Lecture 10 the self under threat

Question 1

Threats to the self: definition

Answer 1

Perceived failures to meet culturally, socially,
or personally significant standards…

Many examples e.g. low grades, failure in an important domain etc

Question 2

Defensive responses:

Answer 2

Often when we face a threat to the self we use defensive responses

§ Positive illusions (“everyone makes mistakes
sometimes”)
§ Biased perception/judgment of information (e.g.
attributions for poor exam performance)

Question 3

Defensive responses; the problem

Answer 3

When we use these, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to learn from these situations

Question 4

Self-Affirmation Theory (Steele)

Answer 4

“The purpose of the self system is to maintain a phenomenal experience of the self…as adaptively and
morally adequate, that is, competent, good, coherent,
unitary, stable…”

He theorized that the self is made of many parts which all contribute to Global Self-Integrity.

And of these component parts may be used to reinforce the self in the face of an attack

• When self-system is threatened, people are
motivated to repair it
• The self system is flexible
• People can affirm by engaging in activities that remind them of “who they are” (and doing so reduces self integrity implication of threatening events)

If an aspect of the self is threatened, you can reinforce it by using another aspect of the self

Question 5

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 5

A behavior that contradicts an important attitude or
value arouses an unpleasant state of “dissonance”

Task

-Write counter-attitudinal essay
-People adjust/align attitude to “justify” behavior to
reduce dissonance-related negative arousal
-“I’m in favor of X…”

Why?

• We need psychological consistency
• Ego-based needs for positive self-image

Question 6

Dissonance as self-affirmation (basic Idea)

Answer 6

If dissonance threatens our view of ourselves as a good person we might try to resolve it.

• If that is the case, maybe we can resolve dissonance through self-affirmation and not have to change our attitudes
• In other words, maybe self-affirmation can tackle the roots of negative affect in dissonance
• and so provide an alternative mechanism for resolving dissonance

Question 7

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study theory)

Answer 7

To show this, a stusy must:

• Replicate induced compliance effects
• Give some ps the opportunity to affirm their
values (later)
• H: Eliminate dissonance effect when expect
opportunity to affirm values
• “Being able to affirm values allows people to
discount the importance of a single dissonant act
as being indicative of the underlying self-system”

Question 8

Dissonance as self-affirmation (study method)

Answer 8

Participants were asked to:
-Write an essay “opposing more state funding for
handicap facilities”

-Prior to essay:
G1 was given a chance to self-affirm: “we’d like you to record exams onto audio tapes to help blind students” (expectation to self-affirm)
G2: no forewarning (no expectation)

H1: Expectation of value affirming response
should eliminate dissonance

Afterwards: Compete q about attitudes

Question 9

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Results)

Answer 9

Results showed a big difference:

G1 experienced much less dissonance (their attitudes had not changed)

G2 experienced a lot more dissonance

Conclusion: Self-Affirmation can attenuate the effects of cognitive dissonance

Question 10

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study 2 - does it matter of the dissonance area was not relevant to the subjects - theory?)

Answer 10

If self-affirmation theory is correct, this attenuation in dissonance should only be seen if the source of dissonance is relevant to you.

This is because self-affirmation should only allow you to reinforce your self, so if it is not under threat, this won’t happen (wont be needed even)

So an experiment to test this was done:

Question 11

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study 2 - does it matter of the dissonance area was not relevant to the subjects- method?)

Answer 11

They recruited “value oriented” and “non-value oriented” people.
This was operationalized as the strength of their views on ps economic/political value
orientation

• They had to write counter attitudinal essay: List reasons to support tuition increase
• High vs. low choice (dissonance only exists in high choice groups)
• High choice was made by telling them they would get credit even if you don’t write essay
• G1: Self-affirm by completing values scale
• G2 not

-Measure post-essay attitudes

Question 12

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study 2 - does it matter of the dissonance area was not relevant to the subjects - Results?)

Answer 12

• You only saw dissonance in the High (get credit regardless) group who did not self-affirm
• In both low choice groups no dissonance
• In the high choice, no affirmation condition, no dissonance

Conclusion: replication of dissonance

For high choice, value orientated people there was less dissonance than for high choice, no affirmation.

For high choice, non-value orientated people there was no effect of self-affirmation.

Conclusion: Self-Affirmation resolves the dissonance. If the area of dissonance is not relevant to you, this does not happen.

Question 13

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study 2 -flexibility - Idea?)

