Overview
This lecture explores the development, structure, measurement, and cultural differences of the cognitive self, including self-concept, self-awareness, and self-serving biases.
Development of the Self-Concept
- By grade school, children recognize themselves as unique individuals and can analyze their own behavior.
- Adults possess a mature self-concept, enabling analysis of thoughts, feelings, future planning, and awareness of mortality.
- The self-concept allows adaptive behavior modification based on past experiences.
Structure and Measurement of Self-Concept
- The self-concept is a mental representation containing beliefs about traits, abilities, values, roles, and existence.
- Self-schemas are specific cognitive aspects of the self that guide processing of self-relevant information.
- The Twenty Statements Test (TST) is a self-report measure revealing accessible and important parts of one's self-concept.
- People typically describe themselves using physical characteristics, personality traits, and social components.
Cultural Differences in Self-Concept
- Collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asia) emphasize social roles and group membership in self-descriptions.
- Individualistic cultures (e.g., Western) focus more on internal traits and personal attributes.
- Cultural differences are evident in social media self-descriptions and public self-consciousness.
Complexity and Clarity of Self-Concept
- Self-complexity refers to having many distinct self-aspects, which buffers against negative events and promotes well-being.
- High self-complexity is linked to higher self-esteem, less stress, and more resilience.
- Self-concept clarity is the extent to which one’s self-view is clearly and consistently defined.
- Higher self-concept clarity correlates with higher self-esteem and better well-being.
Self-Awareness and Self-Consciousness
- Self-awareness is focusing attention on one’s self-concept, which can increase when being observed or judged.
- Private self-consciousness involves introspection about inner thoughts and feelings.
- Public self-consciousness involves concern for how others view us and for meeting social standards.
- Deindividuation occurs in crowds, reducing self-awareness and increasing adherence to group norms.
Theories Related to Self-Awareness
- Self-awareness theory: we compare our behavior to internal standards when self-focused.
- Self-discrepancy theory: distress arises from differences between actual and ideal selves.
- Cognitive dissonance: discomfort from inconsistencies between behavior and beliefs leads to realignment or reduced self-awareness.
- Self-affirmation theory: affirming worth in unrelated domains to ease self-discrepancy threats.
Self-Serving Biases
- Self-serving bias is attributing successes to oneself and failures to external factors.
- This bias helps maintain a positive self-view, even if it leads to inaccurate judgments.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Self-concept — a representation of knowledge about oneself, including traits, roles, and values.
- Self-schema — cognitive structures about specific self-related aspects (e.g., appearance, skills).
- Self-complexity — the degree to which one has multiple, independent self-aspects.
- Self-concept clarity — how clearly and consistently one's self-concept is defined.
- Self-awareness — attention focused on one's self-concept.
- Private self-consciousness — tendency to focus on internal beliefs and feelings.
- Public self-consciousness — focus on how one is perceived by others.
- Deindividuation — loss of individuality in group settings.
- Self-serving bias — tendency to credit oneself for successes and blame external factors for failures.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Try completing the Twenty Statements Test (TST): write five "I am _____" statements about yourself.
- Reflect on your own self-complexity and self-concept clarity.