Multiculturalism, Acculturation, and Social Psychology

Duality of Self

• "Me" represents the objective self, involving the sense of self as an object of reflection and includes material, social, and spiritual aspects.
  • Material Self includes physical entities like the body, house, clothes and money.
  • Social Self is shaped and expressed through interactions; there are as many selves as there are people interacted with.
  • Spiritual Self is the inner self, encompassing personality, core values, and emotions.
• "I" is the subjective self; the part that thinks, experiences, and perceives (consciousness).
  • Serves as source which provides a sense that experiences belong to us and the continuity between past, present and future.

Defining the Self

• The self is a combination of both the "me" and the "I", representing a dynamic social identity and inner process.
• Self-concept is a cognitive representation of an individual's knowledge and beliefs about themselves, including personality traits, abilities, social roles, values, goals, and physical characteristics.
  • Encompasses everything a person claims as "me" or "mine".
  • Influences how we think, feel, and behave.

Self-Concept as an Associative Network

• Knowledge is organized as a network of interconnected cognitive concepts.
• Degree of centrality of some concepts vary, and links vary in strength within the network.

Unitary Self-Concept vs. Working Self-Concept

• Self-concept implies a unitary, fixed idea about the self.
• People have many ideas about themselves, which are sometimes contradictory.
• Working Self-Concept is the subset of self-knowledge that is the current focus of awareness, created in the moment.

Contents of the Working Self-Concept

• Situational activation means different situations activate different self-knowledge, creating different working self-concepts.
• Accessibility is determined by distinctiveness, relevance, and frequency of activation.
• Distinctiveness states that unique characteristics are more salient.

Implications of Working Self-Concept

• The self-concept is malleable and context-dependent, resulting in different versions for individuals.
• Non-central self-aspects can enter the working self-concept, allowing contradictory aspects to exist
• Influences behavior and explains why people behave differently in different situations.
• Study: Experimentally manipulated working self-concept (extroversion vs. introversion), observing corresponding changes in behavior.
• The self-concept is organized as an associative network and is highly malleable, where only a small subset is accessible at any given moment, forming the working self-concept.

Elements of the True Self

• Elements of the true self include natural endowment (often in the form of potential).
• Actions are consistent with internal states.
• People want to be true to themselves and it leads to fulfilling life
• It competes with external influences

Belief in the True Self

• People believe following their true self is an important strategy for making decisions that satisfy them
• Subjective ease is related to decision satisfaction when in the true self condition, but not in the actual self condition.

Problems with the Idea of a True Self

• Natural endowment is not provable.
• Self-beliefs are often inaccurate and the true self can be about social desirability rather than being aligned with unique characteristics.

Authenticity and the Big Five

• Authenticity was positively associated with acting extroverted, agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable, regardless of typical personality.
• The true self is more of a guide, reflecting what is valued by society and unique traits.
• The idea of a true self resonates, but has conceptual issues, and the "true self" reflects a desired reputation.

Self-Complexity

• Organization of the Self-Concept is dictated by the number of self-aspects and the degree to which these are distinct.
  • High self-complexity: many distinct self-aspects.
  • Low self-complexity: few overlapping self-aspects.

Implications of Self-Complexity

• Affective Spillover – emotions associated with one self-aspect spillover to others, more so with low self-complexity.
• Affect Extremity – Emotions are heightened by low self-complexity that causes greater emotional reactions to positive negative events.
• High self-complexity allows for more emotional stability and may serve as a stress buffer.
• Study 1: Low self-complexity showed larger mood changes after success/failure feedback.
• Study 2: Low self-complexity associated with greater mood variation over time.
• Study 3: High self-complexity buffered against negative health effects of stress.

Mixed Evidence for Self-Complexity as a Stress Buffer

• Inconsistent findings across studies.
• Differences in well-being measures, importance of the number of self-aspects vs. distinction, and the integration of self-aspects may be the reasons for inconsistent results.

Self-Concept Clarity (SCC)

• Self-Concept Clarity (SCC) – extent to which self-concept is clearly defined, consistent, and stable.
• Reflects how well you know who you are.
• SCC is unrelated to self-complexity, and high self-complexity can be low in SCC, and vice-versa.
• High SCC is associated with more emotional stability, less rumination, less loneliness, lower feelings of depression/stress, higher self-esteem, higher perception of meaning, and higher life-satisfaction.
• High SCC people experienced fewer negative emotions at the start of COVID-19 pandemic.

Factors Influencing SCC

• Factors the influence SCC include age, social roles, academic/job changes, relationship changes and hobby changes.
• Role transitions can lead to lower SCC if the person does not feel positive about the change.
• SCC depends on the amount of self-change and the positivity of this change.
• The organization of the self-concept is understood through self-complexity and self-concept clarity, affecting emotional life and well-being.

