Self as a Cognitive Construct

Self as a Cognitive Construct - Lesson 2

• Self is a sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals.

Psychologists and Self

• William James is considered the father of American Psychology.
• William James distinguished two understandings of the self: Self as ME and Self as I.
• I-Self concerns the existing self - i.e. one's thinking, actions, and feelings.
• ME-Self describes a person's personal experiences and includes the material, social, and spiritual self.
• David Lester conceptualized the multiple self vs. the unified self.
• The construction of multiple selves varies across different roles and relationships.
• Coping with different selves constitutes a formidable task for adolescents.
• Donald Winnicott discusses the true self vs. the false self.
• The function of the false self is to hide and protect the true self.
• People tend to displace a false self in order to impress others.
• Carl Rogers believed in the inherent goodness of people.
• Human beings are always striving for self-fulfillment or self-actualization.
• Severe anxiety may result when the needs of the self are denied.
• Carl Rogers introduced the Self-Schema, a collection of knowledge about who we are.
• Carl Rogers proposed the Self-Concept as the image of oneself.
• Self develops from interaction with significant people and self-awareness.
• Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious.
• Freud outlined 3 structures of personality which consist of the id, ego, and superego.
• The id is pleasure-seeking, immature, impulsive, and childlike.
• The ego works on the reality principle, and can delay pleasure.
• The superego is a conscience and moral judge.
• Albert Bandura introduced the 4 agentive perspectives.
• Intentionality enables individuals to behave with purpose.
• Forethought allows anticipation of outcomes.
• Self-reactiveness enables motivation to regulate actions.
• Self-reflectiveness enables reflection on thoughts and behaviors, allowing for modifications.
• Carl Jung introduced the 5 archetypes.
• Persona is one's public personality/social masks.
• Shadow is one's dark side, the part of the self one dislikes.
• Anima is the feminine side of a male archetype.
• Animus is the masculine side of a female archetype.
• Self is the central archetype of personality and represents wholeness.
• Carver and Scheier discuss self-awareness, referring to being aware of our self-concept.
• There are 2 types of self-awareness: private and public self.
• Private self involves internal standards and private thoughts and feelings.
• Public self involves a public image geared toward having a good presentation of self to others.
• There are 3 self-schemas of self-awareness: actual, ideal, and ought self.
• Actual self is who you are at the moment.
• Ideal self is who you like to be.
• Ought self is who you think you should be.

Psychological Defense Mechanisms

• Denial is refusing to recognize a threatening situation.
• Repression is pushing threatening situations out of conscious memory (e.g., rape victims).
• Rationalization is making up acceptable excuses for unacceptable behavior (e.g., jogging).
• Projection is placing one's own unacceptable thoughts onto others (e.g., cheating/crush).
• Reaction formation is condemning something that has an unconscious appeal (e.g., smoking).
• Displacement is transferring emotions or behaviors to something less threatening (e.g., punching a wall).
• Regression is falling back on childlike patterns as a way of coping with stressful situations (e.g., kids with baby sisters).
• Identification is trying to become like someone else to deal with one's anxiety (e.g., to belong to the group).
• Compensation is trying to make up for areas in which a lack is perceived by becoming superior in some area.
• Sublimation involves turning socially unacceptable urges into socially acceptable behavior (e.g., punching bag instead).

Theories in Self Development

• The Symbolic Interactionism Theory states that self is created and developed through human interaction.
• Social Comparison Theory states that we learn about ourselves by comparing aspects of ourselves to other people.
• Downward social comparison involves comparing ourselves with those who are worse than us.
• Upward social comparison involves comparing ourselves with those who are better than us.
• Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory states that we feel threatened when someone outperforms us, especially if that person is close to us.