self hypothesis also known as

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4.1 The Cognitive Self: The Self-Concept

Learning objectives.

• Define and describe the self-concept and its influence on information processing.
• Describe the concept of self-complexity, and explain how it influences social cognition and behavior.
• Review the measures that are used to assess the self-concept.
• Differentiate the different types of self-awareness and self-consciousness.

Some nonhuman animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans, and perhaps dolphins, have at least a primitive sense of self (Boysen & Himes, 1999). We know this because of some interesting experiments that have been done with animals. In one study (Gallup, 1970), researchers painted a red dot on the forehead of anesthetized chimpanzees and then placed the animals in a cage with a mirror. When the chimps woke up and looked in the mirror, they touched the dot on their faces, not the dot on the faces in the mirror. This action suggests that the chimps understood that they were looking at themselves and not at other animals, and thus we can assume that they are able to realize that they exist as individuals. Most other animals, including dogs, cats, and monkeys, never realize that it is themselves they see in a mirror.

A simple test of self-awareness is the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror. Humans and chimpanzees can pass the test; dogs never do.

Allen Skyy – Mirror – CC BY 2.0; 6SN7 – Reflecting Bullmatian – CC BY 2.0; Mor – There’s a monkey in my mirror – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Infants who have similar red dots painted on their foreheads recognize themselves in a mirror in the same way that the chimps do, and they do this by about 18 months of age (Asendorpf, Warkentin, & Baudonnière, 1996; Povinelli, Landau, & Perilloux, 1996). The child’s knowledge about the self continues to develop as the child grows. By age 2, the infant becomes aware of his or her gender as a boy or a girl. At age 4, self-descriptions are likely to be based on physical features, such as one’s hair color, and by about age 6, the child is able to understand basic emotions and the concepts of traits, being able to make statements such as “I am a nice person” (Harter, 1998).

By the time they are in grade school, children have learned that they are unique individuals, and they can think about and analyze their own behavior. They also begin to show awareness of the social situation—they understand that other people are looking at and judging them the same way that they are looking at and judging others (Doherty, 2009).

Development and Characteristics of the Self-Concept

Part of what is developing in children as they grow is the fundamental cognitive part of the self, known as the self-concept . The self-concept is a knowledge representation that contains knowledge about us, including our beliefs about our personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge that we exist as individuals . Throughout childhood and adolescence, the self-concept becomes more abstract and complex and is organized into a variety of different cognitive aspects , known as self-schemas . Children have self-schemas about their progress in school, their appearance, their skills at sports and other activities, and many other aspects, and these self-schemas direct and inform their processing of self-relevant information (Harter, 1999).

By the time we are adults, our sense of self has grown dramatically. In addition to possessing a wide variety of self-schemas, we can analyze our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and we can see that other people may have different thoughts than we do. We become aware of our own mortality. We plan for the future and consider the potential outcomes of our actions. At times, having a sense of self may seem unpleasant—when we are not proud of our appearance, actions, or relationships with others, or when we think about and become afraid of the possibility of our own death. On the other hand, the ability to think about the self is very useful. Being aware of our past and able to speculate about the future is adaptive—it allows us to modify our behavior on the basis of our mistakes and to plan for future activities. When we do poorly on an exam, for instance, we may study harder for the next one or even consider changing our major if we continue to have problems in the major we have chosen.

One way to learn about a person’s self-concept and the many self-schemas that it contains is by using self-report measures. One of these is a deceptively simple fill-in-the-blank measure that has been used by many scientists to get a picture of the self-concept (Rees & Nicholson, 1994). All of the 20 items in the measure are exactly the same, but the person is asked to fill in a different response for each statement. This self-report measure, known as the Twenty Statements Test, can reveal a lot about a person because it is designed to measure the most accessible—and thus the most important—parts of one’s self-concept. Try it for yourself, at least five times:

• I am (please fill in the blank) __________________________________

Although each person has a unique self-concept, we can identify some characteristics that are common across the responses given by different people on the measure. Physical characteristics are an important component of the self-concept, and they are mentioned by many people when they describe themselves. If you’ve been concerned lately that you’ve been gaining weight, you might write, “I am overweight. ” If you think you’re particularly good looking (“I am attractive ”), or if you think you’re too short (“I am too short ”), those things might have been reflected in your responses. Our physical characteristics are important to our self-concept because we realize that other people use them to judge us. People often list the physical characteristics that make them different from others in either positive or negative ways (“I am blond ,” “I am short ”), in part because they understand that these characteristics are salient and thus likely to be used by others when judging them (McGuire, McGuire, Child, & Fujioka, 1978).

A second characteristic of the self-concept reflects our memberships in the social groups that we belong to and care about. Common responses in this regard include such ones as “I am an artist ,” “I am Jewish ,” and “I am a student at Augsburg College. ” As we will see later in this chapter, our group memberships form an important part of the self-concept because they provide us with our social identity —the sense of our self that involves our memberships in social groups.

The remainder of the self-concept is normally made up of personality traits —the specific and stable personality characteristics that describe an individual (“I am friendly, ” “I am shy, ” “I am persistent ”). These individual differences (the person part of the person-situation interaction) are important determinants of our behavior, and this aspect of the self-concept reflects this variation across people.

Self-Complexity Provides a Buffer Against Negative Emotions

The self-concept is a rich and complex social representation. In addition to our thoughts about who we are right now, the self-concept includes thoughts about our past self—our experiences, accomplishments, and failures—and about our future self—our hopes, plans, goals, and possibilities (Oyserman, Bybee, Terry, & Hart-Johnson, 2004). The self-concept also includes thoughts about our relationships with others. You no doubt have thoughts about your family and close friends that have become part of yourself. Indeed, if you don’t see the people you really care about for a while, or if you should lose them in one way or another, you will naturally feel sad because you are in essence missing part of yourself.

Although every human being has a complex self-concept, there are nevertheless individual differences in self-complexity , the extent to which individuals have many different and relatively independent ways of thinking about themselves (Linville, 1987; Roccas & Brewer, 2002). Some selves are more complex than others, and these individual differences can be important in determining psychological outcomes. Having a complex self means that we have a lot of different ways of thinking about ourselves. For example, imagine a woman whose self-concept contains the social identities of student, girlfriend, daughter, psychology major , and tennis player and who has encountered a wide variety of life experiences. Social psychologists would say that she has high self-complexity. On the other hand, a man who perceives himself solely as a student or solely as a member of the hockey team and who has had a relatively narrow range of life experiences would be said to have low self-complexity. For those with high self-complexity, the various self-aspects of the self are separate, such that the positive and negative thoughts about a particular self-aspect do not spill over into thoughts about other aspects.

Research has found that compared with people low in self-complexity, those higher in self-complexity experience more positive outcomes. People with more complex self-concepts have been found to have lower levels of stress and illness (Kalthoff & Neimeyer, 1993), a greater tolerance for frustration (Gramzow, Sedikides, Panter, & Insko, 2000), and more positive and less negative reactions to events that they experience (Niedenthal, Setterlund, & Wherry, 1992).

The benefits of self-complexity occur because the various domains of the self help to buffer us against negative events and help us to enjoy the positive events that we experience. For people low in self-complexity, negative outcomes on one aspect of the self tend to have a big impact on their self-esteem. If the only thing that Maria cares about is getting into medical school, she may be devastated if she fails to make it. On the other hand, Marty, who is also passionate about medical school but who has a more complex self-concept, may be better able to adjust to such a blow by turning to other interests. People with high self-complexity can also take advantage of the positive outcomes that occur on any of the dimensions that are important to them.

Although having high self-complexity seems useful overall, it does not seem to help everyone equally and also does not seem to help us respond to all events equally (Rafaeli-Mor & Steinberg, 2002). The benefits of self-complexity seem to be particularly strong on reactions to positive events. People with high self-complexity seem to react more positively to the good things that happen to them but not necessarily less negatively to the bad things. And the positive effects of self-complexity are stronger for people who have other positive aspects of the self as well. This buffering effect is stronger for people with high self-esteem, whose self-complexity involves positive rather than negative characteristics (Koch & Shepperd, 2004), and for people who feel that they have control over their outcomes (McConnell et al., 2005).

