5. The self

Question 1

What’s a self-schema?

Answer 1

Knowledge about the self (ex: attitudes, preferences, traits) that influence what we notice, think about, and remember about ourselves

Question 2

What’s introspection?

Answer 2

• Process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives
• Not used often - and even when people do engage in introspection, the reasons for their feelings and behaviors can be hidden from conscious awareness

Question 3

Explain self-awareness theory

Answer 3

• Proposes that when people focus their attention on themsleves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values
• Self-awareness can be uncomfortable when you are confronted with disagreeable feedback about yourself
• In such circumstances, people can resort to various strategies (- or +) to escape self-awareness
• Sometimes, an environmental trigger (ex: mirror) can cause you to look inward

Question 4

Cultural differences in self-awareness

Answer 4

• Collectivist cultures: more likely to have an outsider perspective of the self (viewing themselves through the eyes of other people)
• Individualistic cultures: more likely to have an insider perspective of the self (focusing on private experiences without considering how others see them; focusing on things that people don’t know about them)

Question 5

What is self-perception theory?

Answer 5

• Theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs (ex: Do I like classical music? I listened to Mozart yesterday)
• You use your behavior as a guide to how you feel

2 parts:
1- We infer our inner feelings from our behavior only when we’re unsure how we feel
2- We evaluate whether our behavior really reflects how we feel or whether the situation we’re in made us act that way
- Idea of judging: attributing specific aspects to behaviors

Question 6

Explain self-determination theory

Answer 6

There are 2 ways that motivate us to do things that shape ourselves:
- Intrinsic motivation: the desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it, or find it interesting
- Extrinsic motivation: the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures; we’ve attached a situational/environmental factor to our behavior

• Overjustification effect: Somtimes, intrinsic motivation is completed with/can turn into extrinsic motivation. This can make people lose interest in the activity they initially enjoyed

Question 7

How to preserve intrinsic interest?

Answer 7

Rewarding for performing well on a task (performance-contingent rewards) is less likely to decrease intrinsic interest than is rewarding for simply performing a task (task-contingent rewards)

Question 8

Explain social comparison theory

Answer 8

• Proposes that compare ourselves to similar others when we experience some uncertainty about ourselves in a particular area
• We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people

Question 9

Explain upward social comparison and downward social comparison

Answer 9

Upward social comparison: - The process whereby we compare ourselves to people who we perceive as being better than we are in a particular trait or ability; very subjective
- Threatening to our self-esteem
- Can be a source of inspiration if we feel we can imagine achieving the same; the more similar we are to this person, the more likely we are to see them as inspiration

Downward social comparison:
- The process whereby we compare ourselves to people who are worse than we are in a particular trait or ability
- Also includes comparing current performance to past performance
- A self-protective, self-enhancing strategy (it can make us feel good)
- Positive effect occurs only if we don’t feel vulnerable to the other’s negative outcome

Question 10

Explain social comparison and culture

Answer 10

• Individualistic cultures: driven by achieving success (upward social comparison); “I want to be the best among these people” - motivated by positive, successful role models
• Collectivist cultures: driven by avoiding failure (downward social comparison); they’re more aware of those around them, they don’t want to be perceived as the failure of their group (disrupt social harmony); “I don’t want to bring shame to my community” - motivated by negative role models (unsuccessful)

Question 11

Explain sociometer theory

Answer 11

-Our self-esteem is tied to the quality of relationship we share with others
- A sociometer monitors the environment for cues about the extent to which we are accepted or rejected by others
- High self-esteem individuals are more likely to seek out social connection than those low in self-esteem
- Sociometer theory has an effect on not only your self-esteem, but also your motivation and drives

Question 12

Explain self-verification theory

Answer 12

• Suggest that people have a need to seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether the self-concept is positive or negative; it’s an extension of self-awareness
• In some circumstances, this tendency can conflict with the desire to uphold a favourable view of oneself
• The desire for accurate feedback depends on the dimension being assessed, and the person evaluating us; we can become defensive about it