13.1-13.4
13.1- Your Self-Concept Is What You Know and Believe About Yourself
Sense of Self- your mental representation of yourself
● Self-Concept- what you think, believe, and feel to be true about yourself
● Influences you in several ways:
-Affects how you think
-Influences the way you behave
Personality- a person's typical thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across
circumstances
Self-Schema- an integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about yourself
● The information is organized as a network of interconnected knowledge about yourself
● Helps you perceive, organize, interpret, and use information about yourself
● Shapes who you are
Self in the Brain- researchers typically observe activity in the middle of the frontal lobes of the brain when people process information
about themselves
● When we think about ourselves, the areas of the medial prefrontal cortex are activated
Working Self-Concept- the immediate experience of the self in the here and now
● Varies depending on which aspect of yourself is most relevant at that moment
● Shows that your sense of self can vary
Sense of Agency- refers to the feeling of control over actions and their consequences
Sense of Ownership- describes the feeling of mineness that we perceive towards our body parts, feelings, or thoughts
13.2- People Differ in How They Value Themselves
Self-Esteem- the evaluative aspect of the self-concept that indicates how you value or feel about yourself
● High Self-Esteem- you like yourself and have positive feelings about your capabilities
● Low Self-Esteem- you don't like yourself and have negative feelings about your capabilities
Reflective Appraisal- self-esteem is based on how you believe others perceive you
● We internalize the values and beliefs of important people in our lives
● You come to respond to yourself in ways that are consistent with how others respond to you
● If you believe important people in your life don't value you, you may find it hard to value yourself
Sociometer- your self-esteem depends of social acceptance or rejection
● Self-esteem is a sociometer, an internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection
● When our sociometer indicates a high possibility of rejection, we experience low self-esteem
● When our sociometer indicates a low probability of rejection, we tend to experience high self-esteem
,People's self-esteem varies over their lives.
Self-Compassion- treating yourself with care, acceptance, and kindness during difficult times, just as you would treat a good friend
● Self-compassion can boost your self-esteem
● It also leads to greater life satisfaction and fewer feelings of depression
Self-Esteem and Life Outcomes:
● Evidence from psychology indicates that self-esteem may be less important than is commonly believed
● Although people with high self-esteem report being much happier than others
● Self-esteem is weakly related to objective life outcomes
Narcissists- people who are self-centered, have grandiose feelings of self-worth, feel entitled, and are manipulative
13.3- You Try to Create a Positive Sense of Self
Positive Sense of Self- most people have positive illusions about the sense of self
● Despite a life full of rejection, disappointment, and failure
Positive Illusions- overly favorable and unrealistic beliefs
● According to research, most people have positive illusions in at least 3 areas:
1. They continually experience the better-than-average effect
2. They have unrealistic beliefs about how much they can control events
3. They are unrealistically optimistic about their personal future
People show favoritism to anything associated with themselves.
● You typically rate aspects associated with yourself as better-than-average
● Statistically, it is impossible for everyone to believe they are above average
We have unrealistic beliefs about how much we can control events.
Temporal Comparison- people view their current selves as better than their former selves
Social comparisons affect the sense of self:
● Downward Comparisons- comparisons with a person who is seen as less competent or in a worse situation, which tends to
protect one's high self-esteem
● Upward Comparisons- comparisons with a person who is seen as more competent or in a better situation, which tends to
confirm one's own self-esteem
Self-Serving Bias- the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
13.4- Your Sense of Self is Influenced by Cultural Factors
Cultural Factors- collectivist and individualist cultures emphasize different senses of self
13.1- Your Self-Concept Is What You Know and Believe About Yourself
Sense of Self- your mental representation of yourself
● Self-Concept- what you think, believe, and feel to be true about yourself
● Influences you in several ways:
-Affects how you think
-Influences the way you behave
Personality- a person's typical thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across
circumstances
Self-Schema- an integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about yourself
● The information is organized as a network of interconnected knowledge about yourself
● Helps you perceive, organize, interpret, and use information about yourself
● Shapes who you are
Self in the Brain- researchers typically observe activity in the middle of the frontal lobes of the brain when people process information
about themselves
● When we think about ourselves, the areas of the medial prefrontal cortex are activated
Working Self-Concept- the immediate experience of the self in the here and now
● Varies depending on which aspect of yourself is most relevant at that moment
● Shows that your sense of self can vary
Sense of Agency- refers to the feeling of control over actions and their consequences
Sense of Ownership- describes the feeling of mineness that we perceive towards our body parts, feelings, or thoughts
13.2- People Differ in How They Value Themselves
Self-Esteem- the evaluative aspect of the self-concept that indicates how you value or feel about yourself
● High Self-Esteem- you like yourself and have positive feelings about your capabilities
● Low Self-Esteem- you don't like yourself and have negative feelings about your capabilities
Reflective Appraisal- self-esteem is based on how you believe others perceive you
● We internalize the values and beliefs of important people in our lives
● You come to respond to yourself in ways that are consistent with how others respond to you
● If you believe important people in your life don't value you, you may find it hard to value yourself
Sociometer- your self-esteem depends of social acceptance or rejection
● Self-esteem is a sociometer, an internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection
● When our sociometer indicates a high possibility of rejection, we experience low self-esteem
● When our sociometer indicates a low probability of rejection, we tend to experience high self-esteem
,People's self-esteem varies over their lives.
Self-Compassion- treating yourself with care, acceptance, and kindness during difficult times, just as you would treat a good friend
● Self-compassion can boost your self-esteem
● It also leads to greater life satisfaction and fewer feelings of depression
Self-Esteem and Life Outcomes:
● Evidence from psychology indicates that self-esteem may be less important than is commonly believed
● Although people with high self-esteem report being much happier than others
● Self-esteem is weakly related to objective life outcomes
Narcissists- people who are self-centered, have grandiose feelings of self-worth, feel entitled, and are manipulative
13.3- You Try to Create a Positive Sense of Self
Positive Sense of Self- most people have positive illusions about the sense of self
● Despite a life full of rejection, disappointment, and failure
Positive Illusions- overly favorable and unrealistic beliefs
● According to research, most people have positive illusions in at least 3 areas:
1. They continually experience the better-than-average effect
2. They have unrealistic beliefs about how much they can control events
3. They are unrealistically optimistic about their personal future
People show favoritism to anything associated with themselves.
● You typically rate aspects associated with yourself as better-than-average
● Statistically, it is impossible for everyone to believe they are above average
We have unrealistic beliefs about how much we can control events.
Temporal Comparison- people view their current selves as better than their former selves
Social comparisons affect the sense of self:
● Downward Comparisons- comparisons with a person who is seen as less competent or in a worse situation, which tends to
protect one's high self-esteem
● Upward Comparisons- comparisons with a person who is seen as more competent or in a better situation, which tends to
confirm one's own self-esteem
Self-Serving Bias- the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
13.4- Your Sense of Self is Influenced by Cultural Factors
Cultural Factors- collectivist and individualist cultures emphasize different senses of self
