2: The Self in a Social World Flashcards
the belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance and behavior than they actually are - especially prominent in adolescence
spotlight effect
the illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others (if we’re happy/sad, others are sure to notice)
illusion of transparency
what we know and believe about ourselves - consists of our self-schemas and the “possible selves” that we dream of or dread
self-concept
how well we can explain and predict our behaviors
self-knowledge
mental frameworks for organizing and processing social information
schemas
neuron path located in the cleft between your left and right brain hemispheres that plays an important role in assembling one’s sense of self, becomes more active when you think about yourself
medial prefrontal cortex
beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of information relevant to the self - the beliefs that make up our self-concept
self-schemas
evaluating your opinions and abilities by comparing yourself with others - not always based on complete/accurate information
social comparison
using the way others perceive us as a mirror for perceiving ourselves
looking-glass self
giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications - more common in Western societies
individualism
construing one’s identity as an autonomous self (self-reliant and distinct from relatives, others)
independent self
giving priority to the goals of one’s group (family, culture, occupation) and identifying more with the group than the self - more common in Asian, African, and Central/South American societies
collectivism
the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task
planning falacy
overestimating the enduring impact (intensity and duration) of emotion-causing events - ex. winning a sports game or being laid off from your job
impact bias / affective forecasting
our differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes towards the same thing
dual attitude system
1/2 of dual attitude system, representing our automatic, unconscious attitudes (“trusting your gut”) - like old habits, they take a great deal of time and persistence to change
implicit attitudes
1/2 of dual attitude system, representing our consciously-controlled attitudes (from self-analysis with logic) - may change with relative ease through education and persuasion
explicit attitudes
a person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth
self-esteem
concept that people exhibit self-protective emotional and cognitive responses when confronted with reminders of death/mortality - the reality of death motivates us to gain recognition for our qualities and accomplishments
terror management theory
research in which the same people are studied over an extended period of time
longitudinal study
an inflated sense of self-importance and distorted self-esteem - believing oneself to be inherently better than others
narcissism
three “negative traits” defined by their correlation with problematic social behaviors - narcissism, Machiavellianism (manipulativeness), and antisocial psychopathy
The Dark Triad
a belief that one is competent and effective, able to complete tasks and face challenges
self-efficacy
tendency to perceive oneself favorably - stronger for more subjective, difficult to measure traits
self-serving bias
tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other, external factors - a form of self-serving bias
self-serving attributions
claiming to avoid self-serving bias yourself while readily acknowledging that others possess it - viewing ourselves as objective and everyone else as biased, leading to conflicts
bias blind spot
the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action - planning for a “worst case scenario” rather than unrealistically expecting everything will be okay
defensive pessimism
tendency to overestimate how much others agree with our opinions / how much they think and act as we do
false consensus effect
tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s desirable or successful abilities/behaviors - perceiving our talents as relatively uncommon
false uniqueness effect
protecting one’s self-image by creating impediments to success that will excuse their later failure - more comforting to attribute failure to external factors than to sincerely try and fail
self-handicapping
the act of expressing and behaving in ways designed to create a favorable impression for both others and yourself
self-presentation
being continually attuned to the way one is presenting themselves in social situations and adjusting their performance to create the desired impression
self-monitoring
idea that most people view themselves as better than the majority of others on certain domains - form of self-serving bias
above average effect
tendency to be overly positive in judging future outcomes - form of self-serving bias
unrealistic optimism
ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals - can improve well-being
self-control
the interconnected nature of social categorizations (race, class, gender) regarded as creating overlapping and independent systems of advantage/disadvantage
intersectionality
