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Unit 6. Understanding of Self

The evolutionary perspective believes that the self developed for better adaptation of the human species. The first awareness of the self is called subjective self awareness which separates the self from other objects in the environment. This is followed by objective self awareness where the self is an object of its own awareness and lastly, symbolic self awareness developed, which is an expression of the self using symbols and language.

2. What are the four identity statuses given by James Marcia?

The four identity statuses given by James Marcia are: 

1. Identity achievement, 
2. Identity moratorium, 
3. Identity foreclosure and 
4. Identity diffusion.

3. What are the two distinct self conceptualizations that emerged from initial cross-cultural research?

The two distinct conceptualizations of the self were independent and interdependent self. Theyemerged fromthe individualism-collectivism paradigm that lumped cultures together. However, with advances in cross-cultural research, these dichotomous categories were overthrown and a more culture inclusive idea of self emerged which included aspects of both independent and interdependent self, depending on the corresponding cultural context.

4. What are the five sheaths or layers of the Indian self?

The five sheaths of the Indian (spiritual) self are: 

1. annamayakosha,
2. pranamayakosha,
3. manomayakosha, 
4. vigyanamayakosha, and 
5. anandmayakosha.

Each sheath takes the person closer to the cosmic self which is in the state of bliss.

5. With the help of examples from your daily life experiences, explain the correlates of self.

1. Self-Concept: an organized collection of beliefs, attitudes and values about the self.
1. Example: if you’re a friendly and fun-loving person in most situations, that’s a central aspect of your self-concept. This is because the characteristic of being friendly and fun loving describes you best as a person. At the same time, it is a consistent characteristic, true about you in most situations. If you are not good at painting then your description as a painter does not describe you as a person adequately. So, even if you can paint, you may not be known (or want to be known) as a painter. This is thus, a peripheral aspect of your self-concept. 
2. Self-Schema: includes everything related to the past, present and future of the self. It is everything a person remembers, knows and can imagine about oneself.
1. With the help of a self-schema, a person can make comparisons about how she was in the past with how she is now and what expected changes she will undergo in future.
2. Self-schemas guide our present behaviour for future outcomes. 
3. Example: if you want to lose weight, then you know how you look now (fat or overweight) and how you would like to look in future (leaner and slimmer than now). 
3. Self-Reference Effect: when the self becomes the source of reference and has an effect on our attention and memory.
1. Example: if someone shares the same birth year or birthdate as our own, we tend to remember that person better than others. The same thing is true if we share the same names or belong to same cities.
4. Self-Esteem: is an evaluation of oneself.
1. Social Comparison: People compare themselves with other members of a group or society in order to measure their own capabilities. 
2. Paradoxical Self-Esteem: When our actual competence does not match our self-evaluation, the inconsistency results in a paradoxical self-esteem. 
5. Self-Functioning: Self-Focussing + Self-Monitoring + Self-Efficacy = Self-Functioning
1. Self-Focusing: act of diverting attention towards oneself as opposed to one’s surroundings. The ability to focus inward on one’s self, away from the external environment.
2. Self-Monitoring: Human tendency to regulate and monitor own behaviour.
3. Self-Efficacy: person’s belief in her/his own ability to achieve some goals set by her/him. 

6. How are the self, personality and identity different from each other?

• Personality
• Personality is a psychological concept
• It refers to an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thoughts, behaviours and feelings.
• Personality can be assessed and explained in terms of some salient features and attributes that one possesses like being talkative or shy.
• Psychologists have identified five central dimensions or the ‘Big Five’ of personality which include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.
• Self
• The self refers to personal and experiential aspects of living
• It is characterized by ‘inner’ attributes and explanations within a person.
• The self includes being aware about one’s physical body as well as psychological boundaries of one’s self from other selves, including categories like descendants and ancestors.
• The self feels responsible for one’s own actions (some of the times) and can also hold others responsible for theirs.
• Different notions of the self, like decontextualized, autonomous, independent or contextualized, relational, interdependent are held to explain the interface of the self with its external context.
• Identity
• Identity is closer to the social and the observable
• It refers to the more ‘outer’ aspects of being perceived as a person.
• Identity depends on the social context of behaviour and at a given point of time; one could hold many salient identities.
• Example: if you are travelling alone to a secluded area, your gender identity as a man or woman may become salient with reference to issues of safety. Similarly, social class and caste identities become salient with reference to some practices like eating and dressing.

7. Give examples to explain the influence of culture on our understanding of self.

It is necessary to situate individual selves in the ever changing and dynamic background of culture to understand the complex nature of self.

Cultural psychologists suggest that culture and self (or psyche) are inseparable and co-constitute each other.

Thus, when cultures continue, selves continue and when cultures change, these changes are evident in the self-construal also. 

Self-construal and understanding may differ across cultures.

8. Gender and self development are critically linked. Justify this statement with the help of relevant examples.

As many of the gender-stereotypical beliefs are socially constructed, boys and girls are exposed to them early on in life and thus, these become inseparable parts of their gender socialization and eventually, gender identity.

• Gender identity, which starts developing by age two, involves a person’s identification as male or female.
• By age four to seven, children start showing gender consistency: they understand that gender is a constant and basic attribute of each person.
• Once these beliefs about gender consistency are established, later perceptions about gender stereotypes depend on what we are taught about gender.
• This leads to sex typing, where as children grow older, they understand “correct” male and female behaviour as per their own culture.