Chapter 4 (The Self) Flashcards
Define self concept
Self concept: All of an individuals knowledge about his or her personal qualities
What are the two concepts of self perceptions
- Self concept (what we know about ourself)
2. Self esteem (how we feel about ourself
What is the Lake Wogebon effect”
the effect that most people think about themselves above average
What are the 4 sources with which we construct our self concept
- Own thoughts and feelings
- Own observed behaviour
- Other peoples reactions
- Comparison to others
What is the self perception theory
People make sense of their own behaviour for self perception when internal cues are weak
“I am drawing for because its fun, not for money”
can even happen with imaginary behaviour
What is the social comparison theory
the theory that people learn and evaluate themselves by comparison to others
What is the contrast effect
when a comparison makes the percievers judgment different from the standard
so when you compare yourself to somebody who is super good you think you are bad, even though you still are average
What is the assimilation effect
When you compare yourself to somebody who is average, which makes your judgment of yourself also more standard
What are the 3 motivational principles when it comes to comparing yourself
- Mastery (good self knowledge)
- Connectedness (realtions with others)
- Valuing me and mine (feel better about ourselves)
What is the actor observer effect
We attribute our own behaviours to situations, but others to their personality (because it is salient)
What are differences in percieving others and ourselves
- We have more and better vues about ourselves
What does it mean that we have multiple selves and what are self aspects
Our self perception is different in different situation (social comparison), which also leads to different behaviour
Self aspects are summaries of these differnet perceptions
What is self schema
the core characteristics that a person believes characterize him or her across all situations
What are the three ways we construct our self schema and achieve coherence
- Focus on key trait
- Accessibility (different traits are active at different times)
- Selective memory
Define self esteem
an individuals positive or negative feeling and evaluation of himself or herself
it summarizes how we are doing at useing our self knowledge to navigate the social world
What is state self esteem
the shortlasting feelings about the self in a particular moment
What is self enhancing bias
any tendency to evaluate information about the self better that it actually is
What is self complexity
the extent to which a person possesses many and diverse self aspects
What is the self evaluation maintainance theory
it says that someones self esteem will be maintained or suffer baised on who they compare themselves with
this is why brinze winners are often happier than silber winners
For what 2 reasons does self enhancement occur
- helps against stress and threats to self
2. self improvement
How does the self concept influence memory and perception
we memorise and percieve traits and behaviour more, when we can describe ourselves with them
What is appraisal
In individuals interpretations of a self relevant event that directs emotions and behaviour
