The Self Concept

The Self Concept

1. Interactive sources of Selfhood

   • Significant Others
     • People that we interact with that are crucial to the forming of our self
   • Materials and objects
     • the environment we rely on to survive, the tech that supports social relations
   • Ideas, beliefs and values
     • Ideology and religious beliefs that influence the way we percieve and respond to social and physical environment

2. Multi-Faceted Self-Concept

   • I-Self
     • the active observer, the knower, information processor
   • Me-Self
     • the known, observed and constructed self-image
   • Image congruence hypothesis
     • self concept is enhanced through the transfer of socially accepted meanings of the product or brand to oneself
   • Extended Self
     • External objects to which we are emotionally attached
   • Working or activated self concept : meaning descriptions of oneself varies with situations and motives
   • People selectively retrieve different aspects of their self-concepts on goals and motives
   • Sometimes consumers may try to use products to trigger aspects of the self

3. Behavioral Constraints

   • Behaviour is constrained by factors other than ones self concept
   • Self concept is composed of self-schemas
     • Systems of knowledge structures organized in memory and consisting of self-relevant information
   • Possible selves
     • past, present or future views of self

4. The dynamic self concept

   • Intrapersonal Processes
     • Self narrative
       • stories that are coherent, context sensitive accounts of experiences that provide a sense of personal continuity in time and space
     • Self Relevant information
       • Internalized self-schemas that represent a reference value or standard of comparison for new information
     • Self-gifts
       • frequently carry messages about identity and self distinctiveness, which contributes to self esteem
     • Desired Selves
       • what a person thinks he or she really can and would like to be
   • Interpersonal Processes
     • Self is a reference point for evaluating others
     • Consumption communicates socially shared meanings about identity
     • High self-monitors
       • Concerned with being consistent with their conception of how people behave in a particular situation
     • Low self-monitors
       • concerned with being themselves in various situations
     • Consumers may use goods to close gap between actual and possible selves

5. Communicating Self to Others Through Products

   • Step 1. Person buys product symbolic of self
   • Step 2. Reference group associates product with person
   • Step 3. Reference group attributes to person qualities of the product