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Self-Identity
Self-Concept, Self-identity, and Social Identity
Self concept = self construction, self identity, self perspective, self structure = who am I = gender,
race, status, etc
The role of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control in self-concept and self-identity
o Self esteem = how you feel about yourself
o Self efficacy = your confidence in succeeding
o Locus of control = who controls your fate
Internal locus = you control your fate
External locus = others, luck control your fate
Different types of identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, class)
o Race/ethnicity = color/culture
o Gender = your masculinity/femininity
o Sexual orientation = who you are attracted to
o Age = how old you feel
o Class = how rich you are
Formation of Identity
Theories of identity development (e.g., gender, moral, psychosexual, social)
o Moral = Kohlberg = development of moral thinking by cognitive reasoning, resolving
moral dilemmas and the concept of right and wrong.
Preconventional morality (preadolescent): centered on consequences
Obedience: fear of punishment
Self-interest: desire to gain reward
Conventional morality (adolescent): social roles
Conformity: seeks approval of others. Eg. Good boys dont steal.
Law and order: social order. Eg. If everyone steals, then society wouldnt
function.
Postconventional morality (adult): social rules
Social contract: individual rights. Eg. Everyone has a right to live.
Universal human ethics: abstract principles. Eg. Bribing the teacher for a
good grade just feels wrong...
o Psychosexual = Freud = our sexuality and libido (sex drive) influences our psychology,
and manifests differently as we develop. Fixation (overindulgence or frustration) during a
stage leads to problems later on.
Oral state (0-1): we like to feel orally, like sucking, biting, putting things in our
mouth. Fixation at this stage leads to excessive dependency later on.
Anal stage (1-3): we like to feel anally, like defecating. Fixation can lead to
excessive orderliness or sloppiness.
Phallic stage (3-5): males love mom and envy dad (Oedipal conflict). Females love
dad and envy mom (Electra conflict). To resolve these conflicts, the child identifies
with the same-sex parent and focuses energy on other things like school.
Latency stage: upon resolution of the Oedipal/Electra conflict
Genital stage: enters heterosexual relationship starting at puberty. Sexual traumas
in early stages lead to homosexuality, asexuality or fetishism.
o Psychosocial = Erikson = social interactions shapes psychology. Conflicts caused by social
demands causes problems later on.
Trust/mistrust (0-1): can I trust others? Conflict leads to later paranoia
Autonomy vs shame and doubt (1-3): can I be myself? Conflict leads to external
locus of control.
Initiative vs guilt (3-6): can I act? Conflict leads to either being too afraid to act or
overcompensating by showing off
Industry vs inferiority (6-12): can I be competent? Conflict leads to low self esteem
and self efficacy
Identity vs role confusion (12-20): who am I? Conflict leads to lack of
personality/identity.
Intimacy vs isolation (20-40): can I love? Conflict leads to isolation and inability
to form true relationships.
Generativity vs stagnation (40-65): can I make a difference? Conflict leads to
boredom or self-centeredness.
Integrity vs despair (65+): did I live a good life? Conflict leads to bitterness and
fear of death.
Influence of social factors on identity formation: you are influenced by those around you
o Influence of individuals (e.g., imitation, looking-glass self, role-taking)
Imitation: we imitate role models, peers, especially those similar to us and those
we identify with
Looking-glass self: you're friends see you as funny. Your boss sees you as lazy.
Your ex sees you as dumb. Your looking-glass self is a combination of all of these
different perceived versions of you by other people.
Role-taking: pretending to be or experimenting with other identities. Eg: play
house, play doctor, etc.
o Influence of groups (e.g., reference group): reference group = who we compare ourselves
to. If your reference group is a bunch of over-achievers with 40+ MCAT scores, you'll
never be happy with yourself. However, if your reference group is the average med school
applicant, you'll be happy with a 30+ MCAT score.
Influence of culture and socialization on identity formation: we observe things around us, imitate
it, and identify with it. Thus, culture and socialization shapes who you are.
Social Thinking
Attributing Behavior to Persons or Situations
Attributional processes (e.g., fundamental attribution error, role of culture in attributions)
o Your behavior is attributed to / caused by attributional processes: such as persons
(yourself, other people) or situations/environment. Internal attribution = your disposition.
