11 - Self and Social Cognition

Question 1

What are cognitive constructs?

Answer 1

• How we think about ourselves (how we are, how we would like to be) - How we think (and would like) others to see us Individual and collective

Question 2

What are the domains of competence and how do they differ throughout life?

Answer 2

What measures our worth –> different in kids and adults - Child/young adolescent –> school work, social acceptance, sports, physical appearance, general behaviour - Adolescent/young adult –> Plus: job competence, romantic appeal, close friendship

Question 3

What domain is most strongly associated with self esteem?

Answer 3

Physical appearance

Question 4

What is ‘the looking glass self’?

Answer 4

How we think others see us –> self-appraised by other peoples’ reactions

Question 5

Who came up with the ‘social comparison’ theory?

Answer 5

Festinger

Question 6

What is the ‘social comparison theory’?

Answer 6

We compare ourselves with others and validate our own attitudes and behaviours based on others

Question 7

How does social comparison lead to self-serving bias?

Answer 7

Self-esteem maintenance Unrealistic optimism and unrealistic positive views

Question 8

What is the ‘Lake Wobegon Effect’?

Answer 8

Where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.“ Our tendency to overestimate our achievements and capabilities, especially in relation to others (see yourself better than others)

Question 9

What is unrealistic optimism / optimism bias?

Answer 9

A cognitive bias that causes someone to believe that they themselves are less likely to experience a negative event

Question 10

Who conducted a study on unrealistic optimism?

Answer 10

Weinstein

Question 11

What did Weinstein find in his study?

Answer 11

Found that people have unrealistic optimism in the events that they will experience in the future - Think we won’t get ill, will have a job, live old - Less apparent in people with depression

Question 12

What is the low self-esteem cycle?

Answer 12

Low self-esteem –> negative expectations –> anxiety –> poor performance –> self-blame –> low self-esteem (continues)

Question 13

What can low-self esteem result in?

Answer 13

o Links with personal/social problems o Low self-efficacy, treatment compliance

Question 14

When do we develop a self-concept?

Answer 14

Visual self-concept at 2 years (recognsie self in photograph)

Question 15

How does self-concept change during life?

Answer 15

Complexity increases with age

Question 16

Who was the ‘3 mountain problem’ devised by?

Answer 16

Piaget

Question 17

How does the 3 mountain problem reflect children’s perceptive taking?

Answer 17

Egocentrism –> children tend to be captured by their immediate concrete perceptions and find it difficult to adopt alternative viewpoints

Question 18

What is egocentrism?

Answer 18

The tendency of people to be concerned above all with their own values, beliefs, and well-being

Question 19

When do we acquire ideas about own and other’s beliefs and feelings?

Answer 19

Around 4 years old

Question 20

What was noticed in those with autism with regard to social skills?

Answer 20

Disability in relation to social functioning and adapting to change (Baren-Cohen)

Question 21

How are impressions formed?

Answer 21

• Physical appearance
• First and last impressions (1ary and recency effects)
• Use personality traits to describe people

Question 22

What is stereotyping?

Answer 22

Fixed, over-generalised beliefs about a particular group or class of people

Top down process

Question 23

What are the 3 stages of stereotyping?

Answer 23

1. Identify category/group
2. Assign features to people in that group
3. Generalise features to all people in that group

Question 24

What is the effect of stereotyping?

Answer 24

Assimilate large amounts of info, ‘cognitive miser’

Question 25

What is a ‘cognitive miser’?

Answer 25

The tendency of people to think and solve problems in simpler and less effortful ways rather than in more sophisticated and more effortful ways, regardless of intelligence.

Question 26

What are the negative effects of stereotyping?

Answer 26

Prejudice: pre-judgments

Discrimination: changing behaviour based on pre-judgments

Negative memory bias: remember things that agree w/ stereotypes, ignore things that counter it

Question 27

What is the halo effect of attractiveness?

Answer 27

Idea that people who are judged to be attractive are typically perceived in a positive light.

For example, Dion et al. (1972) found that attractivepeople are consistently rated as successful, kind and sociable when compared with unattractive people.

Question 28

How is familiarity/similarity a determinant of liking?

Answer 28

Similarity –> attitudes, social background, appearance

More times a photo seen = higher rating of attractiveness

Question 29

What is assortative mating?

Answer 29

Similar geno/phenotypes breed more frequently

Question 30

What was Harre et al.’s study?

Answer 30

Self-enhacement bias –> belief you are a safer driver than others