Midterm 1: chapter 2

Question 1

Social Cognition

Answer 1

How people think about themselves and the social world, particularly how they select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions.

Question 2

Self-reflection

Answer 2

We think about who we are, who we want to be, how we should act, and what our actions mean for our future.

Question 3

Other-Person Reflection:

Answer 3

We analyze who other people are, why they behave in certain ways, and how they might respond to us.

Question 4

The Three Components of the Self

Answer 4

1. Self-Knowledge (Self Concept): Knowledge about who we are, includes self-schemas, self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-deception.
   Self-Schemas: Mental structures that organize information about ourselves based on past experiences.
2. Agent Self (Executive Function):
   Responsible for decision-making, self-control, and active responses in various situations.
   Governs our ability to plan, execute decisions, and respond to situations in a controlled manner.
3. Interpersonal Self (Public Self):
   Involves self-presentation, social roles, reputation, group membership, and relationships.
   Dictates how we present ourselves to others and how we engage in social relationships

Question 5

Self-Concept

Answer 5

The individual’s knowledge about who they are as a person. It answers the question, “Who am I?”

Question 6

Functions of Self-Concept

Answer 6

Provides a sense of continuity over time.
Helps us understand the past, present, and plan for the future.
Guides how we process self-related information.

Question 7

Self-Concept: Multiple Components

Answer 7

Our self-concept is made up of different roles (e.g., student, friend), identities (e.g., gender, race), relationships, and goals.

Question 8

Working Self-Concept

Answer 8

Only a small part of our total self-concept is relevant or active in any given situation (e.g., the “student” aspect might be active in class, but the “friend” aspect might be active when socializing).

Question 9

Self-Schemas

Answer 9

Definition: Organized cognitive structures or frameworks that help us understand and process information about ourselves.

Origin: Derived from past experiences and shape both our cognition and actions.

Question 10

Types of Self-Schemas

Answer 10

Possible Selves: These include desired selves (who we want to be) and undesired selves (who we fear becoming).

Actual Self: Who we are right now.

Ideal Self: Who we aspire to be.

Ought Self: Who we think we should be based on social expectations.

Question 11

Self-schemas: Self-Esteem Link

Answer 11

The discrepancy between our ideal self and our actual self can influence our self-esteem.

Question 12

Independent Self-Construal

Answer 12

Emphasizes what makes us unique, different from others.

Common in individualistic cultures (Western nations like the U.S., Canada, U.K.), where people define themselves by their personal traits and accomplishments.

Question 13

Interdependent Self-Construal

Answer 13

Emphasizes connections with others, relationships, and group memberships.

Common in collectivistic cultures (East Asia, Latin America), where people define themselves by their relationships with others and social roles.

Question 14

Cultural Differences: Individualistic vs Collectivistic

Answer 14

Individualistic Cultures: More emphasis on independent self.

Collectivistic Cultures: More emphasis on interdependent self, focusing on family, group, or societal roles.

Question 15

Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954)

Answer 15

Definition: We evaluate our traits, abilities, and opinions by comparing ourselves to others, especially when objective measures are unavailable (e.g., how smart or conscientious we are).

Question 16

Types of Social Comparisons

Answer 16

Downward Social Comparison: Comparing ourselves to those worse off, boosting self-esteem (e.g., after a recent setback).

Upward Social Comparison: Comparing ourselves to those better off, which can either motivate self-improvement or damage self-esteem.

Question 17

Motivations for Social Comparison

Answer 17

Accuracy Motivation: Comparing ourselves to similar others when we seek an accurate assessment.

Self-Enhancement: Engaging in downward comparisons to protect or enhance our self-esteem, especially after a failure.

Question 18

Attribution Theory

Answer 18

Founders: Fritz Heider (1958), Julian Rotter (1954), Bernie Weiner (1980s).

Definition: The process by which people explain the causes of behavior and events. These explanations shape attitudes, emotions, and social behavior.

Question 19

Attribution Theory: key components

Answer 19

Causal Attribution: Connecting a person’s behavior or an event to a cause.

Attributional Process:
1. Outcome: The event that begins the attribution process (e.g., someone receiving a promotion).
2. Causal Search: The observer asks, “Why did this happen?”
3. Causal Ascription: The explanation for the event (e.g., the promotion occurred because the person worked hard).

Question 20

Locus of Causality

Answer 20

Internal vs. External Attribution:

• Internal: Cause is within the actor (e.g., “I got the promotion because I’m competent”).
• External: Cause is outside the actor (e.g., “I got the promotion because my boss is generous”).