Studying the Self-Concept

Because the self-concept is a schema, it can be studied using the methods that we would use to study any other schema. As we have seen, one approach is to use self-report—for instance, by asking people to list the things that come to mind when they think about themselves. Another approach is to use neuroimaging to directly study the self in the brain. As you can see in Figure 4.1 , neuroimaging studies have shown that information about the self is stored in the prefrontal cortex, the same place that other information about people is stored (Barrios et al., 2008). This finding suggests that we store information about ourselves as people the same way we store information about others.

This figure shows the areas of the human brain that are known to be important in processing information about the self. They include primarily areas of the prefrontal cortex (areas 1, 2, 4, and 5). Data are from Lieberman (2010).

Still another approach to studying the self is to investigate how we attend to and remember things that relate to the self. Indeed, because the self-concept is the most important of all our schemas, it has extraordinary influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Have you ever been at a party where there was a lot of noise and bustle, and yet you were surprised to discover that you could easily hear your own name being mentioned in the background? Because our own name is such an important part of our self-concept, and because we value it highly, it is highly accessible. We are very alert for, and react quickly to, the mention of our own name.

Other research has found that information that is related to the self-schema is better remembered than information that is unrelated to it, and that information related to the self can also be processed very quickly (Lieberman, Jarcho, & Satpute, 2004). In one classic study that demonstrated the importance of the self-schema, Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker (1977) conducted an experiment to assess how college students recalled information that they had learned under different processing conditions. All the participants were presented with the same list of 40 adjectives to process, but through the use of random assignment, the participants were given one of four different sets of instructions about how to process the adjectives.

Participants assigned to the structural task condition were asked to judge whether the word was printed in uppercase or lowercase letters. Participants in the phonemic task condition were asked whether or not the word rhymed with another given word. In the semantic task condition , the participants were asked if the word was a synonym of another word. And in the self-reference task condition , participants indicated whether or not the given adjective was or was not true of themselves. After completing the specified task, each participant was asked to recall as many adjectives as he or she could remember.

Figure 4.2 The Self-Reference Effect

The chart shows the proportion of adjectives that students were able to recall under each of four learning conditions. The same words were recalled significantly better when they were processed in relation to the self than when they were processed in other ways. Data from Rogers et al. (1977).

Rogers and his colleagues hypothesized that different types of processing would have different effects on memory. As you can see in Figure 4.2 “The Self-Reference Effect” , the students in the self-reference task condition recalled significantly more adjectives than did students in any other condition. The finding that information that is processed in relationship to the self is particularly well remembered , known as the self-reference effect , is powerful evidence that the self-concept helps us organize and remember information. The next time you are studying for an exam, you might try relating the material to your own experiences—the self-reference effect suggests that doing so will help you better remember the information.

Self-Awareness

Like any other schema, the self-concept can vary in its current cognitive accessibility. Self-awareness refers to the extent to which we are currently fixing our attention on our own self-concept . When the self-concept becomes highly accessible because of our concerns about being observed and potentially judged by others, we experience the publicly induced self-awareness known as self-consciousness (Duval & Wicklund, 1972; Rochat, 2009).

I am sure that you can remember times when your self-awareness was increased and you became self-conscious—for instance, when you were giving a class presentation and you were perhaps painfully aware that everyone was looking at you, or when you did something in public that embarrassed you. Emotions such as anxiety and embarrassment occur in large part because the self-concept becomes highly accessible, and they serve as a signal to monitor and perhaps change our behavior.

Not all aspects of our self-concepts are equally accessible at all times, and these long-term differences in the accessibility of the different self-schemas help create individual differences, for instance, in terms of our current concerns and interests. You may know some people for whom the physical appearance component of the self-concept is highly accessible. They check their hair every time they see a mirror, worry whether their clothes are making them look good, and do a lot of shopping—for themselves, of course. Other people are more focused on their social group memberships—they tend to think about things in terms of their role as Christians or as members of the tennis team. Think back for a moment to the opener of this chapter and consider Dancing Matt Harding. What do you think are his most highly accessible self-schemas?

In addition to variation in long-term accessibility, the self and its various components may also be made temporarily more accessible through priming. We become more self-aware when we are in front of a mirror, when a TV camera is focused on us, when we are speaking in front of an audience, or when we are listening to our own tape-recorded voice (Kernis & Grannemann, 1988). When the knowledge contained in the self-schema becomes more accessible, it also becomes more likely to be used in information processing and more likely to influence our behavior.

Beaman, Klentz, Diener, and Svanum (1979) conducted a field experiment to see if self-awareness would influence children’s honesty. The researchers expected that most children viewed stealing as wrong but that they would be more likely to act on this belief when they were more self-aware. They conducted this experiment on Halloween evening in homes within the city of Seattle. When children who were trick-or-treating came to particular houses, they were greeted by one of the experimenters, shown a large bowl of candy, and were told to take only one piece each. The researchers unobtrusively watched each child to see how many pieces he or she actually took.

Behind the candy bowl in some of the houses was a large mirror. In the other houses, there was no mirror. Out of the 363 children who were observed in the study, 19% disobeyed instructions and took more than one piece of candy. However, the children who were in front of a mirror were significantly less likely to steal (14.4%) than were those who did not see a mirror (28.5%). These results suggest that the mirror activated the children’s self-awareness, which reminded them of their belief about the importance of being honest. Other research has shown that being self-aware has a powerful influence on other behaviors as well. For instance, people are more likely to stay on their diets, eat better foods, and act more morally overall when they are self-aware (Baumeister, Zell, & Tice, 2007; Heatherton, Polivy, Herman, & Baumeister, 1993). What this means is that when you are trying to stick to a diet, study harder, or engage in other difficult behaviors, you should try to focus on yourself and the importance of the goals you have set.

Social psychologists are interested in studying self-awareness because it has such an important influence on behavior. People lose their self-awareness and become more likely to violate acceptable social norms when, for example, they put on a Halloween mask or engage in other behaviors that hide their identities. The members of the militant White supremacist organization the Ku Klux Klan wear white robes and hats when they meet and when they engage in their racist behavior. And when people are in large crowds, such as in a mass demonstration or a riot, they may become so much a part of the group that they lose their individual self-awareness and experience deindividuation — the loss of self-awareness and individual accountability in groups (Festinger, Pepitone, & Newcomb, 1952; Zimbardo, 1969).

Examples of situations that may create deindividuation include wearing uniforms that hide the self and alcohol intoxication.

Craig ONeal – KKK Rally in Georgia – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0; Bart Everson – Nazis – CC BY 2.0; John Penny – Snuggie Keg Stand – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Two particular types of individual differences in self-awareness have been found to be important, and they relate to self-concern and other-concern, respectively (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975; Lalwani, Shrum, & Chiu, 2009). Private self-consciousness refers to the tendency to introspect about our inner thoughts and feelings . People who are high in private self-consciousness tend to think about themselves a lot and agree with statements such as “I’m always trying to figure myself out” and “I am generally attentive to my inner feelings.” People who are high on private self-consciousness are likely to base their behavior on their own inner beliefs and values—they let their inner thoughts and feelings guide their actions—and they may be particularly likely to strive to succeed on dimensions that allow them to demonstrate their own personal accomplishments (Lalwani, Shrum & Chiu, 2009).

Public self-consciousness , in contrast, refers to the tendency to focus on our outer public image and to be particularly aware of the extent to which we are meeting the standards set by others . Those high in public self-consciousness agree with statements such as “I’m concerned about what other people think of me,” “Before I leave my house, I check how I look,” and “I care a lot about how I present myself to others.” These are the people who check their hair in a mirror they pass and spend a lot of time getting ready in the morning; they are more likely to let the opinions of others (rather than their own opinions) guide their behaviors and are particularly concerned with making good impressions on others.

