Ch 2 - The Self in a Social World (Exam 1) Flashcards
self schemas
- assumptions, beliefs, expectations
- build concepts
identity
- self-schemas
- characteristics of our self-concept that define us
social comparison theory
- Leon Festinger
- we compare ourselves to others to form self evaluations
- depends on our motivations
we compare to similar people when we are motivated for _______
- accurate assessments
we compare to people who are better when we are motivated to _______
- improve ourselves
we compare ourselves to people who are worse when we have a desire to ________
- feel good about ourselves
the looking glass self
- Charles H. Cooley and George H. Mead
- our self-concepts are shaped by how others perceive us
- how we imagine others perceive us
- self = relational concept
introspection
- looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings
- gain insights
introspection can ______ self-awareness
- lower
affective forecasting
- predicting how we would feel in response to future emotional events
- we are bad at this
impact bias
- we overestimate the strength and duration of our emotional responses
- and underestimate our resilience
social identity theory
- our self-concept consists of two concepts/components
- personal identity and social identity
- our self-esteem can be influenced by both
personal identity
- individual traits, goals, achievments
social identity
- linked to the groups you belong to
basking in reflected glory
- people connected to social groups
- “we won”
cutting off reflected failure
- when groups we’re linked with experience failure
- “they lost”
self-expansion theory
- we enhance and develop our self-concept by incorporating others into our sense of self
- we want to get better
self esteem
- evaluative component of the self
- relatively stable over time
sociometer theory
- our desire for self worth is driven by an evolutionary need to connect with others and maintain their approval
- our sociometer detects social acceptance/rejection
terror management theory
- self-esteem acts as a buffer against our fear of death
- create meaning by building self-worth
self-discrepancy theory
- actual self: current self concept
- ideal self: how you want to be
- ought self: how you think others expect you to be
- discrepancy between actual and ideal can cause low self-esteem
agitation dimension (self-discrepancy theory)
- discrepancy between actual and ought self
- causes anxiety
self -serving biases
- we explain outcomes and behaviours in ways that bolster our self-esteem and motivation
self-serving attributions
- positive behaviours = personal traits
- negative behaviours = external circumstances
attribution-helplessness theory
- people vulnerable to depression make negative attributes that are (1) internal, (2) stable, (3) global
false uniqueness bias
- belief that we possess socially desirable qualities to a greater extent than others
false consensus effect
- we overestimate the commonality of undesirable behaviours
self-presentation theory
- we regulate our behaviour depending on the social situation
ingratiation
- we want others to like us
- use other-enhancement (compliments), and opinion conformity (match our beliefs with others)
self-promotion
- we want people to respect us our fear us
- use self enhancements or entitlements (take credit)
self monitoring
- a person’s ability to adjust their behavior to external situational factors
- linked to willingness to change
high self-monitors
- sensitive to external cues, care what people think
- behave differently depending on social situation
low self-monitors
- not sensitive to external cues
- behave the same in different social situations
- may seem more authentic, but usually cause conflict
self-regulation resource model
- high need for self-control and regulation
- self control is a limited resource
- when we use self-control it becomes momentarily fatigued in all domains
