Chapter 5 Textbook Flashcards
What is self concept clarity?
defined as the extend to which knowledge about the self is stable, clear, and consistently defined.
people who are low in the self concept clarity tend to have ___ self esteem
LOW self esteem, high neuroticism etc. They also tend to engage in chronic self-analysis and rumination, an involuntary negative form of self-focus associated with threat or uncertainty.
relationship between self concept clarity and self handicapping
the lower the self concept clarity, the more often a person will self handicap in attempt to avoid further self-blame
self concept clarity in difference cultures
higher self concept clarity in INDIVIDUALISTIC cultures. Self-concept clarity is associated with self-compassion.
in many western cultures, people have an ____ view of the self. What is this?
INDEPENDENT view of the self: defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings and actions, and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings and actions of other people. Valuing independence and uniqueness.
in many asian cultures, people have an ____ view of the self. What is this?
interdependent view of the self defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to otehr people; recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings and actions of others.
in cultures that have an interdependent view of the self, ____ and ___ between people are values, whereas ___ and ___ are frowned on.
in cultures that have an interdependent view of the self, CONNECTEDNESS and INTERDEPENDENCE between people are values, whereas INDEPENDENCE and UNIQUENESS are frowned on.
self-concept clarity is based on a premise that the self is a ____ ___ of ____ ___ that govern behavior across situations.
self-concept clarity is based on a premise that the self is a STABLE CONFIGURATION of INTERNAL TRAITS that govern behavior across situations.
women’s self concepts reflect more _____ ____, meaning that they focus more on:
more relational interdependece: they focus more on their close relationships.
men’s self concepts are higher in ___ ____ ,meaning that they tend to:
collective interdependece: meaning that they tend to define themselves in terms of social groups, such as the sports team they belong on.
in individualist cultures, women were found to hold a more ___ view of the self compared to men. How does this differ in collectivist cultures?
in individualist cultures, women were found to hold a more RELATIONAL view of the self. in collectivist cultures, women and men were equally likely to hold a relational view of the self.
introspection
the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings and motives.
t/f people rely on introspection as a main source of info about the self
false. most people don’t spend much time thinking about how they’re feeling.
t/f even when people do introspect, the reasons for their feelings and behacvor can be hidden from concious awareness.
true. its possible that we can’t even use the info we know and apply it to situations at hand because its all sub concious
self-awareness theory
when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behaviour against our internal standards and values.
according to the self awareness theory, when we become self concious, we become ___ and ___ observers of ourselves.
objective and judgemental observers of ourselves.
what happens when a person’s behavior does not match their internal standards?
you will try and divert your attention away from the state of self-awareness. Some people go far to escale the self (alcohol abuse, suicide etc).
T/F when people are self-aware, they are more likely to follow their moral standards
true
in terms of self awareness, east asian acultures have more of an __ ___ on the self. what does this mean?
outside perspective on the self, viewing themselves through the eyes of other people.
peope who grow in western cultures are more likely to have an ___ ___ on the self. what does this mean?
have an INSIDER PERSPECTIVE on the self, focusing on their own private experiences without considering how other people see them.
which culture may be in a chronic state of self awareness?
east asisan cultures, because they are more likely to be seeing themselves through the eyes of other people (outsider perspective of the self)
explain the mirror study across cultures.
Americans who wrote a self evaluation with a mirror present ranked themselves lower than when no mirror was present. This indicates that they usually have an insider perspective, and are less self-aware. Japanese people’s scores had no difference when a mirror is present. they already have heightened self awareness without needing external cues.
what is the “telling more than we know” phenomenon?
the feeling that even though we often don’t know why we feel a certain way, it seems we are always able to come up with an explanation.
causal theories
theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviors; typically we learn such theories from our own cultures.
where do we learn most of our causal theories?
from our own cultures. ex/ blue mondays, its “that time of the month”
self perception theory and when it is applied
when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs.
1) we infer our inner feelings from our behavior when we are not sure how we feel. ex/ idk how I feel about this song, but I’m dancing, therefore I probably like it a bit.
