Module 01 · What Is the Self?
A Collection of Information and a Set of Processes信息集合与过程集合
Overview 概述
By now, you’ve heard the statement “The self is a collection of information and a set of processes” multiple times. If you’re like most people, upon hearing that sentence for the first time, you may have asked yourself, “What the heck does that mean?” This lesson is where we will give you the beginning of an answer to that question. It’s worth noting that this is going to be a basic introduction to the topic, and the next two modules will provide more in-depth answers. So, if you have questions that don’t get answered in this module, be patient—we will get there.
到现在为止，你已经多次听到“自我是一系列信息和一系列过程的集合”这个说法。如果你像大多数人一样，第一次听到这句话时，你可能自己问过自己，“这究竟是什么意思？”本节课，我们将为你提供对这个问题的初步答案。值得注意的是，这将是对这个主题的基本介绍，接下来的两个模块将提供更深入的答案。所以，如果你在这个模块中没有得到解答的问题，请耐心等待——我们终将到达那里。
A Collection of Information 信息集
“The self as a collection of information” refers to the fact that the self contains all of our autobiographical knowledge. Put another way, the self contains all of the information we have about ourselves. This includes all of the memories we have of things that happened to us (e.g., the time we sang karaoke at a bar with our friends), all of the facts we know about ourselves (e.g., I am a cashier at a store), information about our likes and dislikes (e.g., I hate the idea of putting pineapple on pizza), and our beliefs about what is important to us (e.g., It is important to me that I be compassionate). As you might expect, the self is the largest collection of information that we have since (a) we are generating new information about the self every second of every day, and (b) we spend a great deal of time talking about and thinking about ourselves (Dunbar et al., 1997; Meyer & Lieberman, 2018).
“自我作为信息集合”指的是自我包含了我们所有的自传性知识。换句话说，自我包含了我们关于自己的所有信息。这包括我们对发生在我们身上的事情的回忆（例如，我们在酒吧和朋友一起唱卡拉 OK），我们关于自己的所有事实（例如，我是一家商店的收银员），关于我们的喜好和厌恶的信息（例如，我讨厌在披萨上放菠萝的想法），以及我们对我们认为重要的事情的看法（例如，对我来说，保持同情心很重要）。正如你所预期的，自我是我们拥有的最大信息集合，因为（a）我们每天都在每秒钟生成关于自我的新信息，并且（b）我们花费大量时间谈论和思考我们自己（Dunbar 等人，1997；Meyer 和 Lieberman，2018）。
It’s incredible that we have a mental structure that is recording everything that we’ve ever done, although it certainly doesn’t feel like we can remember everything that’s ever happened to us. In truth, we can’t, but your self-concept—the mental structure that contains the self’s collection of information—stores much more information than you’re aware of. If I asked you to think about events that happened to you in primary school, you might be able to come up with a handful of memories. However, if you walked through the school, dozens more memories that you didn’t know you had would pop into your mind. This phenomenon, called cued recall, shows us how much information is lurking in our self-concept that we’re completely unaware of.
它令人难以置信，我们有一个记录我们所有行为的心理结构，尽管我们确实感觉不到我们能够记住我们所经历的一切。事实上，我们做不到，但你的自我概念——包含自我信息集合的心理结构——存储的信息比你意识到的要多得多。如果我问你回想一下你在小学发生的事情，你可能能想起一些记忆。然而，如果你走过学校，你可能会突然想起几十个你不知道的记忆。这种现象，被称为提示回忆，展示了我们自我概念中潜伏着多少我们完全不知道的信息。
Introducing the "I Am" Task 介绍“我是”任务
One of the ways that psychologists seek to understand the contents and nature of the self-concept is by asking participants to complete the “I Am” task (Kuhn & McPartland, 1954). To help you understand the basics of this task, and to help set up future activities, complete the following activity, Introducing the “I Am” Task.
心理学家寻求理解自我概念的内容和本质的一种方式是通过让参与者完成“我是”任务（Kuhn & McPartland，1954）。为了帮助您理解这项任务的基本原理，并帮助设置未来的活动，请完成以下活动：“我是”任务介绍。
Introducing the "I Am" Task 介绍“我是”任务
This is an activity that will enhance your understanding of the information presented in this module. If you've subscribed to the specialization, open your workbook and listen to the audio file for instructions for how to complete the activity. If you haven't subscribed to the specialization, listen to the audio file to have an alternate version of the activity described to you. When you're finished, continue with the course.
