LESSON 2

The Self in a Social World

Lesson Objective
1. Understand what self-concept, self-esteem,
self-control, and self-presentation are.
2. Analyze the bidirectional influence of self
and social world
3. Regulate the self to adapt in the social
world

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SPOTLIGHTS AND
ILLUSIONS:
WHAT DO THEY TEACH US ABOUT
OURSELVES?
Do you often feel that others are paying
more attention to us than they really are?

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spotlight effect
The belief that others are
paying more attention to our
appearance and behavior
than they really are

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illusion of transparency

The illusion that our

concealed emotions leak out
and can be easily read by
others.

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The spotlight effect and the related illusion of transparency are
but two of many examples of the interplay between our sense of
self and our social worlds.

1. Social surroundings affect

out self-awareness
2. Self-interest colors our
social judgment
3. Self-concern motivates our
social behavior
4. Social relationships help
define our sense of self

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Self-Concept:
WHO AM I?

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You have many ways to
complete the sentence “I am
_____.”

(What five answers might you

give?)

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Your answers provide a glimpse of
your self-concept.

What we know and believe

about ourselves.

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Self-schema

Beliefs about self that

organize and guide the
processing of self-relevant
information
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Social comparison

Evaluating one’s abilities

and opinions by comparing
oneself with others.
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OTHER PEOPLE’S JUDGMENTS

The looking-glass self was how sociologist Charles H.

Cooley (1902) described our use of how we think others
perceive us as a mirror for perceiving ourselves. Fellow
sociologist George Herbert Mead (1934) refined this
concept, noting that what matters for our self-concepts is
not how others see us but the way we imagine they see us.
People generally feel freer to praise than to criticize; they
voice their compliments and restrain their insults.

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Self and Culture

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 SELF AND CULTURE
individualism independent self
The concept of giving priority Construing one’s
to one’s own goals over
group goals and defining identity as an
one’s identity in terms of autonomous self
personal attributes rather
than group identifications.

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SELF AND CULTURE
collectivism
Giving priority to the goals of
one’s group (often one’s
extended family or work
group) and defining one’s
identity accordingly.

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a. Growing Individualism within
Cultures
Since 1800s 2000s Between 1980 and 2007
One way to see this is using Compared to previous Popular song lyrics also
the Google Books Ngram decades, books published became more likely to use
Viewer, which shows the in the United States used “I” and “me” and less
usage of words and the word “get” more and likely to use “we” and “us”
“give” less (Greenfield,
phrases in the full text of 5 2013), and used “I,” “me,”
million books since the and “you” more and “we”
1800s (try it yourself; it’s and “us” a little less
online and free). (Twenge et al., 2013; see
Figure 1).

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a. Growing Individualism within
Cultures
1960s to 19702 Arora, 2005 Twenge et al. 2010
young Americans report Chinese citizens in their Even your name might
significantly more positive early twenties are more show the shift toward
self-views than young likely than older Chinese to individualism: American
people did in the 1960s agree with individualistic parents are now less likely
and 1970s statements, such as “make to give their children
a name for yourself” and common names and more
“live a life that suits your likely to help them stand
tastes” out with an unusual name.

PRESENTATION TITLE 18
Which Pen Would You Choose?

“ •”

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b. Culture and Cognition
When Heejung Kim and Hazel Markus
(1999) invited people to choose one of
these pens, 77 percent of Americans
but only 31 percent of Asians chose
the uncommon color (regardless of
whether it was orange, as here, or
green). This result illustrates differing
cultural preferences for uniqueness
and conformity, note Kim and Markus.

PRESENTATION TITLE 20
c. CULTURE AND SELF-ESTEEM

In collectivist cultures, self-esteem tends to be malleable (context-

specific) rather than stable (enduring across situations). In one study, 4
in 5 Canadian students agreed that they remained essentially the same
person in different situations, compared with only 1 in 3 Chinese and
Japanese students (Tafarodi et al., 2004).

PRESENTATION TITLE 21
c. CULTURE AND SELF-ESTEEM

For those in individualistic cultures, self-esteem is

more personal and less relational. If a Westerner’s
personal identity is threatened, she will feel angrier
and sadder than when her collective identity is
threatened (Gaertner et al., 1999).
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c. CULTURE AND SELF-ESTEEM

Western individualists like to make comparisons with

others that boost their self-esteem. Asian collectivists
make comparisons (often upward, with those doing
better) in ways that facilitate self-improvement (White &
Lehman, 2005).

PRESENTATION TITLE 23
PRESENTATION TITLE 24
Self-Knowledge

“Know thyself”

-from Ancient Greek Oracle

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Self-Knowledge

But how well do

we actually know
ourselves?

PRESENTATION TITLE 26
Self-Knowledge
“There is one thing, and only one in the whole
universe which we know more about than we
could learn from external observation,” noted C.
S. Lewis (1952, pp. 18–19). “That one thing is
[ourselves]. We have, so to speak, inside
information; we are in the know.”

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a. PREDICTING OUR BEHAVIOR

One of the most common errors in behavior prediction

is underestimating how long it will take to complete a

task (called the planning fallacy).

