Lecture 7 - Perceiving the Self and Others Flashcards
How does Social Psychology define the Self?
The self is the object of self reflection. Considered to have two parts; self-concept (knowledge and understanding of ourselves), and self-esteem (how we feel about that knowledge and understanding of ourselves).
Define Self-Concept.
The mental representation we have of ourselves, consisting of thoughts, beliefs, memories etc.
Define Self-Esteem.
self-esteem is how we FEEL about ourselves.
What are self-aspects?
Set of a person’s beliefs about the self in specific domains, roles or activities. Self-aspects can be considered the be the different selves that we embody in different contexts, roles or activities. e.g. concientious at work, but not in home life.
What are Self-Schemas?
Self-Schems reflect the structure of one’s knowledge and beliefs about themselves - i.e. self-schemas guide the way if which we weigh different aspects of beliefs about ourselves and direct the way in which perceive and behave in different contexts.
As situations change/vary different aspects of the self-schema activate and these activations are influential in both the description of who we are and also how we behave and feel about who we are.
What is the self-narrative?
Self-narratives refer to the meaning and story we have constructed around our experiences and view of ourselves and our world.
What is the Working Self-Concept?
The “now” self, that guides feeling, thinking and acting in the present moment.
What was the finding of McGuire et al. (1978) in regards to self-concept/identity and gender in the context of majority/minority same-sex family members?
Gender was a much more salient aspect of self-concept for those that were in the minority gender in family.
What are some of the ways we organise knowledge about ourselves/structure self-concept?
- Personality Traits
- Self-aspects
- Life Narrative
- Self-Schemas
Construction of a sense of self is influenced by both self-reflection and social influence.
YEs.
What is Social Comparison Theory?
Social Comparison Theory states that we develop a sense of self based on comparing ourselves to others.
What happens when the target we are comparing to is much different to who we are?
We compare in CONTRAST - away from the target.
What happens when the target of comparison is similar to us?
We compare toward/assimilate to the target.
Define Self-Esteem and the roles it plays.
We have both trait and state self-esteem. Self-esteem serves both a regulatory and protective function.
How does Self-Esteem aid in self-protection?
Self-defensive attributions, Self-affirmation, self-defensive social comparisons, self-enhancement
What are some differences between how people engage in self-enhancement processes between individualistic and collectivist cultures?
Self-enhancement is universal and seen across communities and cultures, however, what is actually enhanced is different between individualistic and collectivist cultures.
Individualistic cultures value unigueness for example and collectivist cultures value contributing to the collective.
What was one of the findings from Swann et al. (1992) about the types of relationship partners we tend to prefer?
People tend to prefer relationships where their partner agrees with their own-self image, even the negative views of self we have.
What is cue salience?
The ability of a cue to attract attention.
Who said, “People are naiive psychologists.”?
Fritz Heider.
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?
What were some of the findings of Jones and Harris’ (1967) study?
Even when participants knew that someone was given direction to write a pro-Castro essay they still assumed that the writer was pro-Castro. This is an example of Correspondence Bias.
What were the key findings from Gilbert et al. (1988)?
Participants who were engaged in an extra task were more likely to attribute trait anxiety to the woman speaking about “sensitive” topics, while they saw the woman as having less trait anxiety when discussing “innocuous” topics, compared to when they did not have an extra cognitive load.
What is Covariation Theory (Kelley, 1967)?
Consensus.
Distinctiveness.
Consistency.
What are some criticisms of attribution theories?
There is more to explaining behaviour than assigning cause to situations or persons - e.g. cultures.