这是一个将增强您对本模块所呈现信息理解的活动。如果您已订阅该专业，请打开您的作业簿并收听音频文件，以获取完成活动的说明。如果您尚未订阅该专业，请收听音频文件，以获得活动的替代版本描述。完成之后，继续课程。
A Set of Processes 一套流程
For a lot of people, the phrase “a set of processes” is much harder to parse than the phrase “a collection of information.” So, let’s walk through it. The word “processes” refers to psychological processes that occur whenever we’re working with information that’s relevant to the self. These processes are the link between information we receive from the environment (e.g., someone compliments us) and a resulting change in our thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors.
对于很多人来说，“一组过程”这个短语比“一组信息”这个短语更难理解。所以，让我们来分析一下。单词“过程”指的是当我们处理与自我相关的信息时发生的心理过程。这些过程是我们从环境中接收到的信息（例如，有人表扬我们）与我们的思想、感受和/或行为发生的变化之间的联系。
For example, imagine your teacher or your boss compliments you on your good work on a recent project. This compliment could kick off several different processes. You might think that this praise puts you in a good position to receive a good grade in the class or a raise at work, or you might think that the compliment is your boss or teacher just being kind (cognitions). You might feel pride or embarrassment at the public compliment (affect). You might say “thank you” and smile, or find your friend and suggest that you go out to celebrate that evening (behaviors). Which one or ones of these various options you choose is a function of how you process the information.
例如，想象一下你的老师或老板对你的一个近期项目的出色工作表示赞赏。这种赞赏可能会引发几个不同的过程。你可能会认为这种赞扬让你在课堂上获得好成绩或在工作上得到加薪处于有利位置，或者你可能会认为这种赞扬只是你的老板或老师出于善意（认知）。你可能会在公开的赞扬中感到自豪或尴尬（情感）。你可能会说“谢谢”并微笑，或者找到你的朋友并建议当晚出去庆祝（行为）。你选择这些不同选项中的哪一个或哪几个，取决于你如何处理这些信息。
Let’s go a bit deeper with another example. Imagine again that someone compliments you, this time on the clothes that you’re wearing that day. Immediately, you start evaluating what you’ve been told, perhaps starting with your self-beliefs. Do I actually look good today? Do I often get compliments on this clothing? You might also start evaluating the other person’s motives. Are they a friend just being supportive? Are they a potential romantic interest indicating they’re attracted to me? Are they a salesperson trying to ingratiate themselves so that I buy something? Answers to these questions will determine if your heart goes aflutter from excitement, or if you walk away in irritation.
让我们再深入一点，用另一个例子来说明。再次想象一下，有人夸赞你，这次是关于你当天穿的衣服。立刻，你开始评估你得到的信息，可能从你的自我信念开始。我今天看起来真的好吗？我经常因为这件衣服得到夸赞吗？你也可能开始评估对方的动机。他们是出于友谊的支持吗？他们是潜在的浪漫兴趣，表明他们对我有吸引力吗？他们是销售人员，试图讨好我以便我购买东西吗？对这些问题的回答将决定你的心是否会因兴奋而跳动，或者你会带着烦恼离开。
You may very well be saying, “Hang on a second; I get compliments all the time, and I don’t do any of those things.” In short, yes, you do. Most of these processes happen outside of your awareness. You don’t know that you’re doing these things, but it’s likely you are. To illustrate this type of phenomenon, let’s review an example of a self-related behavior that people do without realizing why they’re doing it.
你可能正在说，“等等，我经常收到赞美，但我并没有做那些事情。”简而言之，是的，你确实做了。大多数这些过程都在你的意识之外发生。你不知道自己在做这些事情，但很可能你确实在这么做。为了说明这种现象，让我们回顾一个人们在不意识到为什么这么做的情况下所表现出的自我相关行为的例子。
American psychologist Robert Cialdini and his colleagues (1976) reasoned that being associated with someone or something that was seen as successful would make people feel good about themselves. They called this phenomenon basking in reflected glory (BIRGing). They argued that the phenomenon could be seen in the way that fans related to their favorite sports teams, using their team’s success as a source of pride for themselves. To evaluate this idea, Cialdini and colleagues did a study at seven large universities in which they observed student clothing choices in the days following either a win or a loss by that school’s football team. They reasoned that if students were BIRGing, they would more likely wear school-related clothing on days following wins than on days following losses.