External attribution = your situation.
o Fundamental attribution error: we tend to attribute someone else's behavior to their
personality/disposition rather than their situation. Eg: we tend to jump to the assumption
that fat people are lazy and over-eat, rather than more situational attributions such as a
health problem.
o Culture: western cultures = individualist = attributes behavior to internal/dispositional
factors (personality). Eastern and African cultures = collectivist = attributes behavior to
external/situational factors (like society, your tribe, your team mates).
o Actor/observer difference: we tend to make excuses for ourselves and blame others. Eg:
if we or our friends make bad grades, we say the material is hard and the professor sucks.
If it's someone else making bad grades, we blame it on laziness.
How self-perceptions shape our perceptions of others: when put ourselves in other peoples shoes
and assume they feel the same way we feel. Bems original experiment: test subjects see a video
of a man raving about doing a boring task. If Bem told the subjects the man was bribed $20 to do
this, the subjects came to the conclusion that the man hated the task in reality. On the other hand,
if Bem told them the man was only paid $1, the subjects assumed the man actually enjoyed the
task. Note, all these are assumptions based on self-perception, as the subject never met the man in
the video.
How perceptions of the environment shape our perceptions of others. Examples: body language
changes the way you feel about someone. You are also more likely to perceive someone positively
if you are in a relaxed, comfortable environment.
Prejudice and Bias
Processes that contribute to prejudice
o Power, prestige, and class: rich vs poor, have vs have-nots. Eg: you come across a poor
person, prejudice kicks in, and you classify that person as being a hobo. You come across
a rich person, prejudice kicks in, and you classify that person as a snob.
o The role of emotion in prejudice: emotional level prejudice = prejudice that leads to
arousal of emotions. Eg: if you were robbed by someone of a certain race, you'll learn to
associate those negative emotions with that race even if the next guy you meet didn't do
anything.
o The role of cognition in prejudice: cognitive level prejudce = prejudice based on rational
thinking. Eg: racial profiling - if you observe that a certain race commits crimes more
often, you will treat everyone of that race with prejudice.
o Discrimination = prejudice that leads to action
Stereotypes: putting things/people into categories. It makes things simpler, but can lead to
prejudice and discrimination.
Stigma = extreme dislike of a person or group based on a difference such as belief, HIV, etc.
Ethnocentrism: judging others based on our own culture and perspective. Eg: you may look at face
paintings of tribes and find them weird, but if you step outside your ethnocentrism, you realize
that the tribes probably look at you and think your lack of face painting is weird.
o Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism = placing yourself at the center of the universe = judging others
based on the assumption that your culture is superior / most correct
Cultural relativism = no one's at the center, everything's relative = perceiving
differences in others with an understanding that no one's more superior or inferior
Processes Related to Stereotypes
Self-fulfilling prophecy: if a race is stereotyped a certain way, people will have those expectations
from you and create conditions to fit those stereotypes. Eg: if the stereotype is your race being
good at basketball, people will expect you to be good at it without even knowing you, TV ads will
show your race playing basketball / wearing Air Jordans. In the end, this makes it easy for you to
become that stereotype, thus, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Stereotype threat: if you have a negative stereotype against you, you'll be overly-defensive about
it. This causes anxiety that may impede performance.
Social Interactions
Elements of Social Interaction
Status: your social status
o Types of status (e.g., achieved, ascribed): achieved = obtained status, such as becoming a
doctor. Ascribed = you're born with it, such as your race.
Role: the role you play for a given status. Eg: treating patients when you're a doctor.
o Role conflict and role strain: role conflict = conflict between multiple roles (Eg: being a
doctor and a soldier at the same time). Role strain = conflict between requirements within
the same role (Eg: patient care vs patient autonomy. Jehova's witness refusing blood
transfusion, which may save their life. Parents refusing vaccination of their kids.)
o Role exit = quitting a role
Groups
o Primary and secondary groups: primary group = long-term relationship/interaction, such
as family and friends. Secondary group = short-term relationship/interaction, such as
classmates, colleagues.
o In-group vs. out-group: you identify with/belong to your in-group. Groups that you don't
identify with/belong to is called an out-group.
o Group size (e.g., dyads, triads): dyad = pair relationships (eg: husband-wife, staff-
customer). Triad = 3 members (eg: parents and single child).
