PSC 161 - Week 1 PDF

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Brown, J. D. (1996/2007). The self. New York: Psychology Press. the one with Van Gogh’s face on it exams (66%) 3 non-cumulative, multiple choice exams optional cumulative final standard green 100 question scantron questions from lecture and book class activities (12%) active learning during class or at-home no make-ups or excused absences will drop lowest score - can miss 1 class w/o penalty group project (22%) groups of 5-6 picked randomly all members must contribute each group responsible for one important theory/concept extra credit optional bonus questions on exams up to 3% extra credit on sona textbook https://gofile.io/?c=WNlxPA 04/01/19 What is the Self? The Self ● William James ○ it is everything that you are and makes up you ● Daniel Wegener ○ an ongoing experience, seems like magic each time ○ you can make things happen just by thinking them ● Dimensions of the Self ○ how you describe yourself: various personality traits, roles, things you like ○ the “little person” in your head who is doing the describing ● Me v. I ○ Me: an object that can be observed and describe, objectified self ■ statements about the self (I am friendly, I have brown hair) ■ self as the object ○ I: the entity that does the observing and describing; thinks/feels/acts ■ experiences life and makes decisions ■ self as the subject

○ there is a part of you that’s doing the looking, and a part of you that you’re looking at! Why Study the Self? ● much of what we know about ourselves is based on our thoughts about and relations with others ● how we think about ourselves influences virtually every aspect of social psychology ● how we behave and interact with others depends on how we see ourselves ● Sandra Murray et al ○ relationships and self-esteem ○ artificially induces stress into one person in relationship ○ only people with low-self esteem gave into doubts when a threat faced their relationship ■ high self-esteem: increased confidence in partner’s regard ■ low self-esteem: increased doubt and worry about partner’s regard ● the self is a filter which affects all of our thoughts and behaviors ● it’s critical to understand the self in order to understand human psych and behavior 04/03/19 Nature of the Self What is the Self? ● Selfhood: “the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that arise from the awareness of self as object and agent” (Hoyle et al., 1999) ● In Context: ○ Psychology → Social/Personality “the study of why people suck” ○ bridges sister disciplines of social/personality psych ● The Bases of Selfhood ○ Reflexive Consciousness: people are self aware ■ nature of self/being ○ Interpersonal Being: self is a member of groups and relationships ■ social determinants of the self ■ social comparison ○ Executive Function: enables self to make choices, initiate action, and exert control over self and world ■ self-esteem, self-presentation, self-control, self-regulation ■ goals and motivation ● Self v. Personality Psych ■ distinct but related approaches ■ subjective experience v. objective experience ■ how people think about themselves versus how they actually are ■ why the distinction is blurry: ● what we really are influences how we think about ourselves

● what we really are influences how we feel about ourselves ● self is one aspect of personality ● self-report is often used to measure personality History of Psychological Self ● “what you see is what you get” (your ‘self’ is what you get) ● shifted to the new idea of a self being separated from what you think you are ● Plato ○ the soul is the essence of the person ■ not the same as the physical body ○ Mind-Body dualism ■ is the mind distinct from the body? ○ when the body dies, the soul is reborn in subsequent bodies ○ Platonic soul: ■ Logos: mind, nous, reason ■ Thymos: emotion, spiritedness ■ Eros: appetitive, desire ● Aristotle ○ defined the soul as the core essence of a being, but argued against its having a separate existence from the body ○ potential for rational activity is the essence of the human soul ○ once you can no longer reason, you are not a person (“losing humanity”) ● Rene Descartes ○ Mind-Body Dualism ■ “I recognized that I was a substance whose essence or nature is to be conscious. Thus, this self, that is to say the soul, by which I am, is entirely distinct from the body and is even more easily known” ■ The mind is a pilot that navigates the body ● Thomas Hobbes ○ our essence is to pursue our own self-interest ■ we have collectively agreed to behave (the social contract) ○ portrayed the self in terms of sensory experience ○ Leviathan (aka “the sea is dark and full of terrors”) ○ our nature is not a good one but we’ve but restraints on ourselves ● John Locke ○ the self is a self-aware, self-reflective consciousness that is fixed in a body ○ Tabula Rasa: the mind is a blank slate that is shaped by experience; sensations and reflections being the two sources of all our ideas ○ emphasized reflexive consciousness, the link between the mind and body, remaining constant across time and space ○ the self/identity is a person’s memories of themselves

