Chapter 3 Flashcards
What are the ABCs of the Self?
- Affect
- Behavior
- Cognition
What does “affect” mean regarding the ABCs of the self?
Emotion or feelings
What does “cognition” mean regarding the ABCs of the self?
Thoughts
Our overall beliefs about ourselves and our personal attitudes. How we see ourselves or describe ourselves is called
self-concept
Our mental representation and knowledge of what makes us who we are. The labels and descriptors we ascribe to ourselves (traits) is called
self-schema
What is meant by saying “schema”?
The organization of information or memory for us
What is the looking-glass Self idea?
An idea that other people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves.
Who first proposed the idea of the looking-glass self?
Horton Cooley
Who built on the looking-glass idea and what idea was proposed?
Herbert Mead proposed we come to know ourselves by imagining what other people think about us.
How does the looking-glass idea develop our own self-concept?
Other people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves. We then incorporate the perceptions of what others may think about us into our self-concepts.
The process of predicting how one would feel in response to future emotional events
Affective forecasting
Which statement is not true about the challenges of affective forecasting?
A. It’s sometimes hard to predict how we will feel in the future
B. Affective forecasting may not equate to effective forecasting
C. Can experience impact bias
D. How you feel now, may be how you feel later
D
People overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions, a phenomenon called?
impact bias, how you feel now may not be how you feel later
What are two reasons for impact bias in affective forecasting?
- Negative life events: unaware of our own and others coping mechanisms can lead to a “self-other” difference
- Tunnel-vision: focusing on one event instead of all events
What is meant by “self-other” difference?
A difference between the way we see ourselves and the way others see us.
The theory that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behavior and the situation in which the behavior takes place.
Self-perception theory
What are some limitations to self-perception
- Only applicable to when situational factors cannot cause behaviors (situational pressure like reward or punishment are not present)
- When people are gently coaxed into saying or doing something and when they are not otherwise certain about how they feel, they often come to view themselves in ways that are consistent with their public statements and behaviors (survey says you are introverted, even if you may not be, you will act accordingly because a public statement has been made)
Bem argued that people sometimes learn about themselves by observing the behavior of someone else with whom you completely identify with. This phenomenon is called
Vicarious self-perception
How does SOKA affect the predictions we can make about our self?
- For internal/non-evaluative traits, we tend to know ourselves better.
- For observable/non-evaluative traits, self and friend ratings were equally accurate
- For internal/evaluative traits, friend rating were more accurate
a model proposed by Simine Vazire in which she predicts that we know ourselves better than others do when it comes to traits that are “internal” and hard to observe and that there is no self-other difference when it comes to traits that are “external” and easy to observe. She also predicts that others may actually know us better than we know ourselves when it comes to observable traits that can be touchy for self-esteem purposes that we have motivated “blind spots”
Self-Other Knowledge Asymmetry (SOKA)
How does introspection affect the predictions we can make about our self?
- Self knowledge is derived from introspection, looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings.
- Introspection can sometimes lead us astray on the road to self-knowledge.
Problems:
1. Human beings are mentally busy processing information, which is why we so often fail to understand our own thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
2. People overestimate the positives. Most people, most of the time, think they are better than average.
How does self-perception affect the predictions we can make about our self?
If we have a positive perception of ourselves, we will most likely have more positive thoughts and beliefs about the world overall, which in turn can lead to more frequent positive behaviors.
What are the different types of motivation that acts as a catalyst for behavior?
- Intrinsic motivation
- Extrinsic motivation
What is an example of an intrinsic motivation and what does it mean?
Example: A student does well in a course because they are interested in the topic
The self is the source of motivation (within/internal)
What is an example of an extrinsic motivation and what does it mean?
Example: Student does well in a course because parents promise $50 per A on a report card
Comes from outside sources (external)
The theory that people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others.
Social comparison theory
What implications does social comparison have in our behavior?
- People engage in social comparison in states of uncertainty, when more objective means of self-evaluation are not available.
- When we evaluate our own taste in music, value on the job market, or athletic ability, we look to others who are similar to us in relevant ways
Social comparison can lead to
- downward social comparisons
- upward social comparisons
An affective component of the self, consisting of a person’s positive and negative self-evaluations.
Self-esteem
What are the different self-enhancement strategies people can use?
- The Better-Than-Average Effect
- Implicit Egotism
- Self-serving beliefs
- Self-Handicapping
- Basking in reflected glory (BIRG)
- Downward Social Comparisons
Strategies people use to shape what others think of them
Self-presentation
Mackson, Broch, & Schneider (2019) Methods
Participants = 204
Used a survey to measure
1. Anxiety
2. Depression
3. Loneliness
4. Self-esteem
5. Body image
6. Instagram anxiety
7. Social comparison
8. Time spent on instagram (users only)
Mackson, Broch, & Schneider (2019) significant results
The good:
1. Instagram associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, & higher self-esteem
The bad:
1. Social comparison was associated with depression among instagram users (did not predict anxiety)
2. Instagram related anxiety was associated with general anxiety
Mackson, Broch, & Schneider (2019) implications
Self-esteem and loneliness mediated associated between instagram, depression, & anxiety
Which means Instagram users
1. Might have high self-esteem
2. May experience less loneliness
3. Less likely to experience depression or anxiety
Our self-esteem is defined by the match or mismatch between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves. These lists can predict your self-esteem and your emotional well-being
Self-discrepancy theory
1. Actual Self (the person you actually are)
2. Ought Self (the person you think you ought to be)
3. Ideal Self (the person you would like to be)
What is the role of the Actual Self in the self-discrepancy theory?
- Resembles your self-concept
- The person you actually are
What is the role of the Ought Self in the self-discrepancy theory?
- Resembles your personal standards, or self-guides
- the person you think you ought to be
What is the role of the Ideal Self in the self-discrepancy theory?
- Resembles your personal standards, or self-guides
- the person you would like to be
If there’s a discrepancy between your actual and ought selves, you may feel..
- Guilty
- Ashamed
- Resentful
May suffer from
1. Excessive fears
2. Anxiety-related disorders
If there’s a discrepancy between your actual and ideal selves, you may feel…
- Disappointed
- Frustrated
- Unfulfilled
- Sad
May suffer from
1. Depression
Self-esteem depends on these three factors related to discrepancy
- The amount of discrepancy
- The importance of the discrepancy to self
- How much we focus on our self-discrepancies
The process by which people control their thoughts, feelings, or behavior in order to achieve a personal or social goal
Self-regulation
What is the impact of self-regulation on the ABC’s of the self?
- Controlling one’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in order to achieve a personal or social goal
- An attempt to “fix” ourselves
The desire to have others perceive us as we truly perceive ourselves is called
Self-verification
The tendency to regulate one’s own behavior to meet the demands of social situations.
Self-monitoring
How do individuals who are high in self-monitoring behave?
- Sensitive to strategic self-presentation concerns
- Poised
- Ready
- Able to modify their behavior as they move from one setting to another
- Agree with statements like “In different situations and with different people, I often act like very different persons.”
How do individuals who are low in self-monitoring behave?
- Self-verifiers by nature, less concerned about the social acceptability of their behavior
- They express themselves in a consistent manner from one situation to the next.
- Agree with statement like “I can only argue for ideas which I already believe”