Networks: made of social relationships/ties
Organizations: made of professional relationships. An organization is an entity in itself. It has a
goal, structure, and culture.
o Formal organization: secondary groups that serve a specific need/goal. Eg: governments,
corporations, universities, hospitals.
o Bureaucracy: a system of government where non-elect government officials make the
decisions.
Characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy
Hierarchy of authority
Impersonality
Written wrules of conduct
Promotion based on achievement
Specialized division of labor
Efficiency
Perspectives on bureaucracy (e.g., iron law of oligarchy, McDonaldization)
Iron law of oligarchy: government tend to shift toward being ruled by an
elite group
McDonaldization: shift toward being efficient and practical like
McDonalds/fast food restaurants.
Self-presentation and Interacting with Others
Expressing and detecting emotion: verbal and body language
o The role of gender in the expression and detection of emotion: Popular belief is that girls
are more emotional and they are also more sensitive to detect emotion. Research shows
that society has particular expectations of how boys and girls express emotion. Eg: girls
can cry, guys should act tough, girls should be gentle, guys can be aggressive. This shapes
how guys and girls express emotions differently.
o The role of culture in the expression and detection of emotion
individualistic cultures (Western): individualistic emotions predominate, such as
pride and anger
collectivist cultures (Asia, Africa): emotions that promote interconnectedness
predominates, such as friendliness and shame
Presentation of self
o Impression management = self presentation = how we act in order to influence how others
perceive us.
self-disclosure: introducing yourself as doctor to a patient
managing appearances: wearing a white coat, looking compassionate
ingratiation: telling your interviewer that his research is fascinating, even when
you couldnt care less
aligning actions: aligning/justifying your actions by making excuses
alter-casting: imposing an identity on someone. Eg: as a doctor, you should...
o Front stage vs. back stage self (Dramaturgical approach)
dramaturgical approach = using theater performance as an analogy to impression
management
front stage: when youre being observed, you act to conform to societys
expectations
back stage: when youre by yourself, you can be yourself
Verbal and nonverbal communication: verbal = things you say. Nonverbal = body language
Animal signals and communication
o Bees: waggle dance to communicate location of pollen
o Baring of teeth = aggression
o Birds: fluff up their feathers to look bigger and more intimidating
Social Behavior
Attraction
o interpersonal attraction = like/dislike. Causes include physical attractiveness, proximity,
similarity, familiarity, complementarity (opposites attract), reciprocity
o physical attractiveness = how good someone looks
o sexual attractiveness = how much sexual desire they arouse
Aggression = behavior that intends to cause harm
Attachment = parent-child relationship = develops during first 2 years of life
o secure attachment = normal = caring parent, child upset if parent leaves, comforted when
parent returns, child prefers parent to stranger, good social skills later on
o avoidant attachment = uncaring parent = child treats parent like any stranger
o ambivalent attachment = inconsistent parent = child upset if parent leaves, but may not be
fully comforted when parent returns
o disorganized attachment = child abuse = disorganized response to presence and absence of
parent, such as avoidance, resistance, confusion, repetitive behaviors such as rocking
Altruism = helping others at the cost of yourself = evolutionary helps you indirectly as you share
genes with those you help
Social support
o Biological explanations of social behavior in animals = genetic (hunger drives foraging,
testosterone drives mating) and social (learning from those around you)
o Foraging behavior = seeks out food
o Mating behavior and mate choice = finding, attracting, and choosing a mate
o Applying game theory: game theory = decision making. Decisions have a benefit-cost ratio.
Pick the choice of action that has the most benefit-cost ratio.
o Altruism = help others at the cost of yourself. Alternatives: spite (harms both), cooperation
(benefits both), selfishness (help yourself at the cost of others).
o Inclusive fitness = explains altruism = when you help others who share genes with you,
you indirectly help yourself
Discrimination
Individual vs. institutional discrimination
o individual discrimination = it's just you doing the discrimination
o institutional discrimination = the society doing the discrimination. Can be subtle, such as
providing different access to opportunities, promoting positive/negative stereotypes in the
media.
The relationship between prejudice and discrimination: prejudice = pre-judge = you're judging
someone based on their race before even getting to know them. Discrimination = action = you are
prejudiced against a certain race and because of that, rejected them from med school.
How power, prestige, and class facilitate discrimination: power (ability to obtain goals), prestige
(respect), and class (socioeconomic status) divides people into haves and have-nots. This leads to
prejudice and discrimination.