Chapter 3 Flashcards
What is “the self”?
The mental apparatus that allows people to think consciously about themselves
The “self” is unique to …
Human
What is another name for “the-self”?
Meta-awareness
What does the lack of “the self” mean for other organisms?
Can’t think about thinking/feeling or think about why they are feeling a certain way
What is the egocenter? What does it do?
Constant presence inside head
“Another miniature brain inside this miniature self”
Convinces us that we are the same person we were many years ago
What is the infinite regress problem?
arises from egocenter: minature self inside brain. is there a brain inside that minature self? etc.
what is the “self concept”?
A mental representation (schema) of your own attribute and other pieces of knowledge about the self
- memory of personality, knowledge of past behaviours
- like and dislikes
What is spontaneous self-concept?
EXAMPLE?
collection of **aspects of identity **that are available to awareness at a given point in time
one’s Canadian identity when in a foreign country
Where is the full self-concept found (relative to spontaneous self-concept)?
unconscious
How does consistency relate to the spontaneous self concept?
conscious knowledge needs to be consistent BUT full self-knowledge and spontaneous self concept may not always be consistent
What are the 3 Multiple Selves?
- “Ideal” self: who we aspire to be (possible future self to compare current self to)
- “Ought” self: who we think we should be based on obligations (duties, responsibilities)
- “Undesired” self: who we do not wish to become (failiure)
What is the self-discrepency theory?
negative emotions due to current self being too different from ideal/ought self
What is the Looking Glass Self?
self-concept is a reflection of how others see us and we understand this through “appraisals” which are judgements from others that are adopted to self
What is the problem with the Looking Glass Self?
- other people don’t always give us honest feedback
- selective attention to feedback (dismiss negative feedback)
What is the social comparison process? How is this accurate?
Ex.
process of judging ourselves relative to others to assess our own attitudes and abilities
- accuracy: compare to similar others
i’m a better goalie than most of my friends so I must be fairly good
What is upward social comparison?
Comparing yourself to someone who is better than you are
- helps motivate improvement (but only if improvement still possible)
What was the experiment The Effects of “Superstars”?
- 1st-year and 4th-year accounting students
- some participants read about a “superstar” fourth-year accounting student
- others not exposed to the superstar
- asked to rate themselves on traits related to career success
- 1st year rated higher and 4th year rated themselves lower
- 1st years felt positive upward social comparison
What can upward social comparison lead to (negative)?
- can lead to anger/resentment (relative depravation) when we feel we deserve better outcomes
- Ex. Gender wage gap (make less money -> results in resentment)
What is downward social comparison?
Comparing yourself to someone who’s worse off than you are
- usually makes you feel better about yourself
- Ex. I did poorly on test but at least I didn’t fail”
What is introspection?
Process of looking inward and examining one’s thoughts, feelings, and motives
What is the problem with introspection?
Often unaware of underlying reason
- know what we are feeling but we don’t know why (may be hidden by unconscious)
How accurate is self-knowledge
Accuracy fluctuates
What is the experiment done to assess accuracy of self-knowledge?
Participants kept mood diaries for 5 weeks
- participants often wrong about what factors predicted mood
What is the experiment studying cultural differences in identity?
ask participants to complete the statement “I am..” and compare non-social completions (individualistic) /social completions (interdependent)
