CHP 2 The self

Question 1

Self Concept

Answer 1

who we believe we are
a bunch of self schemas
total organized body of information a person has about themselves

Question 2

Self Schema

Answer 2

individual beliefs about oneself
used to recognize and interpret stimuli in social environment

Question 3

Working Self Concept

Answer 3

What are you thinking about right now?
schemas that are currently active

Question 4

Collectivism/collectivist

Answer 4

• thinking of yourself in terms of others
• interdepedent self construal
• self dependency on others
• external roles/features of ourselves
• other people help figure out who you are

Question 5

Individualism/Individualistic

Answer 5

• think of themselves as their own people
• setting yourself apart from others
• independet self construal
• internal abilities (thoughts and feelings)
• Being unique, expressing ones own goals

more common in united states

Question 6

What are the 3 functions of self?

Answer 6

1. organizational
2. emotional
3. Executive

Question 7

describe this function of self

organizational

Answer 7

focus on schemas
helps you organize info in world
paying attention to things that are ‘schematic’ to you
filter for environment

Question 8

describe this function of self

emotional

Answer 8

• self helps you determine emotional responses to things
• self discrepancy theory (higgins)
• social situations cue different thoughts

Question 9

Self discrepancy theory

Answer 9

actual self = who you believe you are
ideal self = who you wish to be
ought self = who you should be

under ‘emotional’ function of self

Question 10

describe this function of self

executive

Answer 10

• you are the CEO of yourself
• you regulate your behavior/plans long term
• how much can you control yourself?

Question 11

Baumeister experiment

Answer 11

the self is a muscle

Question 12

where do we get out self knowledge?

Cooley, looking glass self theory 1902

Answer 12

others reflect who we are
we are who others say we are

collectivist view

Question 13

where do we get out self knowledge?

Mead 1934

Answer 13

• we are how we perceive others to perceive us
• act how we believe others think of us

collectivist

Question 14

where do we get out self knowledge?

Festinger 1954, Social Comparison Theory

Answer 14

• we learn about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others
• downward - comparing ourselves to people who we know arent as good as us
• upward - comparing ourselves to people who are above us/aspire to be like

Question 15

where do we get out self knowledge?

Ourselves

Answer 15

• self focusing cue = a trigger that makes you think about yourself
• self perception theory = looking to your behavior to explain us

Question 16

What is self serving bias

Answer 16

• we think of ourselves very favorably
• we pay attention to info that is consistent with who we believe we are

Baumeister 1992

Question 17

Baumeister 1992

Answer 17

• participatns assigned to groups to either read good or bad results of personality tests about themselves
• spend more time on good feedback
• attribute success = abilities/effort
• failures = luck, external factors

this falls under self serving bias

Question 18

Descrbie Positive Illusions in the self.

Answer 18

• we overestimate our good qualities, acheivements, successes and abilities
• optimal margin of illusion (see ourselves better than how we are and world)
• people with good mental health have high level compared to those with depression

Question 19

Why might positive illusions be harmful?

Answer 19

• putting yourself in positions where you fail
• can hurt self esteem if you fail a lot
• setting yourself up basically

Question 20

Biases explaining behavior.

Nisbett and Schachter 1966

Answer 20

Students asked to take shocks (higher each time). However, half of the participants were given a pill (produce feelings of anxiety) before the start. People who took the pill could take more shocks. However, they denied it had anything to do with their performance when suggested.

Question 21

Biases explaining behavior.

Nisbett and Wilson 1977

Answer 21

people were asked to watch a film adn tested on it. half of the people had a powersaw going outside of their room. were asked how much they thought the noise would affect their rating. (It didnt) but everyone thought it did

Question 22

Biases explaining our emotions

two factor theory of emotion

How accurate can we explain how we feel?

Answer 22

1. experience the physiological arousal
2. seek a label/explanation for it (use cues in environment)

Shachter 1964

Question 23

Biases explaining our emotions

Dutton and Aaron 1974

Answer 23

Meet on a bridge with a woman to discuss paperwork. Some were asked to meet in the middle, others were asked to meet at the end of it. She gave the men her number and asked them to call her

those who met in the middle of suspensions bridge called more than those at the end of the bridge

attributed to their high arousal states

people explaining their emotional state

Question 24

What is Self Presentation?

