The Self & Self-Affirmation Theory

Self-Regulation

"will power"

Crocker and Wolfe (2001)

Self-esteem levels are contingent upon domains that are of value to the individual (e.g. being intelligent for a student).

Self-Serving Construals

A separateness from others, by attention to one's abilities/traits. This is why the better-than-average effect occurs more strongly for ambiguous traits.

Steele (1975)

A study on Mormons - Caller told Pp that they were known in their local community as being cooperative/uncooperative/no call/bad driver. 2 days later, a different experimenter asked subjects to take part in a community project. Pp complied most if they had previously been told they were uncooperative.

Festinger (1957)

Argued that the smokers' dilemma was due to cognitive inconsistencies, which led to rationalisations of their behaviour and resistance.

Steele (1988)

Argued that the smokers' dilemma was due to the health messages being interpreted as criticisms, which led to negative feeling and avoidance behaviours. This could be overcome with self-affirmation.

Vazire and Mehl (2010)

Asked Pp to predict 25 behaviours (e.g. reading, watching TV). Pp assumed better self-judgement but others were just as accurate. Conclude that introspection approach has some support, but others are just as good at predicting out behaviour.

Trait Self-Esteem

Aspects of ourselves that are constant over time and resistant to change (e.g. temperament).

State Self-Esteem

Aspects of ourselves that are dynamic and change according to situational context (e.g. confidence).

Swann et al. (1994)

Couples in a relationship with consistent views were more committed to each other, even when that view contained negative appraisals such as one partner viewing the other negatively in some way.

Self-Handicapping

Different cultures will emphasise different domains, allowing one to promote self-esteem even in negative environments, thereby avoiding threats to the self.

Interdependent Self-Construals

Eastern Cultures focus on relationships, roles and duties, that will change over time.

Bask in Reflected Glory

Enjoying the success of others we are associated with.

Reflection

For situations that are not super relevant to how we define ourselves.

Comparison

For situations that are relevant to how we define ourselves.

Reflected Self-Appraisal

How we see ourselves is influenced by how others react to us

Looking Glass Self

How we see ourselves is influenced by how others react to us (Cooley, 1902).

Self-Esteem

How you feel about yourself.

Cohen et al. (2006)

Increase in academic performance for ethnic minority students who participated in self-affirmation.

Matsuda et al. (2008)

Japanese are more influences by friends faces in the background. Americans more likely to focus on the face in the centre and ignore others.

Gailliot et al. (2007)

Link ego-depletion to blood glucose levels and show that self-control tasks lead to lower glucose levels and poorer performance.

Self-Concept

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are

Better-than-Average Effect (Alicke & Govorun, 2005)

People constantly rate themselves as above average on traits or abilities.

Schelling (1978)

People place differing emphasis on traits and abilities.

Self-Verification Theory

People want a consistent view of themselves, flaws and all. Therefore, people may strive to maintain a view of the self that is consistent with their beliefs, even if that view contains a negative construal.

Ideal Self

Perfect version of who you are

Tesser and Smith (1980)

Pp play a word game with friends or strangers. When the game was low relevance/just for fun, Pp were happy for friends to do well and gave easier clues to friends and harder clues to strangers. But when the game was high relevance/a measure of verbal IQ, Pp gave easier clues to strangers and harder clues to friends.

Baumeister et al. (1998)

Pp that have unhealthy option gave up on a task more easily.

Muraven et al. (1998)

Pp that watched an emotionally draining movie couldn't squeeze a handgrip for as long.

Harris and Napper (2005)

Pp who self-affirmed were more influenced by health campaign linking alcohol consumption to breast cancer.

Stephens, Markus and Phillips (2013)

Social class, wealth and neighbourhoods all affect how the self is defined by the individual.

Self-Enhancement

The desire to create or maintain one's positive self-views.

Self-Verification

The desire to have others perceive us as we truly perceive ourselves. This can be either positively or negatively, and it is often displayed via symbolism (fashion, posture, decorations) and via everyday behaviour.

Self-Evaluation Model

The idea that people are motivated to view themselves favourably, and that they do so through two processes: reflection and comparison.

Self-Affirmation Theory

The idea that people respond less defensively to threats to one aspect of themselves, if they think about a different valued aspect of themselves

Ego-Depletion

The idea that self-control is a limited resource that can be drained.

Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954)

The idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people.

Promotion Focus

The result of focusing on achieving our ideal self

Prevention Focus

The result of focusing on maintaining our ought self

William James (1890)

The self is derived from social relationships.

Self-Discrepany Theory (Higgins, 1987)

We have an actual self, an ideal self and an ought self. If there is a large discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal or ought self, this will have negative emotional consequences.

Independent Self-Construals

Western cultures tend to focus on uniqueness and independence. Therefore, the self is an entity separate from the world with stable like traits unlikely to change.

Kuhn and McPartland (1954)

Westerners/Independent cultures tend to make more self-contained statements (e.g. I am friendly, I like swimming), whereas East Asians/Interdependent cultures refer to social groups more (e.g. I'm friends with Sui).

Higgins et al. (1997, 2001)

When asked to do a personality test of their actual self, then get them to think of their ideal self, Pp tend to feel a positive mood. But if Pp feel their actual self is far from their ideal self, they have negative emotions. If Pp feel their actual self has "fallen" from heir ought self, they have guilty emotions.

Upward Social Comparison

When we are motivated to improve, we tend to compare ourselves to others who are slightly above are perceived level.

Downward Social Comparison

When we are motivated to maintain a positive self esteem, we tend to compare ourselves to others who are slightly below are perceived level.

The Self

Who we are

Actual Self

Who you actually are

Global Self-Concept

Who you are is made up of lots of things - roles, relationships, goals, central beliefs, group identities and values.

Ought Self

Who you should be