b/w Enhancement

and Verification
Immediate Condition

3.6
3.4
3.2
3

HSE
LSE

2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2
--

verif

++

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Compromises b/w Enhancement

and Verification
Deliberate Condition

3.6
3.4
3.2
3

HSE
LSE

2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2
--

verif

++

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Self-Discrepancy Theory
(Higgins, 1987)
Three components of self:
Actual self- the person you think you are.
Ideal self- the person youd ideally like to
be.
Ought self- the person you think you should
be.

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Self-Discrepancy Theory
(Higgins, 1987)
1. We are motivated to reach a condition
where actual self matches our personally
relevant self-guides (ideal or ought selves).
2. Self discrepancies have affective
consequences.
Actual-ideal self discrepancy leads to
dejection-related emotions.
Actual-ought self discrepancy leads to
agitation-related emotions.
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Experimental Evidence for SelfDiscrepancy Theory

(Higgins et al., 1986)

Participants were students who scored high on

both actual-ideal and actual-ought discrepancy and
those who scored low on both.
Ideal prime condition: describe the kind of
person you and your parents would ideally like
you to be
Ought prime condition: describe the kind of
person you and your parents think you ought to
be
DV: pre and post-test mood questionnaire.
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Results (Higgins et al., 1986)

Ideal priming increased high-discrepancy
participants dejection.
Ought priming increased high-discrepancy
participants agitation.

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Working Self-Concept
Working self-concept- the portion of the self
that is accessible at the moment.
Consists of:
core self-conceptions (stable across
situations).
tentative self-conceptions (change
depending on the situation).
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Stability and Malleability of the

Self-Concept
(Markus & Kunda, 1986)

Manipulated similarity vs.

uniqueness
e.g., Which card do you prefer?

Uniqueness condition: 2 confederates disagree with

you on 15/18 trials.
Similarity condition: 2 confederates agree with you
on 15/18 trials.
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Results, Markus & Kunda (1986)

Me/not me judgments for similarity (average,
normal, follower) and uniqueness (original,
independent, unique) words:
No effect of condition on # similarity and
uniqueness words endorsed as self-descriptive.
But, ps in the uniqueness condition hit me
faster for similarity words.
Ps in the similarity condition hit me faster for
uniqueness words and not me faster for
similarity words.
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Conclusions
Self can be described in cognitive units
such as nodes in a network or self-schemas.
Different social situations activate different
portions of the self and different selfmotives.
Motives affect our processing of self-related
information and subsequent emotions.
Several theories suggest that the self is
resistant to change.

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