Chater 4: The Self Flashcards
Self concept
A persons knowledge about themselves, including one’s own traits, social identity and experiences
If I ask “who are you” whatever you say is ur self concept
Social identity theory
People define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify
-I’m a student at uo and I’m a psych major (group I’m apart of)
Social identity theory study
Participants thought they were most similar to the group the researchers told them they belonged to
Independent
Conceives the self as containing a set of psychological qualities that are distinct form other people
-traits
-“how do I differ from others”
-goals
Interdependent
Highlights the individuals roles within family and social relationships and emphasizes responsibilities that accompany these roles, rather than the individuals self centred pursuit of happiness
-views the,selves in relation to other people
-social/individual roles
-responsibilities
Bicultural individuals
-if lived long enough in two diff cultures individuals can internalize the belief systems of both
Frame switching
“Priming”
Being primed around dads side and moms side to bring out diff sides for the diff sides of fam
Ex: moms side is more conservative
Social role theory
Gender differences in behaviour, personality, and self definition related to:
-long history of role distribution between sexes
-error prone assumptions that those are essential to men and women’s nature
Soldier role theory interferences:
-more likely to adopt characteristics based on their roles
-women;they give birth so their assumed the care taker role
-men; go to work so they assume the leadership role
Self-schema
An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about an attribute that is part of one’s self concept
-we have these for our more stable attributes ex: im polite
Malleable
Aspects made accessible in specific social situations, motives, and cues
Ex: romantic
Working self-concept
The part of ur self identity that is active and relevant in a given moment
-ex: me being a student
Helps explain why we act diff in diff situations
Solo status
A sense that one is unique in some specific manner in relation to other people in the current environment
- when you have something diff from everyone around you
Ex: female engineer in a room full of male engineers
How do we come to know the self?
-appraisals they get from others
-social comparisons
-self perceptions
Looking-glass self
We see ourselves based on how we think others perceive us (do they think I’m boring )
And we think about ourselves based on this imagined judgement (maybe I really am boring…)
Who knows us better?
For emotions we know ourself more (internal)
Other people are better at assessing observable traits (external)
Reflected appraisal
Similar to looking glass self, but focuses more on actual feedback. So we get feedback, we internalize it, and it influences our self concept
Social comparison theory
People come to know themselves partly by comparing themselves with similar others
Downward comparison
Ex: compare ur self to a slower runner
-higher self esteem
Upward comparison
Ex: compare ur self to a faster runner
-lower self esteem
Errors in social comparison
-over or underestimating ur own attributes
-over or underestimating the attributes of the person ur comparing ur self too
Better than average effect
On many abilities and traits, most people think they are better than average
Self perception theory
People form impressions of themselves by observing their own behaviour and the situation in which it occurs
-uses your own queues to know who you are
-ex:if you can’t sleep u use that as a queue to “maybe I’m anxious”
Two-factor theory or emotion
Peoples emotions are the product of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal based on contextual queues
Emotion= arousal (feeling some sort of alertness in ur body ex: sweaty palms, heart beat) X cognitive level (give meaning to that arousal)
Misattribution of arousal
Inadvertent a script ion if arousal resulting from one source to a diff source
Ex: if you drink a lot of coffee than you watch a soccer game , he’s gonna think he’s all excited bc if the game but rly it’s bc of all the coffee, so he misinterpreted the arousal
Self regulation
-A set of processes for guiding one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to reach desired goals
Self regulation 3 capacities:
-self awareness
-goal setting
-mental time travel
Self awareness promotes
Helps to bring behaviour in line with cultural morals and values
Escaping self awareness
People that are highly self aware are more likely to binge things (tv, smoke, drink)
Perfectionism can lead to procrastination
Self-discrepancy theory
People feel anxious when they fall short of how PEOPLE to be but feel sad when they fall short on who THEY want to be
-ought self (people)
-ideal self (themselves)
How goals motive at guide action
Goals send urgent messages to the ego to act
Auto-motor theory
Our goals can be unconsciously cued to us
Concrete conceptions
Specify how the goal is accomplished (what do I have to do)
Abstract conceptions
Specify why the action is performed
Construal level theory
People focus more on concrete details when thinking about the near future and focus more on abstract meaning when thinking about the distant future
Short run: pragmatic concerns matter
Long run: abstract concerns matter
Affective forecasting
Predicting one’s emotional reactions to potential future events
Ex:you think you’ll be so happy if you won the lottery but so other things stay the same in ur life
Hot processes
Driven by strong emotions
Cold processes
Rely on level headed reasoning
Cool strategies
Designing environment to avoid temptations
-type of delay of gratification
Ego depletion
Mental fatigue from extended use of self control
Cognitive reappraisal
Reframe a situation to minimize one’s emotional reaction to it
-ex: you don’t make the sports team, instead of having a negative reaction, you have a positive outlook at think things like well now I’ll have more time for my friends …
Implementation intentions
If-then plans that help people achieve goals by linking a specific situation (if) to a planned response (then), making goal directed behaviour more automatic
-ex: if I finish this class, then I’ll go to the gym
Self-regulatory perseveration and depression
-people can fall into a depression by persistent self focus on unattainable goals
-shifting from concrete to abstract goals can help
-requires balance between self focused goals and hard to reach goals
