L7/CH12/CH14 Flashcards
Cognition
awareness, thinking, and specific mental acts (e.g. perceiving, interpreting, remembering, judging)
Cognitive style
individual differences in cognition
Cognition in personality research
focus is on perception, interpretation, conscious goals
Schemas
cognitive knowledge structures or mental concepts
3 main purposes of schemas
provide a framework for encoding and integrating new and ambiguous information; informs us of what to expect; affects how we select, interpret, organize, and evaluate experiences
How do schemas affect our experiences?
guides our attention, fills in missing details (reconstructive memory), interpret information that verifies our pre-existing beliefs
Examples of things we have schemas for
ourselves, gender, social groups, parental figures, relationship partners, events, places, objects, nature, behaviors
Purpose of schemas for ourselves
help us organize our personal experiences and beliefs, and information relevant to the self
Personal constructs
key cognitive schemas that people habitually apply in interpreting their world, particularly social world (e.g. binaries like tall-short)
Confirmation bias
people are more likely to actively seek out and agree with ideas similar to their own, ignore and have negative feelings about others; usually unconscious
What does confirmation bias lead to?
belief perseverance
Echo chambers
social media users only see posts from like-minded friends; further exacerbated by Facebook algorithms tailoring content to users
Locus of control
a person’s perception of responsibility for life events
Generalized expectancies
our expectations for reinforcement hold across a variety of situations
2 types of LoC
internal and external
Internal LoC
generalized expectancy that events are under one’s control and that one is responsible for outcomes in life; conducive to well-being
External LoC
generalized expectancy that events are outside one’s control; blaming luck, chance, or others for outcomes
Attribution theory
there are 3 factors involved in explaining the causes of events: internal vs external; unstable vs stable; global vs specific
Internal vs external
blaming oneself vs the world
Unstable vs stable
temporary vs consistent over time
Global vs specific
pervasive vs applies to this event only
Pessimistic explanatory style
emphasizes internal, stable, global causes for bad events; puts people at risk for feelings of helplessness and poor adjustment
Optimistic explanatory style
emphasizes external, temporary, specific causes for bad events
2 types of goal orientation
mastery/learning and performance/ego
Mastery goal orientation
individuals seek to develop their competence, improve abilities
Performance goal orientation
individuals seek to demonstrate their competence and/or avoid revealing their incompetence
2 dimensions to describe goals (aspiration index)
intrinsic (driven by needs; inherently satisfying) vs extrinsic (driven by reward; means to ends); physical self (self-enhancement) vs self-transcendence (enhancement of others)
Self-efficacy
belief that one can execute a course of action to achieve a goal
The self according to Oxford dictionary
a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action
The self according to Kohut
unlike its manifestations, constituents, and functions, not knowable in its essence
Duality of the self
the “I” or the self as the agent observing (self-awareness); the “me” or the self as the object being observed (self-concept)
Mirror test
behavioral method to assess visual self-recognition (needed for pretend play and use of personal pronouns); assumed to indicate self-awareness
Does the mirror test have cross-culture validity?
inconsistent in Kenya, Peru, and some island nations
Which animals pass the mirror test?
humans, chimps, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, asian elephants, bottlenose dolphins, orcas, Eurasian magpies, ants, cleaner wrasses
Self-concept
descriptive component of the self; knowledge and beliefs about oneself as a physical, social, psychological, and moral being
Examples of self-concept
personal characteristics, ascribed identities, social and group identities, interests, material possessions, abstract/existential
What comprises self-concepts?
self-schemas
Self-guides
standards one uses to organize information and motivate appropriate behavior
2 self-guides
ideal self and ought self
4 key self-schemas
possible selves; ideal self; ought self; undesired selves
Possible selves
ideas people have about who they might become
Ideal self
what a person wants to be; based on own desires and goals
Ought self
what a person believes others want them to be; based on responsibilities and commitments to others
Undesired selves
what a person wants to avoid being
“Looking glass” self (Cooley)
the self is socially constructed through the life-long experience of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others
How is self-concept formed through self-narratives?