Question 21

Attribution Dimensions (Weiner, 1985)

Answer 21

1. Locus of Causality: Is the cause internal or external to the actor?
2. Stability: Is the cause stable (likely to recur) or unstable (unique to this situation)?
3. Controllability: Is the cause under the actor’s control, or uncontrollable?
4. Globality: Does the cause affect many areas of the actor’s life, or is it specific to one domain?
5. Intentionality: Was the action intentional or unintentional?

Question 22

Self-Serving Attributions

Answer 22

Definition: The tendency to take credit for positive events by attributing them to internal factors (e.g., “I succeeded because I am talented”) and to blame negative events on external factors (e.g., “I failed because the test was unfair”).

Purpose: To protect and enhance our self-esteem by avoiding blame for failures and taking credit for successes.

Question 23

Seidel et al. (2010) Study

Answer 23

Found that engaging in self-serving attributions activates brain regions associated with reward processing (dorsal striatum) and decision-making (dACC).

Question 24

Self-Esteem

Answer 24

Definition: A person’s overall evaluation of their self-concept on a positive-negative dimension (good-bad, like-dislike).

Fluctuations: While self-esteem can fluctuate from day to day or hour to hour, it tends to fluctuate around an average level.

People Can Evaluate Themselves Differently: People may have high self-esteem in one domain (e.g., work) and low self-esteem in another (e.g., personal relationships).

Question 25

Sociometer Theory (Leary, 1999, 2005)

Answer 25

Definition: Self-esteem functions as a gauge or meter that monitors the quality of our relationships with others.

Basic Assumption: Humans have a strong drive to maintain significant interpersonal relationships because belonging to a social group has historically been important for survival.

Relational Value: Self-esteem is tied to the degree to which a person feels valued and accepted by others. The higher the perceived relational value, the higher the self-esteem.

Question 26

Self-Esteem and Reactions to Criticism/Failure

Answer 26

High Self-Esteem: People with high self-esteem tend to focus on projecting a successful, prosperous image. After failure, they focus on other successes to maintain their self-esteem.

Low Self-Esteem: People with low self-esteem tend to avoid failure. After experiencing a failure, they are more likely to generalize it to other areas of their life, which further lowers their self-esteem.

Failure Feedback
- High Self-Esteem: Failure spurs them to try harder in future tasks.
- Low Self-Esteem: More likely to give up after receiving failure feedback.

Question 27

Explicit vs. Implicit Self-Esteem

Answer 27

• Explicit: Conscious, deliberate evaluation of oneself.
• Implicit: Unconscious, automatic evaluation of oneself.

People with high explicit but low implicit self-esteem are more likely to be defensive and aggressive toward others, especially when their positive self-views are threatened.

Question 28

Jordan, Spencer, & Zanna (2005) Study

Answer 28

Measured participants’ self-esteem, then gave them negative performance feedback.

Participants with high explicit but low implicit self-esteem showed greater hostility toward an out-group target (First Nations vs. White).

Question 29

Self-Esteem and Self-Acceptance Training (Baldwin et al., 2010)

Answer 29

Definition: People with low self-esteem often focus on social rejection. Baldwin and colleagues developed training to shift focus toward socially accepting information.

Training: Participants engaged in games that paired self-relevant cues (e.g., their name) with positive feedback (e.g., smiling faces).

Results: The training reduced participants’ tendency to respond aggressively after social rejection, particularly among those with low self-esteem.

Question 30

Cultural Differences in Self-Enhancement

Answer 30

Individualistic Cultures (Western): People tend to enhance their self-image by focusing on positive traits and minimizing negative traits.

Collectivistic Cultures (Eastern): People tend to focus on self-criticism, identifying and correcting flaws to improve social relationships and group membership.

Question 31

Kitayama et al. (1997) Findings

Answer 31

Western participants: Self-enhancement correlated with higher self-esteem.
Eastern participants: Tended toward self-criticism, which bolstered their sense of belonging and improved social standing within their group.

Question 32

Spotlight effect

Answer 32

concerned with the impression we make on others, we tend to believe that others are paying more attention to us than they are

Question 33

Illusion of transparency

Answer 33

we tend to believe that our emotions are more obvious than they are

Question 34

Self-efficacy

Answer 34

a sense that one is competent and effective, distinguished from self-esteem, which is one’s sense of self-worth. a sharpshooter in the military might feel high self-efficacy and low self-esteem.

Question 35

defensive pessimism

Answer 35

the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action