Essay on Self HO

Submitted By Zhenni-He
Words: 920
Pages: 4

The Self
There are three parts to the self:
– The Individual Self:
– The Relational Self
– The Executive Self
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Model from Baumeister,1998

also Sedikides & Brewer, 2004

Individual Self

Reflective Self

Executive Self

The Individual Self
Refers to thinking about the self and who you are
– Self-Serving Biases
– Actor-Observer effect
– Implicit Egotism
– Self-Concept

The Individual Self: Self-Concept
DEF: The set of beliefs we have about ourselves and about what we are like.
• Influences how we process and recall information about the self and others

Possible Selves
Def: The different selves or roles that a person plays, similar to an actor might in a play. These selves prescribe particular types of behaviors in certain social situations.
All possible selves are based on core identity

• Actual Self - the person you are right now
Self Guides - Possible selves
• Ideal Self - The self it is your goal to be
• Ought Self - The self it is your duty to be
• Feared Self - The self you fear becoming

• Our view of ourselves includes how well our actual self matches our self-guides
– Discrepancy – a mismatch between our actual self and a self-guide

• Discrepancies result in emotional reactions

The Individual Self
Refers to thinking about the self and who you are
– Self-Serving Biases
– Actor-Observer effect
– Implicit Egotism
– Self-Concept
– Possible Selves (Marcus & Nurius, 1986)
- Motives for Self-Knowledge (Swann)

Motives for Self-Knowledge
We have three motives:
– Appraisal:
– Consistency:
– Self-Enhancement:

Motives for Self-Knowledge
How do we know that self-enhancement is best?
– Because we hold Positive Illusions:
– We tend to view the world in a slightly more positive light than we should (Taylor & Brown, 1988)

Implicit theories of the Self
We unconsciously view ability as

Dweck, 2000

– Changeable: Incremental theorists believe we are able to increase (incrementally) the amount of ability that we have
– Unchangeable: Entity theorists believe that we are born with a fixed amount of ability that will not ever change.

Implicit theories of the Self
What happens after failure?
Entity theorists become more self-protective
Incremental theorists become more motivated
Moral of the story (Optimistic thought of the day):
It’s better to be an incrementalist! It’s an approach to life, not strictly a personality trait. You can become more incremental with effort!

The Individual Self
Refers to thinking about the self and who you are
– Self-Serving Biases
– Actor-Observer effect
– Implicit Egotism
– Self-Concept
– Possible Selves (Marcus & Nurius, 1986)
– Motives for Self-Knowledge
- Self-Awareness

Self-Awareness
The ability to look at what you are doing and interpret what you are like based on your actions (Duval & Wicklund, 1972)

The Relational Self
Refers to thinking about the self in relation to other people
– Reflected Appraisal to gain self-knowledge
• We view ourselves through the eyes of others and incorporate their perceptions of us into our selfconcept.
• AKA Looking-Glass Self
• Not necessarily accurate! Why not?

 If a close other excels in unimportant

activity then people BIRG

 If a close other excels in a personally

relevant activity then people feel envy
 distance self from the person
 decrease importance of activity
 can lead to sabotage

Self-Presentation
A strategy by which people convey an impression of what they are like to others

• There are two motives for selfpresentation:
1) Present a Positive Self


2) Construct Image of the Self


The Relational Self
How we view ourselves influences how we view others
People tend to judge others based on their possession of the traits or the judger.
– We of course are high in all of the important traits and abilities
– If we are low in a trait or ability, it isn’t really important

Bridge between