4 - Self & Others

Question 1

What was William James’ multidimensional - ‘me’ & ‘I’ self?

Answer 1

‘I’ = subject, agent, knower. i.e.

‘Me’ = object of reflection, know.. sets of beliefs, evaluations, attitudes (social psych interest).

Question 2

What is self-concept?

Answer 2

Mental representation of all of a person’s knowledge about his/her attributes… beliefs, thoughts, values etc.

Question 3

What are self-aspects?

Answer 3

Summaries of beliefs about the self in specific domains;

• personal aspects ~ what distinguishes you from others e.g. traits
• social aspects ~ social identities, e.g. friends.
• domains ~ work, home, friends (often overlap).

Question 4

What are the big two dimensions of self-concept?

Answer 4

Communion - warmth, social identity.

Agency - competence, goal attainment

Question 5

What are schemas?

Answer 5

A knowledge structure that links, organises & ‘weights’ self-concept components.

• provides summary of core important characteristics.
• guides interpretations of environment & performance of behaviour.

Question 6

What is the narrative self?

Answer 6

“The story of who I am”. Internalised, evolving story of the self that binds, organises and provides meaning to self components aspects across time.

Question 7

What are the aspects of future selves and their purposes? What is Self-Discrepancy Theory (Higgins, 1987)?

Answer 7

Ought self - who should I be? & Ideal self - who do I want to be? ~ Guides behaviour.

Self-Discrepancy Theory; perceived discrepancy b/w actual self & self guides (future selves)

Question 8

What did McGuire et al. (1978) found in examining gender identity in children’s self-concept?

Answer 8

When child was in gender minority, gender was greater part of child’s concept of self.

Question 9

What did Fazio et al. (1981) find when priming trait introversion-extraversion in situations?

Answer 9

People who were primed by the topic on introversion - they pulled their chairs closer to the other in the interaction - acting more extraverted.

Situational cues can activate different aspects of self.

Question 10

What is social comparison theory?

Answer 10

• self-knowledge comes from comparing one’s own traits, abilities etc to others (Festinger, 1954).
• leads to assimilation or contrast.. sameness or distinction.

Question 11

What is social feedback?

Answer 11

The process by which we internalise the perceptions of how others see us…
Others act as mirrors.. our selves are shaped by how we think others see us.

Question 12

What did Miller et al (1975) find about self being shaped by how we think people see us? (Tidy Children).

Answer 12

Attribution of ‘You are Tidy’ led children to act tidier in class. & this behaviour increased

• social source: label “tidy” > behaviour “clean up” > enforces label & behaviour = feedback loop.

Question 13

What is introspection?

Answer 13

• looking inward at the contents of consciousness.

Question 14

What is Self-perception theory (Bem, 1972)

Answer 14

Infer self-knowledge by observing own behaviours (introspection).
Often happens if knowledge is weak or ambiguous.

Question 15

What is the over-justification effect and how did Lepper, Greene & Nisbett (1973) provide evidence for it?

Answer 15

Children’s drawing task with 3 conditions:

• Expected reward: extrinsic motivation
• Unexpected reward: intrinsic motivation
• No award: intrinsic motivation

When researchers returned - pencils were handed out with no instruction, those who were intrinsically motivated were 2 x more likely to draw w/o reward.

Question 16

What function, in relation to self and master, does self-verification serve?

Answer 16

Confirms what one believes about the self, which provides accuracy of self-knowledge, one of the two components of mastery.

• ppl prefer r/ships which agree w/ self-image, even if it is negative. A

Question 17

What function does control serve & what did Blanton et al (1999) find about children’s social comparison

Answer 17

Control - ppl make upward social comparisons to motivate behaviour and seek rewards.
Study found children who use upward social comparisons do better in the studies overtime.

Question 18

What is the enhancement motive?

Answer 18

The desire to maximise the positivity of one’s self views.

Define our self concepts in ways that make us feel better about ourselves

Question 19

What is the difference b/w trait and state self-esteem.