Building Self-Knowledge

• Intrapersonal Sources involves self-perception by observing overt behaviors and inferring what we are like.
• Introspection is directing attention inward to internal states (thoughts, feelings).
• People believe knowing internal states is better for understanding oneself than knowing behavior or interviewing others.
• Cognitive/affective interviews of strangers produce impressions most in line with the interviewee's self-ratings, suggesting that knowing thoughts and feelings is most useful
• People prioritize awareness of thoughts/feelings to construct self-knowledge, believing it reveals the inner self.

Implications

• Self-perception can be useful when unclear about internal states.
• Accuracy of introspection is the genuine understanding of why they think/feel the way they do.
• Introspection is better for describing internal states but not explaining why people have them.
• Symbolic interactionism – is where the self-concept depends on social interactions.

Social Comparison

• Involves comparing ourselves to others to form conclusions about our relative stranding.
• Direction of comparison influences self-esteem (upward vs. downward).
• Looking-Glass Self means construction of self-based concept based on how other see us.
• Problems with Looking-Glass Self - no consistent relationship between self-reports and observer reports.
• Strong positive relationship exists between self-reports and how people think they are perceived.

Implications

• Others rarely provide full, honest feedback.
• People dismiss or rationalize negative feedback.
• Self-concept is shaped by how we think others see us, not by how they actually see us.
• Social Identity Theory – involves placing ourselves into social groups that shapes self-concept.
• Self-stereotyping involves conforming to the shared identity of a social group to be accepted.
• The faster reaction times for traits where self and ingroup are similar is evidence for Social Identity Theory
• Self-knowledge forms as a reaction to rejection of elements associated with the outgroup.

Flexibility in Social Identity

• Self-description is determined by expectations and unique strengths.
• In close relationships, we incorporate others' characteristics into our self-concepts.
• Theories of Interpersonal Sources of Self-Knowledge includes social role changes, changing the looking-glass, and changes to who one is close to which are sources of self-concept.
• Social Role Changes: Gains and losses of roles trigger self-concept changes and can cause self-concept confusion.

Changes to Point of Comparison

• Changing comparison groups can change our self-concept.
• Changing the Looking-Glass involves initiating change if they believe they are perceived undesirably, aligning with the importance of desired reputation.
• Self-concept will change as the self becomes close to new people.
• Each interpersonal theory implies different ways the self-concept can change. and most self-knowledge depends on social interactions, comparison, how we think others perceive us, social groups and loved ones.

Culture

• Culture is the system of ideas, practices, and social institutions that enable the coordination of behavior in a population.
• Individualistic Cultures (Western countries) prioritize the individual with behavior driven by internal states.
• Collectivistic Cultures (East Asian countries) prioritize the group with behavior driven by external factors.
• Individualistic Cultures foster an independent self-concept which focuses on uniqueness and personal identity.
• Collectivistic Cultures foster an interdependent self-concept and focus on fitting in and social roles.

How Culture Shapes the Individual

• Culture provides guidance for what is normal, shaping self-concept
• Individualistic parenting involves independence, early alone time, and emotional expression.
• Collectivistic parenting includes obedience, co-sleeping, and directive conversations.
• Subsistence theory - how people in a culture historically made a living influences culture.
• Individualistic Cultures utilize Analytic Thinking - focus on individual components.
• Collectivistic Cultures use Holistic Thinking - focus on the whole and relationships.
• Field-dependent – more affected by context (East Asians).
• Field-independent – less affected by context.

Cultural Differences in Causal Attribution

• North Americans attribute responsibility to the individual (disposition).
• East Asians attribute responsibility to the social collective (situation).
• Western Cultures value expressing emotions, personal expression valued and focus on socially disengaging emotions (pride, self-esteem).
• East Asian Cultures value emotional restraint, balance of positive/negative states, focus on socially engaging emotions (guilt, shame).
• Psychology often focuses on WEIRD people; only 15% of the world is WEIRD.
• Independence and interdependence are achieved differently in different cultures.
• Multicultural Identity – sense of belonging to two or more cultural groups.
• Acculturation – process of learning and change from balancing two cultures.
• Immigrant women fit more into mainstream American emotional norms the longer they live in the USA through individual emotional acculturation
• Generational emotional acculturation is more contact a generation has with a new culture, the more emotional acculturation.
• Minority individuals become psychologically similar to the majority culture, and new/heritage cultures can co-exist.
• Multicultural individuals' reactions are context-specific and depends on which cultural identity is activated.

Implications of Cultural Frame Switching

• Heritage and mainstream cultural identities can co-exist.
• Encouragement to retain heritage alongside exposure to the mainstream and similarity between cultures are factors influencing cultural frame switching.
• Integration is associated with the best psychological and sociocultural adaptation; marginalization is associated with the worst; separation is associated with better psychological adjustment than assimilation.
• Cultural groups extend beyond ethnicity, nationality, and race, and individualism vs. collectivism depends on mix of cultures and context.
• In some areas individualism is on the rise across countries under the influence of socioeconomic development.
• Independence and interdependence are achieved differently in different cultures with findings indicating multicultural individuals show acculturation and frame switching; identity strategy affects well-being, with integration as the best strategy.

