Chapter 5 - The Self Flashcards
Self-Concept
The overall set of beliefs that
people have about their personal
attributes
What is viewed as central to the self-concept?
morality is viewed as central to the self-concept, more
so than cognitive processes or desires
Independent View of the Self
A way of 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
Interdependent View of the Self
A way of defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people, recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others
Functions of the self
- self-knowledge is the way we understand who we are and formulate and organize this information;
- self-control is the way we make plans and execute decisions, such as your decision to read this book
right now instead of going out for ice cream; - impression management is the way we present ourselves to other people and get them to see us the way we want to be seen; and
- self-esteem is the way in which we try to maintain positive views of ourselves.
- When thinking about other people, which of the following will we see as most central to their self-concept?
a. Their morals
b. Their preferences and attitudes
c. Their physical attributes
d. Their memories
a. Their morals
- Which of the following is least likely to pass the “mirror” test suggesting they have at least a rudimentary self-concept?
a. An orangutan
b. A chimpanzee
c. A 12-month-old human infant
d. A 3-year-old human child
c. A 12-month-old human infant (self-concept in humans develops around 18mo-24months)
Introspection
The process whereby people look
inward and examine their own
thoughts, feelings, and motives
Self-Awareness Theory
The idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values - In short, we become self-conscious in the sense that we become objective, judgmental observers of ourselves, seeing ourselves as an outside observer would.
Causal Theories
Theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviours. We learn many of these theories from the culture in which we grew up. The problem is our schema’s and theories are not always correct leading us to incorrect judgements about the causes of our actions (why we do the things we do)
How can we know ourselves?
- Introspection
- observing our own behaviour
Self-Perception Theory
The theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs
Self-Perception Theory (Bem 1972)
The theory that when our attitudes
and feelings are uncertain or
ambiguous, we infer these states
by observing our behavior and the
situation in which it occurs
- In Chapter 4, we discussed attribution theory—the way in which people infer someone else’s attitudes and feelings by observing that person’s behavior.
According to self-perception theory, people use the same attributional principles to infer their own attitudes and feelings
Two-Factor Theory of Emotion
The idea that emotional experience is the result of a two-step self-perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it
Stanley Schachter (1964)
Stanley Schachter (1964) proposed a theory of emotion that says we infer what our emotions are in the same way we infer what kind of person we are or what we like. In each case, we observe our behavior and then explain to ourselves why we are behaving that way.
Misattribution of Arousal
The process whereby people make
mistaken inferences about what
is causing them to feel the way
they do
Intrinsic Motivation
The desire to engage in an activity
because we enjoy it or find it
interesting, not because of
external rewards or pressures
Extrinsic Motivation
The desire to engage in an activity
because of external rewards or
pressures, not because we enjoy
the task or find it interesting
Overjustification Effect
The tendency for people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons
Task-Contingent Rewards
Rewards that are given for
performing a task, regardless of
how well the task is done
Performance-Contingent
Rewards
Rewards that are based on how
well we perform a task
Fixed Mindset
The idea that we have a set amount
of an ability that cannot change
Growth Mindset
The idea that achievement is the
result of hard work, trying new strategies,
and seeking input from others
Social Comparison Theory (Festinger 1954)
The idea that we learn about our
own abilities and attitudes by
comparing ourselves to other
people
When do people engage in social comparison?
people socially compare when there is no objective standard to measure themselves against and when they are uncertain about themselves in a particular
area
with whom do people compare themselves?
—the answer depends on whether your goal is to get an accurate assessment of your abilities, to determine what the top level is so that you know what to strive for, or to feel better about yourself.
- When we want an accurate assessment of our abilities and opinions, we compare ourselves
to people who are similar to us.
Upward Social Comparison
Comparing ourselves to people
who are better than we are with
regard to a particular trait
or ability
- When we want information about what we can strive
toward, we make upward social comparisons, though doing so can make us feel inferior.
Downward Social Comparison
Comparing ourselves to people
who are worse than we are with
regard to a particular trait or ability
- When our goal is to make ourselves feel better, we compare ourselves to those
who are less fortunate (including our past selves); such downward comparisons make
us look better.
Social Tuning
The process whereby people adopt
another person’s attitudes
- Suppose that your friend Meghan says, “If I get less than 8 hours of sleep, I’m in a terrible mood the next day.” Based on research in social psychology, what is the best conclusion about her statement?
a. She is probably right because people generally know
why they feel the way they do.
b. She is probably wrong because people rarely know
why they feel the way they do.
c. She is likely to be right only if she first made a list of all
the reasons why she is in a good mood or bad mood
on a typical day.
d. Her statement is probably based on a causal theory
that may or may not be true.
b. She is probably wrong because people rarely know
why they feel the way they do.
