Concise revision notes – social psychology
Self awareness – topic one
Types of self and identity
who researched social and personal identity?
o Tajifel and Turner (1979)
What did Brewer and Gardner (1996) come up with
o The three types of self
What are the three types of self?
o individual – traits that distinguish you from others (friendly)
o relational – relationships assimilating you to others (mum)
o collective – group membership (academic)
what is the type of identity affected by?
o The context youre placed in
What kind of descriptors are common in social psychology?
o Social and personal
What kind of identity draws the most depth?
o Individual
Self awareness
What is self awareness?
o A psychological state that comes and goes depending on context
When can self awareness be considered a trait?
o When some people are more self aware
What are fundamental parts of human beings?
o Reflexive thoughts
When is self awareness developed?
o Between 1.5 and 2 years old
Which test supports the realisation of being individual?
o Mirror test (Gallup, 1970) – put mark on child/animals face and put mirror
back in front of them they then either touch mark on their own face or on the
mirror
Which animal did not pass the mirror test?
o Dogs
Types of self and identity
Who stated “all the worlds a stage”?
o Shakespeare
What is private self?
o Thoughts, feelings and attitudes
What is public self?
o Social image – perceived social standards
Who came up with the idea of private and public self?
o Carver & Scheier, 1981
What are the main components regarding public self?
, o Can be seen and evaluated by others: evaluation apprehension, enjoy
success, admiration, adhere to social standards of behaviour
Negatives and positives of self awareness
o It can make you anxious but also boosts confidence and self pride
Chronic self awareness
What comes with chronic self awareness?
o Large stresses – constantly aware of shortcomings, avoidance behaviours like
drugs and drinking, and issues when puberty hits teenagers due to confusion
during development of own self
What comes with reduced self awareness?
o Deindividualization, no monitoring of own behaviour, become impulsive and
reckless – drink too much
When can deindividuation be classed as a positive?
o Group experiences – team work
What did Kabatt-Zinn, 1991 state about mindfulness?
o ‘mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment and nonjudgmentally’
What is included in mindfulness?
o Incorporates self awareness, self acceptance and unreactive to negative
thoughts and issues
Chronically aware – self consciousness
Describe the characteristics of heightened private.
o More intense emotion
o Accurate self perception
o Adhere to personal beliefs
o + less stress related illness, cause youre adhering to yourself less likely to pick
up on things quicker
o – depression and neuroticism
Describe the characteristics of heightened public.
o Focus on perception of others
o Nervousness
o Loss of self esteem
o Adhere to group norms to avoid embarrassment
o Concern with physical appearance, both self and others
Self knowledge
What is self knowledge?
o Store info about yourself and others in the form of a schema
o When self awareness is used to access information about the schema
o A cognitive structure storing knowledge about yourself and others including
important part of self concept and aschematic schemas
What are the different parts of the self?
o Self schematic – important part of self concept e.g. saying behaviour is bad
o Aschematic schema – not that important to me e.g. being called a bad singer
What does activation of different parts of the self affect?
o The way you process information and behave
Self development
, How do self schemas develop?
o 6 theories of the self:
2 about ‘how it should be’
2 about ‘other groups’
2 about ‘other individuals’
What are the theories of ‘how it should be’? – MUST LOOK INTO HIGHLIGHTED
THEORIES AS MOST DEFINITELY A QUESTION WILL COME UP ON THIS!!
o Control theory of self regulation – Carver & Scheier 1981, 1998
o Self discrepancy theory – Higgins 1987
What are the theories of ‘other individuals’?
o Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954)
o Self evaluation maintenance (Tesser 1988)
What did Medvec et al (1995) study?
o Faces and reaction on Olympic medal winners
o Silver medalists seen as least happy as comparing themselves to gold
whereas bronze were doing a downward comparison and comparing
themselves to the rest of the people below them
What are the theories of ‘other groups’?
o Social identity theory – Tajifel and Turner 1979
o Self categorization theory – Turner et al 1987
Self motives
What is self assessment?
o It’s the desire for accurate and valid information
o Seek out the truth about self
What is self verification?
o Want to confirm what we already know and like to have consistency in our
head about self
What is self enhancement?
o Want to look good and feel good so look for favourable info about self (self
affirmation theories)
What is self affirmation theories?
o Affirming positive aspects aka boasting
What is self serving attribution bias?
o The idea youll take credit for failure and try and blame something else for
failures
Cultural differences
Where are individualist cultures more common?
o Western societies
Where are collectivist cultures more common?
o More eastern societies
Characteristics of individualist cultures.
o Focus on independent self
o Autonomous individual, separate from context
o Focus on internal traits feelings, thoughs and abilities
o Unitary and stable across situations
Self awareness – topic one
Types of self and identity
who researched social and personal identity?
