PERSONALITY EXAM REVIEW.docx

PERSONALITY EXAM REVIEW 12/12/2011 9:29:00 AM CHAPTER 14- APPROACHES TO THE SELF Self-concept (understanding of yourself) Development of the self concept o Infancy distinguish self as distinct from world around us Awareness of ones body 18 months: self recognition (required for pretend play) ex. Recognition in mirrors o 2-3 identify with own age/sex, then with own family identify self in photos recognize people have expectations for them (ex. Rules) develop sense of self relative to standards o 3-12 based on talents & skills (someone who can do this/cant do this) 5-6 social comparison & awareness of private self evaluate self in comparison with others realize private self (can lie, keep secrets- hidden self) o adolescence perspective taking: ability to take others perspectives, to step outside oneself and imagine who one appears to others. objective awareness: seeing oneself as an object of others attention (shyness). Shyness: chronic objective awareness o Evaluation apprehension: Shyness Want interaction but held back by insecurity Social anxiety Discomfort during interactions or anticipation of them. o Social anxiety disorder: Significant fear in 1+ social/performance situations The fear is of social humiliation/embarrassment Exposure to this situation leads to high anxiety Person views fear as excessivm e/unreasonable The anxiety causes impairment in 1+ areas of life o Treating social anxiety disorder: Cognitive-behaviour therapy: Challenge thought distortions Exposure to fearful situations (gradual) Self-Schemata: o Self schemata Cognitive representation of the self-concept, based on past experience, guide the processing of information about self. (key in social interaction) o Possible selves Schema for future selves, ideas about what they might become/hope to become/fear of becoming. inspiration for future behaviour allow us to stay on schedule, work towards self-improvement. o self guides standards one uses to organize info and motivate appropriate behaviour. 1) ideal self what a person wants to be built on ones own desires/goals promotion focus leads you to focus on achievement/goal accomplishment (pleasure). 2) ought self understanding of what others want them to be. Built on responsibilities & commitments to others Prevention focus leads you to focus on avoiding harm & seeking safety (relief). Conflict between 2 selves can cause depression, disappointment, guilt, anxiousness. Self-esteem (how you feel about who you are from evaluation of ones self) Self esteem: o On a good-bad or like-dislike dimension o Varies temporally, but has average o Varies by area of life or aspect of self Development of self esteem: o Childhood re: expectations o Later childhood re: social comparison o Internal standards re: self concept Reactions to Criticisms & failure feedback: o Following failure feedback: Low self-esteem poorer performance & give up High self-esteem try as hard & less likely to give up o Following failure in 1 area: Low self-esteem generalize failure to other areas High self-esteem focus on successes in other areas Self-complexity have many roles/aspects of our self-concept o High self-complexity failure in one aspect is buffered by all the other events that remain unaffected o Low self-complexity failure in one aspect is much more devastating since it is much more defining to themselves. Protecting vs enhancing self: o High self-esteem enhance self concept through risk taking & striving for success o Low self-esteem protect self concept by avoiding failure Strategies: Defense pessimism when a person faces a challenge they expect to do poorly impact of failure is lessoned if expected in advance Use worry to motivate themselves to work on what theyre pessimistic about. Self-handicapping person deliberately does things to increase the probability that they will fail. Can provide an excuse for failing. Variability: o Self esteem variability magnitude of short-term fluctuations in self- esteem, due to ones self-worth of daily life events. o Note: Researchers make a distinction between level & variability of self esteem (unrelated). Variability is related to the extent which ones self-evaluation is changeable. (some peoples self-esteem is changed by life events more than others). o High variability related too.. Enhanced sensitivity to social evaluation events Increased concern about self view Over rely on sources of evaluation React to evaluation with anger/hostility. Body dysmorphic disorder: Kayla o Preoccupation with imagined deficit in appearance (or excessive concern about an actual anomaly) causing marked distress & impairment. o BDD: cross culture comparison Compare US vs German students on BDD Results: no difference in rate of BDD US students reported more body image concerns & preoccupation Poor body estee & self esteem associated with symptoms of anxiety & depression in both groups still unclear whether these symptoms preceded or come after BDD o self esteem & BDD examine self esteem among 93 BDD patients results: patients with BDD had very low self esteem & more delusional link between low self esteem & BDD accounted for by major depression still unclear whether low self esteem leads to BDD or are a consequence of it. Social Identity (your presentation of yourself to others, relatively enduring) 2 Key features: o 1) Continuity stability in who you are o 2) Contrast aspects of identity that make you different Identity crisis Anxiety about defining ones individuality & social reputation o 2 forms of identity crises: 1) identity deficits when identity not adequately formed, leads to vulnerabilities in decision making trouble making major decision because has no inner- foundation. Often occurs when someone discards old values/goals. Vulnerable to persuasion (ex. Cults) 2) identity conflicts incompatibility between 2+ aspects of ones identity