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b. PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS

Studies of “affective forecasting” reveal that people

have greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and
the duration of their future emotions (Wilson & Gilbert,
2003). People mispredict how they would feel some
time after a romantic breakup, receiving a gift, losing
an election, winning a game, and being insulted
(Gilbert & Ebert, 2002; Loewenstein & Schkade, 1999).
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b. PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS
EXAMPLES:

1. When young men are sexually aroused by erotic photographs, then

exposed to a passionate date scenario in which their date asks them to
“stop,” they admit that they might not stop. If not shown sexually
arousing pictures first, they are less likely to say they might be sexually
aggressive. When not aroused, they easily mispredict how they will feel
and act when aroused—which can lead to unexpected professions of
love during lust, to unintended pregnancies, and to repeat offenses
among sex abusers who have sincerely vowed “never again.”

PRESENTATION TITLE 30
b. PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS
EXAMPLES:

2. Hungry shoppers are more likely to impulse buy (“Those doughnuts

would be delicious!”) than shoppers who have just enjoyed a quarter-
pound blueberry muffin (Gilbert & Wilson, 2000). When you are hungry,
you mispredict how gross those deep-fried doughnuts will seem when
you are sated. When stuffed, you may underestimate how yummy a
doughnut might be with a late-night glass of milk—a purchase whose
appeal quickly fades when you’ve eaten one or two

PRESENTATION TITLE 31
b. PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS
EXAMPLES:

3. When natural disasters such as hurricanes occur, people

predict that their sadness will be greater if more people are
killed. But after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, students’
sadness was similar when it was believed that 50 people had
been killed or 1,000 had been killed (Dunn & Ashton-James,
2008). What did influence how sad people felt? Seeing
pictures of victims. No wonder poignant images of disasters
on TV have so much influence on us.
PRESENTATION TITLE 32
b. PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS
EXAMPLES:

4. People overestimate how much their well-being would be

affected both by bad events (a romantic breakup, failing to
reach an athletic goal [Eastwick et al., 2007; van Dijk et al.,
2008]) and good events (warmer winters, weight loss, more
television channels, more free time). Even extreme events,
such as winning a state lottery or suffering a paralyzing
accident, impact long-term happiness less than most people
suppose.
PRESENTATION TITLE 33
b. PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS

impact bias
- Overestimating the enduring impact of
emotion-causing events

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c. THE WISDOM AND ILLUSIONS OF
SELF-ANALYSIS

dual attitude system

- Differing implicit (automatic) and explicit
(consciously controlled) attitudes toward the same
object. Verbalized explicit attitudes may change with
education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change
slowly, with practice that forms new habits

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What is the nature
and motivating
power of self-
esteem?
Understand self-esteem and its
implications for behavior and
cognition.

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SELF-ESTEEM
A person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of
self-worth.
a. SELF-ESTEEM MOTIVATION
terror management theory
- Proposes that people
exhibit self-protective
emotional and cognitive
responses (including
adhering more strongly to
their cultural worldviews
and prejudices) when
confronted with reminders
of their mortality.
b. NARCISSISM: SELF-ESTEEM’S
CONCEITED SISTER
High self-esteem becomes especially
problematic if it crosses over into narcissism,
or having an inflated sense of self. Most
people with high self-esteem value both
individual achievement and relationships with
others. Narcissists usually have high self-
esteem, but they are missing the piece about
caring for others (Campbell et al., 2007; Jones
& Brunell, 2014). Although narcissists can be
outgoing and charming early on, their self-
centeredness often leads to relationship
problems in the long run (Campbell, 2005).

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 c. Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief that
one is effective and competent
and can do something. Unlike
high self-esteem, high self-
efficacy is consistently linked to
success
WHAT IS SELF-
SERVING BIAS?
Explain self-serving bias and its adaptive
and maladaptive aspects.

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Self-serving bias
The tendency to perceive oneself
favorably.

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a. Explaining Positive and Negative
Events
Self-serving attributions
- A form of self-serving bias;
the tendency to attribute
positive outcomes to oneself
and negative outcomes to
other factors.

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b. Can We All Be Better Than Average?
Self-serving bias also appears when
people compare themselves with
others. If the sixth century B.C. Chinese
philosopher Lao-tzu was right that “at
no time in the world will a man who is
sane over-reach himself, over-spend
himself, over-rate himself,” then most
of us are a little insane. On subjective,
socially desirable, and common
dimensions, most people see
themselves as better than the average
person

PRESENTATION TITLE 44
c. Unrealistic Optimism

Illusory optimism increases

our vulnerability. Believing
ourselves immune to
misfortune, we do not take
sensible precautions

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c. Unrealistic Optimism

defensive pessimism
- The adaptive value of
anticipating problems
and harnessing one’s
anxiety to motivate
effective action.

PRESENTATION TITLE 46
d. False Consensus and Uniqueness
false consensus effect
- The tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s
opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors.

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d. False Consensus and Uniqueness
false uniqueness effect
- The tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s
abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors.

PRESENTATION TITLE 48
PRESENTATION TITLE 49
HOW DO PEOPLE
MANAGE THEIR SELF-
PRESENTATION?
Identify self-presentation and
understand how impression
management can explain
behavior.
a. Self-Handicapping

self-handicapping
- Protecting one’s self-image
with behaviors that create a
handy excuse for later failure.

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b. Impression Management
self-presentation
- The act of expressing oneself and behaving in
ways designed to create a favorable impression
or an impression that corresponds to one’s
ideals.

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WHAT DOES IT
MEAN TO HAVE
“SELF-CONTROL”?
Understand self-concept through examination of the
self in action.

PRESENTATION TITLE 53
Self-control
Self-control is like a muscle: It can get
tired when you use it too much.
Willpower requires energy

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Self-control
But self-control can get stronger if it’s
used more. Improving self-control in
one area leads to improvements in
others

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