Ch. 3 - The Social Self Flashcards
Self Concept -
Total sum of beliefs that people have about themselves
Self schemas
- belief units that guide information related to the self
Introspection:
Self reflection
- Not necessarily representative of the self
Affective forecasting
predicting one’s own emotions in the future
- we’re really bad at this
- Study of how people would feel in a year if they had just won the lottery or lost a limb compared to actual people in these situations
Self perception theory -
when internal emotions are difficult to infer, people often tell their emotions based off of their behaviour
Facial feedback hypothesis
changes in facial perception can trigger corresponding changes in the corresponding emotion
- we tend to view some faces as more trustworthy and others as more competent
Overjustification effect
rewards for doing things diminish intrinsic joy gotten from doing activities
- e.g. children who received a reward for drawing were less likely to draw for fun without a reward later
Social Comparison theory -
The theory that people evaluate their own abilities by comparing themselves to others
Two factor theory of Emotion
- Physiological arousal
- Cognitive interpretation of arousal
upward social comparison
Role models and people you look up to
Downward social comparison
Usually to make us feel better
- works well short term but has negative effects in the long run
Autobiographical memories
How we remember significant events that touched our lives
- we generally remember recent experiences better
- often “firsts”
Flashbulb memories
A type of autobiographical memory
- Detailed and vivid, but can be inaccurate
Dialecticism
System of thought that believes opposites can exist within the same person
- more common in collectivist societies
Sociometer Theory
Humans have a primitive need to be accepted by others for survival, and use Self Esteem as a gauge for how accepted they are by others
Terror management Theory
Humans cope with the thought of death by creating worldviews that help preserve self esteem
Self Discrepency theory
Self esteem is defined by how much we compare with our
- Actual Self
- Ought Self
- Ideal Self
- the more different our self-concept is from our Self-guides, the worse our self esteem is
Males outperform women on most measures of self esteem
Self Concept
Our own perception of ourselves
Self-Guides
The Ought Self
- how we should be
The Ideal Self
- how we want to be
Self Awareness theory
People compare themselves to higher standards, resulting in negative discrepancy
* Halloween experiment - kids took less candy when there was a mirror behind the bowl
Private Self Consciousness
The tendency to introspect about inner thoughts and feelings
Public self Consciousness
The tendency to focus on an outer public image
- publicly self conscious people were more likely to draw an E on their forehead in such a way that others could see it the right way
Self Regulation
How people control their thoughts, feelings, and behaviour to achieve a social or personal goal
- Depends on the cognitive resource of Willpower
* putting dieters next to snacks during a boring documentary; they were more likely to give in later when told they could eat as much ice cream as they wanted
Ironic Mental Processes
When you are trying too hard to avoid something and mess up because of it
- the harder someone tries to inhibit a thought, the less likely one is to succeed
Mechanisms of Self enhancement
- Implicit egotism
- Self Serving beliefs
- Self Handicapping
- Sandbagging
- Basking in reflected glory (BIRG)
- Downwards social Comparisons
Implicit Egotism
All people have a subconscious preference for themselves due to self esteem
- results in a faster association of the self with positive things
Self Handicapping
Actions taken to make themselves worse, and thus protect their own self esteem in the case of failure
Sandbagging
Publicly setting low expectations for oneself to easily supercede
BIRG
Basking In Reflected Glory
- Associating oneself with a successful group
* after a school sports victory, students are more likely to wear school merch
Downwards social Comparisons
Used when suffering a setback or failure
- Beneficial in the short term, but have negative long-term effects
Culture’s effect on self esteem
People from different cultures are equally motivated for self preference and implicit egotism, but collectivist cultures are more likely to show this with higher group cohesion and humility
Spotlight effect
a tendency to believe the social focus is on them more than it actually is
Self Presentation
how we try to shape what other people think of us
* people with low self esteem are more likely to post more differently on social media from how they actually are
Strategic Self Presentation
Our efforts to shape others’ impressions of us to gain influence, power, sympathy, or approval
Self Verification
The desire to have others understand us as we understand ourselves
* When one was incorrectly labelled as dominant or submissive by a confederate, they went out of their way to prove them wrong
Ingratiation
Acts motivated by the desire to get along and be liked
Self Promotion
Acts motivated by the desire to get ahead and gain respect for their competence
Self Monitoring
The tendency to regulate one’s own behaviour to meet social demands
- high self monitors and low self monitors
Surrogation
Using other peoples’ experiences to guide your own
- usually the best way, but also most commonly shunned by most people
Podcast notes
- Bad at predicting our own emotions
- Resistant to the thought that we might change in the future
