Self Concept, Self Identity, & Social Identity

Self Identity 1. 2. Self Concept, Self Identity, & Social Identity: Self-Concept is a term used to describe how someone thinks about, perceives, or evaluates themselves (need to be self-aware in order to show this) and has two aspects: Existential self is the most basic part of self-concept and the sense of being separate and distinct entities from others and other objects (constant state) Categorical self comes once you realize you are a separate entity (existential self), we become aware that we exist in the world with other objects/people (each has properties such as age, gender, skills, size, etc.) → as you grow older, you start 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. - 1. 2. 3. 4. - comparing yourself to other people with regards to traits, careers, etc. Carl Rogers was a big humanistic psychologist and he believed that the self-concept had 3 different components: Self-image is the view we have of ourselves Self-esteem is how much value we place on ourselves (or love ourselves <3) Ideal self is who we wish to be or who we aspire to be Social Identity Theory is a portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group and can be divided into 2 parts: Personal Identity are things unique to each person such as personality traits Social Identity includes the groups you belong to within your community All humans categorize themselves in order to better understand objects and better identify them in categories such as race, age, gender, etc. in order to differentiate ourselves from others and leads to some pre judgement of other individuals Identification is when you identify to a specific group and you begin acting more like them and conforming Comparison comes after identification and categorization in order to maintain self-esteem (sometimes leads to prejudice) Self Esteem, Self Efficacy, and Social Identity: Self-efficacy refers to the belief in one’s capabilities to succeed in a certain situation (i.e. me doing well on this MCAT) People with a strong self-efficacy see challenges as something to be mastered, show stronger interest/enjoyment in activities, and recover more quickly from setbacks/disappointments People with weak self-efficacy avoid challenging tasks, believe difficult tasks/situations are beyond their capabilities, focus on personal failings/negative outcomes, and quickly lose confidence in personal abilities Sources tell us if someone will have a strong or weak sense of self efficacy: Mastery of experiences will increase one’s self efficacy Social Modeling will also increase one’s self efficacy (seeing individuals like ourselves succeeding at similar tasks) Social Persuasion refers to someone saying something positive/encouraging that helped you achieve a goal and overcome self doubt Psychological Responses such as anxiety before a task can lower self-efficacy, but by teaching them how to overcome certain mental states will increase their sense of self-efficacy A catch, a person with low self esteem can have high self efficacy and even vice versa Perfectionists have possibly a low self esteem and a high sense of self efficacy (overly critical and negative) Locus of control is the extent to which people perceive they have control over events in their lives (internal LoC → you have control over your life and tend to be happier while external LoC → you don’t have control, everything is dependent on the environment) Overview of Theories of Development: Development is the series of age related changes that happen over the course of a lifespan Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Theory of Development where personality develops during childhood (believed early childhood is the most important in developing personality) and has 5 main stages (if completed successfully, a healthy personality is developed and if issues are not resolved, fixation may occur) Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Theory of Development where personality develops throughout a person’s entire life span and each stage of life had to do with overcoming a conflict and has 8 main stages Vygotsky's Theory of Sociocultural Cognitive Development Theory where children learn actively and through hands on experiences (parents, caregivers, peers, culture, and etc. are all responsible for this higher order function of learning) and a child internalizes information from those around us (stresses importance of interaction) Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development where people think about the difference between right and wrong (3 total stages with 2 substages each → 6 total levels) Remember, Freud and Erikson looked a personality development while Vygotsky and Kohlberg were interested in how our cognition develops Freud’s Psychosexual Development: Life is built around this concept of tension & pleasure (tension could lead to conflict) Libido is a natural energy that uses sexual drive to motivate people to do things Mnemonic for memorizing the stages: Old Age Parrots Love Grapes During the Phallic stage, boys start to see their father as a competitor for the mother’s affection (known as the Oedipus complex) while girls experience the Electra Complex where they see their mother as competitor for their father’s affection Side note: fixation at the phallic stage will result in homosexuality and exhibitionism (a mental condition characterized by the compulsion to display one's genitals in public) Erikson’s Psychosocial Development: Erikson’s theory was greatly influenced by Freud’s theory, but instead decided to focus more on the role of culture and society in influencing one’s personality development He also showed that growth/personality growth spans an entire life and not just during childhood Crisis may occur during each stages of development (involves the differences between the needs of the individual and the needs of society) Successful completion of each stage will lead to individuals obtaining virtue and developing a healthy personality Vygotsky Sociocultural Development: Highly focused on the social