“No topic is more interesting to people than people.

For most people,

moreover, the most interesting is the self.” – Baumeister (1999)

The Self in a Social

World
Chapter 2
The Funeral Game
Spotlights and Illusions

▪ Spotlight Effect (Lawson, 2010)

– The belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance and
behavior than they really are.

▪ Illusion of Transparency (Stavitsky & Gilovich, 2003)

– The illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by
others.
Research Close-Up: On Being Nervous
about Looking Nervous

▪ Examples of interplay between our sense of self and our social world:
– Social surroundings affect our self-awareness
– Self-interest colors our social judgment
▪ We attribute favorable outcomes to internal causes (self) Self-serving
▪ We attribute unfavorable outcomes to external causes attribution
– Self-concern motivates our social behavior
– Social relationships help define our self
▪ We have varying selves in our varied relationships (Andersen and Chen, 2002)
▪ When relationships change, our self-concept may change as well
▪ College students who recently broke up with a romantic partner shifted their self-
perceptions and felt less certain about who they were (Slotter et al., 2010)
Self-Concept: Who Am I?

▪ Self-concept – what we know and believe about ourselves

– Which brain hemisphere helps you to recognize yourself?
▪ Right hemisphere (Decety & Sommerville, 2003)

▪ Self-schema - beliefs about self that organize and guide the

processing of self-relevant information
Development of the Social Self
▪ Factors that Determine Our Self-Concept
1. Roles we play
▪ Self perception theory (D. Bem)
▪ New roles begin as play-acting then become reality (“fake it ‘till you make it”)
2. Social identities we form
3. Comparisons we make with others
▪ Social Comparison – evaluating one’s abilities and opinions by comparing oneself with
others
▪ We tend to “compare upward”
Development of the Social Self

▪ Factors that Determine Our Self-Concept

4. How other people judge us
• How we think others perceive us is a mirror for perceiving ourselves
5. Surrounding culture
• Individualism – the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and
defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications
• Collectivism – giving priority to the goals of one’s group and defining one’s identity
accordingly
Self-Knowledge
▪ Planning fallacy – the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task
▪ Impact bias – overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing events
▪ Self-serving bias – the tendency to perceive oneself favorably
▪ Self-serving attribution – a form of self-serving bias; the tendency to attribute positive
outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors
▪ Defensive pessimism – the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s
anxiety to motivate effective action
▪ False consensus effect – the tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s
opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors
▪ False uniqueness effect – the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s
abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors
▪ Self-handicapping – protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy
excuse for later failure
Self-Esteem

▪ Awareness
▪ Acceptance
▪ Action
Self-Esteem Tips

1. Say stop to your inner critic.

2. Use healthier motivation habits.
– Remind yourself of the benefits
– Refocus on doing what YOU really, really like to do

3. Take a 2 minute self-appreciation break.

4. Do the right thing.
5. Do not aim for perfection.
6. Handle mistakes and failures in a more positive way.
Self-Esteem Tips

7. Be kinder towards other people.

– Listen to someone
– Hold up the door for the next person
– Take a few minutes help someone out in a practical way

8. Try something new.

9. Stop falling into the comparison trap.
10. Spend more time with supportive people (and less time with
destructive people).
11. Remember the why you want to improve your self-esteem.
Summary
▪ Our sense of self helps organize our thoughts and actions. When we process
information about ourselves, we remember it well (using our self-schemas).
▪ Cultures shape the self too. Many people in individualistic western cultures
assume an independent self. Collectivistic cultures assume a more
interdependent self. These contrasting ideas contribute to cultural differences in
social behavior.
▪ Our self-knowledge is curiously flawed.
▪ Self-esteem is the overall sense of self-worth we use to appraise our traits and
abilities
▪ Self-efficacy is the belief that one is effective and competent and a do
something.
▪ As social animals, we adjust our words and actions to suit our audiences.
▪ Sometimes, we self-handicap with self-defeating behaviors that protect self-
esteem by providing excuses to failure.
Jungian Archetypes
▪ The Persona – an identity which we wish to project to others
▪ The Shadow - composed primarily of the elements of ourselves that
we consider to be negative. We do not show this side of the self to
the outside world as it can be a source of anxiety or shame.
▪ Anima/Animus - The anima (in males) or animus (in females)
represents the opposite gender to a person's self.
▪ The Wise Old Man - represents the power of peaceful contemplation
in the absence of physical prowess.; foresees the future and offers
guidance in turbulent times.
▪ The Great Mother - embodies the idealized qualities of the mother
figure. She is caring, compassionate, dependable and loving and, like
the Wise Old Man, she may offer guidance when asked.
Jungian Archetypes

▪ The mother: Nurturing; comforting.

▪ The child: Longing for innocence; rebirth; salvation.
▪ The hero: Champion; defender; rescuer.
▪ The maiden: Innocence; desire; purity.
▪ The trickster: Deceiver; liar; trouble-maker.
▪ The self - represents the unified unconsciousness and consciousness
of an individual.
 Self-affirmation
1. I wake up today with strength in my heart and clarity in my mind.
2. My life is just beginning.
3. Today, I abandon my old habits and take up new, more positive ones.
4.  I forgive those who have harmed me in my past and peacefully detach
from them.
5. Though there are times that are difficult, they are only a short phase of life.
6. My ability to conquer my challenges is limitless; my potential to succeed is
infinite.
7. I am superior to negative thoughts and low actions.
8. I acknowledge my own self-worth; my confidence is soaring.