Answer 13

Self-Affirmation theory says there are many aspects to the self and each can contribute to Global Self-Integrity

So they had to set up an experiment to test this:

Question 14

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study 2 -flexibility - Method?)

Answer 14

Used a free choice spread of alternatives paradigm

-Free choice paradigm: rank 10 music albums
-Keep either 5th or 6th ranked album
-Re-rank kept albums:
-Dissonance: increased value of albums you get to
keep

Recruited 1/2 participants from the faculty of arts and 1/2 from science

G1 told they had a messy lab experiment coming up
-You need to wear a lab coat
G2 not

The idea being that you will allow the science students to self-affirm an aspect of their selves which is totally unrelated to the source of dissonance. Do they differ on the amount of dissonance experienced?

But, you’ve got a messy lab task coming up…

Question 15

Dissonance as self-affirmation (Study 2 -flexibility - Method?)

Answer 15

No lab coat, non science
No lab coat, science
Lab coat, arts

All experienced high levels of dissonance

Lab coat, science did not

Conclusion:

• Self-affirmation of an important aspect of the self is sufficient to attenuate the effects of dissonance
• The aspect of the self does not need to be relevant to the source of the dissonance

Question 16

Can self affirmation reduce other negative processes we use to cope with threat?

Answer 16

• Sometimes when people (or a people) feel threatened they resort to dogmatic, zealous thinking and rigidity (via prejudice or stereotyping)
• This increases social dominance orientation: the belief that social hierarchies are justified

Can self affirmation help with this?

Question 17

Personal uncertainty and going to extremes

Answer 17

-Inconsistent or unclear self-relevant cognitions

-Cope by emphasizing certainty in unrelated
attitudes, values, goals, identities, etc.

-Zealous about social attitudes & groups
OR,
-being oneself

Question 18

Personal uncertainty and going to extremes (study design)

Answer 18

1 - Confront ps with important personal
uncertainties (such as changing their colleges major or terminate/begin a romantic relationship)

Ask them if they will leave things as they are or try to change things
Write advantages/disadvantages of each action
Imagine different possible selves

Question 19

Personal uncertainty and going to extremes (study design: G1/G2 + measurement)

Answer 19

G1 have a self-repair exercise (write about why an aspect of the self was important to them and how they have lived by it’s values)

G2 not

DV Compensatory convictions (operationalize as a hardening of attitudes about a social issue)

Statements about social issues, e.g.,

• “Capital punishment is absolutely never justified”
• ”A murderer deserves to die”

Assessed “compensatory conviction”:

• Conviction
• Consensus (how they believed their peers felt)
• Ambivalence (if they felt and thought others felt ambivalent to the issue)

All 3 used as an index

Question 20

Personal uncertainty and going to extremes (study design: Results)

Answer 20

If you engage in the integrity repair exercise you see less hardening of attitudes

Conclusion: Self affirmation might attenuate the hardening of attitudes when faced with uncertainty

Question 21

Mortality sailence

Answer 21

People do in-group favoritism in response to this

Self-affirmation also drops this

Question 22

Prejudice as self-image maintenance

Answer 22

Stereotypes/prejudice are a way to protect self/self-esteem in threatening world

• out groups are different
• anxiety
• when we meet them do not know how to act
• to cope with this uncertainty we rely on stereotypes to know how to act

Questions
1. Do threats to the self increase
stereotyping/prejudice?
2. Would affirming the self reduce
stereotyping/prejudice?

Question 23

Prejudice as self-image maintenance (study 1, check to see if threats to the self increase prejudice - method/G1G2)

Answer 23

Participants told they would do a new form of intelligence test
-Do the test
G1 test is real
G2 test is bogus
-Get “bogus” feedback:
told they were below average relative to peers…

Asked to do a “Social judgment task”

Question 24

Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Study 1 check to see if threats to the self increase prejudice (social judgement task)

Answer 24

Introduced to Greg

G1
• Living with his girlfriend, “Anne”
• Struggling actor
• East village
• Caring for very close and very ill friend for last
2 months of his life
• Landed “a fairly large part in a serious and
rather controversial play directed by a young
(male) director”
• Asks director if he would like to “Get a drink or something?”

G2
• Living with his partner
• Struggling actor
• East village
• Caring for very close and very ill friend for last
2 months of his life
• Landed “a fairly large part in a serious and
rather controversial play directed by a young
(male) director”
• Asks director if he would like to “Get a drink or something?”

