Lecture 4

Question 1

When do primes prime?

Answer 1

There are things available in the memory, but it’s not highly accessible (not frequently and recently brought to mind) this is when primes work best

Question 2

True or false: You can prime something even if its not there

Answer 2

False!You can’t prime when it’s NOT there!

Question 3

Why do we say that People are either Pro-social or Pro-self, what does this mean for priming?

Answer 3

Pro-social (thinks about others)
Pro-self (more on self-interests)
- People who are inconsistently pro-social/pro-self, they are easier to prime

Question 4

Dictator example explaining pro social and pro self

Answer 4

They did a dictator game, participants call the shots. They get all the money and it’s up
to them to decide how much to give away
○ Consistently pro-social shared more money, opposite for pro-self (they are
chronic pro-social/pro-self)
○ Not much difference for those who are inconsistent

Question 5

who knows what best, internal traits vs external traits

Answer 5

For external traits
- Your friends and family may know it better
- Friends and family may do better in predicting your relationship prospects
Internal traits
- You know it more about yourself cos you don’t show it all the time to other people

Question 6

James Redux meaning behingd overlooked

Answer 6

OVERLOOKED: he says that all these selves are not all equal and we must carefully pick out the one which to stake salvation

Question 7

self esteem is like what

Answer 7

a fuel gauge. (indicating whether psychological need to connect with
others is being fulfilled)
When it’s pointing full, your relatedness/belonging/connected needs are being met
When self esteem is down, a symptom that your belonging needs are not being met

Question 8

do we see ourselves and the world as is?
or through a rose tinted glass?

Answer 8

For awhile, it was thought a mentally healthy person has close contact with reality and accurate perceptions of reality

Question 9

Who changed this idea about a mentally healthy person directly having close contact with reality and accurate perceptions of reality?

Answer 9

Shelley Taylor

Question 10

What did Shelley taylor study? What was the take away?

Answer 10

Studied women with breast cancer (struck by their resilience and psychological
efficacy they have)
○ There was a pattern with the attributions they made, control, and
self-enhancements that help them feel good about the situation they’re in (help
themselves feel good about themselves)
○ Somehow the breast cancer patients have a “healthier” mindset than the actual
healthy ones

Question 11

what is downward social comparison according to taylor?

Answer 11

Taylor commented that we can find other people whose situation is worse than ours
when we are confronted with a problem (downward social comparison)

Question 12

What is the self reference effect?

Answer 12

Positive information and successes are efficiently processed and recalled than the
failures and negative traits (self reference effect)

Question 13

What is the optimistic bias

Answer 13

People are more optimistic that negative life events will not happen to them compared to
peers (optimistic bias)

Question 14

Social self defined by two elements:

Answer 14

It is malleable and it also has core elements.

Question 15

true or false ; Parents raise girls and boys differently and that reinforces and amplifies differences in self-construal.

Answer 15

True. Parents raise girls and boys differently: Talk with their girls about more emotional stuff then with their boys, starting from an early age kids are separated in gender segregated group, guys play with guys, girls with girls, that reinforces and amplifies differences in self-construal.

Question 16

Social self is shaped by _______ and _______

Answer 16

A person’s cultural background (country of residence, gender, race, social class) shapes the social self in profound ways and the social self is shaped by comparisons with other people and by the social identities that people claim.
1. cultural background
2. comparisons

Question 17

East Asians vs westerners in terms of illusions of the self;

Answer 17

East Asians are less likely than westerners to endorse positive illusions about the self .

East Asians tied to more interdependent values, like fulfilling social roles

Evidence shows that positive illusions don’t = better well being ( not necessarily )

Because it means different things to different cultures to have positive view of the self

Conclusion: Wether and how much self-enhancement provides benefits depends on a range of factors, and at times, enhancing the self can be taken too far.

Question 18

What is the self-verification theory + give an example

Answer 18

Definition: The theory that people strive for others to view them as they view themselves, such verification of ones views of the self helps people maintain a sense of coherence and predictability.

• example, if you see yourself as extraverted, you will try and get people to see you in that way.
• People will selectively recall information that they think describes them.