Research has found cultural differences in public self-consciousness, such that people from East Asian collectivistic cultures have higher public self-consciousness than do people from Western individualistic cultures. Steve Heine and his colleagues (Heine, Takemoto, Moskalenko, Lasaleta, & Henrich, 2008) found that when college students from Canada (a Western culture) completed questionnaires in front of a large mirror, they subsequently became more self-critical and were less likely to cheat (much like the trick-or-treaters we discussed earlier) than were Canadian students who were not in front of a mirror. However, the presence of the mirror had no effect on college students from Japan. This person-situation interaction is consistent with the idea that people from East Asian cultures are normally already high in public self-consciousness, in comparison with people from Western cultures, and thus manipulations designed to increase public self-consciousness are less influential for them.

Overestimating How Others View Us

Although the self-concept is the most important of all our schemas, and although people (particularly those high in self-consciousness) are aware of their self and how they are seen by others, this does not mean that people are always thinking about themselves. In fact, people do not generally focus on their self-concept any more than they focus on the other things and other people in their environments (Csikszentmihalyi & Figurski, 1982).

On the other hand, self-awareness is more powerful for the person experiencing it than it is for others who are looking on, and the fact that self-concept is so highly accessible frequently leads people to overestimate the extent to which other people are focusing on them (Gilovich & Savitsky, 1999). Although you may be highly self-conscious about of something you’ve done in a particular situation, that does not mean that others are necessarily paying all that much attention to you. Research by Thomas Gilovich and his colleagues (Gilovich, Medvec, & Savitsky, 2000) found that people who were interacting with others thought that other people were paying much more attention to them than those other people reported actually doing.

Teenagers are particularly likely to be highly self-conscious, often believing that others are constantly watching them (Goossens, Beyers, Emmen, & van Aken, 2002). Because teens think so much about themselves, they are particularly likely to believe that others must be thinking about them, too (Rycek, Stuhr, McDermott, Benker, & Swartz, 1998). It is no wonder that everything a teen’s parents do suddenly feels embarrassing to them when they are in public.

People also often mistakenly believe that their internal states show to others more than they really do. Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec (1998) asked groups of five students to work together on a “lie detection” task. One at a time, each student stood up in front of the others and answered a question that the researcher had written on a card (e.g., “I have met David Letterman”). On each round, one person’s card indicated that they were to give a false answer, whereas the other four were told to tell the truth.

Figure 4.3 The Illusion of Transparency

After each round, the students who had not been asked to lie indicated which of the students they thought had actually lied in that round, and the liar was asked to estimate the number of other students who would correctly guess who had been the liar. As you can see in Figure 4.3 “The Illusion of Transparency” , the liars overestimated the detectability of their lies: On average, they predicted that over 44% of their fellow players had known that they were the liar, but in fact only about 25% were able to accurately identify them. Gilovitch and his colleagues called this effect the “illusion of transparency.”

Key Takeaways

• The self-concept is a schema that contains knowledge about us. It is primarily made up of physical characteristics, group memberships, and traits.
• Because the self-concept is so complex, it has extraordinary influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and we can remember information that is related to it well.
• Self-complexity, the extent to which individuals have many different and relatively independent ways of thinking about themselves, helps people respond more positively to events that they experience.
• Self-awareness refers to the extent to which we are currently fixing our attention on our own self-concept. Differences in the accessibility of different self-schemas help create individual differences, for instance, in terms of our current concerns and interests.
• When people lose their self-awareness, they experience deindividuation, and this may lead them to act in violation of their personal norms.
• Private self-consciousness refers to the tendency to introspect about our inner thoughts and feelings; public self-consciousness refers to the tendency to focus on our outer public image and the standards set by others.
• There are cultural differences in self-consciousness, such that public self-consciousness may normally be higher in Eastern than in Western cultures.
• People frequently overestimate the extent to which others are paying attention to them and accurately understand their true intentions in public situations.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

• What are the most important aspects of your self-concept, and how do they influence your behavior?
• Consider people you know in terms of their self-complexity. What effects do these differences seem to have on their feelings and behavior?
• Can you think of ways that you have been influenced by your private and public self-consciousness?
• Do you think you have ever overestimated the extent to which people are paying attention to you in public?

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The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: How Language Influences How We Express Ourselves

Rachael is a New York-based writer and freelance writer for Verywell Mind, where she leverages her decades of personal experience with and research on mental illness—particularly ADHD and depression—to help readers better understand how their mind works and how to manage their mental health.

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What to Know About the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Real-world examples of linguistic relativity, linguistic relativity in psychology.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, also known as linguistic relativity, refers to the idea that the language a person speaks can influence their worldview, thought, and even how they experience and understand the world.

While more extreme versions of the hypothesis have largely been discredited, a growing body of research has demonstrated that language can meaningfully shape how we understand the world around us and even ourselves.

Keep reading to learn more about linguistic relativity, including some real-world examples of how it shapes thoughts, emotions, and behavior.  

The hypothesis is named after anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapir and his student, Benjamin Lee Whorf. While the hypothesis is named after them both, the two never actually formally co-authored a coherent hypothesis together.

This Hypothesis Aims to Figure Out How Language and Culture Are Connected

Sapir was interested in charting the difference in language and cultural worldviews, including how language and culture influence each other. Whorf took this work on how language and culture shape each other a step further to explore how different languages might shape thought and behavior.

Since then, the concept has evolved into multiple variations, some more credible than others.

Linguistic Determinism Is an Extreme Version of the Hypothesis

Linguistic determinism, for example, is a more extreme version suggesting that a person’s perception and thought are limited to the language they speak. An early example of linguistic determinism comes from Whorf himself who argued that the Hopi people in Arizona don’t conjugate verbs into past, present, and future tenses as English speakers do and that their words for units of time (like “day” or “hour”) were verbs rather than nouns.

From this, he concluded that the Hopi don’t view time as a physical object that can be counted out in minutes and hours the way English speakers do. Instead, Whorf argued, the Hopi view time as a formless process.

This was then taken by others to mean that the Hopi don’t have any concept of time—an extreme view that has since been repeatedly disproven.

There is some evidence for a more nuanced version of linguistic relativity, which suggests that the structure and vocabulary of the language you speak can influence how you understand the world around you. To understand this better, it helps to look at real-world examples of the effects language can have on thought and behavior.

Different Languages Express Colors Differently

Color is one of the most common examples of linguistic relativity. Most known languages have somewhere between two and twelve color terms, and the way colors are categorized varies widely. In English, for example, there are distinct categories for blue and green .

Blue and Green

But in Korean, there is one word that encompasses both. This doesn’t mean Korean speakers can’t see blue, it just means blue is understood as a variant of green rather than a distinct color category all its own.

In Russian, meanwhile, the colors that English speakers would lump under the umbrella term of “blue” are further subdivided into two distinct color categories, “siniy” and “goluboy.” They roughly correspond to light blue and dark blue in English. But to Russian speakers, they are as distinct as orange and brown .

In one study comparing English and Russian speakers, participants were shown a color square and then asked to choose which of the two color squares below it was the closest in shade to the first square.

The test specifically focused on varying shades of blue ranging from “siniy” to “goluboy.” Russian speakers were not only faster at selecting the matching color square but were more accurate in their selections.

The Way Location Is Expressed Varies Across Languages

This same variation occurs in other areas of language. For example, in Guugu Ymithirr, a language spoken by Aboriginal Australians, spatial orientation is always described in absolute terms of cardinal directions. While an English speaker would say the laptop is “in front of” you, a Guugu Ymithirr speaker would say it was north, south, west, or east of you.

As a result, Aboriginal Australians have to be constantly attuned to cardinal directions because their language requires it (just as Russian speakers develop a more instinctive ability to discern between shades of what English speakers call blue because their language requires it).

