Social Psychology Lecture 6

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Social PsychologyLecture 6
Self-Esteem and Social Identity

• Jane Clarbour
• (Spring 2003)
• Room PS/B007
• Email j.clarbour_at_ psych.york.ac.uk

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Objectives

• Understand the difference between the subjective
  self and the objective self
• Demonstrate an understanding of the role of
  social identity in relation to the self concept
• Describe the hierarchical model of the
  self-concept
• Explain the role of defensive self-esteem

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Who am I?

1. I am
2. I am
3. I am
4. I am
5. I am
6. I am
7. I am
8. I am
9. I am
10. I am

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Early self theorists

• James (1982)
• Cognitive appraisal of how successful (the I)
  is of areas important to the self (the me).
• Cooley (1902)
• Looking glass self
• Role of significant others (parents/peers)

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Critical components of the self(James, 1892)

• Subjective self (the I)
• Self as knower
• Objective self (the me)
• Self as known
• Whenever I think about something, I am always
  the subject of consciousness, and one of the
  things I may be consciously attending to is me
  (Franzoi, 2000, p. 39).

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Types of self and identity

• Social identity
• Self in terms of group membership
• Personal identity
• Self in terms of idiosyncratic personal
  relationships and traits
• (Hogg Vaughn, 2002)

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3 forms of self (Brewer Gardner, 1996)

• Individual Self
• Personal traits that differentiate the self from
  all others
• Relational Self
• Defined by dyadic relationships that assimilate
  the self to significant others
• Collective Self
• Defined by group membership
• (Hogg Vaughn, 2002)

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Symbolic Interactionism

• The self is something which has a development
  it is not initially there, at birth, but arises
  in the process of social experience and activity
  The self is essentially a social structure, and
  it arises in social experience
• (George Herbert Mead, 1934, p. 135).
• (Cited in Franzoi)

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I vs. Me

• Self-as-subject
• Active process of experience
• Self-reflexiveness
• Self-awareness of ability to act react
• Unique individuality
• Self construction

• Self-as-object
• What know about self
• Self-descriptors
• Influenced by perceptions of others attitudes
• Internalised attitudes values
• Social construction

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Coopersmith (1967)

• Aggregate model of the self
• Based on James (1892) cognitive self-appraisal
• Problems of definition
• Problems of measurement
• Acknowledges self concept includes school,
  friends, family, self-confidence
• Assumption that each domain equally weighted
• Scores summed to give single aggregate score
• Weak predictive reliability

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Rosenberg (1979)

• Hierarchical model of the self
• James (cognitive appraisal)
• Cooley (social evaluation or looking glass
  self)

Im great
I like my life
Ive got good qualities
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Harters hierarchical model
GSW
PA
SC
BC
SA
AC
Face Body Hair Skin
Math Lang. Arts Sciences
Kind Prosocial Honest
Friends Parents Peers
Football Athletics Swim Riding
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Harter (1985)

• Hierarchical model of the self
• Possibility of measuring perceptions of
  self-worth
• Measure of general self worth PLUS
• Measure of separate domains PLUS
• Measure of importance of domains
• Empirical testable model
• Predictive capacity

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Childrens ratings of vignettes Differences in
SE group for maintaining or discounting SE

High SE more able to discount importance of
domain not good at
(Harter, 1986)
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Discrepancy between self- and teacher-ratings of
competence
Plus values indicate that self-score is higher
than the teachers minus values indicate that
the self-score is lower than the teachers
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Protection of self-esteem

• Take credit for success but deny blame for
  failure
• Forget failure feedback more readily than success
  or praise
• Accept praise uncritically but receive criticism
  more sceptically
• Persuade self that flaws are widely shared
  attributes but that their qualities are rare

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Defensive self-esteem and need for approval (Napp)

• Lobel Teiber, 1994
• Difference between true and defensive
  self-esteem
• True self esteem high SE low Napp
• Defensive
• self esteem high SE high NApp

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Effect of success and failure on ideal performance
(Lobel Teiber, 1994)
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The dark side of self-esteem(Baumeister et al,
1996)

• Benefits of high self-concept accrue mainly to
  the self
• Negative connotations of high self-evaluation
• Arrogance, conceit, pride, narcissism,
  superiority
• High cost of threat to self-esteem
• Increased likelihood of aggression

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Summary

• Theory of the self-concept
• Hierarchical model of the self
• Global self-worth
• Separate domains
• Importance of discounting domains where low
  competence is perceived
• Defensive vs true high self-esteem
• Continuity AND change