Answer 24

attempting to present ourselves to others how we want them to see us (nonverbal, actions etc)

example = social media

Question 25

What is impression management, and how do we do it?

Answer 25

unconscious/conscious orchestration of designed presentation of self to create a certain impression 1. self monitoring 2. ingratiation 3. false modesty 4. **self handicapping**

Question 26

# a type of impression management self monitoring

Answer 26

monitoring your behavior low - being yourself high - being a social chameleon (changing self according to environment)

Question 27

# type of impression management ingratiation

Answer 27

trying to look good flatter or praise yourself to seem better

Question 28

# type of impression management false modesty

Answer 28

act in a negative way toward yourself that isnt true **responded with positivity which is goal** trying to act humble

Question 29

# type of impression management Self handicapping

Answer 29

protecting your image with behaviors that create excuses for later failure * people create obstacles that reduce likelihood of success (can blame failing on going out night before) DO EXCUSE * Devise ready made excuses in case you fail (not DOING excuse)

Question 30

# describe Spotlight effect

Answer 30

we think others are paying attention to us, more than they actually are. in reality no one cares lol. we make this up in our heads

Question 31

Illusion of transparency

Answer 31

our leaked emotions leak out and can be easily read by others | if we are happy and we know it we think its obvious

Question 32

# Experiments to do with illusion transparency and spotlight effect **Stavisky and Gilovich 2003**

Answer 32

40 cornell students were told. In pairs they were told to give a speech for 3 mins and then rate eachother on their nervousness. people rated themselves as more nervous than the other. repeated it infront of audience who was not going to give a speech = same results 77 more students were invited control = 5 mins to prepare, 3 min videotaped speech reassured condition = told to relax and its okay to be nervous informed condition = explained illusionary transparency informed rated themselves elast nervous while control did the highest

Question 33

what are some other examples of **interplay** between our sense of self and the social world?

Answer 33

1. social surrounding affect our social awareness (if we are the only member of a certain race in an environment we are aware of that more) 2. self interest affecting social judgement (we always want to make a positive impressions so we pay attention to our appearance a lot) 3. social relationships (in relationships we have varied sense of selves, when relationships change our self concept changes)

Question 34

planning fallacy

Answer 34

underestimating how long something will take

Question 35

affective forecasting

Answer 35

hard time predicting duration and intensity of emotions | we are often very resilient after negative events

Question 36

timothy wilson 2000

Answer 36

Dual attitude system implicit - unconscious/automatic attitudes explicit - consciously controlled attitudes | implicit changes are usually slower, require new habits to form

Question 37

self esteem

Answer 37

your overall self-eval of your self worth

Question 38

Compare someone with high self esteem to low self esteem.

Answer 38

High - if threatened they try to compensate by trying harder low - will blame others or give up

Question 39

terror management theory | jeff greenberg 2008

Answer 39

self protective emotional cognitive responses when confronted with the idea of death

Question 40

Describe pursuing self esteem | Crocker

Answer 40

* can sometimes make you lose sight of what actualy makes you happy * sometimes become less open to criticism, empathy, and more pressured to succeed

Question 41

Narcissism

Answer 41

inflated sense of self high or low self esteem with lack of caring for others Bushman 2009 - sstudents with high self esteem and narcissism are more aggressive

Question 42

Self efficacy

Answer 42

Sense that one is competent and effective, distinguished from self-esteem (separate) different from self esteem | " I believe I can do it!!"

Question 43

self-serving attributions

Answer 43

+ outcomes = atttributed to ourselves - outcomes = attributed to external factors

Question 44

Defensive Pessimism

Answer 44

adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one's anxiety to motivate effective action | better safe than sorry

Question 45

False consensus effect

Answer 45

overestimating the commonality of ones opinions and one undesirable/unsuccessful behaviors | overestimating the extent someone feels the same way

Question 46

false uniqueness

Answer 46

underestimating the commonality of one's abilities and one's desirable/successful behaviors

Question 47

unrealistic optimism

Answer 47

finding ourselves thinking we are immune to the 'bad'