Question 19

Self- Regulation

Answer 19

The processes by which people initiate, alter & control their behaviour in pursuit of a goal - wether the goal is going to be liked by on instagram, to do well in school or to get in better shape.
Motivating and controlling behaviour

Question 20

Self-Discrepancy theory ( Tory Higgins)

Answer 20

• Actual Self: Self you believe you are
• Ideal self: Your hopes and wishes
• Ought self: Represents your duties and obligation
  People hold beliefs about not only what they are actually like but also what they would ideally like to be and what they think they ought to be.

Question 21

Promotion focus vs prevention focus

Answer 21

→ result in negative or positive outcome

Question 22

dejection-related emotions vs agitated emotions:

Answer 22

• to think that you will never become your ideal self: Dejection-related emotions; such as depression + shame, reduced arousal
• In contrast, associations to a persons ought self; Agitated emotions ; such as guilt or panic, elevated arousal.

Question 23

Shifts in construal and perspective, how to To exercise self-control

Answer 23

Shift how you construe the temptation;
Examples;
- Marshmallow paradigm: kids left with two choices, get a smaller marshmallow now or double size but they would have to wait 15 mins. ( control yourself to get better result)
- Another example, go out with friends before exam or control yourself, resist & stay home study and so you can put chances on your side to do better on the exam.

Question 24

• High level construals vs low level construals

Answer 24

• High level: focus on abstract, core features = tend to facilitate self-control
• Low level: emphasize salient, concrete details.

Question 25

Automatic self-control strategies

Answer 25

• happens automatically, without even realizing it

Question 26

another term for self representation

Answer 26

Impression management

Question 27

Research by Erving Goffman; studied the self-representation with his observations about how we stake out our identity in the public realm. Who did he observe what did that show?

Answer 27

Observed patients in mental health institutions, noting how they seemed to ignore many rules of self-representation; making unflattering comments about others and failing to observe common social courtesies.

Question 28

Goffman wrote an entire chapter on what?

Answer 28

Goffman wrote entire chapter on what he called response crisis ( like sayingoops)

Question 29

What concept derives in part from Coffman’s work

Answer 29

Concept of self-monitoring derives in part from Goffman’s work.

Question 30

Self monitoring concept, explain high vs low self monitoring

Answer 30

• tendency to monitor ones behaviour to fit the demands of the current situation.
  
  • High self monitoring; carefully looking at every situation
  • Low self monitoring : behave more regardless of social context.

Question 31

self handicapping

Answer 31

Self-Handicapping ( one of complexities of self-representation)

• Definition: Tendency to engage in self-defeatin g behaviour to protect the self in public and to prevent others from making unwanted interferences based on poor performances. ( ex putting too little efforts into studying for an exam ).

Question 32

True or false

• we sacrifice physical health to maintain a public identity defined by composure and aplomb. ( ex embarrassing buying condoms)

Answer 32

True

Question 33

• Do people present themselves authentically online?

Answer 33

• Few studies support the surprising finding that online people tend to present their offline selves fairly accurately, although most of the research was conducted on Facebook, not all social media platforms.

Question 34

Do we present all of our aspects equally online?

Answer 34

Research suggests that while we may present our personality and other attributes, such has occupation/ career fairly accurately online, we are less likely to do so when it comes to our physical attributes, such has our height, weight and age. This being potentially because of the vital role that physical appearance plays in attraction.

Question 35

Self concept clarity vs complexity

Question 36

Cohens idea/study

Answer 36

“is this me questions”
How fast do people respond when its in terms of personality traits vs social role in asians and Canadians

Question 37

Happiness

Answer 37

self-serving attributions

Question 38

Caring for others and illusions and happiness

Answer 38

Illusions elevate our happiness and happiness increase the likelihood of caring and helping others.

Question 39

Creative, productive, work

Answer 39

Positive moods boost productivity and motivation
belief in having sense of control and optimism

Question 40

Negative expectations and symptoms onset

Answer 40

HIV + men reported more optimism reported it was not associated with engaging in risky behaviour