o Tajifel and Turner (1979)
What did Brewer and Gardner (1996) come up with
o The three types of self
What are the three types of self?
o individual – traits that distinguish you from others (friendly)
o relational – relationships assimilating you to others (mum)
o collective – group membership (academic)
what is the type of identity affected by?
o The context youre placed in
What kind of descriptors are common in social psychology?
o Social and personal
What kind of identity draws the most depth?
o Individual
Self awareness
What is self awareness?
o A psychological state that comes and goes depending on context
When can self awareness be considered a trait?
o When some people are more self aware
What are fundamental parts of human beings?
o Reflexive thoughts
When is self awareness developed?
o Between 1.5 and 2 years old
Which test supports the realisation of being individual?
o Mirror test (Gallup, 1970) – put mark on child/animals face and put mirror
back in front of them they then either touch mark on their own face or on the
mirror
Which animal did not pass the mirror test?
o Dogs
Types of self and identity
Who stated “all the worlds a stage”?
o Shakespeare
What is private self?
o Thoughts, feelings and attitudes
What is public self?
o Social image – perceived social standards
Who came up with the idea of private and public self?
o Carver & Scheier, 1981
What are the main components regarding public self?
, o Can be seen and evaluated by others: evaluation apprehension, enjoy
success, admiration, adhere to social standards of behaviour
Negatives and positives of self awareness
o It can make you anxious but also boosts confidence and self pride
Chronic self awareness
What comes with chronic self awareness?
o Large stresses – constantly aware of shortcomings, avoidance behaviours like
drugs and drinking, and issues when puberty hits teenagers due to confusion
during development of own self
What comes with reduced self awareness?
o Deindividualization, no monitoring of own behaviour, become impulsive and
reckless – drink too much
When can deindividuation be classed as a positive?
o Group experiences – team work
What did Kabatt-Zinn, 1991 state about mindfulness?
o ‘mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment and nonjudgmentally’
What is included in mindfulness?
o Incorporates self awareness, self acceptance and unreactive to negative
thoughts and issues
Chronically aware – self consciousness
Describe the characteristics of heightened private.
o More intense emotion
o Accurate self perception
o Adhere to personal beliefs
o + less stress related illness, cause youre adhering to yourself less likely to pick
up on things quicker
o – depression and neuroticism
Describe the characteristics of heightened public.
o Focus on perception of others
o Nervousness
o Loss of self esteem
o Adhere to group norms to avoid embarrassment
o Concern with physical appearance, both self and others
Self knowledge
What is self knowledge?
o Store info about yourself and others in the form of a schema
o When self awareness is used to access information about the schema
o A cognitive structure storing knowledge about yourself and others including
important part of self concept and aschematic schemas
What are the different parts of the self?
o Self schematic – important part of self concept e.g. saying behaviour is bad
o Aschematic schema – not that important to me e.g. being called a bad singer
What does activation of different parts of the self affect?
o The way you process information and behave
Self development
, How do self schemas develop?
o 6 theories of the self:
2 about ‘how it should be’
2 about ‘other groups’
2 about ‘other individuals’
What are the theories of ‘how it should be’? – MUST LOOK INTO HIGHLIGHTED
THEORIES AS MOST DEFINITELY A QUESTION WILL COME UP ON THIS!!
o Control theory of self regulation – Carver & Scheier 1981, 1998
o Self discrepancy theory – Higgins 1987
What are the theories of ‘other individuals’?
o Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954)
o Self evaluation maintenance (Tesser 1988)
What did Medvec et al (1995) study?
o Faces and reaction on Olympic medal winners
o Silver medalists seen as least happy as comparing themselves to gold
whereas bronze were doing a downward comparison and comparing
themselves to the rest of the people below them
What are the theories of ‘other groups’?
o Social identity theory – Tajifel and Turner 1979
o Self categorization theory – Turner et al 1987
Self motives
What is self assessment?
o It’s the desire for accurate and valid information
o Seek out the truth about self
What is self verification?
o Want to confirm what we already know and like to have consistency in our
head about self
What is self enhancement?
o Want to look good and feel good so look for favourable info about self (self
affirmation theories)
What is self affirmation theories?
o Affirming positive aspects aka boasting
What is self serving attribution bias?
o The idea youll take credit for failure and try and blame something else for
failures
Cultural differences
Where are individualist cultures more common?
o Western societies
Where are collectivist cultures more common?
o More eastern societies
Characteristics of individualist cultures.
o Focus on independent self
o Autonomous individual, separate from context
o Focus on internal traits feelings, thoughs and abilities
o Unitary and stable across situations
