Defining the Self

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Defining the Self
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The I and the ME of the SELF

• I
• differentiates us from other objects
• understand control and volitional functions
• sense of continuity
• self as actor

• ME
• influences information processing/interpretation
• guides immediate behaviors
• motivation
• self as object

3
Jamess taxonomy of selves

• I

• ME

Empirical Self various ways people think about
themselves
Material Self
Social Self
Spiritual Self
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Making Jamess selves work

• How do these aspects of self factor into your
  everyday lives -- what do they explain?
• Material self -- pack-rats, heirlooms
• Social self -- having your worlds collide
• Spiritual self -- depressed despite success
• How do these classifications fit your lists?

5
Self beyond James

• Implicit categorizations of your lists
• How many dimensions are there?
• Cross-cultural research suggests ?
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.
• 6.

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Multidimensional Self

• Self- concept --

Self representations --
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Managing Multiple selves

• Can your self representations be discrepant?
• Which self will you be today / now?
• Working self-concept --

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To clarify the topic of discussion (thus far)

• Self-concept -- how you about yourself

• Self-esteem -- how you about yourself

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Self-esteem models

• Competing theories of how global estimates are
  derived by individuals
• Bottom-up
• Top-down

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What to make of this stuff

• Think about your self-representations
• What self representations do you have?
• How do you define these selves?
• How do your self-views change with different
  environments?
• Where /How do you develop these different self
  representations?
• How do these different self representations
  affect your life?

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Developing the Self
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Influences on the Self
SELF

• How important is each influence?
• What implications does this view of SELF
  development have in the real world?

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Cultural Influences

• Does our culture reflect who We are? OR do We
  reflect what our culture is?

EXAMPLE
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Cultural development of Self

• Independent self --
• world view
• Interdependent self --
• world view

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In what culture has your self developed?

• 1. What percentage of American children live
  with both biological parents?
• a. 21 b. 44 c. 60 d.
  83
• 2. What percent of the US population dies each
  year?
• a. 1 b. 5 c. 10 d. 24
  
• 3. What is the homicide rate in America per
  100,000 population?
• a. 11 b. 21 c. 42 d.
  61
• 4. What percentage of births are to unmarried
  women in US?
• a. 10 b. 20 c. 30 d.
  40
• 5. What percentage of the US population is
  Latino?
• a. 2 b. 8 c. 16 d.
  24

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What I think others think Reflected Appraisals

• Looking-glass self -- we see ourselves in how
  we are seen by others (Cooley, 1902)
• How we think others perceive us, not necessarily
  how they see us (Mead, 1934)
• Consistent with idea that perception is reality
  --- allows for individual differences in self
  development maintenance

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You are who you arent Influence of others

• Social identity -- .
• Self is defined by
• Implies that for every us there is a them
• Developed through
• Suggests that your views of self are constantly
  changing depending on

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An open book? Self-perception

• Self-perception theory --
• theory is intended to address attitude change
• specific to particular attitudes and behaviors
• Limited to situations of ambiguity
• Generalizing it to development of SELF

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Do you Know thyself?

• What is the usefulness of knowing the SELF?
• Can you know the the SELF?
• How can you get information on the SELF?
• How reliable is this type of data?
• How worthwhile is this concept unless
  definitive answers can be found?