THE SELF (CONTINUEâ€¦â€¦.):Journal Activity, POSSIBLE HISTORICAL EFFECTS

<< THE SELF (CONTINUED):Development of Self awareness, SELF REGULATION

THE SELF (CONTINUEâ€¦â€¦â€¦.):SELF-SCHEMAS, SELF-COMPLEXITY >>

Social Psychology (PSY403)

Lesson 11

THE SELF (CONTINUE.......)

Aims

Introducing the concept of the self as the subject and object of awareness

Objectives

Understanding self-regulation through the discussion in Applied social psychology lab

Conducting a Journal Activity to understand the impact of students' culture on different aspects of their

self concept.

Discussing historical factors in the transformation of collectvistic to individualistic culture in the West

Understanding the self concept of biculturalists

Evaluating the self self esteem

Applied Social Psychology Lab: Negatives of private self consciousness

We all indulge in self awareness, but if focus too much after a failure, it can intensify our negative

emotions; we may become depressed. Hence outcome of negative self consciousness may be indulgence in

self destructive activities.

Examples: Binge eating; substance abuse; two most serious problems of youth today (Wechseler et al.,

2000). The purpose is usually to reduce awareness of some distressing events. For example, in binge eating

attention is redirected on chewing, tasting and swallowing, temporary relief from depression.

According to Hull et al. (1986) UGs high in self consciousness are more likely to indulge in substance use

after academic failures.

Application of self-regulation theory

Focus your awareness beyond the immediate situation and pay attention to long term goals.

Pay attention to cues that trigger undesirable behavior, e.g., cues in social environment like

arguments with family members

Recognize when your resolve is weak. As mentioned earlier people have limited amount of energy

at any given time to regulate, they should not exert in an unrelated activity

Establishing an implementation intention are statements to yourself that as soon as a particular

situation occurs you will be automatically initiate goal-directed behavior.

Adaptive self regulation of unattainable goals: Worsch et al.'s study (2003) with parents of cancer

children.

Journal Activity

Each of us as individuals has a unique perspective on the world that is in part derived from the groups to

which we belong. Our cultural background contributes to how we think, feel, and behave in the social

world. Culture here is defined broadly and may include many types of things such as your ethnicity,

religion, race, family size, geographical location, generation, and gender orientations. The procedure of

this activity is as written below:

"Think about your own cultural background. Describe some ways that it has impacted your view of and

behavior in the world. Some examples of influence include (but are certainly not limited to) patterns of

family interaction, expectations regarding marriage, music preferences, food preferences, style of dress,

values, sense of humor, political affiliation, behavior in public places, propensity toward

competitiveness, ambition, gender roles, and conversational style. Also construct your self schema

model"

Social Psychology (PSY403)

POSSIBLE HISTORICAL EFFECTS

Using this classification scheme, Louis Zurcher (1977) found that while American college students in the 1

950s and early 1 960s tended to describe themselves in terms of social roles, college students in the 1970s

identified themselves in terms of psychological attributes. This self-concept trend has continued (Trafimow

et al., 1991) and coincides with a rise in individualistic attitudes among Americans (Roberts & Helson,

1997).

Zurcher suggests that these self-concept and attitudinal changes are due to wide-spread cultural changes

beginning in the 1950s (Wood & Zurcher, 1988).

In reaction to this dissatisfaction, Zurcher asserted that college students' identification with personal

qualities rather than institutional affiliations was an attempt to achieve a greater feeling of personal control

over their lives.

INDIVIDUALIST-COLLECTIVIST COMPARISONS

In general, American, Canadian, and European self-concepts are composed of predominantly attributive

self-descriptions, indicating that these individualist cultures foster the development of an independent self

for their members. In contrast, people from collectivist cultures such as China, Mexico, Japan, India, and

Kenya have more social self-descriptions, indicating a fostering of an interdependent self (Kanagawa et

al., 2001; Ma & Schoeneman, 1997.

within collectivist societies, childrearing practices emphasize conformity, cooperation, dependence, and

knowing one's proper place,} whereas within more individualist societies, independence, self-reliance, and

personal success] are stressed. One consequence of these differing views is that in an individualist society,

people develop a belief in their own uniqueness and diversity (Miller, 1988). This sense of individuality is

nurtured and fostered within the educational system (see table 3.4), and its manifestation is considered a

sign of maturity (Pratt, 1991). On the other hand, in a collectivist society, uniqueness and individual

differences are often seen as impediments to proper self-growth (Kim & Choi, 1994). Instead, the self

becomes most meaningful and complete when it is closely identified with--not independent of--the group

(DeVos, 1985)

WHAT ABOUT BICULTURALISTS?

