When you think about yourself, you are self-aware
2 Types of self-awareness: private and public; whether behavior is more influenced by personal standards or social standards is partially determined by what aspect of the self is salient (private or public)
private being aware of ones hidden aspects of oneself
effects:
1) intensification of affect when we think about ourself in a particular feeling state that feeling state becomes exaggerated (when college males viewed nude photos, the ones who were made more self-aware experienced greater positive affect than those who were not made self-aware Schierer & Carver (1977))
2) clarification of knowledge private events become more distinct and the more accurate is the reporting on them. Placebo effects are lower in self-aware people (Gibbons et al. 1979)
3) greater adherence to personal standards of behavior Carver (1975) attitudes toward punishment were taken and 3 weeks later the Ss were given the opportunity to shock someone deserving of punishment Ss who were made more self-aware were more likely to show attitude-behavior consistency
public temporary state of being aware of ones public self
effects;
1) evaluation apprehension when we realize that we are the object of evaluation or scrutiny of others
2) temporary loss of self-esteem when we realize that there is a discrepancy between our ideal and actual public self (seeing yourself on video)
3)
greater adherence
to social standards of behavior
Self-certainty thinking that you know yourself is crucial to self-esteem; self- esteem is determined by the way a person organizes positive and negative information about herself
Showers (1992) people who organize their self- information into compartments based on positive and negative information have higher self-esteem and lower depression when the positive self -aspects are more frequently accessed. She also found that for persons for whom negative information is important and accessed, it is healthier to have a mix of positive and negative aspects rather than compartmentalization
Kernis (2006) the stability of high self esteem determines whether threats to self-esteem lead to hostility or aggression; When someone with unstable high self esteem has his esteem threatened, he is likely to become hostile - his/her implicit self esteem, of which he/she may not be consciously aware, is probably low.
Self-evaluation maintenance model ( Tesser,
1988) :
Social reflection - self esteem is reinforced by the outstanding accomplishments of others with whom one associates (my daughter the professor)
Social comparison high self-esteem is maintained by downward comparison and threatened by upward comparison
Downward social comparison makes people with low self-esteem feel better about themselves.
Self-affirmation people cope with specific threats by reminding themselves of other unrelated but cherished aspects of the self-concept (I may not be a good teacher; but Im a good friend)