interaction plays in the development of cognition 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. - He died at 38 so much of his theory was left unfinished Babies have elementary mental functions: Attention Sensation Perception Memory These elementary MFs are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies known as higher mental functions (independent learning/thinking that are cultivated by elementary MFs) Often times, parents/teachers are “tutors” or models for the child More Knowledgeable Other (MKOs) are individuals who have better understanding or higher ability level than the learner Interaction of the child & MKO leads to learning Zone of Proximal Development is where the most sensitive instruction/guidance should be given (link between what you can do and what you cannot do) Language is the main means by which adults transmit info to children (can be thought of as an accelerator to thinking and understanding) Therefore, thought is the result of language Kohlberg Moral Development: The Heinz dilemma was asked to children at different ages to see how they deal with certain moral situations People can only go through the levels in order and not everyone is capable of achieving the final stage (6 total stages) Obedience v. Punishment which describes physical consequences of actions and seeing rules as fixed (punishment means something wrong) Individualism & Exchange is where children recognize that there is not just one right view that is handed down by the authorities (different individuals have different viewpoints) Good boy vs. Good girl is where authority is internalized and not questioned, reasoning is based on the norm of the group to where the individual belongs (other people say if you’re good or not, other people’s opinions) Law & Order is where social order must be maintained through the rules of society Social Contract is where the individual becomes aware that rules are implemented for the greater good, there are times where this law and order still may work against the interest of particular people Universal Ethical Principles says that individuals develop their own moral/ethical guidelines that may or may not fit the law (Gandhi, Mandela, and MLK) Social Influences: Imitation is a type of individual social influence where one copies someone else (rest on the understanding that we are different from others) This starts at around 12-21 days (crazy!) which is critical for our species Mirror neurons are neurons that fire both when an animal acts AND when the animal observes the same action performed by another Roles are the different things/positions we adopt (such as a doctor, teacher, brother, father, etc.) → can change how we act, as demonstrated in the Stanford Prison Experiment Social norms are the accepted standard of behavior of certain social groups (norm provide order and society) Reference group is a term that identifies the group which people refer or make reference in evaluating themselves (any group to which a person refers to through a group’s beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, etc.) 1. 2. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. George Herbert Mead - The I and the Me: Charles Cooley thought that every person we interact with could influence our self identity in some way or another, George Herbert Mead thought that only certain people could influence our perception of self (and only during certain periods of life) For example, Mead thought kids couldn’t really be influenced by others because they saw themselves as the center of their own world and lack the ability to take the perspective of another person As we grow up we start to take into account the perception of others and Mead thought that this begins through three stages: Preparatory stage is where children interact with others through imitation (play with pots n pans when others are cooking) Play stage is where children begin to become more aware of social relationships through pretend play (playing as a doctor, teacher, mother, etc.) → they don’t mimic, they create these social interactions Game stage is when children begin to understand the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of the generalized other (society as a whole) and understand better that individuals act in certain way not just with what they believe in, but with what society broadly expects of them (begin to understand people can take multiple roles) The I is the response to the social self while the Me is the social self (think of me as society’s view and the I as the individual identity stepping in, or our personal responses to what society thinks) Our actual self (who we are) is a balance of the I and the Me Charles Cooley - Looking Glass Self: Socialization describes the process by which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors that are appropriate and expected by their cultural community (formed by those closeby and those we come across in our daily lives and even those we see on TV such as celebrities) This can also alter our self image (how we view ourselves) and is often termed by Cooley as the looking glass self (which is not only how we view ourselves, but also how we perceive other look at ourselves) and occurs in steps: How do I appear to others? What must others think of me? Revise how we think about ourselves We are not actually being influenced by the opinions of others, but rather what we imagine the opinions of other people to be (could be correct OR incorrect) Extra Notes: Self esteem is higher when children are in structured environments with parents who are involved and supportive and answer the children’s questions or address their concerns → Authoritative parenting The id controls impulses (sexual and aggressive) and is associated with instinctual behavior, the superego is involved in imposing morals, while the ego mediates the two other constructs to form a balanced, realistic identity Self concept is a person’s beliefs or thoughts about themselves while self awareness is the extent to which a person fixes their attention on their own self-concept