chapter 4: the self Flashcards
self-concept
all of an individual’s knowledge about their personal qualities
Daryl Bem’s self-perception theory
o The theory that we make inferences about our personal characteristics on the basis of our overt behaviours when internal cues are weak or ambiguous
o Especially true when we are first developing a self-concept or when we don’t have a good sense of who we are in a particular domain
o Especially likely to draw self-inferences from behaviours that people see as freely chosen
children and markers experiment
introducing children to drawing with colourful markers, some children received a previously promised “good player” certificate, others unexpectedly received it, some didn’t
o 1-2 weeks later they were given markers during free time
o Those who hadn’t received the reward or received it unexpectedly drew 16% of the time, those who expected and got the reward drew 8.6% of their free time
o Must have concluded that they drew for the reward, not just for the pleasure of creating a picture
can imagined behaviors be input for self-perception process
yes
o Thinking about actual or imagined behaviour increases the accessibility of related personal characteristics – thoughts come to mind easier and then become the basis for a self-inference
o Seeing yourself as possessing relevant traits – improve not only confidence, persistence and effort, but also actual performance on the task
gymnast experiment
gymnasts assigned to practice a new balance-beam move or imagine doing the same thing trying to form a realistic image of every detail
o Both groups showed the same improvement
looking-glass self
one source of our self-knowledge are people’s reactions to us
children told they’re tidy experiment
three groups of schoolchildren: one told they’re tidy, one repeatedly instructed to be tidy, control
o The tidiest were kids in the first group – labelled as tidy, they behaved accordingly reflecting their new self-concepts
- Not necessary to be explicitly labelled with a trait – choosing you to run important errands
o Largest effects on people whose self-concepts are uncertain or still developing
social-comparison theory
- Social comparison theory – the theory that people learn about and evaluate their personal qualities by comparing themselves to others
o Leon Festinger – people would gain the most accurate information about themselves by seeking out similar others for comparison
o Contrast effect – an effect of comparison standard or prime that makes the perceiver’s judgement more different from the standard – if there’s a big difference that leads to a biased view of self (much lower or much higher self esteem)
o Assimilation effect – an effect of comparison standard or prime that makes the perceiver’s judgement more similar to the standard – see your skills as slightly better when comparing to someone who’s slightly more skilled than you
why do people compare themselves to others
May seek out accurate self-knowledge (mastery), to show solidarity (connectedness) or feel better about themselves (valuing me and mine)
why is learning about ourselves different than learning about others
see ourselves in a wider range of situations and for more time, we have access to our inner thoughts
what’s a common strategy to infer others’ thoughts
consider our own thoughts, assume that they have similar ones and then adjust them if necessary to reflect specific information we know about the other person
what’s a common strategy to infer others’ thoughts
consider our own thoughts, assume that they have similar ones and then adjust them if necessary to reflect specific information we know about the other person acto
what’s a common strategy to infer others’ thoughts
consider our own thoughts, assume that they have similar ones and then adjust them if necessary to reflect specific information we know about the other person acto
what’s a common strategy to infer others’ thoughts
consider our own thoughts, assume that they have similar ones and then adjust them if necessary to reflect specific information we know about the other person acto
actor-observer effect
the idea that we attribute our own behaviors to situational causes while seeing others’ acts as due to their inner characteristics
reasons for the actor-observer effect
o When we witness another person’s behaviour, that person is salient – they’re the focus of attention and stand out against the background
When we act, we look out at the world, so the stimulus or trigger is the salient factor
o When asked why something occurred people consider different alternatives for the self and for others (why you liked the latest thriller – external reasons vs why your friend likes it – internal reasons)
when is the actor-observer effect much smaller
may operate differently depending on whether the to-be-explained action is positive or negative (reversed for positive behaviors in order to boost self-esteem)
o More likely when a behavior is seen as deviating widely from what most others do in a particular circumstance compared to behaviors that seem more mundane or typical
difference between the actor and the observer
actors explain their behavior by their own beliefs and goals, observers more often cite more remote causes of those beliefs or goals
students kept diaries experiment
