CHAPTER 13 Flashcards
What are self-schemas?
Self-Schemas are elements of our self knowledge
we use them to organize our information processing when we encounter situations
Similar to a “collection of constructs”
How do people develop different types of schemas?
People, due to differential experiences with the
environment, will have
different self-schemas
Do we become biased towards our self-schemas?
We become biased towards our self-schemas and more likely to pay attention and remember information that fits our self-schema (e.g., “resonation” in the phenomenological world)
> e.g., similar to projection except this is not unconcious in the sense we cannot or never can be aware of them
> e.g., parts of this lecture may “fit” into your knowledge base more easily than other parts.
Self-Schemas also motivate us to process information in two ways: what are they?
Self enhancement and self verification
Self-enhancement schemas entail:
People are biased towards maintaining a positive view of the self
e.g. if I fail an exam its because the test was “unfair” [externalised – fundamental attribution bias]
This may also causes us to over-estimate our positive attributes (e.g., defensively, misattribution, and/or irrationally)
e.g., raising our SEE, despite performance – grandiosity in clinical narcissism as an extreme [internalised]
Self-verification schemas entail:
Very strong motive to be consistent in who we are (whether good or bad for us) to avoid threat/anxiety
i.e., can cause dogmatic thinking; lacking psychological flexibility (lack of assimilation of ideas; denial)
Self-schema: “I’m virtuous because I’m always honest: I tell it like it is, and some people cant handle it”
the person says hurtful things under a “veil of truth”
But its judgmental and biased to their own perception to reinforce their own behaviour/values as a
means of self-verification (i.e., if I can verify that you agree with me then that reinforces/enhances my self-verification)
What are therapeutic efforts used for?
Therapeutic efforts are used to modify these self-schemas and challenge cognitive distortions
E.g., self-verification can also suffer from black or white (all or none) and catastrophic thinking (i.e., cog. distortions)
What are learning goals according to Dweck?
More interested in what can be learnt
What are performance goals according to Dweck?
More interested in achievement
Low ability causes far greater anxiety and ‘interference in completion’ in what type of goals?
Low ability causes far greater anxiety and ‘interference in completion’ in those with
performance goals compared to learning goals
Tory Higgins (2006) standard of evaluations
> Individual differences on evaluation standards lead to different types of emotional experiences and motivation
> Two people may evaluate a goal (or behaviour) in different ways: Discrepancies in self-standards cause different problems (covered in the phenomenological lecture)
Discrepancies in actual/ideal self standards cause:
> Actual – Ideal self (e.g. want to be)
> Feelings of sadness – not achieving our own standards; hopelessness (with low efficacy)
> Not living up to my ‘ideal’
Clinical: Depressive disorders
Discrepancies in the actual/ought self cause:
> Actual – Ought self (e.g. should be – what I think others think I should be like)
Creates agitation and anxiety (fear of rejection from the ‘tribe’; fight or flight increases: potential danger)
Not living up to others’ ‘ideal’
Clinical: Social Phobic and anxiety disorders (e.g., a person feels they “ought to be” better than they are)
Why do maladaptive behaviours occur?
> Maladaptive behaviour (psychopathology) results from dysfunctional learning
> Maladaptive responses can be learned from parents, or ‘sick/bad’ models
e.g., Bandura’s bobo doll
How do maladaptive coping mechanisms/stress affect reinforcements?
> positive reinforcement (add stimulus: self-medicating; alcohol, drugs, food, etc)
> Forcing mood change artificially (replacing one emotion with another emotion)
> negative reinforcement (remove stimulus: avoidance of anxiety)
Manifestations of maladaptive coping seen in many anxiety disorders such as:
Manifestations of maladaptive coping seen in many anxiety disorders (e.g., related to worry), phobias (i.e., fear), substance-induced disorders, eating disorders, etc.
Ellis’s REBT - dysfunctional expectancies
> Erroneously expect that a negative (or positive) event will follow an event or situation
A –> B –> C
> An (A)ctivating event leads to a particular perceived (C)onsequence (A C)
Not so, our (B)elief about A will determine our response to C
B’s that cause psychological distress are: (Ellis’s REBT model)
B’s can also be significantly tied to :
> B’s that cause psychological distress are irrational
e.g., abused child who believes its their fault
> B’s can also be significantly tied to worry (anxiety/fear of future outcomes)
Research: 85% of what we worry about never comes true; when it does, 80% of time we are able to deal with it with no complications
Therapy (REBT) attempts to make people aware of their:
Irrationality
Albert Ellis (1997)
> People respond to their beliefs about events not the events themselves…
> Negative self-defeating thoughts/behaviour antecedents / belief
Reindoctrinating ourselves with ideological (dogmatic/faith type assumptions; non-challenged) beliefs
Antidote: Consistently revaluating philosophical/ideological assumptions/beliefs action / practice
Self-efficacy, Anxiety and Depression - social cognitive theory clinical applications
Threatening events cause anxiety through SEE
Not necessarily the event that causes anxiety but the perceived inefficacy in coping with the anxiety of the event
a “fear-of-fear” response (e.g., DSM5 - panic disorder; agoraphobia)
Depression through standards
Unusually high standards
e.g. perfectionism – Joey Harrington video
The vicious circle of avoidance or quitting:
Our perceived self-inefficacy (and/or not living up to our own self-standards) can lead to avoidance (of failure) and prematurely quitting a task/goal
the avoidance strategy reduces/removes stress and anxiety (we feel better, yay, but wait…)
the neg. reinforcement of the strategy actually REWARDS us for avoiding/quitting and we get a dopaminergic release
…that will strengthen/reinforce our cognitive pathways for quitting and avoidance
What is the antidote to the viscous circle of avoidance or quitting?
Antidote: self-compassion and try again, never quit\
“consistently revaluating philosophical/ideological assumptions and beliefs –> action / practice”
Therapeutic change: Modelling and Master
> Desired goal is to change the persons self-efficacy in relation to a particular event
> This is done by actually performing the task that is causing anxiety
> The overall task is broken down into small subs-kills that are practiced and then performed
> The difficulty of the skills gets progressively harder for the client (e.g., threat scale)
> Re-learn (re-model) the event and what the expectations are
