Unit 6 – The Self: Mind, Gender and body
Perspectives of the Self
We buy products to hide/highlight aspects of the self,
Eastern culture focuses on
- The collective self (a person’s identity coming from a group)
- The interdependent self (a person’s identity is defined by their relationship to
others
Western culture focuses on
- Individuality
The self is divided into
Inner, private self, your inner thoughts
Outer, public self, how people see you
These two can be completely different. E.G. a person may on the outside appear to be very
confident and on the inside be very anxious. This then influences the products we buy
Self-Concept
Summarises the beliefs a person holds about their own attributes and how they evaluate
these qualities
Very complex structure defined by
1) Content, describes how you see your physical attractiveness and mental aptitude
2) Positivity, your feelings, self esteem
3) Intensity and stability over time, the strength of emotions and its consistency over
time
4) Accuracy, the degree to which your self-assessment corresponds to reality
Self-Esteem
The positivity of a person’s self-concept
People with low self-esteem think they will not perform well and will try to avoid
embarrassment, failure and rejection
People with high self-esteem will think they will be successful and will take more
risks
Adverts will try to trigger comparison to make us compare ourselves to the person in
the advert so we try and be like that person, most ads use attractive models and
makes us want to be like them.
Normal relatable people is more believable
Marketers will try and position products to make us try and improve our self-esteem
Perspectives of the Self
We buy products to hide/highlight aspects of the self,
Eastern culture focuses on
- The collective self (a person’s identity coming from a group)
- The interdependent self (a person’s identity is defined by their relationship to
others
Western culture focuses on
- Individuality
The self is divided into
Inner, private self, your inner thoughts
Outer, public self, how people see you
These two can be completely different. E.G. a person may on the outside appear to be very
confident and on the inside be very anxious. This then influences the products we buy
Self-Concept
Summarises the beliefs a person holds about their own attributes and how they evaluate
these qualities
Very complex structure defined by
1) Content, describes how you see your physical attractiveness and mental aptitude
2) Positivity, your feelings, self esteem
3) Intensity and stability over time, the strength of emotions and its consistency over
time
4) Accuracy, the degree to which your self-assessment corresponds to reality
Self-Esteem
The positivity of a person’s self-concept
People with low self-esteem think they will not perform well and will try to avoid
embarrassment, failure and rejection
People with high self-esteem will think they will be successful and will take more
risks
Adverts will try to trigger comparison to make us compare ourselves to the person in
the advert so we try and be like that person, most ads use attractive models and
makes us want to be like them.
Normal relatable people is more believable
Marketers will try and position products to make us try and improve our self-esteem