50 students kept diaries of their positive and negative moods and tried to identify the sources for 5 weeks
o Another group of students just had to describe how different factors can generally affect people’s moods
o No difference in factors – the vast wealth of self-knowledge doesn’t guarantee that we can generate unique insights into our own behavior
self-aspects
summaries of a person’s beliefs about the self in specific domains, roles, or activities
strategies of self coherence
o Noting a few core attributes they believe characterize them uniquely among people and consistently across situations
Self-schema – core characteristics that a person believes characterize them across situation – once something is incorporated people notice and process information about it very efficiently
People tend to see evidence for these core traits even in their most mundane behaviors, reinforcing their sense of stable and unitary self
o Making accessible at any time only a subset of our self-knowledge and self-aspects
Ex: researchers asked biased questions to induce students to reflect on either their past introverted or extroverted behaviors – students rated themselves but also behaved accordingly
o Selective memory – when thinking about their past, people reconstruct an autobiography or life story that integrates their various self-aspects and characteristics
People whose behavior has changed from shy to outgoing may retrieve a biased set of autobiographical memories
constructing a coherent sense of self in the West
people tend to see the self as independent, separate from other people, revealed primarily in inner thought and feelings
General attributes that mark them as unique – I’m intelligent
constructing a coherent sense of self in the east
o Asia, Africa, South America – see the self as connected with others and revealed in social roles and relationships
Define themselves in terms of relationships, roles, attributes – I’m a daughter
Often visualize memories from a third person perspective
More emphasis on self aspects than on self-schemata – may have a self-concept that incorporates more variability, inconsistencies and even contradictions
can we all think about ourselves in both a collectivist and individualist way
each of us has the capacity to think of ourselves in both collectivist and individualist ways
- Ex: priming US students with individualism or collectivism caused them to display the types of values an judgement characteristics of those respective cultures
self-esteem
– an individual’s positive or negative evaluation of themselves
o Trait self-esteem: chronic feelings about the self
o State self-esteem: a person’s relatively fleeting feelings about the self in a particular moment
lake Wobegon effect
– people generally tend to inflate their own abilities and accomplishments, seeking to elevate their self-esteem
o Rate themselves above average on majority of qualities
faces of politicians experiment
students viewed a picture of a male politician whose face had been digitally blended with the participant’s own face – men prefer
o Women don’t – might be weird because it’s a combination of a male and a female face
self-enhancing bias
any tendency to gather or interpret information concerning the self in a way that leads to overly positive evaluations
how does unbiased working memory affect self perception
easy to remember one’s own contributions, more difficult to imagine others’ (less when the project is a failure)
introversion or extroversion experiment
students were led to believe that their extroversion or introversion was a desirable characteristic
o When students had to recall past behaviors, they described more memories of the sort they believed to be desirable
o + the same experiment but with brushing teeth – most of us amass more positive experiences than negative ones both in reality and memory
self-complexity
the extent to which a person possesses many and diverse self-aspects
- Negative events or failures seem to have about the same negative impact on people regardless of their level of self-complexity – negative effects are more powerful
self-evaluation maintenance
a theory outlining the conditions under which people’s self-esteem will be maintained or will suffer based on social comparisons to close or distant others
o Abraham Tesser – two possible reactions after social comparison – depend on the closeness of the other person and the importance or centrality of the attribute in question for the person’s self-concept
Olympic Games observation
o The silver-medalist naturally compares themselves to the gold-medalist and doesn’t feel good
o The bronze-medalist compares themselves to the person in the 4th place – happier
2 tactics for self-esteem
establishing distance between ourselves and those who are successful (downplaying our similarities to them or backing off from our relationships with them)
o Comparing with those who are less fortunate
breast-cancer patients experiment
they compared themselves with others who were worse off – people whose disease wasn’t responding to treatments or those who lacked social support or contracted the disease at a comparatively young age
comparing relationships study
when people had to list aspects of their relationships that were better than most people’s – felt more positive about the relationship compared to those who just listed good aspects of their relationships