So when you ask a Guugu Ymithirr speaker to tell you which way south is, they can point in the right direction without a moment’s hesitation. Meanwhile, most English speakers would struggle to accurately identify South without the help of a compass or taking a moment to recall grade school lessons about how to find it.

The concept of these cardinal directions exists in English, but English speakers aren’t required to think about or use them on a daily basis so it’s not as intuitive or ingrained in how they orient themselves in space.

Just as with other aspects of thought and perception, the vocabulary and grammatical structure we have for thinking about or talking about what we feel doesn’t create our feelings, but it does shape how we understand them and, to an extent, how we experience them.

Words Help Us Put a Name to Our Emotions

For example, the ability to detect displeasure from a person’s face is universal. But in a language that has the words “angry” and “sad,” you can further distinguish what kind of displeasure you observe in their facial expression. This doesn’t mean humans never experienced anger or sadness before words for them emerged. But they may have struggled to understand or explain the subtle differences between different dimensions of displeasure.

In one study of English speakers, toddlers were shown a picture of a person with an angry facial expression. Then, they were given a set of pictures of people displaying different expressions including happy, sad, surprised, scared, disgusted, or angry. Researchers asked them to put all the pictures that matched the first angry face picture into a box.

The two-year-olds in the experiment tended to place all faces except happy faces into the box. But four-year-olds were more selective, often leaving out sad or fearful faces as well as happy faces. This suggests that as our vocabulary for talking about emotions expands, so does our ability to understand and distinguish those emotions.

But some research suggests the influence is not limited to just developing a wider vocabulary for categorizing emotions. Language may “also help constitute emotion by cohering sensations into specific perceptions of ‘anger,’ ‘disgust,’ ‘fear,’ etc.,” said Dr. Harold Hong, a board-certified psychiatrist at New Waters Recovery in North Carolina.

As our vocabulary for talking about emotions expands, so does our ability to understand and distinguish those emotions.

Words for emotions, like words for colors, are an attempt to categorize a spectrum of sensations into a handful of distinct categories. And, like color, there’s no objective or hard rule on where the boundaries between emotions should be which can lead to variation across languages in how emotions are categorized.

Emotions Are Categorized Differently in Different Languages

Just as different languages categorize color a little differently, researchers have also found differences in how emotions are categorized. In German, for example, there’s an emotion called “gemütlichkeit.”

While it’s usually translated as “cozy” or “ friendly ” in English, there really isn’t a direct translation. It refers to a particular kind of peace and sense of belonging that a person feels when surrounded by the people they love or feel connected to in a place they feel comfortable and free to be who they are.

Harold Hong, MD, Psychiatrist

The lack of a word for an emotion in a language does not mean that its speakers don't experience that emotion.

You may have felt gemütlichkeit when staying up with your friends to joke and play games at a sleepover. You may feel it when you visit home for the holidays and spend your time eating, laughing, and reminiscing with your family in the house you grew up in.

In Japanese, the word “amae” is just as difficult to translate into English. Usually, it’s translated as "spoiled child" or "presumed indulgence," as in making a request and assuming it will be indulged. But both of those have strong negative connotations in English and amae is a positive emotion .

Instead of being spoiled or coddled, it’s referring to that particular kind of trust and assurance that comes with being nurtured by someone and knowing that you can ask for what you want without worrying whether the other person might feel resentful or burdened by your request.

You might have felt amae when your car broke down and you immediately called your mom to pick you up, without having to worry for even a second whether or not she would drop everything to help you.

Regardless of which languages you speak, though, you’re capable of feeling both of these emotions. “The lack of a word for an emotion in a language does not mean that its speakers don't experience that emotion,” Dr. Hong explained.

What This Means For You

“While having the words to describe emotions can help us better understand and regulate them, it is possible to experience and express those emotions without specific labels for them.” Without the words for these feelings, you can still feel them but you just might not be able to identify them as readily or clearly as someone who does have those words. 

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By Rachael Green Rachael is a New York-based writer and freelance writer for Verywell Mind, where she leverages her decades of personal experience with and research on mental illness—particularly ADHD and depression—to help readers better understand how their mind works and how to manage their mental health.

Thymoproteasome and peptidic self

• Published: 15 October 2018
• Volume 71 , pages 217–221, ( 2019 )

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• Yousuke Takahama 1 , 2 ,
• Izumi Ohigashi 2 ,
• Shigeo Murata 3 &
• Keiji Tanaka 4  

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Positive selection of T cells in the thymus is induced by low-affinity TCR recognition of self-peptide-MHC complexes expressed by cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs). cTECs express a specialized type of proteasomes, the thymoproteasome, which generates a unique spectrum of MHC class I-associated peptides and plays a critical role in thymic positive selection of CD8 + T cells. However, it remains unclear how the thymoproteasome contributes to the thymic positive selection. More than 30 years ago, the “peptidic self” hypothesis proposed that TCRs recognize MHC-presented peptides only, without interacting with MHC molecules, which turned out to be incorrect. Interestingly, however, by implying that a set of MHC-associated peptides forms immunological self, this hypothesis also predicted that positive selection in the thymus is the primary immune response to “foreign epitope” peptides during T cell development. The thymoproteasome-dependent unique self-peptides may create those foreign epitope peptides displayed in the thymus for positive selection of T cells.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Alfred Singer (NCI, NIH, USA) for inspiring discussion and reading the manuscript and Dr. Tsunehiro Mizushima (University of Hyogo, Japan) for structural analysis of the proteasome components.

Y.T. is supported by the Intramural Research Program of the US National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Center for Cancer Research. In addition, Y.T., I.O., S.M., and K.T. are supported by MEXT-JSPS, Japan (grants 16H02630, 17K08884, 28H04022, and 26000014, respectively).

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Takahama, Y., Ohigashi, I., Murata, S. et al. Thymoproteasome and peptidic self. Immunogenetics 71 , 217–221 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-018-1081-3

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What is sapir-whorf hypothesis in behavioral science.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, also known as the linguistic relativity hypothesis, is a theory in linguistics and cognitive science that posits that the structure of a language influences the way its speakers perceive and think about the world. This hypothesis is named after its proponents, American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, who independently formulated and expanded upon the idea in the early 20th century.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is commonly divided into two versions:

• Strong version (linguistic determinism): This version asserts that language determines thought, meaning that the way people think is entirely shaped by their language. According to this perspective, speakers of different languages perceive and conceptualize the world in fundamentally different ways due to the unique structures and vocabulary of their languages.
• Weak version (linguistic relativity): This version proposes that language influences, but does not determine, thought. It suggests that while the structure of a language can affect the way its speakers perceive and think about the world, other cognitive factors and experiences also play a significant role in shaping their thoughts and perceptions.

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis has generated extensive debate and research, with empirical evidence supporting both its strong and weak versions to varying degrees. Some studies have demonstrated that language can indeed influence cognitive processes such as color perception, spatial reasoning, and time perception. However, other research has challenged the hypothesis, arguing that universal cognitive processes exist independently of language.

Despite the ongoing debate, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis has contributed to our understanding of the relationship between language, culture, and cognition. Its implications extend across various disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education, by informing the development of:

• Cross-cultural communication: Recognizing the influence of language on thought can help improve communication and understanding between speakers of different languages and cultural backgrounds.
• Language teaching and learning: The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis highlights the importance of considering cultural and cognitive factors in language education, as language learning involves not only acquiring new vocabulary and grammar but also adapting to new ways of thinking and perceiving the world.
• Cognitive development research: Investigating the relationship between language and thought can provide insights into cognitive development and the role of linguistic factors in shaping cognitive abilities.

While the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis remains a subject of debate and investigation, it has significantly impacted our understanding of the complex interplay between language, thought, and culture.

