Ch. 5 The Self

Question 1

Self-Concept

Answer 1

SELF-CONCEPT – The set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes, our sense of self – who we think we are and how we define ourselves.

• Besides humans, Great Apes, dolphins, Orcas, Elephants, and European Magpies seem to have a sense of self. (They realize that the image in the mirror is themselves and not another animal, and they recognize that they look different from how they looked before.)
  
  • However, the book says that“At least as measured by the mirror test, a sense of self seems to be limited to human beings and the great apes.” which is NOT true.
• human self-recognition develops at around 18 to 24 months.
• Asking people of different ages to answer the simple question “Who am I?” produces different results at different ages. Children focus on physical attributes (Ex: I am 4 feet tall, 72 pounds with brown eyes and I like dogs) while adults tend to focus on psychological attributes (Ex: I am Determined, Powerful, Intelligent, Confident)

MORALITY AS CENTRAL TO THE ‘SELF’ – morality is viewed as central to the self-concept, more so than cognitive processes or desires. Some changes, such as physical declines, minor cognitive deficits, and new preferences, don’t change people’s basic view of who someone is. But changes in MORALITY do.

• Ex: If our friend, Bill, now needs prescription eyeglasses, doesn’t recall things as well as he used to, and has become a vegetarian, we still see him as the same old Bill (with some minor changes).
  
  • But if Bill has undergone a MORAL TRANSFORMATION – he shows signs of cruelty when he used to be kind, or racist when he used to be egalitarian – we hardly recognize him as the same person.

Question 2

Cultural Influences on Self-Concept

Answer 2

INDEPENDENT VIEW OF THE SELF – A way of defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people.

• Common in INDIVIDUALISTIC cultures (Like the USA).

INTERDEPENDENT VIEW OF THE SELF – A way of defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people, recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others.

• Common in COLLECTIVISTIC cultures (Like East Asia).
• What is viewed as positive and normal behavior by one culture may be viewed very differently by another.
• The differences in the sense of self are so fundamental that it is difficult for people with INDEPENDENT selves to appreciate what it is like to have an INTERDEPENDENT self and vice versa.
  
  • After giving a lecture on the Western view of the self to a group of Japanese students, one psychologist reported that the students “sighed deeply and said at the end, ‘Could this really be true?’”

Question 3

Functions of the Self

Answer 3

FUNCTIONS OF THE SELF – There are four main functions:

• SELF-KNOWLEDGE – is the way we understand who we are and formulate and organize this information.
• SELF-CONTROL – is the way we make plans and execute decisions, such as your decision to read this book right now instead of going out for ice cream;
• IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT – is the way we present ourselves to other people and get them to see us the way we want to be seen.
• SELF-ESTEEM – is the way in which we try to maintain positive views of ourselves.

See individual flashcards for greater depth.

Question 4

Self-Awareness Theory and Introspection: Self-Knowledge

Answer 4

SELF-KNOWLEDGE – is the way we understand who we are and formulate and organize this information.

• INTROSPECTION – The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives.
  
  • Helps us figure out why we feel the way we do
• SELF-AWARENESS THEORY – The idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and COMPARE their BEHAVIOR to their INTERNAL standards and VALUES. This is called being SELF-CONSCIOUS – seeing ourselves as an outside observer would.
  
  • Ex: Imagine a smoker who knows they should quit smoking, and one day they catch an image of themselves in a store window smoking a cigarette. Seeing their reflection will highlight the disparity between their behavior and their internal standards.
    
    • This DISSONANCE is uncomfortable and the smoker will want to reduce it. Thus, If they can change their behavior to match their internal guidelines (e.g., quit smoking), they will do so.
  • If, however, they can’t change their behavior, they will be stuck in a state of self-awareness that will be uncomfortable (DISSONANT) because they will be confronted with disagreeable feedback about themselves.
  • Another way to decrease the DISSONANCE would be to avoiding looking at pictures/reflections of themselves or other stimuli that reminds them to be self-aware.
  • Studies show that religious expression and spirituality can also be an effective means of avoiding self-focus.
  • Also, focusing on a recent success or current strength can decrease the DISSONANCE because it highlights your positive accomplishments.
• Those who are made SELF-AWARE are more likely to follow their moral standards, such as avoiding the temptation to cheat on a test.
• Studies have shown that the more often people said they were thinking about themselves, the more likely they were to be in a bad mood. Though a confounding factor might be that people who report thinking about themselves a lot might also be inclined to ruminate, which is a known contributor to depression.
  
  • People AVOID SELF-AWARENESS when it reminds them of their shortcomings.
  • SELF-AWARENESS is HELPFUL when it helps you avoid temptation by making you more aware of your morals and ideals.

Question 5

Causal Theories: Self-Knowledge

Answer 5

CAUSAL THEORIES – Theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from our culture (e.g., “absence makes the heart grow fonder”) and much of these theories are complete nonsense, based on urban legends and ‘folk wisdom’.