2) people evaluate whether their behavior really reflects how they feel or whether the situation they are in made them act that way.
intrinsic motivation
the desire to engage in an activity beause we enjoy it, not because of external reward
extrinsic motivation
the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures.
intrinsic motivation is positivley correlated with ____ and ___ ___.
persistance and maintaining interest.
discuss the relationship perspective of intrinsically motivated people
partners who are motivated to be in a relationship for its own sake (love) and not to receive external benefits (money) are more likely to view relationships as “challenges” rather than hassels.
they are also more likely to engage in constructive conflict resolution
they also report greater relationship satisfaction.
explain the effect that causes extrinsic rewards to undermine intrinsic motivation. What happens when an extrinsic reward is applied to an intrinsically motivated subject?
overjustification effect: the case whereby people view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic ffactors, making them underestimae the extent to which their behavior was caused by intrinsic reasons.
causes people to lose interest in the activity they initially enjoyed.
when will the overjustification effect work?
rewards will undermine interest only if the interest was high initially.
ex/ providing external incentives to a kid who doesn’t like reading WILL make them read more. but providing external incentives to a book worm will make them not like reading.
what is a task contigent reward
a reward given upon completion of a specific task
performance contigent reward
a reward given based on how WELL a person performs a task. Not just if they do it.
which type of reward is LESS likely to decrease interst in a task? (task contigent or performance contigent)
performance contingent rewards are less likely to decrease interest in a task. it may even in crease interest because it conveys the message that you are good at the task. May also cause anxiety though.
the performace contigent reward must not be taken away by performing poorly (ex/ losing money for bad grades). Only given for performing well.
what is our looking-glass self?
the idea that we see ourselves through the eys of other people and incorporate their views into our self concept.
we are determine partially by the internal audience we have in our mind.
ex/ if we have a supportive approvng internal audience in mind, we are more likely to view ourselves as having positive characteristics.
social comparison theory
holds that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves with other people.
when do we most often socially compare?
when there is no objective certainty about ourselves in a particular area, such as wondering whether we are eating an appropriate amount in a buffet.
when we socially compare, who do we often compare ourselves to?
people find it most informative to compare themselves with others who are similar to them on the attribute being looked at.
what is the executive function of the self?
self control.
worst possible mental form of self control
thought-suppression.
self regulatory resource model
theory that self control is a limited resource, like a muscle that gets tired with frequent use but then rebounds in strenght.
T/F participatns exerting self control on one task reduces their ability to exert control on another task, regardless if its unrelated or not
true. this is according to the regulatory resource model
what time of day is self control more likely to fail?
night. dieteres are more likely to break their diets at night.
when are people best at self control?
when they are well rested and not too stressed.
two reasons we engage in social comparison
1) construct an accurate image of ourselves
2) boost our egos
the self protectve strategy that involves us comparing ourselves with people who are worse than you in a particular trait
downward social comparison
people are more likely to spontaneously enage in ___ ___ ___ when they wanted to feel better about themsevles
downward social comparisons
T/F downward social comparison was associated with positive emotional well being and better health
true, especially when people felt that there wasn’t anything they could do about their past regrets.
what is the condition that must occur in order for downward social comparison to actually enhance our self esteem?
downward social comparison only wors to protect yourself if we don’t feel vulnerable to that person’s negative outcomes.
comparing ourselves with someone who is owrse off can make us feel better about ourselves, but only if we are confident that the other person’s fate cannot befall us.
what is upward social comparison?
the process whereby we compare oursevles with people who are better than we are in a particular trait or ability.
typically, upward social comparison ___ self esteem
lower self esteem. employees who compare themselves to coworkers with higher salaries and performance have a lower job satisfaction.
what are “relationship comparisons”
checking out how our romantic relationship stacks up compared to the relationships of our friends or other people.
what type of women feel more threatened about seeing “nice relationships” on social media and engage in more relationship comparisons?
women with low self esteem.