Related Behavioral Science Terms

Belief perseverance, crystallized intelligence, extraneous variable, representative sample, factor analysis, egocentrism, stimulus generalization, reciprocal determinism, divergent thinking, convergent thinking, social environment, decision making, related articles.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Psychology: Definition & Examples

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Key Takeaways

• A self-fulfilling prophecy is a sociological term used to describe a prediction that causes itself to become true.
• Therefore, the process by which a person’s expectations about someone can lead to that someone behaving in ways that confirm the expectations.
• An example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is the placebo effect when a person experiences beneficial outcomes because
• they expect an inactive “look-alike” substance or treatment to work, even though it has no known medical effect.
• In the classroom, a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a teacher holds expectations for students, which through social interaction, causes the students to behave in such a manner as to confirm the originally false (but now true) expectation. For example, lower expectations for students of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds and higher expectations for middle-class students.
• There are two types of self-fulfilling prophecies: Self-imposed prophecies occur when your own expectations influence your actions. Other-imposed prophecies occur when others’ expectations influence your behavior. All opinions you value can cause this prophecy.
• The Pygmalion effect is a type of other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy that states the way you treat someone has a direct impact on how that person acts.
• If another person thinks something will happen, they may consciously or unconsciously make it happen through their actions or inaction.

In 1948, Robert K. Merton coined the term self-fulfilling prophecy to describe “a false definition of the situation evoking a behavior which makes the originally false conception come true” (Merton, 1968, p. 477).

In other words, a misrepresentation of reality or guessing at the truth that, in turn, causes behaviors that would end up making this hypothetical into an actual reality.

Simply put, a false reality could actually become truth due to human psychological responses to predictions, fears, and worries associated with the future.

The self-fulfilling prophecy has also been referred to as the “bootstrapped induction,” the “Barnesian performativity,” or “The Oedipus effect” (Biggs, 2011).

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Examples

Placebo effect.

An example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is known as the placebo effect. In this example, patients are randomly split into two groups: one receiving the new treatment and one receiving a placebo treatment or “fake treatment.”

Those who are given the placebo drug have been shown to display improvements in the respective issue despite there being no active agent causing the recovery.

The beliefs that one held, in contrast to actual treatment, led to that prophecy being fulfilled.

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat refers to the concern that one’s actions may fulfill a negative cultural stereotype of one’s group (Steele 1997). Such concerns may, paradoxically, lead to the fulfillment of those stereotypes

Another example of a stereotype threat concerns African American intelligence and resulting college admission.

In the past, researchers believed that African Americans were less intelligent than other races due to their lower reported scores on standardized tests (Dzaferagic, 2019). This research was then used to justify the admission of a smaller percentage of African Americans to colleges and universities.

However, this discrepancy can be explained by the self-fulfilling prophecy in the form of a stereotype threat (Steele 1997).

Since other individuals’ expectations of African Americans were lower, they fulfilled their expectations.

It is thought that the negative stereotype of African Americans led them to become anxious about taking their tests which led to poorer results than they were actually capable of. This further confirmed the stereotype. We see what we want to see.

There are two types of self-fulfilling prophecies: self-imposed and other-imposed (Adler, 2012). Both lead to the same result, yet they are different approaches to getting there.

Self-Imposed Prophecies

In a self-imposed prophecy, one’s own expectations are the causal factor for one’s actions. An example is illustrated through a public speaking scenario.

In this scenario, a man named John has had previous experience with failure in a public speaking setting. He is extremely nervous and believes he will fail.

Due to this, as he begins his speech, he stumbles over his words, forgets his lines, and fails to produce a coherent message. Therefore, because John believed he would fail, he did.

Other-Imposed Prophecies

An other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecy arises when others’ expectations of another individual affect the actions of that individual. A classic example is the fortune teller scenario.

Cindy, a fortune teller, tells a man named Peter that he will one day become a therapist. Because Cindy imposed this expectation on Peter, he began to believe it.

Eventually, because Cindy’s expectations affected Peter’s beliefs, he did one day become a therapist. The Oedipus example above is another example of an other-imposed self-fulling prophecy.

Other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecies are at the root of racial and gender stereotyping and discrimination. If a person has certain expectations for a person of another race, they will treat them accordingly, which might position this person in a place fitting of the stereotype they’re believed to fit under.

For example, if it is believed that women are better in certain lesser roles than men, women are more likely to fulfill this prophecy and not live up to their full potential.

The key idea in both types of self-fulfilling prophecies is that the idea of an unbacked or false notion spurs behavior that, in turn, makes a person act “as if” the idea was a reality until, eventually, these behaviors build a reality where the prophecy comes true.

The Pygmalion Effect

“When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur.” (Rosenthal & Babad, 1985).

The term Pygmalion Effect originated from a poem by the Greek poet Ovid entitled Metamorphoses (The Pygmalion Effect, 2020).

In it, Pygmalion was a sculptor who eventually fell in love with one of his own creations. Pygmalion begged the gods to deliver him a wife similar to the sculpture he became enamored with.

As the story goes, the gods made his wish come true, and the sculpture came to life. Rosenthal and Jacobson became inspired by the story and subsequently named their findings after the sculptor.

Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968)

A famous study on other-imposed self-fulfilling prophecies is the Pygmalion Effect. Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) conducted an experiment to see whether student achievement could be self-fulfilling based on the expectations of their teachers.

Rosenthal and Jacobsen gave elementary school children an IQ test and then informed their teachers which children were going to be average and which children were going to be ‘Bloomers,’ the twenty percent of students who showed “unusual potential for intellectual growth.”

They found that the teachers did not expect too much from the average children and gave all their attention to the Bloomers. The teachers created a nicer environment for the Bloomers; they gave them more time and attention, called on them for answers more often, and gave them more detailed feedback when they got something wrong.

However, unknown to the teachers, these students were selected randomly and may or may not have fulfilled that criterion.

After eight months, they came back and retested the children’s intelligence.

The results showed that Bloomers IQ scores had risen (experimental group) significantly higher than the average students (control group), even though these academic bloomers were chosen at random. The bloomers gained an average of two IQ points in verbal ability, seven points in reasoning and four points in over all IQ.

The experiment showed that teacher expectations worked as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The teachers’ expectations had altered the way the children were treated, and this had affected their abilities.

According to the Pygmalion effect, the other-imposed expectations imposed on the students by the teachers are internalized by the students and become part of their self-concept , and they act accordingly to their internal beliefs about themselves.

These results were replicated in college-aged students as well. Studies conducted in algebra classes at The Air Force Academy, engineering students, and many other universities replicated these results (Rosenthal & Rubin, 1978).

Implications

Stereotypes are often part of self-fulfilling prophecies. Claude Steele’s research (1997) on stereotype threat shows that when students worry that their own poor academic performance could unintentionally confirm a negative stereotype of their social group, they actually perform poorly, thus confirming that stereotype.

Stereotype threat has been measured in high-achieving African American students as well as highly ranked female math students (Spencer, Steele, and Quinn 1999).

These findings have far-reaching implications as well. They can have positive effects on people beyond the classroom as well as negative ones.

If parents choose to treat their children as intelligent, talented, independent human beings, according to the Pygmalion effect, they are more likely to internalize these attitudes and act accordingly.

However, on the other hand, if a parent views their child as incapable, unintelligent, or weak, that individual will most likely lower themselves to those expectations.

The Pygmalion Effect occurs in the workplace when a manager raises his or her expectations for the performance of workers, and this actually results in an increase in worker performance.

The Causal Loop

A self-fulfilling prophecy may be a form of causality loop, also known as feedback loops.

They are described as “a system in which two or more aspects of the system influence each other” (Loper, 2014).

In abstract terms, Event A leads to event B, leads to event C, leads to event D, which then leads to event A again. The cycle then repeats.

These loops, in turn, are perfect examples of feedback cycles. Once the cycle begins, it is difficult to remove oneself from the situation and prevent uncontrollable actions and outcomes. The prophecy itself serves as the drive for an action, and thus it is self-fulfilling.

