Lecture 2 - The Self 2 Flashcards
(lecture):
The self cane developed from social interactions.
Describe reflected appraisal.
Describe a study that investigates this.
(lecture):
Reflected appraisal:
The idea is that we get our self from perceiving how others view us. Evidence suggests, however, that we are not very good at this: we tend to think that everyone has much the same view of us, and it accords with our own view of ourselves.
study that investigates this:
Kenny, D. A., & DePaulo, B. M. (1993). Do people know how others view them? An empirical and theoretical account. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 145-161.
They found that people have a better than chance accuracy in detecting how people are detecting or evaluating them, but it wasn’t much of a drastic result however it still supports the reflected appraisal.
They argue still though, that our beliefs of how other people see us is based on how we see ourselves to begin with and just assume others think of us that way too.
Second line of evidence is that there’s a high correlation with how people see themselves and how they think other people see them.
(he speaks more in detail about this study in the lecture, watch it back)
(background reading):
Gilovich, T., Keltner, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (2019). Social Psychology (5th Ed.). London: Norton. Chapter 3.
(background reading):
(essential reading):
Morse, S., & Gergen, K. J. (1970). Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 148-156.
Lewinsohn, P. M., Mischel, W., Chaplin, W., & Barton, R. (1980). Social competence and depression: the role of illusory self-perceptions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 203-212.
(essential reading):
(lecture):
The self cane developed from social interactions.
Describe social comparison theory.
Describe a study that investigates this.
(lecture):
Social comparison theory:
This theory states that people have a drive to assess their personal characteristics accurately, and that they do this by comparing themselves with others, especially similar others. Studies have shown that self-esteem in particular is very easily affected by manipulations of comparisons with other people. Research has also shown that people tend to identify themselves in terms of ways in which they are distinctive or different from people around them.
People have a drive to assess their opinions, abilities, and other personal characteristics accurately.
When there are no objective standards people assess their personal characteristics by making comparisons with other people.
People prefer to compare themselves to similar others.
study that investigates this:
Morse, S., & Gergen, K. J. (1970). Social comparison, self-consistency, and the concept of self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 148-156.
PROCEDURE:
- Pps were people who had applied for a part time research assistant job. Was real, not a cover story.
- When an applicant arrived for the interview, he/she was put into a room and given some forms and questionnaires to fill out. One of which was a self-esteem questionnaire.
- When Pps had finished forms, a secretary came in to take forms away. With her she brought what seemed to be a second applicant for the job. This person was a confederate, so was acting about being a second applicant.
- There were two versions of this applicant:
1st CONDITION:
- The second (fake) applicant was well dressed, well groomed, very professional looking. He held a case that they opened to reveal pens and statistics books, among other various interesting items. Had a confident manner, and completed the forms and questionnaires in a very business like way.
This person was called the “clean confederate”
2nd CONDITION:
(played by the same confederate)
- The second applicant had long hair, accidentally (not purposefully designer) ripped jeans, wore a smelly t-shirt, carried a paperback novel. He didn’t have a pen so had to be given one by the secretary. He looked dazed and went through the forms with a great deal of uncertainty.
This person was called the “dirty confederate”
While this was happening, the Pp had nothing to do but watch the confederate. When the confederate had finished all the forms, the secretary came in and took those forms away and then gave the real Pp more forms to do. Among these was a different self-esteem questionnaire.
So the real Pps filled out two self-esteem questionnaires, one before the confederate, one after.
RESULTS:
- In the “clean confederate” condition, Pps self-esteem scores were significantly lower after seeing the confederate than they had been before.
- In the “dirty confederate” condition, Pps self-esteem scores were significantly higher after seeing the confederate than they had been before.
CONCLUSION:
Shows a simple effect of social comparison.
Just seeing one person of which we don’t interact with at all, is enough to influence our level of self-esteem.
(lecture):
Describe a study that demonstrates that social comparison theory helps us develop a SELF CONCEPT as well as influencing our level of self-esteem.
Research has shown that we use social comparison to identify what makes us distinct and individual.
(lecture):
McGuire, W. J., & Padawer-Singer, A. (1976). Trait salience in the spontaneous self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 743-754.
PROCEDURE:
- Pps were 11 yr old school children
- In a class setting, they gave them a sheet of paper and asked them to describe themselves.
- The researchers content analysed the things the children had said about themselves.
RESULTS:
- They found that the children would write down ways in which they were different from their classmates. (e.g., children who had blue eyes were more likely mention that fact than children who had brown eyes were; the children who were at the extremes of the age distribution (oldest or youngest) were more likely to mention their age than the children who were in the middle; the strongest effect they got was where the children were born, the children who had been born in other countries, 44% mentioned their place of birth, but for those born in America, only 7% mentioned that fact)
CONCLUSION:
- The self-concept we form is one that helps us to see our selves distinct and different from other people.
(lecture):
What are some motivational factors that develops our self concept?
(lecture) :
- We want an accurate self concept, so we will seek out information that tells us this.
they investigated this:
Trope, Y. (1975). Seeking information about one’s own ability as a determinant
of choice among tasks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 1004-1013.
(he speaks more in detail about this in the lecture, watch it back)
(lecture):
Describe a study that shows people believe they are better than the average driver.
(lecture):
Svenson, O. (1981). Are we all less risky and more skillful than our fellow drivers? Acta Psychologica, 47, 143-148.
PROCEDURE:
- Got ddrivers to rate where they thought they stood with their driving ability in relation to other drivers. (better or worse than average).
RESULTS:
88% rated themselves as above average.
50% thought they were in the top 20%
This obviously cannot be true, as only 50% can be above average.
(lecture):
Describe a study that shows that majority of people see themselves as being better than average. And of course not everyone can be.
(lecture):
Lewinsohn, P. M., Mischel, W., Chaplin, W., & Barton, R. (1980). Social competence
and depression: the role of illusory self-perceptions. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology, 89, 203-212.
PROCEDURE:
- 2 groups of Pps:
1 GROUP:
- Suffering from clinical depression at the time and starting a course of treatment for their depression which proceeded through the time course of the study.
2 GROUP:
- Non-depressed participants.
- All Pps took part in conversation groups (5 or 6 people) and spent about 20 mins just chatting.
- All Pps took part in 4 of these groups spaced out by about a month. So study was about 3 months long.
- Observers watched the conversations through a one way screen, and they rated the Pps they were observing on various positive characteristics (17; e.g, being friendly, warm, interested in other people)
- After conversation group ended, the real Pps rated themselves on the same 17 characteristics.
- Then we can see how the Pps view themselves compared to how the observers view them.
- The ratings were on a scale of 1 (not-at-all characteristic of the person) - 7 (very characteristic of the person). (higher rating = more positive person)
RESULTS:
SELF-RATING: Non-depressed: 4.2 Depressed: 3.4
OBSERVER RATING: Non-depressed: 3.6 Depressed: 3.2
Non-depressed comparison was statistically significant. Depressed comparison was not statistically significant. Therefore, the positive self concept illusion is not present in Pps with depression.
However, by the end of the study (because the depressed Pps were getting treatment throughout the study) the depressed Pps held the positive self-concept illusion, just like the non-depressed Pps.
Interestingly, the depressed Pps got their self-concept correct, they were no different to the observer ratings so were seeing themselves no more positively or negatively than they actually were.
