Self & Identity
Self & Identity -
This was more of a summary
Introduction
Throughout your life you meet people and often need to introduce yourself. The way in which you identify or introduce yourself depends on the situation or context you are in. Maybe you will describe yourself as the daughter of..,, or a pupil of…, of maybe an employee of… You might even describe yourself in terms of a group, or skill, or race. The list of descriptors is almost endless. At the same time this description may be an indication of what you aspire to be, or despise about you, similar to an ideal self. Often an ideal self can motivate you and impact on your behaviour.
Self and identity
Baumeister cites that a full understanding of the self encompasses several things. First, it includes the body. Second, it includes the social identity. Third, self is the active agent involved in making decisions. (Baumeister, R.F. 1995). Your identity can range from a personal to a group identity. Your personal identity deals with yourself as an individual. While your group identity sees how you fit into a social group. This group can be a race group, religious group, educational group etc (Baron, R.A., Byrne, D. & Branscombe 2006).
The first level of self to emerge is subjective self-awareness, which allows the organism to differentiate itself from its physical surroundings. So even an animal can tell the difference between its own body and its owner 's body. Human beings (and primates) also develop objective self awareness; the ability to be the object of its own attention and recognise the self. Only human beings develop symbolic self-awareness - the ability to form an abstract representation of self through language. Self-awareness makes humans aware of the inevitability of death and creates existential terror. Terror management theory suggests that we attempt to assure ourselves that we have value in our society and the resulting self-esteem acts as a buffer against the anxiety of our demise;
This was more of a summary
Introduction
Throughout your life you meet people and often need to introduce yourself. The way in which you identify or introduce yourself depends on the situation or context you are in. Maybe you will describe yourself as the daughter of..,, or a pupil of…, of maybe an employee of… You might even describe yourself in terms of a group, or skill, or race. The list of descriptors is almost endless. At the same time this description may be an indication of what you aspire to be, or despise about you, similar to an ideal self. Often an ideal self can motivate you and impact on your behaviour.
Self and identity
Baumeister cites that a full understanding of the self encompasses several things. First, it includes the body. Second, it includes the social identity. Third, self is the active agent involved in making decisions. (Baumeister, R.F. 1995). Your identity can range from a personal to a group identity. Your personal identity deals with yourself as an individual. While your group identity sees how you fit into a social group. This group can be a race group, religious group, educational group etc (Baron, R.A., Byrne, D. & Branscombe 2006).
The first level of self to emerge is subjective self-awareness, which allows the organism to differentiate itself from its physical surroundings. So even an animal can tell the difference between its own body and its owner 's body. Human beings (and primates) also develop objective self awareness; the ability to be the object of its own attention and recognise the self. Only human beings develop symbolic self-awareness - the ability to form an abstract representation of self through language. Self-awareness makes humans aware of the inevitability of death and creates existential terror. Terror management theory suggests that we attempt to assure ourselves that we have value in our society and the resulting self-esteem acts as a buffer against the anxiety of our demise;
References: · Baron, R.A., Byrne, D. & Branscombe (2006) Social psychology (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. · Baumeister, R.F. (1995). Self and identity: An introduction. In A. Tesser (Ed.), Advanced social psychology (pp. 51-97). McGraw-Hill, Inc. · Markus, H.R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253. · Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954-969. · Reber, A.S. (1985). The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. · Triandis, H.C. (1989). The self and social behavior in different cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506-520.