Merton exemplified his casual loop process in his book Social Theory and Social Structure in 1949. In it, he shows how causal loops can push forth this idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

He depicted the following scenario (Ackerman, 2020): A rumor is spread that the banks are collapsing. In response to this event, people then withdraw their money in a panic. As a result, the banks actually do begin to struggle, and, thus, more people withdraw their money. The cycle repeats until the bank ultimately collapses, completing the self-fulfilling prophecy.

A causal loop feeds into itself, the danger being that the cause can often be rumor or superstition unbacked by truth. Once a loop begins to build strength, the outcome becomes very real, and it can be difficult to put a stop to it.

The concept that our thoughts affect our feelings which affect our behaviors which affect our thoughts, an example of a causal loop, is cognitive behavioral therapy . Interrupting the cycle by controlling one’s actions is a major step toward recovery for those living with depression.

Common to many diagnosed with depression are negative thoughts and untrue self-statements of their abilities or worth.

A person may begin a casual loop with a simple statement such as “I can’t ever do anything right.” This can result in negative feelings which in turn leads to negative actions or a lack of self-care.

If they continue to act in a non-beneficiary manner, they will inevitably fulfill their predictions leading them to become depressed.

Learning Check

Which of the following is an example of the self-fulfilling prophecy?

• Jane believes she will fail her exam, so she doesn’t study and ends up failing.
• John thinks he is very good at basketball, so he practices daily and becomes a star player.
• Mary is scared of dogs, so she avoids going to parks where dogs might be present.
• Mike thinks he’s bad at cooking, so he never tries and orders take-out instead.

Answer : The examples of the self-fulfilling prophecy are 1. Jane believes she will fail her exam, so she doesn’t study and ends up failing and 4. Mike thinks he’s bad at cooking, so he never tries and orders take-out instead. These beliefs directly lead to behaviors that confirm the initial prediction.

Ackerman, C. E. (2020, April 17). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Psychology: 10 Examples and Definition. Positive Psychology . https://positivepsychology.com/self-fulfilling-prophecy/

Adler, R. B., Rosenfeld, L. B., & Ii, R. P. F. (2012). Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal Communication (12th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Biggs, M. (2009). Self-fulfilling prophecies. The Oxford handbook of analytical sociology , 294-314.

Dzaferagic, N. (2019, July 23). JLF 16 – Self-fulfilling Prophecy and Stereotypes. Humanity in Action. https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/self-fulfilling-prophecy-and-stereotypes/

Loper, C. (2014, September 22). Feedback Loops. Northwest Educational Services. https://www.nwtutoring.com/2014/09/22/feedback-loops/

Merton, R. K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy . The Antioch Review, 8 (2), 193-210.

Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom . The Urban Review, 3 (1), 16-20.

Rosenthal, R., & Rubin, D. B. (1978). Interpersonal expectancy effects: The first 345 studies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1 (3), 377-386.

Spencer, S. J., Steele, C. M., & Quinn, D. M. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s math performance . Journal of experimental social psychology, 35 (1), 4-28.

Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52 (6), 613.

Further Information

• The self-fulfilling prophecy in close relationships: Rejection sensitivity and rejection by romantic partners . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75 (2), 545.
• The impact of mothers’ gender-role stereotypic beliefs on mothers’ and children’s ability perceptions . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63 (6), 932.
• The self-fulfilling nature of positive illusions in romantic relationships: Love is not blind, but prescient . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71 (6), 1155.
• Pygmalion and intelligence?   Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4 (6), 169-171.

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• Published: 03 June 2024

A self-reinforcing cycle hypothesis in heart failure pathogenesis

• Carlos Fernandez-Patron   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8033-0645 1 ,
• Gary D. Lopaschuk   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1010-0454 2 &
• Eugenio Hardy   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8351-4255 3  

Nature Cardiovascular Research ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Energy metabolism
• Heart failure
• Metabolic diseases
• Multienzyme complexes

Heart failure is a progressive syndrome with high morbidity and mortality rates. Here, we suggest that chronic exposure of the heart to risk factors for heart failure damages heart mitochondria, thereby impairing energy production to levels that can suppress the heart’s ability to pump blood and repair mitochondria (both energy-consuming processes). As damaged mitochondria accumulate, the heart becomes deprived of energy in a ‘self-reinforcing cycle’, which can persist after the heart is no longer chronically exposed to (or after antagonism of) the risk factors that initiated the cycle. Together with other previously described pathological mechanisms, this proposed cycle can help explain (1) why heart failure progresses, (2) why it can recur after cessation of treatment, and (3) why heart failure is often accompanied by dysfunction of multiple organs. Ideally, therapy of heart failure syndrome would be best attempted before the self-reinforcing cycle is triggered or designed to break the self-reinforcing cycle.

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Eugenio Hardy

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C.F.-P. conceived the hypothesis. C.F.-P. and E.H. conceived, wrote and edited the manuscript and drafted the figures. G.D.L. made key edits and additions to the intellectual content and figures. All authors contributed to the critical analysis of the literature.

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Fernandez-Patron, C., Lopaschuk, G.D. & Hardy, E. A self-reinforcing cycle hypothesis in heart failure pathogenesis. Nat Cardiovasc Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-024-00480-6

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A psychologist reveals why ‘busy bragging’ ruins workplace relationships.

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Here’s why it’s important to reflect on the narrative you project at work about your stress levels.

Have you ever had a coworker constantly emphasize how busy they are, detailing the endless tasks on their plate or the late hours they work? While it might seem harmless, this behavior can significantly damage workplace relationships over time.

“Stress bragging,” also known as busy bragging, refers to regularly boasting about one’s busyness or workload to convey a sense of importance, productivity or dedication. While it is completely valid to want to share one’s challenges with trusted colleagues, when individuals do so primarily to “appear stressed” and overworked, they tend to glorify struggle and alienate those around them.

The underlying intention is usually to project an image of being indispensable and hardworking, even if the actual effectiveness or results of the work are not necessarily highlighted. Busy bragging can be a subtle way of seeking validation or admiration from colleagues and superiors.

A 2024 study published in the journal Personnel Psychology examined this phenomenon and found that it usually has negative interpersonal consequences in the workplace.

Here are two reasons why busy bragging affects workplace relationships, according to the study.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, 1. it makes people unlikable.

Researchers found that busy bragging often backfires as co-workers tend to perceive stress braggarts as less competent, likely due to the perception that they do not know how to manage their time, stress or workload effectively.

If someone is always busy but not producing commensurate results, it can lead to doubts about their productivity. They may be perceived as someone who struggles to prioritize or delegate work and engages in constant complaints and self-promotion.

Researchers found that such individuals are also perceived as less warm and likable. Busy bragging often focuses on an individual’s workload and achievements, which can come across as self-centered and arrogant.

By emphasizing their own busyness, such individuals might inadvertently dismiss or minimize their colleagues’ efforts and challenges. This can create resentment, particularly if others are working just as hard without seeking recognition. It can also be perceived as a lack of interest or empathy for others, making them seem less warm and approachable.

Additionally, colleagues may find busy bragging annoying, especially if it is frequent and comes across as a bid for sympathy or attention. Over time, they may become desensitized to the stress braggart’s complaints and less empathetic to their situation. They might start to believe that the individual is exaggerating and being disingenuous.

Consequently, researchers found that a busy bragger’s colleagues are less inclined to offer them help. They might think that the individual’s stress is self-inflicted due to inefficiency, making them less sympathetic or worry that their contributions or suggestions will be met with further complaints rather than gratitude.

Colleagues may also feel that their efforts to help will not be reciprocated as a busy bragger is usually focused on their own stress. They may feel that helping won’t make a difference because they will always find something new to stress about.

Further, research shows that people find humble colleagues more likable. So, busy bragging becomes counterproductive as it does not help garner support and also compromises the image of themselves that a stress braggart wishes to project.

2. Stress Is Contagious

Researchers found that co-workers on the receiving end of busy bragging tend to feel stressed and are more likely to experience higher levels of burnout.

Research shows that one person’s stress can spill over to another person in the same social environment. Firstly, by putting busyness on a pedestal, busy braggers can make others question if they are doing enough.