● David Hume ○ wanted the study of man to be a naturalistic science (rather than solely philosophical) ○ the mind is its mental perceptions: impressions and ideas; no “true” self ○ humans tend to impose structure and order when there isn’t actually anything there; we like there to be a “just so” story with causality ■ gives an illusion of the self, even though it’s just a bundle of perceptions without unity or cohesive quality ○ all we experience are thoughts are rapid and constant, leading us to believe that these thoughts have a higher order and patterns that make up the self ● William James ○ self is malleable, multifaceted, and conscious ○ proposed the self is grounded in thought ■ personal identity is our uninterrupted memory for prior perceptions and our memory of the affect associated with them ■ (the emotions associated with our memories) ○ divided a person’s mental picture of self into the “me” and “I” ○ The “Me” ■ Material Self: individual’s body and possessions ■ Social Self: image of self portrayed to others ■ Spiritual Self: (psychological/inner self) collection of states of consciousness; “when we think of ourselves as thinkers”; elicits emotions (pride) and goals (self-preservation) ○ The “I” ■ Thinker: permanent agent behind passing states of consciousness ■ aka soul, transcendent ego, spirit, agent/doer/thinker ○ observed that certain emotions require self as a reference point ■ self-complacency and self-dissatisfaction ■ pride, vanity, conceit, modesty, humility, etc. ■ based on what we back ourselves to be and do ○ later referred to as the self-conscious emotions ■ shame and guilt (shame: who you are; guilt: what you did) ● Charles Cooley ○ observed the development of his own children, which he used to construct his theories ○ focused on connection between society and individual ○ Looking-Glass Self (perspective taking) ■ we imagine how we must appear to others ■ we imagine the judgment of that appearance ■ we develop our self through the judgments of others ● George Herbert Mead

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○ Symbolic Interactionism ■ “the self is essentially a social structure and it arises in social experience” ■ “we do not assume that there is a self to begin with, rather the self arises in the world” ○ human beings begin their understanding of the social world through playing ■ norms of social behavior; developing sense of self Behaviorism (1915-1955) ○ backlash against introspectionalists ○ the human mind is private, subjective, internal, and intangible ○ psychological movement that strove to make psychology more scientific by focusing on that which is empirical ■ only phenomenon that can be concretely measured are suitable for scientific analysis (positivism) ■ thoughts play no role in directing behavior (mechanism); thoughts are epiphenomenal ○ you’re a product of your environment ○ everything is a series of stimuli and responses ■ if rewarded, response repeats ■ if punished, response stops ○ “there is no place in a scientific analysis of behavior for a mind or self”Skinner 1950s and Beyond ○ 1950: self was “dead” in psychological theory ○ 70s and 80s: resurgence of interest in the self ○ Cognitive Revolution: mental processes can be studied; used computers as inspiration ○ relied heavily on empirical methods and quantitative data Cognitive Psych ○ believed studying mental processes was essential to psychology ○ developed new scientific approaches to measure the mind Today ○ back to a more social view of the self ○ experimentation to examine social influences on the self ○ social neuroscience techniques ○ cross-cultural emphasis Cultural Variability in the Self ○ Individualistic Cultures: cultures in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities; emphasis is on personal achievement ■ societies tend to be more competitive ○ Collectivistic Cultures: cultures in which people tend to define themselves in terms of groups; emphasis is on group goals and needs

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■ societies tend to be more cooperative Independent Self: personal attributes; own thoughts, feelings, action Interdependent Self: roles and group memberships, relationships to others; thoughts, feelings, and actions of others ■ “I am who I am because of my interactions with other people” Relational Interdependence: focused more on close relationships ■ more common with women Collective Interdependence: focused on memberships in larger groups ■ more common for men not all Westerners are independent; not all Easterners are interdependent ■ within cultures, there are differences in self-concept not all men are collective; not all women are relational ■ may be product of socialization members of independent cultures tend to report higher levels of self-esteem ■ feeling good about self as an individual is more valued members of interdependent cultures place more value in

Research Methods ● Research Basics ○ Theory ■ an organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena ■ an explanation or model of how a phenomenon works ■ broad, can generate multiple hypotheses ■ can never be “proved” but can be discredited or supported ○ Hypothesis ■ a specific, testable prediction about the relationship between variables ■ makes a prediction about an outcome that would challenge or support a theory ■ can either be a question or statement ○ what makes a good theory ■ produces a variety of testable and falsifiable hypotheses ● social psychology involves empirical questions ○ (based on science) ■ many hypotheses supporting the theory have been tested multiple times in different ways ● replication: the repetition of a test ■ continually updated based on results from new and ongoing research ○ Conceptual Variable: abstract, broad, or general concept which cannot be directly measured or manipulated ■ e.g., willpower, love, sexism, fear, the self ■ the topic the researcher is interested in studying

○ Operational Variable: proxy for a conceptual variable which can be directly measured or manipulated ■ what the researchers actually do in a particular study ■ should be very specific ■ translating your conceptual variable into something empirical; operationalizing your conceptual variables ■ defined one specific way for one study, but usually many multiple possible ways to operationalize a given conceptual variable ○ Construct Validity: how appropriate is operational variable, how well does it relate to the actual conceptual variable ■ did the researchers study what they intended tos tudy ○ Theory → Hypothesis → Operational Definition ○ Two Common Methods for social psych research: ■ Correlational research for prediction ■ Experimental research for explanations ○ study design does NOT equal measurement! ■ an experiment may operationalize a variable by observing behavior, correlational research may use biopsychological data ○ Independent Variables: the factors experimenters manipulate to see if they affect the dependent variable ○ Subject Variables: pre-existing differences among participants ■ like independent variables, but not manipulated (i.e. gender) ○ Dependent Variables: the factors experimenters measure to see if they are affected by (dependent on) the independent variables Canvas Password: myme...