Nothing explicit about homosexuality

TASK

Choose adjectives that describe Greg. In the pile there were some that were stereotypically gay

Question 25

Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Study 1 check to see if threats to the self increase prejudice (results)

Answer 25

In the test is bogus group there was no difference in the level of gay adjectives chosen for G1 or G2

In the test is real (threat to self) group, the group that got the leading statement (ambiguously suggesting Greg could be gay), they picked many more gay adjectives
The group that received the leading - hetrosexual condition did not do this

Conclusion: threat to the self can increase prejudice as a compensatory mechanism

Question 26

Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Study 2 does self affirmation help? (design)

Answer 26

-Does self-affirmation make ps less likely to evaluate another in ways that reflect their prejudice?

-Affirm and make salient important aspects of self, or not
-Evaluate target outgroup w/readily available negative stereotype
-outgroup w/o readily available negative
stereotype

-Pt 1: “Study of values” such as (business/economics,
art/music/theater)
G1: Affirm: Circle value that’s most important to
you, and write a few paragraphs about why
value important to you
G2: No affirm: Circle value that’s least important
to you, and write a few paragraphs about why
value important to someone else

-Pt 2: “How employees evaluate candidates in
hiring process”
-Evaluate job applicant
-8 min videotape
-Photograph
-Work experience
-Academic record
-Job relevant information
-Videotape, photograph and record identical
except 2 variations in photo and 3 in record…

(1)
Julie Goldberg
-Jewish sorority
-Volunteer for Jewish organization
-Star of David
-Hair clip
(Consistent with Jewish Princess stereotype)

(2)
Maria D’Agostino
-Non-Jewish sorority
-Volunteer for Catholic
organization
-Cross
-Hair down

Question 27

Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Study 2 does self affirmation help? (results)

Answer 27

Those who were not self-affirmed rated the Italian character as much better than the Jewish one

Those self affirmed rated them about equally

Conclusion: Self-affirmation can attenuate the activation of prejudice in threatened individuals

Question 28

US Election study

Answer 28

2 ideas

(1) people voted for Trump cos they felt economically left behind
(2) cos they felt there group was loosing power
Found trump voters were motivated more by 2
They voted for the candidature who positioned themselves most on these positions

Question 29

Other effects of Self Affirmation (7 things)

Answer 29

• Reduces prejudice and stereotyping
• Careful consideration and balanced info processing (less rigid and closed minded)
• More open to other party’s point of view (reduces biased assimilation; paying attention to only information that reinforces your view)
• More open to (less critical of) important but threatening health information
• Reduces rumination after failure
• Physiological response to stress
• Stereotype threat…

Question 30

Stereotype Threat

Answer 30

-When people are (or feel they are) at risk of
confirming negative stereotypes about their
social group
-Group members become anxious about their
performance, which hinders ability to perform at maximal levels
-E.g., hinder African American SAT performance
-Individual d/n need to subscribe to stereotype
(for effect to occur)
-Anxiety depletes working memory
-Group membership(s) are important sources
of self-integrity
-Negative group evaluations (stereotypes) can pose chronic threat to self-integrity
-If threat is too severe/chronic, then it can
undermine performance
-Can affirmation attenuate the effects of stereotype threat?

Question 31

Reducing the racial achievement gap study (set up)

Answer 31

-School setting esp. threatening to African
American students

-Participants were 7th graders :African American (119) and North.
European (124); middle to lower-middle class
-Affirmation or control condition (early fall)…

Question 32

Reducing the racial achievement gap study (Exercise idea)

Answer 32

-List of values e.g., relationships with friends or family, being good at art
-Indicate most (least) important value
-G1 Write paragraph about why value important
to you
-G2 (someone else)

Also, agree/disagree:
-“I (some other people) care about these values”

Study 1: 1 exercise; replication: 2 exercises

Question 33

Reducing the racial achievement gap study (Results)

Answer 33

African Americans:
-Fall GPA: affirm > control
-Replicated in study 2
-No treatment effect for European Americans
(in either study)
-Race X treatment sig. in both studies
-Effect not due to select few who performed poorly or well before exp.
-Treatment benefitted ~70% of African American students
-Overall reduced the racial achievement gap by 40%

Conclusion: Self affirmation can combat the effects of stereotype threat

Question 34

Psychology of Self Affirmation

Answer 34

Self system functions to sustain a sense that
one’s self and one’s world is good, competent,
stable–has adaptive and moral adequacy
-Cognitions that threaten the integrity of the self arouse motive to reaffirm the self
-The self-system is highly flexible in the ways
that it restores integrity
-Once affirmed, task of “proving” self-worth is
“settled”
-Thus allowing for adaptive behavior change