Download Scoring and Student Commentary

Self/Social Connection Exercise 3.2
Who Are You?
Scoring
Examine your TST responses and code each into one of the following four categories (see
Hartley, 1970):
Physical self-descriptions: identifies yourself in terms of physical qualities that do
not imply social interaction (“I am a male”; “I am a brunette”; “I am overweight”)
Social self-descriptions: identifies yourself in terms of social roles, institutional
memberships, or other socially defined statuses (“I am a student”; “I am a
daughter”; “I am a Jew”)
Attributive self-descriptions: identifies yourself in terms of psychological or
physiological states or traits (“I am intelligent”; “I am assertive”; “I am tired”)
Global self-descriptions: identifies yourself so comprehensively or vaguely that it
does not distinguish one from any other person (“I am a human being”; “I am
alive”; “I am me”).
Which category occurs most frequently for you? Using this classification scheme, Louis
Zurcher (1977) found that while American college students in the 1950s and early 1960s
tended to describe themselves in terms of social roles, college students in the 1970s
identified themselves in terms of psychological attributes. This self-concept trend has
continued (Trafimow et al., 1991) and coincides with a rise in individualist attitudes
among Americans (Roberts & Helson, 1997). Do your own self-responses fit this pattern?
Student Commentary
Jessica, age 22: Along with the majority of my age group, I identify myself in terms of
psychological traits. When someone asks me to describe myself, I first think of my
personality. My own self-descriptions and self-concept are a result of learning to
accentuate my differences and individuality. The next highest score for me was using
social self-descriptions. In a way, I am surprised this score was not more equal to the
attributive self-descriptions because social roles are very important to me as well. Having
these two views of myself will help me keep my own identity but still be able to sustain
social relationships throughout the unpredictable coming years. I will always belong to
social groups important to me, but will forever be presenting myself with the attributive
personality traits which make me, me!"
Michael, age 21: "I found that I identify my self-concept more to my social roles than to
my psychological attributes, which is inconsistent with the findings of American college
students. This inconsistency is most likely due to my upbringing. Two of the social roles
in my TST were "I am Irish" and "I am Roman Catholic." As a child, these social groups
played an extremely important role in my family. Additional answers representing social
roles included "I am a Cubs fan" and "I am an American." I have been a die-hard Cubs
fan for a long as I can remember, and growing up on the South Side of Chicago forced
me to constantly defend the Cubs to White Sox fans, which raised my level of selfidentification as a cubs fan. After spending a semester studying in Galway, Ireland, I
grew to appreciate my Irish heritage while gaining more respect for my country. I became
accustomed to proudly announcing myself as an American, even when certain Europeans
scoffed at my American patriotism."