Although cultures can be characterized as being more oriented toward individualism or collectivism, not

everyone living within a particular culture will have the same individualist-collectivist leanings (Ayyash-

Abdo, 2001).

Although we tend to cognitively suppress the simultaneous activation of competing social identities

(Hugenberg & Bodenhausen, 2004), such suppression is not always successful. When biculturalists' dual

views of themselves and their worlds collide, this can lead to internal conflict; as they attempt to reconcile

individualist strivings with collectivist yearnings (Sussmaii, 2000).

How is this conflict best resolved? Based on studies of Pueblo, Navajo. Latino, Iranian American, Indian

American, and Asia American/Canadian children and adults, neitte abandoning one's ancestral collectivist

culture nor isolating oneself from the dominant individualist culture is good for mental health (Benet-

Martinez & Karakitapoglu-Aygun, 2003; Joe, 1994). Instead, successful biculturalism entails retaining

ancestral values and practices while incorporating new values and practices from the dominant culture.

EVALUATING THE SELF

It consists of numerous evaluations of self as being good, bad, or mediocre. This evaluative aspect of the

"me" is called self-esteem.

Social Psychology (PSY403)

This difference in evaluating the self has important consequences for people's lives. Individuate with low

self-esteem are generally more unhappy and pessimistic (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998; Shepperd et al., 1996),

less willing to take risks to benefit themselves (Josephs et al., 1992), more likely to encounter academic and

financial problems (Crocker & Luhtancn, 2003), less likely to have successful careers (Judged Bono,

2001), and less likely to be physically healthy (Vingilis et al., 1998) than high self esteem individuals.

Self-Esteem Development and stability

Feelings of self-worth gradually develop during childhood, with parents playing a critical role in

determining its evaluative direction. Although young children do not have a recognizable sense of self-

esteem, during middle childhood, their increasing cognitive maturity allows them to integrate others'

evaluations of them and their own self-assessments into a global sense of self-esteem

Research conducted in more than 200 cultures that children with high self-esteem usually have

authoritative parents who exert control not marely by imposing rules and consistently enforcing them, but

also by allowing their children a fair amount of freedom within the rules and by discussing the rationale

behind their decision (Querido et al.,2002).

In contrast, parents who impose many rules and expect strict obedience (authoritation parents) and those

who make few demands and submit to their children's desires (permisive parents) tend to raise children

who are less confident in their abilities and have lower self-esteem (Baumrind, 1996).

How stable is self-esteem across the life span? To answer this question,Kali Trzesniewski and her

colleagues (2003) conducted a meta-analysis of fifty self-esteem studies involving almost 30,000

participants in the United States countries. Test-retest correlations of self-esteem measures across at least a

one-year interval were obtained from sample involving people from age 6 to age 83. Te researchers found

that self-esteem stability is relatively low during childhood, increases throughout adolescence and young

adulthood, and declines during midlife and old age.

Dark side to high self-esteem

S t a b ilit y o f s e lf - e s t e e m a c r o s s lif e s p a n

Cultural differences in

considering high self

0 .8

esteem essential for

0 .7

well-being

0 .6

Hidden cost to trying

0 .5

0 .4

to achieve or maintain

Age

0 .3

high self-esteem

0 .2

(Blaine & Crocker,

0 .1

1993).

6-11

1 2 -1 7

1 8 -2 1

2 2-29

3 0 -3 9

6 0-83

People with unstable

Y e a rs

Y ea rs

Y e a rs

self-esteem become

angry when

challenged (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998): Defense to avoid downward revision (Tangney et al.,

1992)

Stable not fed by a narcissistic defensiveness (Taylor et al., 2003)

Unstable self-esteem

Characteristics of Unstable self-esteem:

· Consciously positive

· Unconsciously negative

Social Psychology (PSY403)

Readings

Franzoi, S.L. (2006). Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill. Chapter 3.

Lord, C.G. (1997). Social Psychology. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company. Chapter 5.

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