• A problem is that our schemas and theories are not always correct and thus can lead to incorrect judgments about the causes of our actions and feelings.
• But we use them nonetheless because the ‘theory’ offers some explanation (right or wrong) that reduces the dissonance created from the uncertainty of not knowing why something is happening.

Question 6

Self-Perception Theory: Self-Knowledge

Answer 6

SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY – The 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. In other words, If we don’t really know why we’re feeling the way we do, we look to external cues to help us figure it out.

• Ex: Suppose that a friend asks you how much you like classical music. You hesitate because you never listened to classical music much, but lately you have found yourself listening to symphonies every now and then. “Well, I don’t know,” you reply. “I guess I like some kinds of classical music. Just yesterday I listened to a Beethoven symphony on the radio while I was driving to work.” If so, you used observations of your own behavior to determine how you feel.
  
  • First, we infer our inner feelings from our behavior only when we are not sure how we feel. If you’ve always known that you love classical music, you do not need to observe your behavior to figure this out.
  • Second, people judge whether their behavior really reflects how they feel (INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION) or dismiss it as a result of the situation (EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION) that made them act that way.
  • So, If you conclude that the behavior was due to some INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION, (you voluntarily listened to Mozart) then they are likely to use that behavior as evidence that you truly feel that way (like listening to Mozart).
    
    • If you concluded that the behavior was due to some EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION (Someone in the car made you listen to it) then they are likely to conclude that the behavior is NOT evidence of the way they feel (that listening to the Mozart that was forced upon them does NOT provide evidence that you like listening to Mozart.)
• We observe our behavior and we make attributions about attitudes**, **preferences**, and even our own **emotions when these things are uncertain or ambiguous.

Question 7

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: Self-Knowledge

Answer 7

TWO FACTOR THEORY OF EMOTION – The idea that emotional experience is the result of a two-step self-perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it.

• SCHACTER argues that there are conditions necessary to experience an emotion:
  
  1. You are AROUSED,
  2. You have found a REASONABLE EXPLANATION for your arousal in the situation that surrounds you.
• So, emotions can be the result of a self-perception process, one where the emotions are somewhat arbitrary, depending on what the most plausible explanation for their arousal happens to be.
  
  • The BIG PROBLEM with this is that people look for the most plausible explanation for their arousal. But sometimes the most plausible explanation is not the right one, and so people end up experiencing a mistaken emotion**. This is known as **MISATTRIBUTION OF AROUSAL – The process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do.

Question 8

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: Self-Knowledge

Answer 8

INTRINSIC vs. EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

• INTRINSIC MOTIVATION – The desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it, not because of external rewards or pressures.
• EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION – The desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task.
• According to SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY, in such situations, people often assume that they are motivated by external rewards and not their intrinsic interest.
  
  • IMPORTANT: That means that being rewarded EXTRINSICLY (Ex: Paid Money to read a book) for doing something you previously did for INTRINSIC reasons (you enjoyed reading books), will make you enjoy the activity LESS and therefore, cause you to take part in that desirable activity (of reading books) LESS once the EXTRINSIC REWARD is taken away.
    
    • That is because you will associate doing the activity with the EXTRINSIC reward and thus, determine subconsciously that you must have been doing the activity not because you actually enjoyed doing so, but rather for the EXTRINSIC reward.
    • This phenomenon where rewards can make people lose interest in activities they initially enjoyed. This is called the OVERJUSTIFICATION EFFECT – The tendency for people to view their behavior as caused by EXTRINSIC reasons, making them UNDERESTIMATE THE EXTENT to which it was caused by INTRINSIC reasons.
      
      • Essentially, the mind chooses EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION over INTRINSIC MOTIVATION if it is available, even if the INTRINSIC MOTIVATION is strong.

Conditions where OVERJUSTIFCATION EFFECTS can be avoided:

• EXTRINSIC rewards will undermine INTRINSIC interest ONLY if interest was initially HIGH.
  
  • If a child has no interest in reading, then getting him or her to read by offering rewards is not a bad idea because there is no initial interest to undermine.
• Rewarding based on performance (PERFORMANCE-CONTINGENT REWARDS) rather than on simple execution (TASK-CONTINGENT REWARDS) is LESS likely to DECREASE INTEREST in a task – and may even increase interest – because the earned reward conveys the message that you are good at the task
  
  • PERFORMANCE-CONTINGENT REWARDS – an EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION That is given ONLY if the quality of the performance is HIGH.
  • TASK-CONTINGENT REWARDS – meaning that people are rewarded simply for doing a task, regardless of the quality of their performance.
  • Thus, rather than giving kids a reward simply for playing math games—a TASK-CONTINGENT reward—it is better to give them a reward for doing well in math—a PERFORMANCE-CONTINGENT reward.