Secondly, such behavior also sets a precedent that being overloaded is a norm or an expectation and can create a pressure to match that level of busyness. This can fuel a stressful workplace culture where the appearance of being busy is valued more than actual performance and well-being.

Further, if team members feel that busy bragging is being rewarded or admired, it can demotivate those who prefer to work quietly and efficiently without seeking attention, lowering team morale and collaboration.

Additionally, constantly hearing about another person’s stress can be exhausting and emotionally draining. Colleagues may distance themselves from busy braggers and avoid helping them to preserve their own mental health and emotional energy.

Habitual busy bragging can erode the overall positive dynamics of a workplace. If you encounter a busy braggart, approach the situation with empathy but do not feel obligated to absorb or resolve their stress. Set boundaries to protect your own well-being. It is important to promote a workplace culture where genuine collaboration and mutual respect are valued over appearances of busyness.

It is also essential to consciously manage how we talk about our workloads and stress, become aware of any inadvertent busy bragging and address the underlying motivations behind it. Self-reflection and mindful communication are key to maintaining healthy workplace relationships and fostering a more positive, efficient and supportive workplace culture.

Busy bragging or being on the receiving end can be accompanied by very real stress. Take this test to gain deeper insight into your current level of well-being: WHO-5 Well-Being Index

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Money blog: Why you should consider swapping chicken breasts out of your shopping basket

Chicken breasts are lean, versatile and packed with protein - but are there better options for your wallet and your health? Read this and the rest of today's consumer news in the Money blog.

Friday 7 June 2024 09:07, UK

• 100,000 reportedly due to remortgage onto higher rates before election - here's what you need to know
• Does Wetherspoons buy lose to out-of-date beer?
• Rents fall in some big cities
• There's a new best restaurant in the world - this is how much it costs to eat there
• eBay to stop accepting American Express

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• Why you should consider swapping chicken breasts out of your shopping basket
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Ask a question or make a comment

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire , business reporter

We've now had the first interest rate cut in the UK, US and EU for years. 

Yesterday the European Central Bank (ECB) brought down the cost of borrowing in the countries using the euro - the first reduction since 2019.

Sterling stayed roughly where it has been against the euro for the last two weeks - one pound buys more euro than it has done for most of the last year, €1.1740. 

Oil prices have ticked up through the week but are still just below $80 a barrel for Brent crude, the benchmark price. 

That's cheaper than the vast majority of this year and good news for motorists.  

Signs of stabilisation can be seen in the housing market with the news that house prices fell just 0.1% in May, equivalent to a £170 drop in the average house, according to mortgage lender Halifax. 

But renting is still becoming more expensive, just at a slightly slower rate than before, according to property portal Zoopla.

The average rent costs £80 more a month compared with a year earlier.

Higher housing costs have also shown through in a market update from British homebuilder Bellway, which said it expects to sell houses at a higher price point than it previously thought.

The company is a constituent of the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 250 index of 101st to 350th most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange which is down 0.22% this morning. 

Wetherspoons pubs are known for their cheap pints.

But how is the chain able to keep prices so low?

Many punters will have heard that this is because the pubs buy short-dated beer from breweries just a couple of months from expiry date - but the owner of the business now says this is not true. 

Sir Tim Martin told The Sun : "I've never hung outside the brewery gate waiting for it to go out of date. It would be impossible."

Asked then how the chain is able to keep prices so low, he said that the vast quantities allowed greater profits.

"There's no real secret, we sell a lot of beer," he said.

He also explained the reason he named the chain Wetherspoons - dispelling the myth that it was named after a teacher who said that he would never make it.

Sir Tim said: "This is a story that got twisted and a bit out of hand. I named it after Mr Wetherspoon, who was a very nice man, but couldn't control his class because at the time I couldn't control my punters."

It can be hard to balance the demands of eating well without spending a lot.

In this series, we try to find the healthiest options in the supermarket for the best value - and have enlisted the help of  Sunna Van Kampen , founder of Tonic Health, who went viral on social media for reviewing food in the search of healthier choices.

In this series we don't try to find the outright healthiest option, but help you get better nutritional value for as little money as possible.

Today we're looking at chicken. 

"When it comes to healthy eating, the first thing that often springs to mind is chicken breast," Sunna says. 

That's mainly because it is lean, versatile, and packed with protein, making it a staple in many health-conscious kitchens.

"But what if we told you there are even better options for your wallet and your health?" Sunna says. 

Cost savings

Chicken breast fillets can be pricey - sitting at an average of around £8.33 per kilogram. 

In contrast, chicken thighs usually come in at about £3.30 per kilogram. 

"That's over half the price," Sunna says.

"To put that into perspective - over the course of a year this can save you over £261.56, assuming you consume 1kg per week in your household. Well worth the saving."

Nutritional value

Many people gravitate towards chicken breasts for their lean protein, but chicken thighs have their own set of nutritional benefits. 

"While they have more fat, it's important to note that they contain more healthy monounsaturated fats, which are good for heart health," Sunna explains. 

"Plus, they're richer in iron, zinc and B12 by at least double."

These are essential minerals that help boost your energy and general wellbeing.

Much of this goodness is down to thighs having more joint cartilage and tendons - which naturally boost the collagen content of the chicken - helping to feed your hair, skin and nails.

"Chicken thighs are not only nutritious but also renowned for their flavour," Sunna points out.

"When slow cooking chicken thighs with bones, you are also getting the benefits of bone broth in the stew which is a great source of collagen, calcium, and magnesium, as well as glycine, arginine and proline which are anti-inflammatory amino acids."

A hidden gem

If you've got the stomach for it, there is one cut of chicken that is ultra affordable and is officially one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world. 

"Chicken livers are one of the most economical protein and nutrient sources out there," Sunna says.

"At £3.42 per kilo, they're a similar price to thighs but pack a more powerful nutrient punch."

Chicken livers should really be touted as a superfood due to their high nutrient density, in Sunna's view.

"They are an exceptional source of vitamin A, which is crucial for vision, immune function, and skin health. 

"They also boast high levels of B vitamins, particularly B12, which is vital for brain health and energy production.

"Additionally, chicken livers are rich in folate and iron."

While you might be hesitant about the taste or texture of chicken livers, they are incredibly versatile and can be prepared in ways that make them more palatable. 

Sunna's go to is to simply fry the livers quickly with onions, mushrooms and a spicy sauce like a peri-peri.

"Swapping chicken breasts for thighs or livers isn't just a cost-saving measure; it's a health upgrade. 

"By embracing these underrated parts of the bird, you'll enjoy richer flavours, diverse nutrients, and significant savings."

A note on organic

"The health of the bird and its quality of life will directly affect the nutrition and quality of the meat you consume, and as such, if you can afford it, always opt for free range or organic chicken."

The nutritionist's view - from Nichola Ludlam-Raine, dietitian at  nicsnutrition.com ...

"When it comes to budget-friendly eating, chicken thighs significantly outshine chicken breasts.

"While chicken breasts are renowned for their lean (ie low in calorie and low in fat) protein content, chicken thighs do indeed offer great nutritional benefits such as the presence of more connective tissue in thighs boosts collagen intake, which is beneficial for skin, hair, and joint health. 

"As I dietitian I would recommend skipping the skin though, to lower intake of saturated fat - as the preferred type of fat for health is unsaturated, which is found in higher levels in plant foods such as olives, nuts, seeds and avocados.

"Chicken livers are high in vitamin A, essential for vision, immune function and skin health, and also boast significant levels of B vitamins, iron, and folate, supporting brain health and energy production. 

"Due to its vitamin A content though, liver, as well as pate, should be avoided during pregnancy (note that plant-derived vitamin A i.e. beta-carotene, does not need to be avoided).

"When it comes to diet, balance and variety is key, and while including richer sources of meat such as chicken thigh and liver may be a good idea from time to time, I would recommend including other cheaper and leaner protein sources too including lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu, eggs as well as tinned oily fish - the latter for their omega 3 fatty acid content too."