美国心理学家罗伯特·西尔迪尼及其同事（1976 年）认为，与被视为成功的人或事物相关联会使人们对自己感到满意。他们将这种现象称为“沾光效应”（BIRGing）。他们认为，这种现象可以从球迷如何与他们的最喜欢的运动队相关联中看到，他们以球队的胜利作为自己骄傲的来源。为了评估这一想法，西尔迪尼及其同事在七所大型大学进行了一项研究，他们观察了该校足球队获胜或失利后的几天内学生的着装选择。他们认为，如果学生正在沾光，那么他们在胜利后的日子里比在失利后的日子里更有可能穿与学校相关的服装。
After subtly monitoring people’s clothing choices for several months and statistically analyzing what they found, the researchers came to a conclusion: People were more likely to wear school-related gear (i.e., sweatshirts and caps) after their school’s football team won than after their football team lost. The researchers concluded that, in order to raise their self-esteem, students proudly displayed their affiliation with the football team when the team won. This close affiliation did not help their self-esteem when the team lost, so they did not wear their school clothing as often in those cases.
经过几个月对人们服装选择的微妙监控和统计分析，研究人员得出结论：在学校的足球队获胜后，人们更有可能穿与学校相关的装备（即运动衫和帽子），而不是在足球队输球后。研究人员得出结论，为了提高他们的自尊心，学生在球队获胜时自豪地展示他们对足球队的归属感。这种紧密的归属感在球队输球时并没有帮助他们提高自尊心，因此在这种情况下，他们不太经常穿校服。
There are two points we can take away from this example. First, the tendency to associate yourself with a successful other (be it a person, a school, or something else) arises because of one of the self-relevant processes we’re referring to when we say that the self is a collection of processes. Consider whether any of the students in this study would have admitted that they were wearing their school’s clothing so that they could be associated with the successful football team. It’s highly unlikely that the students’ choice of clothing was an intentional way to raise their self-esteem. Rather, this illustrates the second point: Many of the self-relevant processes we will be talking about occur outside of people’s conscious awareness. Put another way, people aren’t always aware of why they’re performing the behaviors that they do.
从这个例子中，我们可以得出两点。首先，将自己与一个成功的人（无论是个人、学校还是其他事物）联系起来的趋势，是因为当我们说自我是一系列过程时，我们所指的自我相关过程之一。考虑一下，在这个研究中的任何学生是否承认他们穿校服是为了与成功的足球队联系在一起。学生选择服装的方式极不可能是提高自我价值感的一种有意行为。相反，这说明了第二点：我们将要讨论的许多自我相关过程发生在人们的意识之外。换句话说，人们并不总是意识到他们为什么会有这样的行为。
Joining the Two 加入两者
While these two aspects of the self may seem completely separate from one another, they interact in many ways. For example, imagine your self-concept (where your information about the self is stored) contains the information that you’re funny. Let’s also say that your self-concept denotes that being funny is very important to you. If both of these are true, then being told that you’re not funny would kick off a whole set of processes designed to either reject that information or try to lessen the negative emotions it causes. However, if your self-concept contains the information that you think you’re funny, but it’s not important to you to be funny, the same comment about your humor wouldn’t lead to the same processes occurring, because the information wouldn’t be seen as a threat to your self-esteem and wouldn’t cause negative emotions.
尽管这两个自我方面看起来完全相互独立，但它们以许多方式相互作用。例如，想象一下你的自我概念（你的自我信息存储的地方）包含你很幽默的信息。让我们再假设你的自我概念表明幽默对你来说非常重要。如果这两个条件都成立，那么被告知你并不幽默就会启动一系列旨在拒绝该信息或试图减轻它引起的负面情绪的过程。然而，如果你的自我概念包含你认为你很幽默的信息，但幽默对你来说并不重要，那么关于你幽默的相同评论就不会导致相同的过程发生，因为信息不会被看作是对你自尊的威胁，也不会引起负面情绪。
In other words, the self-concept will often form the basis for what processes get initiated and the goal of these processes. Did something threaten your self-esteem? Start a process that will try to protect it. Did you receive information about your performance on a task? Compare that information to your self-concept’s representation of how well you’re supposed to perform that task. In these cases, the outcome of these processes loops back and affects your self-concept as well. In other words, your self-concept affects your self-relevant processes and your self-relevant processes affect your self-concept.
换句话说，自我概念通常会构成启动哪些过程以及这些过程目标的基础。有什么威胁到你的自尊吗？启动一个试图保护它的过程。你收到关于你在任务上的表现的信息了吗？将那些信息与你自我概念中对如何完成该任务的期望表现进行比较。在这些情况下，这些过程的成果会循环回来并影响你的自我概念。换句话说，你的自我概念影响你的自我相关过程，而你的自我相关过程影响你的自我概念。