Answer 19

Cross-situationally stable vs temporary and situation-specific.

Question 20

What is the ‘better than average’ Lake Wobegon effect?

Answer 20

Most ppl see themselves as above average

Question 21

What are some self-protective mechanisms?

Answer 21

Self-defensive attributions - neg behaviours attributed to situations, positive as arising from traits.
Self-defensive social comparisons - downward social comparison, “I’m not as bad as…”
Self-affirmation - when one part of self is under threat, ppl may affirm different aspects

Question 22

What is impression management?

Answer 22

Presenting self in a way that enables us to fit in.

Question 23

What are some strategies of self presentation? (Jones & Pittman, 1982)

Answer 23

Ingratiation, self-promotion, intimidation, exemplification, supplication.

Question 24

What characteristics comprise of our impressions?

Answer 24

Physical characteristics - ‘beautiful is good’.
Social categories - gender, nationality.
Content-environment - spaces we occupy (student)
Behaviours - verbal & non-verbal.

Question 25

How does accessibility, cue salience, and correspondent inferences influence our first impressions?

Answer 25

Accessibility - of knowledge structures from concurrent, frequent, and recent activation. e.g. Adventurous + reckless - mountain climber.

Cue Salience - ability of cue to attract attention, i.e. unpredictability, stand out from context; pram in boardroom.

Correspondent inferences - 1st impressions often grounded in dispositional explanations where behaviours reflect traits etc.

Question 26

What is the correspondence bias? (Fundamental Attribution Biases FAE). How did Jones & Harris show it?

Answer 26

Tendency to overestimate the importance of personal/dispositional factors relative to environmental influences.
Study - Pro/Anti Castro Essay Free-choice Paradigm - when ppl are told that pro-Castro writers had no choice, people still think their pro-Castro…

Question 27

How Gilbert et al (1988) show that depth of processing can overcome the FAE?

Answer 27

Study: Pts watched video of anxious woman with subtitles, condition 1: sensitive topic, condition 2: innocuous… 2 groups, one w/ extra task to overload cog capacity…

Takeaway: deeper processing group who ‘sensitive topic’ attributed anxiety to situation not person.

Question 28

What is covariation theory (Kelley, 1986)?

Answer 28

Looking at more complex info about situation…

Consensus - does everyone else perform same behaviour towards same stimulus.
Distinctiveness - does the person perform the same behaviour towards other stimuli.
Consistency - does person always perform this behaviour to this stimulus?

Question 29

How are Inter-trait relationships combined to form impressions? (Asch, 1946)

Answer 29

Trait meanings are dependent upon inter trait context (Asch, 1946);

• Intelligent and cold: intelligent = sly
• Intelligent and warm: intelligent = wise

Question 30

How is our perception of others goal-dependent?

Answer 30

• Mastery; ppl seek accurate impression when they will be held accountable.
• Ppl form pos biased impressions to make themselves feel good.
• Ppl with affiliation goals are more likely to assume that others have positive traits.

Question 31

Chapter Question: How does superficial and systematic processing of impressions differ? Give an example for each.

Answer 31

Superficial processing - uses a single attribute, e.g. attractiveness. Is fast, automatic, & leads to assumptions about future behaviours or beliefs based on past judgements. i.e. Conservative position on issue A in past = predicted conservative position on issue B in future.

Systematic processing - integrating multiple factors - leads to causal reasoning, e.g. intelligent + cold = calculating.

Question 32

How does the primacy effect work in relation to the lasting effects of initial impressions? What is the perseverance bias?

Answer 32

The earlier information (primacy) has the greatest amount of information, leads to conservatism. Initial info shapes impression which is resistant to change, i.e. perseverance bias, even after it’s been discredited.

Question 33

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 33

Process by which one person’s expectations about another become reality by eliciting behaviours that confirm the expectations.

Question 34

When presented with inconsistent information about a person, what is someone likely to do? e.g. Dave is hostile. Dave is kind.

Answer 34

Integration & reconcile differences, i.e. Dave is kind to family, but hostile to strangers.