when we focus on our __ self, exposure to outstanding individuals inspires us to generate higher hopes. If we focus on our ___ self this does not happen. Why?
when we focus on our USUAL self, exposure to outstanding individuals inspires us to generate higher hopes. If we focus on our BEST self this does not happen.
it can be discouraging to realize that someone else has already surpassed our hgihest hopes and accomplishments.
in what situation does upward social comparisons make us feel better than in downward social comparisons?
when we are socially comparing ourselves to our social partner. this is becasue we experience high levels of empathy and our partner’s success is our success. there is also a note of shared fate. it also boosts your self esteem if you can “score” a noteable individual.
explain an example in which the motivation behind social comparison plays a role in self esteem
ex/ the underlying reason for social comparison plays a role in whether women are dissatisfied with thier bodies following exposure to models. if a women is trying to evaluate her body, looking at the model results in dissatisfaction. but if she is trying to improve her body, exposure to the model may actually increase bodily satisfaction.
which culture is more likely to be motivated by positive role models? which culture is more likely to be motivated by negative roles models?
Euro-canadians are more motivated by positive role models
Asian-canadians are more motivated by negative role models.
do asian americans take part in upper or downward comparison more?
they choose to compare their performance with that of someone who did better than they did on a task (upward)
TF people from collectivist cultures seek self improvement to a greater extent
true
why do asian canadians engage in upwards social comparison rather than downwards?
because they do not capitalize on an opportunity to get a self esteem boost, rather, they use social comparison info to identify aras for self-improvement.
what is the sociometer?
a psychological mechanism that monitors the environment for cues about the extent tot which we are accepted or rejected by others.
sociometer theory
theory that states that self-esteem is a guage that monitors the extent to which we are accepted or rejected by others
what does our usual level of self esteem reflect? our momentary?
the extent to which we generally feel accepted or rejected. our momentary state reflects how accepted or rejected we currently feel in a particular relationship.
T/F people who are chronically low in self esteem would be reluctant to initiate social interactions because of fear of rejection
true. people with high self-esteem don’t require much acceptance to comfortable engage in a novel interaction.
outline the self fulfilling prophecy seen in people with low self esteem and social interactions
people with high self esteem expect that they will be accepted and therefore are wamer and friendlier in social interactions that poeple with low self esteem. therefore, people with low self esteem are more likely to be cold and distant which tends to produce dislike and rejection from others.
methods of increasing acceptance of people who have low self esteem
1) self-affirmations. creates increased feelings of security among those who doubt their value as social partners
2) reminding them of the rewards of ‘trying’. low self-esteem people expressed greater interest in relationship initiation when primed with the rewards of relationships than when primed with the costs.
what is self enhancement
a method of boosting esteem by holding an unrealistically positive view of ourself.
some eastern cultures hold essentially the opposite of the self enhancement effect. what is this?
the self effacement effect. the tendency to hold a negative view of oneself.
T/F: asians score lower on measures of self esteem than do canadians
true. due to self effacement
what is the self verification teory?
people have a need to seek out confirmation of their self-concept, whether that self concept is positive or negative.
2 factors that determine whether we want to have an accurate (rather than positive) feedback on ourselves
1) the dimension on which we are being evaluated. Ex/ looks– we all want to be rated positively.We may even get defensive if we don’t get ranked as positively as we’d like.
2) nature of the relationship we have with the person who is doing the evaluating. We want the TRUTH if the evaluator is someone we respect/know.
T/F: is people feel there is nothing they can do to improve their abilities, they generally prefer truthful feedback
false. they prefer positive feedback compared to accurate feedback. why be reminded that we are terrible if there is nothing we can do about it?
3 aspects of the self
1) self knowledge; beliefs about who we are
2) self control; the way in whch we make plans and execute decisions
3) self-esteem: how we evaluate ourselves.
what is a self schema
an organized body of knowledge about the self that influences what ppl think, notive and remember about themselves. Ex/ our attitudes, likes and dislikes, personality traits.
