Exploring Self-Awareness and Consciousness

Self-concept refers to the overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes.

Non-human animals show awareness of self through the mirror test.

Self-recognition develops between 18-24 months of age in humans.

Self-concept increases in complexity as we grow older.

A self-schema is an organized body of knowledge about the self that influences what people notice, think, and remember.

A self-schema includes attitudes, preferences, and traits.

Adolescents focus on more complex relationships between traits when describing themselves.

Self-schemas can bias our memory by causing us to see or remember ourselves positively.

Self-concept clarity refers to the extent to which knowledge about the self is stable and clearly defined. Low self-clarity is associated with low self-esteem, higher depression and neuroticism, lower reflection and more rumination, higher belief in achieving happiness through external sources, and more self-handicapping. High self-clarity is associated with higher self-esteem, higher life satisfaction, and more self-compassion.

Self-concept clarity can decrease in adolescence and then increase in adulthood.

The independent view of the self defines oneself in terms of one's own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions, while the interdependent view of the self defines oneself in terms of one's relationships to other people and recognizes that one's behavior is often determined by others.

Women are higher in relational interdependence, defining themselves in terms of close relationships, while men are higher in collective interdependence, defining themselves in terms of social groups.

Introspection is the process of looking inward and examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and motives. People may not always engage in introspection because they may not know why they think, feel, and behave the way they do, or they may not spend much time introspecting.

Self-awareness theory suggests that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior with their internal standards and values.

Self-reflexivity in consciousness refers to the ability of consciousness to reflect upon itself. Researchers manipulate awareness of the self through various means such as mirrors, audio recordings, video recordings, and the presence of an audience.

There is a higher level of attitude-behavior congruence when individuals are reminded of themselves and their self-awareness is heightened.

Collectivistic individuals tend to have an outsider perspective on the self, while individualistic individuals tend to have an insider perspective on the self.

In the study conducted by Heine et al. (2008), American and Japanese participants rated themselves and their ideal selves. The results showed that Canadians were less likely to cheat when a mirror was present, while there was no effect for Japanese participants.

Self-perception theory suggests that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs.

The overjustification effect refers to the phenomenon where adding extrinsic motivation can undermine intrinsic motivation. It occurs when individuals view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, leading them to underestimate the extent to which their behavior was caused by intrinsic reasons.

The looking-glass self is the idea that we see ourselves through the eyes of other people and incorporate their views into our self-concept. It suggests that our perception of ourselves is influenced by how others perceive us.

Self-control refers to our ability to subdue immediate desires in order to achieve long-term goals. It is closely related to executive function, which allows us to regulate our behavior and employ cognitive tools to achieve our goals.

Thought suppression is not effective because it involves trying to push unwanted thoughts out of our mind, which often leads to an increase in those thoughts and makes it harder to control our behavior.

Implementation intentions are specific plans about where, when, and how we will fulfill a goal and avoid temptation. They help with behavior regulation by providing a clear roadmap for achieving our goals and avoiding distractions or temptations.

Downward social comparison is the process of comparing ourselves with people who are worse than we are in a particular trait or ability. It can make us feel better about ourselves, as long as we do not feel vulnerable.

Upward social comparison is the process of comparing ourselves with people who are better than we are in a particular trait or ability. It can be threatening to our self-esteem, but it can also be inspiring and motivate us to improve.

According to sociometer theory, self-esteem serves as a gauge that monitors the extent to which we are accepted or rejected by others.

Self-enhancement refers to having an unrealistically positive view of oneself. It relates to self-evaluation because it involves biased judgments that inflate one's self-concept.

Self-verification theory suggests that people have a need to seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether it is positive or negative. This need for confirmation may conflict with the need to feel good about oneself, especially if the self-concept is negative.

Self-evaluation can be biased through self-enhancement, which involves an unrealistically positive view of oneself. It can also be biased through self-verification, where people seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether it is positive or negative.