Chapter 2: The Self in a Social World

Question 1

spotlight effect

Answer 1

• the belief that others are paying more attention to out 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 into 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 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 persons overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth

Question 14

self-efficacy

Answer 14

• a sense that one is competent and effective

Question 15

self-serving bias

Answer 15

• the tendency to perceive yourself favourably

- i.e. it’s not you, it was the situation or the other person

Question 16

self-serving attributions

Answer 16

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

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 and how the self was viewed in the past or how the self expects 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 on 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

learned helplessness

Answer 24

• the hopelessness and resignation learned when an animal or human perceives no control over repeated bad events