Question 9

Mindset and Motivation: Self-Knowledge

Answer 9

MINDSET AND MOTIVATION

• GROWTH MINDSET – The idea that achievement is the result of hard work, trying new strategies, and seeking input from others.
• FIXED MINDSET – The belief that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change.
• Research shows that the mindset people have is crucial to their success:
  
  • People with the GROWTH MINDSET view setbacks as OPPORTUNITIES to IMPROVE through HARD WORK.
  • People with a fixed mindset are more likely to give up after setbacks and are less likely to work on and hone their skills; after all, if they fail, they think it must be a sign that they simply don’t have what it takes.
  • Those with GROWTH MINDSETS are more likely to redouble their efforts and change their strategies and thus DO BETTER!
  • People with a GROWTH MINDSET are likely to believe ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE if they find the right strategies and WORK HARD – and consequently ACCOMPLISH FAR MORE in life.

Question 10

Social Comparison Theory: Self-Knowledge

Answer 10

SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY – The idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people. If we never interacted with other people, our own image would be a blur because we would not see ourselves as having selves distinct from those of others.

• The theory revolves around two important questions:
  
  • QUESTION: When do people engage in social comparison?
    
    • ANSWER: People socially compare when there is no objective standard to measure themselves against and when they are uncertain about themselves in a particular area.
    • Ex: Say you decide to donate $50 a month to a charity. Does this make you see yourself as a generous person? It depends.
      
      • If you know that your friend donates only $10 per month, you’re likely to feel that you are a generous person.
      • If you know that your friend donates $100 per month, you’re likely to feel that you are NOT so generous.
  • QUESTION: With whom do they choose to compare themselves?
    
    • ANSWER: It depends on whether your goal is to get an accurate assessment of your abilities, to determine what the top level is so that you know what to strive for, or to feel better about yourself.

UPWARD SOCIAL COMPARISON – Comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability.

• If your goal is to know what excellence is – the top-level to which you can aspire – you are likely to engage in upward social comparison,
• A problem with upward social comparison is that it can be dispiriting, making us feel inferior.

DOWNWARD SOCIAL COMPARISON – Comparing ourselves to people who are worse than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability.

• Use this comparison If your goal is to feel good about yourself and boost your egos.
• COMPARING TO A PAST SELF – Another way we can feel better about ourselves is to compare our current performance with our own past performance. A sort of downward social comparison to a “past self”.
• LINEAR SOCIAL COMPARISON – When we want an accurate assessment of our abilities and opinions, we compare ourselves to people who are similar to us.

Question 11

Social Tuning

Answer 11

SOCIAL TUNING – The process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes.

• This can happen consciously or unconsciously.
• People who have similar views are attracted to each other and are more likely to become friends, but people also adopt the views of the people they hang out with, at least under certain conditions.
• We tend to automatically adopt the views of people we like but automatically reject the views of people we do not.

Question 12

Self–Control

Answer 12

SELF-CONTROL – The ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals.

• What is helpful in developing self-control?
  
  • HELPFUL: Form specific IMPLEMENTATION INTENTIONS – People’s specific plans about where, when, and how they will fulfill a goal and avoid temptations.
    
    • Ex: Instead of saying to yourself, “I really want to get a good grade in my psychology class,” make specific “if-then” plans that specify how and when you will study and how you will avoid temptations.
• HELPFUL: Arrange your environment so that you avoid temptations in the first place. In other words, if it will be too hard to avoid the ice cream in the freezer, then don’t put ice cream in the freezer.
  
  • Ex: Do your work at a clean desk and put your phone out of reach.
• HELPFUL: TURN OFF YOUR PHONE
• HELPFUL: Make sure that you are well-rested
• NOT helpful: Trying not to think about the object of temptation
• NOT helpful: Trying simply to focus on the long-term goal and how important it is to us
• DEPLETION EFFECT – the controversial belief that self-control requires energy, and spending this energy on one task limits the amount of energy you have to exert self-control on something else
  
  • Research is mixed on this.
• Research DOES SUPPORT the idea that it matters how much people believe that willpower is a limited resource that is easily depleted. People who believe that willpower is an unlimited resource are better able to keep going and avoid being depleted by a difficult task, as long as the task is not too demanding.
  
  • So adopt the belief that you have all the energy you need to do maintain self-control.

Question 13

Impression Management

Answer 13

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT – The attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen.

INGRATIATION – The process whereby people flatter, praise, and generally try to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status.

SELF HANDICAPPING – The strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves.

• BEHAVIORAL SELF-HANDICAPPING – people act in ways that reduce the likelihood that they will succeed on a task so that if they fail, they can blame it on the obstacles they created rather than on their lack of ability.
  
  • Ex: Use of drugs, alcohol, reduced effort on a task, and failure to prepare for an important event.
  • Men are more likely to engage in behavioral self-handicapping than are women.
• REPORTED SELF-HANDICAPPING – Rather than creating obstacles to success, people devise ready-made excuses in case they fail.
  
  • Ex: We might not go out partying (Behavioral Self-Handicapping) before an important exam, but we might complain that we are not feeling well (Reported Self-Handicapping).
• AN OBVIOUS PROBLEM with preparing ourselves with excuses in advance is that we may come to believe these excuses and hence exert less effort on the task. Why work hard at something if you are going to do poorly anyway?
  
  • Self-handicapping often has the perverse effect of causing the poor performance we feared to begin with.
  • People do not like others whom they perceive as engaging in self-handicapping strategies