by integrating life experiences and self-defining memories into an internalized evolving story of the self that provides the person with a sense of unity and purpose
Social identity
social component of the self; what we show to others and use to create impressions
Continuity vs contrast in social identity
people can count on you to be the same person tomorrow as you were today; your social identity differentiates you from others and makes you unique in their eyes
Identity crisis
feelings of anxiety accompanying efforts to define/redefine one’s own individuality and social reputation
2 types of identity crises
identity conflict and deficit
Identity conflict
conflict between different aspects of one’s identity (e.g. self-concept and social identity); commonly occurs in adolescence and middle age
Identity deficit
not seeing oneself confidently or clearly and has trouble making decisions; often when discarding old values or goals
Multiple selves
everyone has at least 2 selves: inner private self (self-concept) and social identity
Self-concept differentiation
tendency to see oneself as having different traits across different social roles (i.e. having multiple selves or self-concepts/identities across roles)
How is self-concept differentiation measured?
self-reported traits in different roles (e.g. as a parent, as a friend)
Self-complexity
reflects the number and diversity of self-aspects (i.e. aspects of one’s self-concept) developed for meaningful facets of one’s life
Are multiple selves adaptive?
self-concept differentiation is associated with psychological maladjustment and fragmentation, and a lack of an integrated core self while self-concept consistency appears to be adaptive
Degree of self-concept differentiation in individualistic vs collectivistic cultures
consistency vs malleable and context-sensitive (e.g. in Asian cultures)
Do people in Asian cultures have a less coherent self?
they have less consistent self-concepts ACROSS roles but are just as stable over time WITHIN roles
Effect of consistency across vs within roles on well-being
consistency across roles is less predictive of well-being while inconsistency within roles is associated with maladjustment and poor relationship functioning
Self-esteem
evaluative component of the self or what one thinks or feels about their self-concept; both affective and cognitive; either global or specific; measured implicitly or explicitly
4 myths about high self-esteem
correlated with positive attributes; promotes success in school; promotes success at work; makes you likeable
2 myths about low self-esteem
puts a person at greater risk of substance abuse and premature sexual activity; a precursor to aggression and bullying
Positive illusions
undeservedly high self-esteem
Self-serving bias
excessively high implicit self-esteem
What are positive illusions associated with in the short-term?
positive emotions, well-being, high self-esteem; better performance on experimental tasks
What are positive illusions associated with in the long-term?
decreasing levels of well-being and self-esteem; disengagement from school and increased likelihood of dropping out; being liked less by peers; higher levels of aggression and narcissism
2 questions you need to answer regarding existence
why am I here?; what should I be doing? (existential anxiety/angst if not answered)
2 ways of dealing with existential anxiety/angst
face questions with courage and optimism or avoid problems and live in bad faith
Living in bad faith
not worrying about meaning of life; advancing your social status (e.g. buying a nice car); following society, convention, peer group, political propaganda, religious dogma, advertising
Authenticity
living an honest, insightful, and moral life; achieving meaning and a sense of purpose
Authenticity today
unobstructed operation/expression of one’s true self
4 aspects of authenticity today
awareness; unbiased processing of self-relevant information; behaving in accordance with one’s values, preferences, needs; being authentic in close relationships
What has authenticity been associated with?
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability, honesty-humility, health and well-being, low stress, more positive emotion, self-actualization
What has authenticity in Asian cultures been associated with?
well-being (feeling like one’s true self within and not across roles)
Doctrine of “non-self”
there is not unchanging, permanent self; clinging to this leads to suffering
Reducer/augmenter theory
some people reduce sensory stimulation (high pain tolerance) while others augment it
Postmodernism
intellectual position grounded in the notion that reality is constructed; every culture and person has a unique version of it
Fundamental postulate (Kelly)
a person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which they anticipate events
Commonality corollary
two people have similar construct systems or interpret the world similarly
Anxiety (Kelly)
when personal constructs fail to make sense of our circumstances (e.g. too rigid)
Specific expectancies
LoC in discrete areas of life (e.g. health, academic outcomes, relationships)
Promotion vs prevention focus
concerned with advancement, growth, accomplishments; concerned with protection, safety, prevention of negative outcomes
General intelligence (g)
people who display high cognitive ability in one area tend to do so in others
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
seven forms of intelligence (e.g. interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, emotional)
Inspection time
time it takes to make a simple discrimination between 2 displayed objects
Objective self-awareness
seeing oneself as an object of others’ attention; can be experienced as shyness and become a chronic problem
Global self esteem
level of global regard one has for the self as a person; composite of several areas of self-evaluation
Collective self-esteem
global self-evaluation as a member of a social group or category; benefits health and well-being
Defensive pessimism
strategy in which a person facing a challenge expects to do poorly and uses worry constructively to motivate themselves
Self-handicapping
person deliberately does the things that increase the probability that they will fail
