CHAPTER 2 THE SELF IN A SOCIAL WORLD

Question 1

Spotlight Effect

Answer 1

The belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance than they really are.

Question 2

illusion of transparency

Answer 2

The illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others.

Question 3

self-concept

Answer 3

How a person answers the question “Who am I?” provides a glimpse of their self-concept.

Question 4

self-schemas

Answer 4

Beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information.

Question 5

social comparison

Answer 5

Evaluating your abilities and opinions by comparing yourself to others.

Question 6

individualism

Answer 6

The concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.

Question 7

independent self

Answer 7

Construing one’s identity as an autonomous self.

Question 8

collectivism

Answer 8

Giving priority to the goals of one’s groups (often, one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly.

Question 9

interdependent self

Answer 9

Construing one’s identity in relation to others

Question 10

planning fallacy

Answer 10

The tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task

Question 11

impact bias

Answer 11

Overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing events.

Question 12

dual attitudes

Answer 12

Differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes toward the same object. Verbalized explicit attitudes may change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly, with practice that forms new habits.

Question 13

self-esteem

Answer 13

A person’s overall self- evaluation or sense of self-worth.

Question 14

self-efficacy

Answer 14

A sense that one is competent and effective, distinguished from self-esteem, which is one’s sense of self-worth. A sharpshooter in the military might feel high self-efficacy and low self-esteem.

Question 15

self-serving attributions

Answer 15

A form of self-serving bias; the tendency to attribute positive outcomes to yourself and negative outcomes to other factors.

Question 16

explanatory style

Answer 16

A person’s habitual way of explaining life events. A negative, pessimistic, and depressive explanatory style attributes failures to stable, global, and internal causes.

Question 17

defensive pessimism

Answer 17

The adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action.

Question 18

false consensus effect

Answer 18

The tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviours.

Question 19

false uniqueness effect

Answer 19

The tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviours.

Question 20

Temporal comparisons

Answer 20

Comparisons between how the self is viewed now and how the self was viewed in the past or how the self is expected to be viewed in the future.

Question 21

self-handicapping

Answer 21

Protecting one’s self-image with behaviours that create a handy excuse for later failure.

Question 22

self-presentation

Answer 22

The act of expressing yourself and behaving in ways designed to create a favourable impression or an impression that corresponds to your ideals.

Question 23

self-monitoring

Answer 23

Being attuned to the way you present yourself in social situations and adjusting your performance to create the desired impression.

Question 24

self-presentation theory

Answer 24

A theory positing that we are eager to present ourselves in ways that make a good impression.

Question 25

learned helplessness

Answer 25

The hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events.