Chapter 8 Flashcards
self-enhancement
- being motivated to view yourself positively
- evidence of self-enhancement: Self-serving biases: tendencies for people to exaggerate how good they think they are - ie. we tend to think we’re above average in most things, when we probably aren’t; particularly evident when it’s difficult to have concrete evidence on your standing compared to others’
examples of self-serving biases/compensatory strategies (and who uses them)
- downward social comparison
- compensatory self-enhancement
- external attribution
- basking in the reflected glory
- People with interdependent construals tend to be less motivated to use these self-enhancement strategies (with some exceptions, ex. Maori, African-Americans, Israeli Druze, Indians)
self-serving biases/compensatory strategies: downward social comparison
- Opposite of Upward social comparison: comparing our performance with someone who is doing better than us (tend to be painful because it makes our performance look worse)
- More likely to be used by Japanese /East Asians post-failure
self-serving biases/compensatory strategies: compensatory self-enhancement
acknowledging your poor performance (ie. a bad grade), but focusing on your good performance in another area (ie. your guitar-playing skills); exaggerating your skill in another area to compensate for the pain
self-serving biases/compensatory strategies: external attribution
Opposite of Internal attribution (attributing the cause to something within ourselves, like our abilities)
self-serving biases/compensatory strategies: basking in the reflected glory
sharing in the success of others in a group you belong to (ex. Feeling better about your own poor performance because your football team won)
endowment effect
people tend to value objects more once they have them (ie. why people on Craigslist ask a ton of money for junk); making a connection between the object and yourself → effect is significantly stronger in Western culture because of our positive self-views
origins of cultural differences in self-enhancement
- The way parents socialize children (ie. American parents often tell stories of their child’s successes; East Asians tell stories of child’s failure; American parents place more importance on self-esteem in childrearing)
- The emergence of positive self-views over time (ex. Protestant beliefs, individualism)
origins of cultural differences in self-enhancement: Protestant beliefs
Protestants had a belief in predestination (before you’re born, it’s already determined whether you’re going to heaven or hell) → people became highly motivated to believe that God viewed them favourably and motivations for self-enhancement grew
origins of cultural differences in self-enhancement: individualism
- self-enhancement is more important in individualistic cultures because these cultures encourage people to be self-sufficient, which is difficult if you don’t view yourself positively; could also be due to economic inequality
- Ex. As America has become increasingly individualistic, self-esteem has also been increasing
Face
- the amount of social value given to you if you live up to the standards associated with your position (important positions have lots of face, ex. CEOs)
- More easily lost than gained; difficult to enhance → people need to be cautious and act in ways that prevent them from losing face
- In East Asia, face doesn’t rely on what you think of yourself, but what others think of you (unlike self-esteem) → increased face comes with increases in status and power → we’re motivated to please others to increase face
prevention orientation vs. promotion orientation
- Prevention orientation: defensive, cautious approach to not losing something (avoiding bad things)
- More likely to focus on improving things they don’t do well to avoid failure
- More common in East Asia
- Promotion orientation: concern over advancing oneself and aspiring for gains (securing good things)
- More likely to focus on things they do will to increase possibility of success
- More common in America
strategies to improve face
prevention orientation and presenting oneself in a face-enhancing way (ie. wearing brand-name clothes that indicate higher status)
self-improvement motivation
- desire to seek out potential weaknesses and work on correcting them
- Strong motivation in East Asian contexts
Weber’s theories about the influence of protestant reformation on achievement motivation (and influence today)
- Belief that people could directly communicate with God (without having to go through the Church) was the start of individualism
- Belief that everyone had a calling
- The belief in predestination fueled capitalism
- Even today, individualistic countries are largely Protestant and have people that are pro-market, enter high-status jobs, and are more industrialized than Catholic countries
Weber’s theories: belief that everyone had a calling
Believed that everyone had a calling (unique God-given purpose to fulfil during their life) → lead to people believing they should take work very seriously; became a moral/spiritual obligation → increases motivation
Weber’s theories: belief in predestination –> capitalism
- believed that God wouldn’t reward those who were going to hell, so if you were able to accumulate wealth it meant you were going to heaven; people also accumulated lots of wealth from their hard work
- Protestant anxiety about going to heaven/hell also motivated them to work harder
making choices
- More choices are available to individuals acting alone than individuals acting as part of a group
- People in collectivistic societies more willing to alter their choices to fit the needs/goals of the group
- In individualistic societies, important choices are seen as individual decisions (ie. who should I marry?), whereas in collectivistic societies, important choices are seen as reflecting on the entire family, so family will make those choices for you (and because they want to promote group goals, they don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing)
learned helpnessness
- Individual feels that they’re unable to control or avoid unpleasant events, and the person will therefore suffer from stress and potentially depression
- Ex. In Berlin Wall era, East Germans showed more signs of depression, likely because they felt greater learned helplessness since they had less direct control over their lives
- Ex. People with higher incomes can afford to make more choices and have more control → poorer people more likely to have learned helplessness
learned helplessness: pen study
working class people were basically just as satisfied in the free choice and usurped choice condition (since they grow up believing a lot of stuff is out of their control anyway), whereas upper class people a lot less satisfied when their choice was usurped (since they grow up believing they should have control)
motivation to fit in: social costs of non-conformity
- ridicule (ex. Solomon Asch line study), more likely to be disliked or ostracized
- People from East Asian/collectivistic cultures more likely to conform and maintain harmony
motivation to stand out
- expressing uniqueness
- People from American/individualistic cultures more likely to want to be unique, especially if they’re middle-class (compared to lower-class)
