Lecture 18: Self II Flashcards
How do we know who we are: other people
- see ourselves through how people see us (Cooley)– their reactions can tell us who we are
- social comparison theory:
- learn about our own abilities by comparing ourselves to
other people - theory revolves around 2 q’s:
- when do you engage in social comparison?
- who do you choose to compare yourself with?
- learn about our own abilities by comparing ourselves to
when do we engage in social comparison?
- when theres no objective standard to measure yourself against– ex how much money should you donate to charity?
- when you experience uncertainty about yourself in specific area– ex you got 15/20 on test= is this good?
automaticity of social comparisons (who?)
gilbert, giesler, morris)
- making social comparison might be: spontaneous, automatic process
- means that we sometimes make social comparisons even if its inappropriate to do so= but we can undo them, if we have sufficient cog resources to do so
who do we choose to compare ourselves to?
festinger
- we compare ourselves to people who are similar to ourselves
- because we’re motivated to see ourselves accurately
meta analysis of 55 studies
- ps preferred comparison targets who were better than they were on a particular dimension (average)= we try to understand the best we can be
if you wanna know top level to which you can aspire, you engage in…
(if you wanna challenge yourself)
upward social comparison
= compare yourself to people who are BETTER than you are on a specific ability
if you wanna feel better about yourself, you engage in…
downward social comparison
= compare yourself to people who are WORSE than you on specific ability
what is a self-motive?
tendency that is aimed towards establishing specific state of self-awareness, self-representation, or self-evaluation
what are the types of self motives?
- accuracy perception
- self verification
- self-enhancement
- accuracy perception
motivated to have accurate info about yourself
- self verification
motivated to confirm what we already know about yourself
- self-enhancement
motivated to maintain positivity of self, desire to protect, enhance your self-image
demonstration of self-enhancement (5)
- we’re better than average
- we’re better toady than we were in past
- we make biased attributions
- engage in self-handicapping
- sometimes sabotage other people
self-enhancing social comparisons: better than average effect
- we think we’re “better than average”
- we think we’re above average on: getting along with others, happiness
- people exaggerate their skills to think well of themselves
self-enhancing comparisons: temporal self-comparisons
- temporal self-appraised theory
- past selves–> provide opportunity for downward comparison
- ps–> randomly assigned to rate self or acquaintance:
- or - traits (ex. socially skilled, self-confident vs. immature, narrow-minded)
- now, and in past
- results:
- ratings of self and acquaintances in present and past:
- past: Self= 5.8 Acq: 5.9
- present: Self= 6.25 Acq: 5.91
- show derogation of past for self, not acquaintances= self-enhancement
- in your mind: everyone doesn’t get better, only me
biased attributions (who?)
Lau + Russell
- newspaper quotes from winners + losers
- coded player’s and manager’s explanations for outcome
results:
- % making internal attributions
- 80% of winners
- 53% of losers
