lecture 7 Flashcards
Our search for self-knowledge is guided by a few self-evaluation
motives
- Self-assessment
- Self-enhancement
Self-Assessment Motive
- Fundamental motive to see ourselves accurately
- Leads to people seeking objective feedback about their abilities and
characteristics in order to reduce uncertainty about the self-concept - Pragmatic function because allows us to develop accurate and
realistic goals for ourselves
self-enhancment motive pt 2
- Functions to attain or maintain self-esteem * Guides people toward situations in which they believe they will excel or can promote
their positive qualities which will help them increase their self-esteem
Most people have illusions about the self
- Overly positive self-evaluations
- Illusions of control
- Unrealistic optimism bias
People use more traits to describe themselves than
traits
pos than neg
more likely to forget what type of feedback
negative
we remember what more easily
successes
we have a tendency to engage in what type of social comparisons
downward
self-serving attributional bias
we claim credit for sucesses but blame failures on the situtation
see our talents as … and weaknesses as…
unique, common
direct evidence for illusory self-evaluations
- better than average efffect
- we rate ourselves better than objectively warranted
Better-than-average-effect
Most people rate their abilities as better than the average person even though it is statistically impossible for most people to be above average
A single person may be accurate in their perception of themselves as above-average in a particular domain
People tend to rate themselves as better-than-average in
- Intelligence
- Attractiveness
- Reliability
- Loyalty
- Attractiveness
- Kindness
- Wisdom
- Interesting
The more desirable a trait, the more people see themselves as
better than average
on this trait (r = 0.77)
The more desirable a trait, the more likely people see this trait as
descriptive of
themselves (r = 0.92)
Illusions of Personal Control
The idea that we have control over our lives is central to most theories
of self-esteem and well-being
But
personal control beliefs tend to be greater than what’s justified
People believe they have more control over outcome of dice if they’re allowed to
throw them than if someone else throws them
Some argue that free will
is an illusion
Mostly rely on evidence from neuroscience
Neurons in motor area begin firing
~1500ms before decision to move (W)
Based on neural firing in motor area, able to predict a person’s decision to move
with
80% accuracy 700 ms before they were consciously aware of deciding to move
decisions to move are
not made consciously even though it feels that
way
Unrealistic Optimism Bias
People tend to think that they are less likely than others to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive events
test for unrealistic optimism bias
- Difficult to establish whether an individual is being overly optimistic
Easier to test by asking people to compare self to others:
* How likely is it that ____ will happen to you?
* How likely is it that ____ will happen to a peer (same age, gender, education level,
etc.)?
* On a group level, not everyone can have a bright future
Compared to others, people believe that they are less likely to
- Get into a car accident
- Be a victim of a crime
- Experience severe illness
- Experience depression
- Get divorced
Compared to others, people believe that they are more likely to
- Like their first job
- Have a good starting salary
- Have a gifted child
- Live past 80
