Chapter 7.1-7.2: Identity and Social Interaction Flashcards
Self-concept
the sum of an individual’s knowledge and understanding about oneself; includes physical, psychological, and social attributes
Self-schemas
beliefs that a person has about himself; self-concept is based on this
Personal identity
one’s own sense of personal attributes
ex. smart, funny
Social identity
social definitions of who you are
ex. race, religion, gender, occupation
Self-reference effect
tendency to better remember information relevant to ourselves
Carl Rogers
founder of humanistic psychology perspective; personality is composed to the ideal self and the real self
ideal self - constructed out of life expectations, experiences, and thing admired about role models
real self - who you actually are
When ideal self and real self don’t match, the result is incongruity
Self-efficacy
belief in one’s own competence and effectiveness, how capable we believe we are of doing things
Locus of control
internal - believe they are able to influence outcomes through their own efforts and actions
external - perceive outcomes as controlled by outside forces
Learned helplessness
people with external locus of control develop this; people who are exposed to situations in which they have no control may learn not to act because they believe it will not affect the outcome anyway
Self-esteem
one’s overall self-evaluation of one’s self-worth
Identity formation (Individuation)
development of a distinct individual personality; through Erikson’s psychosocial stages, identity formation takes place during adolescense (age 12-20, identity vs. role confusion stage)
Looking-glass self
Charles cooley said that a person’s sense of self develops from interpersonal interactions with other in society and the perceptions of others; people shape their self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them
Social behaviorism
George Hebert Mead; the mind and self emerge through the process of communicating with others and through the use of symbols - beginning of symbolic interactionism
Generalized other
the common behavioral expectations of general society
“me” - how the individual believes the generalized other perceives it
“I” - response of the individual to the attitudes of others
Socialization
the process through which people learn to be proficient and functional members of society
Norms
society’s spoken or unspoken rules and expectations for the behavior of its members; reinforced in everyday social interactions by sanctions
Types of norms
formal norms - generally written down, precisely defined, publicly presented, accompanied by strict penalties ex. laws
informal norms - generally understood but less precise and carry no specific punishments
mores - norms that are important for the benefit of society and so are strictly enforced ex. against animal abuse or treason
folkways - norms that are less important but shape everyday behavior ex. style of dress, ways of greeting
Agents of socialization
family, school, peers, the workplace, religion/government, mass media/technology
Assimilation
process in which in individuals forsakes aspects of his or her own cultural tradition to adopt those of a different culture
Amalgamation
majority and minority groups combine to form a new group
Multiculturalism
a perspective that endorses equal standing for all cultural traditions - promotes idea of cultures coming together in a true melting pot
Subculture
a segment of society that shares a distinct pattern of traditions and values that differs from that of the larger society ex. hippies, medical personnel
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
stages cannot be skipped, and most adults attain stage 4 but do not surpass it
Stage 1 - obedience and punishment orientation
Stage 2- self-interest orientation
Stage 3- interpersonal accord and conformity
Stage 4- authority and social-order maintaining orientation
Stage 5- social contract orientation
Stage 6- universal ethical principles
Attribution theory
individuals attribute behavior to internal causes (dispositional attribution) or external causes (situational attribution); people tend to assign dispositional attributions to others but give themselves situational attribution
3 factors influence attribution: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus
Fundamental attribution error
we tend to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of a person’s character or personality; assume that people are how they act
Actor-observer bias
tendency to blame our actions on the situation and blame the actions of others on their personalities
Self-serving bias
tendency to attribute success to ourselves and our failures to others or the external environment
Optimism bias
belief that bad things happen to other people, but not to us
Just world phenomenon
a tendency to believe that the world is fair and people get what they deserve
Halo effect
tendency to believe that people have inherently good or bad natures, rather than looking at individual characteristics
physical attractiveness stereotype - a specific type of halo effect, people tend to rate attractive individuals more favorably for personality traits and characteristics
Social perception
understanding others in our social world, the initial information we process about other people in order to try to understand their mindsets and intentions; the process responsible for our judgements and impressions about other people
Social cognition
ability of the brain to store and process information regarding social perception
False consensus
occurs when we assume that everyone else agrees with what we do, even though they may not
Projection bias
when we assume others have the same beliefs we do
Stereotypes
oversimplified ideas about groups of people, based on characteristics
Prejudice
thoughts, attitudes, and feelings someone holds about a group that are not based on actual experience
Discrimination
acting a certain way toward a group
Self-fulfilling prophecy
stereotypes can lead to behaviors that affirm the original stereotypes
Stereotype threat
a self-fulfilling fear that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype; it can reduce performance
Ethnocentrism
a tendency to judge people from another culture by the standards of one’s own culture
Cultural relativism
judging another culture based on its own standards
Group
collection of any number of people who regularly interact and identify with each other, sharing norms, values and expectations
Aggregate
people who exist in the same space but do not interact or share a common identity
Category
people who share similar characteristics but are not otherwise tied together
Primary groups
play a more important role in individual’s life, they are usually smaller and include those with whom the individual engages with in person, in long-term emotional ways; serve expressive functions
Secondary groups
larger and more impersonal, may interact for specific reasons for shorter periods of time; serve instrumental functions
In-group
a group that a person belongs to and believes to be an integral part of who she is
Out-group
a group that a person does not belong to
Reference group
a standard measure that people compare themselves to
Mere presence
basic level of experience between members of society; people are simply in each other’s presence; can have a measurable effect on an individual’s performance
Social facilitation effect
people tend to perform simple, well-learned tasks better when other people are present
Deindividuation
people may lose their sense of restraint and their individual identity in exchange for identifying with a group or mob mentality
Bystander effect
a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders
Social loafing
a tendency for people to exert less effort if they are being evaluated as a group than if they are individually accountable
Group polarization
the entire group tends toward more extreme versions of the average views they initially shared before discussions; due to:
informational influence - when the most common ideas that emerge are the ones that favor the dominant viewpoint, which persuades others to take a stronger stance
normative influence - based on wanting to be accepted or admired by others
Groupthink
a state of harmony without a group, caused by pressure not to “rock the boat” in a group by providing a dissenting opinion
Deviance
a violation of society’s standards of conduct or expectations
Stigma
society often devalues deviant members by assigning these demeaning labels
Group (peer) Pressure
Solomon Asch - people chose which lines were similar, they chose incorrectly when others around them were incorrect; found that people adjust behavior and thinking based on others - conformity
Obedience
Stanley Milgram - participants were surprisingly obedient and administered shocks; experiment speaks to the power of authority and the discomfort that being disobedient invokes