Read more from this series... 

Every Friday we get an overview of the mortgage market with the help of industry experts. This week we have spoken to David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages , and Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk . 

New research this week - commissioned by the Lib Dems - suggested about 100,000 households will be renewing onto higher rates before the 4 July election. They'll face an average increase of £240 a month.

Ms Springall said: "Those borrowers looking to remortgage this year on a longer-term fixed deal will find the average overall five-year fixed rate is much higher than it was back in June 2019, when it was 2.85%. 

"Week on week, the overall average two and five-year fixed rates rose to 5.95% and 5.51%."

These are the lowest rates on offer...

Moneyfacts advises people looking to avoid upfront costs, legal fees etc to look at Best Buys as well as the deals with the lowest rates...

Good news on the horizon?

Arguably the big news for mortgages this week didn't directly impact UK households - it came yesterday when the European Central Bank went first, ahead of the UK and US, in cutting rates, potentially signalling the beginning of the end of an era of high rates.

The Bank of England and US Federal Reserve are forecast to wait a little longer - markets are currently expecting a September cut in the UK.

It's a waiting game - and that's been reflected in a relatively quiet period for rates movements among UK lenders.

Mr Hollingworth said the flurry of repricing announcements - shifting rates upwards - that followed news of inflation falling less than expected in April had "eased back".

According to Moneyfacts, HSBC increased selected fixed deals by up to 0.26% this week, while Cambridge Building Society pulled its two and five-year fixed mortgages at 90% loan-to-value.

Mr Hollingworth said: "Once lenders start to shift rates it can quickly knock onto others.

"As one deal withdraws the next lender will come under pressure, either from a rate perspective or also to protect service levels. That can cause a snowball effect of rate withdrawals."

He is advising people due to renew to "lock in" - knowing you can "review the situation before completing and take advantage of any better rates if they drop back again".  

Also of note to Mr Hollingworth has been UK Finance's Household Finance Review, which highlighted that many are taking mortgages over longer terms, with 35 to 40-year mortgages more common.

"That does help to reduce the monthly payments on a repayment mortgage but will increase the total interest over the life of the mortgage substantially," he said.

"It's therefore important for borrowers to keep reviewing the term as their circumstances change or to make overpayments if possible. That will help to cut the mortgage back more quickly and could save thousands in interest."

Online auction site eBay says it will no longer accept American Express as payment, blaming "unacceptably high fees".

From 17 August, Amex customers on the online marketplace will have to find an alternative payment method.

"After careful consideration, eBay has decided to no longer accept American Express globally effective 17 August due to the unacceptably high fees American Express charges for processing credit card transactions," Scott Overland, the company spokesman, said.

Mr Overland added that eBay users have been made aware of alternative payment methods, making them more competitive than ever.

As of the end of last year, there were 141.2 million Amex cards in use worldwide.

The online auction site has begun offering customers buy now, pay later options on purchases via Apple Pay, PayPal, Klarna and Affirm.

It might not feel like it for many households across the country, but rental growth in the UK has slowed to its lowest levels in almost three years, according to property website Zoopla.

The average monthly UK rent now stands at £1,226 per month, up £80 over the last year. This is the lowest rate of annual rental price inflation for 30 months (Oct 2021).

In fact, average rents have fallen over the last quarter in some key regional cities including Nottingham (-1.4%), Brighton (-1.1%), York (-0.4%), Glasgow (-0.4%), Cambridge (-0.3%) and London (-0.3%). This is being driven by factors including affordability constraints.

Zoopla says these are modest falls in the context of the rapid growth in rents recently, but it is clear evidence that rental market dynamics are starting to turn in some markets.

"The increase in the cost of renting has slowed to a 30-month low," said Nicola Thivessen, director of group compliance at Kinleigh Folkard and Hayward.

"Rents continue to grow faster than average earnings although the gap is much narrower than a year ago. Rental demand continues to run well ahead of available supply which is keeping the upward pressure on rents, but there are some areas where rental growth has stalled."

Competition remains fierce

Despite rental demand softening over the last year, there are still 15 people chasing every home for rent according to Zoopla's quarterly report.

That's more than double the pre-pandemic average of six people (2017-20), with a third fewer homes available for rent than in pre-pandemic years due to low levels of new investment in rented homes.

The average number of homes for rent per estate agent has increased by almost a fifth (18%) on this time last year, boosting choice. However, the supply of homes for rent remains a third lower than the pre-pandemic period as low investment in rented homes keeps the overall stock of private rented homes broadly flat.

What's the outlook for the rest of 2024?

This depends on the outcome of next month's general election.

The government's Rental Reform Bill failed to make it to the statute books, though rental reform is still needed to improve protections for existing renters.

The big policy focus of a new government should be on boosting the stock of homes for rent – both private and affordable - through increased housing delivery supported by additional funding and reforms to the planning system.

Amazon is now giving all its UK customers - not just Prime members - access to its grocery delivery service.

People living in more than 100 towns and cities will also be able to access same-day delivery without needing to be a member of its subscription service. 

This covers items from Amazon Fresh, Morrisons, Co-op and Iceland. 

It comes amid efforts from the online giant to grow its grocery business in the face of tough competition within the sector.

Prime members, who used to be the only ones who could access the service, will be given more delivery options and free shipping, subject to a minimum spend. 

US regulators are investigating the notorious meme stock investor known online as Roaring Kitty.

Keith Gill shot to fame in 2021 after he fuelled a buying spree of shares in beleaguered video game retailer GameStop. The stock passed $120 from as little as $3 in three months and saw hedge funds' positions rack up big losses.

Gill returned to online chat forum Reddit on Sunday with a post revealing he had a $116m (£90.8m) position in GameStop, telling his followers that he controlled 1.8% of the company's available stock plus call options that gave him the right to buy more.

This fuelled investor confidence in GameStop, with its market value surging as much as 75% before settling around 30% higher.

Gill's trading activities are now being examined by the Massachusetts securities regulator, while the e-trade division of US bank Morgan Stanley is considering banning Gill from its platform, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The renewed interest in GameStop has gathered plenty of momentum, as our business reporter James Sillars outlined here this week...

Some Lloyds, Halifax and the Bank of Scotland customers will be charged more to use their overdrafts as of August. 

The three major banks, which are all part of Lloyds Banking Group, are set to launch a new tiered system for determining interest rates which could see some customers paying an extra 10%. 

At the moment, Lloyds has a standard rate of 39.9%, but the overhaul will see some forced to pay 49.9% for using their overdraft. 

The new rates are set to be: 

The 27.5% rate currently being offered to Club Lloyds customers will also be axed. 

There will be specific criteria for each tier based on a customer's credit information and account activity. 

For those who will see a rise, the banks will introduce a temporary tier for six months, which means the initial impact will be no more than 7.4% of what they are paying at the moment. 

"We are writing to our customers to let them know we're introducing new interest rate tiers on our overdrafts," a Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said.

"The changes mean many will continue to pay the same or less than they do today, while some may see an increase." 

Nvidia has overtaken Apple to become the world's second most valuable public company.

The AI microchip maker's share price has risen to be worth more than $3trn (£2.34trn) for the first time. 

Only Microsoft is a more valuable company listed on a stock exchange, while Apple has fallen into third place.

Nvidia shares rose 5% after a year of growth - with one share now costing $1,224.40 (£957).

Nvidia's chips are powering much of the rush into AI, which has seen it become a poster child of the AI boom.

Demand for its processors from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Facebook owner Meta have been outstripping supply. 

Nvidia's shares - up nearly 150% so far this year - are also being boosted by an upcoming move to split its stock by 10-to-one on Friday. 

Ian Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said the stock split will "bring its share price down and make it more affordable to investors". 

Tech companies - including Microsoft and Apple - have been racing to develop AI and embed it in their products.

Nvidia is a younger company than some of its peers, having been founded in 1993. Similar to many tech giants, it was founded in California in the US.

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