Self Evaluation Motives

• Self Assessment Motive dictates the need to see ourselves accurately.
• Self Enhancement Motive maximizes how positively we see ourselves.
• Most people have illusions about themselves.
  • These generally comprise of overly positive self-evaluations, illusions of control, and an unrealistic optimism bias.

Overly Positive Self Evaluations

• People use more positivity in describing themselves, forget negative feedback, and engage in self-serving attributional bias.
• The Better-than-Average Effect means more people rate their abilities as better than average, which is statistically impossible.
• The more desirable a trait is, the more people see themselves as better than average. and unskilled people overestimate ability.
• Self-enhancement is more evident in individualistic societies which is inconsistent with collectivistic values of belonging.
• Pancultural self-enhancement says self-enhancement is universal but manifests differently across cultures.

Self-Esteem as a Moderator

• Self-enhancement looks different depending on self-esteem.
• High self-esteem uses self-advancement.
• Low self-esteem uses self-protection.
• Personal control beliefs tend to be greater than justified.
• People believe they will have more control over the outcome.
• People generally believe they are less likely to experience negative aspects
• Thinking about risk factors does not eliminate this optimism bias.
• Positive illusions (self-esteem, personal control, optimism) lead to better adjustment to college.

Illusions And Risks

• HIV+ men showed more AIDS-specific optimism, associated with more active coping.
• Men showing realistic acceptance of AIDS had a shorter estimated survival time.
• Illusions positively impact adjustment to ups and downs of life.
• People believe they are less prone to biases, even though they are not.
• Overly positive views could be due to inaccurate views of self or inaccurate views of others.

Base Rate Info

• Case-based is evidence relevant to a specific person. -
• Base rate is evidence about the distribution of behavior in similar situations.
• Base-rate fallacy exists in that we assign greater value to case-based information.
• People often use case-based info for self-predictions, but base-rate for others predictions.
• People ignore base-rate info for self and specific peer.
• In some domains, people rate themselves as worse than average.
• One Mechanism, Two Effects:
  • Anchoring bias is responsible for both better-than and worse-than-average effects.
  • Anchoring Bias – a common tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information that comes to mind when making a decision.

Anchoring Judgements

• When comparing self and others, we first think about our own abilities, thus anchoring judgements on this.
• Difficulty of task affects whether people see themselves as better or worse than average.
• Overly positive self-image is driven by the self-enhancement motive and cognitive biases (base-rate fallacy, anchoring bias).
• Better adjustment, more adaptive coping, and higher well-being occur driven by illusions.
• Positive illusions are good for personal adjustment.
• People prefer to like positive illusions.

Self Verification

• The motive to confirm existing self-views, leading individuals to want others to see them as they see themselves
• Epistemic - fulfills the need for coherence. Stable self-views provide a sense of predictability and control.
• Pragmatic - ensures smooth social interactions. Stable self-views foster consistent and predictable behavior, allowing others to know what to expect.
• The process of verifying one's self
  • Displaying Identity Cues occurs when using symbols, and communication styles to signal one's self-concept to others.
  • Selective Interaction is preferring to interact which others who see them in ways similar to them.
  • Interpersonal Prompts is behaving in ways that elicit self-verifying feedback.

Self Compassion

• Compensation by using symbols and behaviors that signal and intensify their identity to others and themselves.
• Selective attention involves paying more attention to feedback that confirms self-views.
• Selective memory entails having a better memory for feedback that confirms self-views.
  • This may be demonstrated when likeable people are more likely to remember feedback that they exist.

Self Verification

• Selective interpretation exists when ambiguous feedback as consistent with self-views.
• High self-esteem individuals tend to remember feedback as more positive, while low self-esteem individuals remember it as more negative.
• Self-verification and self-enhancement is present across gender.
• East Asian cultures are more likely to seek verification on contextualized self-views and less on global attributes than individual self views.
• Self-views are resistant to change which explains why self-perceptions may not align with others' perceptions.
• Cognitive Biases can change self perceptions

General Adaptations

• Generatlly adaptive to adapt to the world in predictable, and psychological comfort
• Workplace connections amongst colleagues verify self views and creates productivity.
• Harmful when unrealistic negative self-views happen and relationships partners reinforce those negative views.
• The self is prioritize more

Self Enhancement

• The stakeholders generally assess when that are low or correct and can be used for decision making.
• The preference for self-verification vs. self-enhancement depends on the kind of information accessible, the centrality of the self-view, and the length of the relationship.
• Selective verification relies on controlled, cognitive processing, while self-enhancement relies on more automatic, emotional processing.
• People generally prefer self to be self-enhancement.
• Cognitive load and those who are busy only self-enhancemnt.
• It only takes what they cognition is over all.

Relationships

• This includes that relationship relevant qualities is important.
• It works to have postive feedback in the qualities.
• Having relevant qualities for non-self relationships

Explore multicultural identity, acculturation strategies, and psychological adaptation. Understand cultural frame switching and societal trends in individualism. Examine self-assessment, self-enhancement motives, and the duality of self.