Year: 1994
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The selhl as a .c-sdsaitivestructure ern ideas on &be self in the last two decades have naterd by the psofusion of research on cognitive p]1:04=ess;es, The d of a dynamic versus a s t a t i c self rl~~crt3died to the background with theorists" efforts primarily eo operzrtionalizaing the self as a oef of cognitive stkttctnres, FOE exmple, infa~irsation processing nzodefs have focused oa deaaonatrati~g that %he self is a knowledge structure stored in the 3ike other knowledge structures.derson (1982) caneeptualized the self simply as a node i n a memry network-Harkas 619771 described t h e self as a that has evolrref from past amial experiences and fbaf guides the prmzessinq of self-xelevant information.R q e r s (2981) p r o p s 4 that the self is a hierarchical s&ru&uxe whose el n t s are traits, values and memories of specific behavia~rs, As Gergea (3984) points out, although els describe the self as an active entity that iates and regulates behavious, they do not address the %ssae of changes in the stmctazlre of the self concept t h a t cxeas as a sesuXE of tbis activAty.re recently tbe palemic: of a stable versus dynamic self &Ms zesranqed in the witings af social-cognitive irnd Cantor (1984) address expXicZ_9;lg the isrsrae: of stabiltlitp.af the self.They describe the self as one ox: s oX specific exeaplars.organized in a Iwse Srieraschy at varying levels of abstmction.Mawever, t h e separate cantextual gratotypes are subrdinate categories united by a superordinate prototype, The authars state that "the individual's self-concept prsarides far c a n r h u i t y &dst change, through t h e record o f a u t e b i q ~a p h i e a l rjr: and change may be I X t & to those directians that axe congruent with the individuar1;'s averall self-concept" (pp. 2 8 ) .Gergen (1982) presents an opposing view of the self based on t h e premises of social canstructivism.B e defines Ehe sdf-conr=ep% as a m m ~, t -f -, ~r -m ~n t k p ~o v i ~a t i o n ~ Other theorists try to acc ate both perspectives ( k k u s iE Runda,29$6; P D a r l r x z s and PilurE,1987), The idea of the working self-concept probably captures best this appxoach, The working self-concept is defined as that part of the complete self-concept which is mst a c c e s s i b l e at a given tinre.Core aspects of the self are relatively unsesponsive to changes in ane's circumstances, while other aspects vary.The working self-concept is thus described as the "core selfconceptions eHtlbedded i n a context of =ore tentative sslfconceptions that axe tied t o the prevailing circumstances* r h s 6 Wurf 1987, pp-306).Fzro~~ this brief: r e d e w of the eurrrent social-cognitive s e k f theaxies, it is evgdeat that t h e dilezma of stability a ~d change of the self r e a k n s a chafienge, In the pxesent study we investigate the stability and change of the actual-self within the context of Self cxeakea in the ahi2d the f e e l i n g aE absence of pctsitive O U ~~C ~W B ~ S e c o ~f d ~ it is h p t h e s i z e d that when parents focus an aspects of their childrenFs behaviour that are discrepant from the duties and obligation they prescribe for them, they are l i k e l y to punish and criticize their children.Thisp r a n t i n q s t y l e i s chacacterizeii by the presence o.f negative AvailabJlitv and accessibilitv of self-discrevancies Self-discrepancy theory discusses the notions of waiilirbifity and accessibility of self-discrepancies.~wailability refers to t h e kinds of: constructs that e x i s t in =mazy, while accessibility refers to the ease with which these constructs are used in infoxmatian-prwessinq (Btiqqins, 1987), Ttre accessiltrifity of disctepancies depends an haw recently and haw Zseqmently they have been activated, and ham mlevaat: they are to a stimulus event {Hiqgins, 19871-The greater t h e number of discrepancies individuals pssess, the mure often they are Ifkefy to be activatet3 and thus made accessible, Rawever, tbe issue af seasaxing and testing of b e k i c a l mental repxesenkations such as selfdiscrepancies OPas been a challenge fox researchers (Higgins a mrgh, 3 1 8 7 ) -P E ~P P Q t b d d o g i e s have proven to be knefjtciaf athaa assessing the effects of accessibility of discrepancies.Xa view of the fact that the curlsent study
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: Inna Vlassev
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W201510966