Chapter 2 Flashcards
Understand self-schemas, self-reference effect, and self esteem
self-schema - collection of beliefs and feelings of the self based on past and present experiences, as well as future hopes
self reference effect - tendency to process efficiently and remember info about oneself (or relatable to oneself) well
self esteem - evaluation of ourselves in terms of positive and negative aspects, overall self-evaluation or sense of self worth
How is reliable is self-knowledge?
not particularly reliable, except when causes of our behavior are obvious
What cultural differences are there in self-representations (interdependent vs. independent self)?
independent self - one’s identity is based off of the autonomous self, much more common in Western cultures
interdependent self - construing one’s identity in relation to others, more common in Eastern cultures
Understand the differences between self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control and learned helplessness
self esteem - evaluation of ourselves in terms of positive and negative aspects, overall self-evaluation or sense of self worth
self-efficacy - sense that one is competent and effective
locus of control - extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces
learned helplessness - sense of hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events
Understand self-serving tendencies: self-serving bias, unrealistic optimism, false consensus and false uniqueness. Why do these exist? How might they be adaptive or maladaptive?
self-serving bias - tendency to perceive oneself favorable
unrealistic optimism - too optimistic that bad things won’t happen to you or your loved ones
false consensus - tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors
false uniqueness - tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities or one’s desirable or successful behaviors
exist because of tendency of humans to favor themselves. it can be adaptive by guarding against low self esteem and depression, but maladaptive by overestimating our skills and virtues, and people who can’t take responsibility for their mistakes are generally more unhappy
Know the various self-presentational strategies: false modesty, self-handicapping, self-monitoring. How might they be adaptive or maladaptive?
false modesty - pretending you are not smart when you are, or basically not as good as you actually are, which is not true modesty
self-handicapping - protecting one’s self image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure
self-monitoring - adjusting one’s social performance to create the desired impression
adaptive to protect self esteem or help us in social situations
maladaptive because people are not being honest, or are participating in harmful behaviors
Understand how low self-monitors differ from high self-monitors
low self-monitors don’t tailor themselves to their audience quite as much, they tend to talk and act the same way in most situations
high self monitors are often social chameleons, know how to present themselves in all kinds of different situations
