The Self Concept – Assignment Help

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

6-1: Describe the nature of self-concept and factors that shape it(APA Goal 1).

6-2: Explain the importance of self-esteem, its relation to adjustment, and how it develops(APA Goal 4, 8).

6-3: Discuss self-attributions, motives for self-understanding, and the process of self-enhancement(APA Goal 1).

6-4: Define self-regulation, its psychological benefits, and its challenges(APA Goals 1, 4).

6-5: Discuss why and how people engage in impression management, and describe strategies for creating favorable impressions(APA Goals 4, 7).

6-6: List seven ways to build self-esteem(APA Goals 4, 9).

CHAPTER OUTLINE

6-1. Self-Concept: Your Picture of Yourself

6-1a. The Nature of the Self-Concept

  1. The self-conceptis an organized collection of beliefs about the self
  1. The beliefs of the self-concept are also called self-schemas, which are developed  from past experience and are concerned with one’s personality traits, abilities, physical features, values, goals, and social roles
  1. The self-concept currently accessible is called working self-concept
  1. Self-concepts can influence future behavior
  2. Possible selves: one’s conceptions about the kind of person one might become in the future
  3. Possible selves can be positive or negative
  4. Self-concepts can change, but people are strongly motivated to maintain consistency

6-1b. Factors Shaping the Self-Concept

  1. One’s Own Observations
  2. Festinger’ssocial comparison theoryproposes that individuals compare  themselves with others in order to assess their abilities and opinions
  3. A reference groupis set of people who are used as a gauge in making social   comparisons
  4. Upward social comparisons can motivate and direct future efforts
  5. Downward social comparisons can help you to feel better about yourself
  6. There is a general tendency to distort reality in a positive direction
  7. The “N-effect” is when the number of competitors (or N) reduces the motivation to compete, as specific social comparisons decreases
  1. Feedback from Others
  2. As children, we get feedback from parents
  3. Number of people who provide feedback increases as we grow older
  4. The Michelangelo phenomenon reflects the partner’s role in sculpting into reality the ideal self of a loved one
  5. Individuals don’t see themselves exactly as others see them, but rather as they believe others see them
  1. Cultural Values
  2. Culture determines what behaviors are desirable and undesirable
  3. Individualism involves putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships

1) Associated with North American, Western European cultures

2) People from these cultures tend to have independent views of self

  1. Collectivism involves putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one’s identity in terms of the groups to which one belongs

1) Associated with Asian, African, Latin American cultures

2.) People from these cultures tend to have interdependent view of self

  1. There are related gender differences

1)  Generally, women usually have more interdependent views than men

2)  Women usually have more relational interdependence (close relationships  with intimates)

3)   Men usually have more collective interdependence (interaction in social groups such as clubs or teams)

6-2. Self-Esteem: Gauging Your Worth

  1. Self-esteem is one’s overall assessment of one’s worth as a person; it is the evaluative component of the self-concept
  1. Higher self-esteem correlates with confidence, taking credit for successes
  1. Self-concept confusion means that individuals with low self-esteem simply don’t  know themselves well enough to strongly endorse many personal attributes on self-esteem tests, resulting in lower self-esteem scores
  1. Trait self-esteem refers to the ongoing sense of confidence people have regarding their abilities and characteristics (relatively consistent)
  1. State self-esteem refers to how we feel about ourselves in the moment (dynamic)
  1. Investigating self-esteem is difficult
  2. Reliance on subjective self-reports, which may be biased
  3. Research provides only correlations of self-esteem, leave cause-effect questions unanswered

6-2a. The Importance of Self-Esteem

1. Self-Esteem and Adjustment