Download 7.CB-Self Theory

The Self
Solomon, bamossy (2010)
The self defined
A relatively new concept that regards people and their
relationship to society.
Self-concept, strictly defined, is the
totality of our beliefs, preferences, opinions and attitudes organized in a
systematic manner, towards our personal existence.
Simply put, it is how we think of ourselves and how we should think, behave
and act out our various life roles.
Concept of Self tell us that each human life is unique,
rather than a part of a group.
Further,accepts the idea that the self is an object to be
pampered.
The self is divided into an inner, private self and an outer, public self.
Note :
The self is perhaps the most complex unit to study in psychology. Each of
us have different personality, traits, abilities and preferences that
sometimes we cannot understand what is really going on inside of us.
While we may not be able to exactly explain why we think this way, or why
do we behave in that manner, the self-concept theory is a good
foundational knowledge on the importance of our perceptions towards our
personal existence.
Theoretical viewpoint
• Psychoanalytical and Freudian.
These regard the self as a system or competing forces
riddled with conflict.
Self concept
Self concept refers to the beliefs people hold about their
attributes and how they evaluate these qualities.
The different components of the self concept are:
•
Self esteem - the positivity of a person’s self concept.
Self esteem advertising attempts to change product
attitudes by stimulating positive feelings about the self.
•
Real and ideal selves - consumers’ comparison of actual
standing on some attribute to some ideal. The ideal self
is a person’s conception of how s/he would like to be.
The actual self is the more realistic appraisal of the
actual qualities held.
Multiple selves
People have many selves and many different social
roles.
People act differently depending on the situation they
find themselves in.
The self has many different components or role identities
and only some of these may be active at any given time.
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionism stresses that the relationships
with other people plays an important part on forming the
self.
An approach in sociology which focuses on the interaction of human
beings and the roles they have. The model of the person in
symbolic interactionism is active and creative rather then
passive (Holloway 1997).
Symbolic interactionism is a social theory based on the work
of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) and his student Herbert
Blumer (1900 – 1987). It conceives of the self as a social rather
than psychological entity. Human behaviour is understood as social
behaviour made up of ‘social acts’.
The looking glass self
The process of imagining the reactions of others towards
us.
Our desire to define ourselves operates as a sort of
psychological sonar taking readings of our identity by
bouncing signals off others and trying to project the
impression they have about us.
Consumption & self-concept
 Products that shape the self - you are what you
consume. i.e You are what you consume :
A person can be defined by the following:
 What he/she buys
 What he/she drives
 What he/she eats
 What he/she wears
•
Self product congruence - consumers demonstrate consistency
between their values and the items purchased. Self image congruence
models predict that products will be chosen when their attributes match
some aspect of the self.
•
The extended self - The extended self means all the
products a person buys and at the same time becomes
a part of a person’s self.
There are four different levels of extended self:
•
Individual level - inclusion of many personal possessions
in self definition, e.g. cars, clothing, etc.
•
Family level - includes a consumer’s house and its
furnishings.
•
Community level - the neighbourhood or town from
which consumers belong.
•
Group level - attachments to certain social groups can
be considered part of self.e.g sports team /political group
people support
Gender
Gender identity is an important component of a person’s
self concept.
People often conform to their culture’s expectations
about how those of their gender should act.
Every society creates a set of expectations regarding the
behaviours appropriate for men and women and
communicates these.
Marketing has historically been defined by men so is still
dominated by male values.
Gender typed products
Table 7.1
Source: Adapted from Kathleen Debevec and Easwar Iyer, ‘Sex Roles and Consumer Perceptions of
Promotions, Products, and Self: What Do We Know and Where Should We Be Headed’, in Advances in
Consumer Research 13, ed. Richard J. Lutz (Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 1986): 210–
14.
Changing Gender roles
Female roles - social changes, such as the increase in
women in the workplace has led to a change in the way
women are regarded by men, the way they regard
themselves, and the products they choose to buy.
Male roles - the ‘new man’ is allowed to be more
compassionate .The more sensitive side of their nature
is evolving and becoming an issue for marketers.
Ideals of beauty
Ideals of beauty for both men and women may include:
•
Physical features;
as well as:
•
Clothing styles.
•
Cosmetics.
•
Hairstyles.
•
Skin tone.
•
Body type.
Body image
•
The ideal - many consumers are motivated to match up
to an ideal appearance and often go to great lengths to
change aspects of their physical selves.
•
Size - the pressure to be slim is continually reinforced by
advertisers and by peers.
•
Image distortions - many people perceive a strong link
between self-esteem and appearance and some
exaggerate this connection even more and sacrifice
greatly to attain what they consider to be a desirable
body image.
•
Cosmetic surgery and body decoration and mutilation
changes a person’s perception of their body image.