Psychology Glossary - S

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Self authentication:

An attempt to learn the truth about oneself by carrying out limited social experiments.

Self confidence:

Freedom from doubt, belief in yourself and your abilities.

Self concept:

In social-psychological theory, the self as an object of perception.

Self consciouness:

Self-awareness plus the additional realization that others are similarly aware of you.

Self consistency:

The validation of the self by confirming one’s beliefs about the self.

Self esteem:

In the perception of self, the self-concept considered as a whole, taking into account all its various dimensions.

Self hypnosis:

The act or process of hypnotizing oneself.

Self identity:

In the theory of reasoned action, a determinant of behaviour that is just as important as attitude in predicting a particular action.

Serotonin:

(5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) Is believed to play an important part of the biochemistry of depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety.

Sleep deprivation:

An overall lack of the necessary amount of sleep. A person can be deprived of sleep by their own body and mind, insomnia, or actively deprived by another individual. Sleep deprivation is sometimes used as an instrument of torture, but in recent years it has been shown to be an effective treatment of depression and other mental illnesses.

Social comparison theory:

In self-concept formation, the questions of when we make comparisons, what we compare, and why, as well as with whom comparisons are made; this phenomenon is also applied by the individual in social group processes.

Stress:

In psychology, a physical or psychological stimulus such as very high heat, public criticism, or another noxious agent or experience which produces psychological strain.

Super ego:

In Freudian psychology, one of the fundamental components of the personality; the super-ego develops in the child from the age of 3 years, emerging out of the ego as the seat of the conscience and controlling instinctive desires as a result of the learning of standards of social behaviour from the parent.