2. THE COGNITIVE SELF: THE SELF-CONCEPT
• Some nonhuman animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans, and perhaps dolphins, have at least a
primitive sense of self (Boysen & Himes, 1999).
• We know this because of some interesting experiments that have been done with animals. In one study
(Gallup, 1970), researchers painted a red dot on the forehead of anesthetized chimpanzees and then
placed the animals in a cage with a mirror.
3. CNTD.,
• When the chimps woke up and looked in
the mirror, they touched the dot on their
faces, not the dot on the faces in the
mirror.
• This action suggests that the chimps
understood that they were looking at
themselves and not at other animals, and
thus we can assume that they are able to
realize that they exist as individuals.
• Most other animals, including dogs, cats,
and monkeys, never realize that it is
themselves they see in a mirror.
4. CNTD.,
• Infants who have similar red dots painted on their foreheads recognize themselves
in a mirror in the same way that chimps do, and they do this by about 18 months
of age
• The child’s knowledge about the self continues to develop as the child grows. By
two years of age, the infant becomes aware of his or her gender as a boy or a girl.
At age four, the child’s self-descriptions are likely to be based on physical features,
such as hair color, and by about age six, the child is able to understand basic
emotions and the concepts of traits, being able to make statements such as “I am
a nice person”
• By the time children are in grade school, they have learned that they are unique
individuals, and they can think about and analyze their own behavior. They also
begin to show awareness of the social situation—they understand that other
people are looking at and judging them the same way that they are looking at and
judging others
5.
6. SELF- CONCEPT
I have healthy body
I am an attractive person
I am an honest person
Religion is my guide in everyday life
I am a cheerful person
I hate myself
I am from a happy family
I am not loved by my family
(Jamaludin & Yousaf- TSCS, 2009)
7. HISTORY OF SELF CONCEPT
William James (1890) – principles of
psychology – included a chapter
“consciousness of Self”
James distinguish between two types of self
1. subjective sense (the “I”)
2.objective sense (the “me”) – more focused
by psychologist for research
8. DEFINITION OF SELF CONCEPT
“the totality of the individual’s thoughts and
feelings having reference to himself as
an object” (Rosenberg, 1979, p.7)
Like other belief systems, the self concept
includes
1.cognitive
2. behavioral
3. affective component.
9. COGNITIVE COMPONENT: SELF
SCHEMA
Self schemas are “cognitive
generalizations about the self, derived
from past experience, that organize and
guide the processing of self-related
information”
10. AFFECTIVE/EVALUATIVE COMPONENT: SELF
ESTEEM
“self esteem reflects the perceived difference between an
individual’s actual self concept (who I think I really am)
and some ideal self image (who I would really like to be).”
William James (1890) expressed the relationship
this way.
Self esteem= success/pretension Pretension (ideals
against which individuals
assess their actual self image)
11. BEHAVIORAL COMPONENT: SELF
PERCEPTION
Darl Bem (1972) influential self perception
theory reflects we observe our behavior
and the situation in which it took place,
make attributions about why the
behavior occurred, and draw
conclusions about our own characteristic
and disposition.
In other words we come to understand
ourselves the same way we perceive
and understand others.
12. YOU AND ME: UNDERSTANDING
OF SELF
William James’s conception of the self
was highly introspective.(looking inside)
In 1954 Festinger’s thoery of social
comparison, we can not interpret our
own actions and feelings without looking
outward to the actions and feelings of
exhibited by the other people.
13. Western culture
EASTERN
CULTURE
William James was American
philosopher- western culture
and social thought.
Focused on individual self
concept e.g., interpersonal
competition, individual
achievement,
independence.
Alternative perspective- Eastern
culture such as Japan- eastern
culture and social thought.
Focused on collectivistic
self-concept e.g.,
intragroup cooperation,
interdependence, and
collectivistic achievement.
14. HOW DOES SELF CONCEPT FOSTER
The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept, created
Charles Horton Cooley by in 1902,stating that a person's self
grows out of society's interpersonal interactions and the
perceptions of others. The term refers to people shaping
themselves based on other people's perception, which leads the
people to reinforce other people's perspectives on themselves.
People shape themselves based on what other people perceive and
confirm other people's opinion on themselves. The term "looking
glass self" was first used by Cooley in his work, Human Nature
and the Social Order in 1902.
C. H. Cooley has summed it up in his statement: "I am not what
I think I am and I am not what you think I am; I am what I
think that you think I am."
15. THREAT TO SELF CONCEPT/ COGNITIVE
DISSONANCE THEORY
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding
conflicting cognitions (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional
reactions) simultaneously.
The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology
proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce
dissonance by altering existing cognitions, adding new
ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively
by reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant
elements that can leads to the change in self concept.
16. DIFFERENCE
self –concept
• Encompasses what
people know and
believe about
themselves.
• All self-knowledge is
integrated into a
single concept.
• Largely coherent and
integrated.
• Conscious
self- knowledge
• Knowledge or
understanding of
one's own nature,
abilities, and
limitations; insight into
oneself.
• Plenty of material
connected together.
• Conscious,
unconscious,
subconscious
17. DIFFERENCE
• self-schema
• Fall under the cognitive
component of self concept.
• Beliefs about one’s self.
• Information from
previous experiences.
self-perception
• Fall under the
behavioral
component of self
concept.
• Perceives one’s
behavior in
environment.
18. REFERENCES
Baumeister, F.R., (1999). The self in
social psychology: USA, Taylor &
Francis.
Brewer, B. M., & Hewstone, M., (2004).
Applied social psychology: USA,
Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