- Which of the following statements best illustrates selfperception theory?
a. “I might not know why, but I know what I like.”
b. “I often don’t know what I like until I see what I do.”
c. “I like classical music because my wife is always playing it.”
d. “I get a warm feeling inside when I listen to my favorite
songs. ”
b. “I often don’t know what I like until I see what I do.”
Self-Control
The ability to subdue immediate
desires to achieve long-term goals
- An important function of the self is to be the chief executive who sets goals and
makes choices about what to do in the present and in the future
Implementation Intentions
People’s specific plans about
where, when, and how they will
fulfill a goal and avoid temptations
Impression Management
The attempt by people to get others
to see them as they want to be
seen
Describe how people portray themselves so that others will see them as they want to be seen.
- Impression management
- Ingratiation
- Self-Handicapping
Ingratiation
The process whereby people flatter,
praise, and generally try to make
themselves likable to another
person, often of higher status
Self-Handicapping
The strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves 2 types: behavioural and reported
Cultural Influences on the Self-Concept
People who grow up in Western cultures tend to have an
independent view of the self, whereas people who
grow up in Asian cultures tend to have an interdependent
view of the self.
Functions of the Self The self serves four functions:
- self-knowledge, our beliefs about who we are
and the way in which we formulate and organize
this information; - self-control, the way in which
we make plans and execute decisions; - impression management, how we present ourselves to other people;
- self-esteem, the way we feel about
ourselves.
Self-Knowledge How do people come to know who they are and why they do what they do?
- Knowing Ourselves Through Introspection
- Knowing Ourselves by Observing Our Own
Behavior - self perception theory - 2-factor theory of emotion - misattirubution of arousal, - overjustification effect - fixed v growth mindset - Using Other People to Know Ourselves
Compare when people are likely to succeed at self-control and when they are likely to fail.
Self-Control: The Executive Function of the Self
In general, exerting energy on one task limits people’s ability to exert self-control on a subsequent task. However, simply believing that willpower is an unlimited resource can help people exert more
self-control, as can praying in advance of a task and forming implementation intentions.
Describe Rhodewalk & Agustidottir (1986) -
people induced to describe themselves in positive terms scored better on self-esteem than those who weren’t induced (from Lect 10 min 30.43)
Describe Swann & Ely (1984) -
induced to describe themselves as introvert/extrovert, subsequently defined themselves as such but only when not previously certain about their level of introversion/extroversion. (from lect 10 min 31.26)
Describe Study (Lepper et al. 1973) - Making play into work
kinder kids playing with crayons, 3 conditions - reward, unexpected reward, no reward - weeks later their time spent playing with crayons and paper found that the kids that expected a reward played for less time. - intrinsic motivation was taken away.
schadenfraude -
feeling of happiness when someone else doesn’t do too well.
Sociometer theory (Leary & Baumeister 2000)
Proposes self-esteem monitors social worth. Low self-esteem is aversive and motivates reparative behaviours
Unrealistic Optimism (Weinstein 1980)
when you think bad stuff can’t happen to you. eg. smokers won’t get cancer
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model (SEM), Tesser, 1988
comparing yourself to others and effect on self-esteem will depend on how close that person is to you (how similar) and how much you care about the thing your comparing yourself in (eg. athletics). to combat this people might - become less close with that person - decide you don’t like that activity much anyway. or make some other excuse.
Nesbitt and Wilson (1977) - Judging more than we can know
Introspection may not lead us to the true causes of our feelings and behaviour, (but we’ll manage to convince ourselves it did) becuase many of our mental processes occur outside of awareness, thus it is ‘telling more than we can know’.
They did a study where buzzed a construction tool outside a window while participants viewed a film and found that it did not affect evaluation of film when they thought it would , thus demonstrating a faulty causal theory.
The consequences of introspecting about reasons
Wilson and Nesbitt - found that we may come up with inaccurate reasons. and we might convince ourselves these reasons are correct.
- This leads to reason’s generated attitude change
Reason’s generated attitude change
attitude change that results from thinking about the reasons for ones attitudes. People assume their attitues match the reasons that are plausible and easy to verbalise. This may be problematic when the right reasons (eg. why you love someone) are hard to verbalise or are inaccessible.
