motivational & protective functions Flashcards
protective & motivational functions, self esteem (development, sources, importance), self enhancement motive, self serving (biases, beliefs, comparisons, attributions, behaviours)
what does the protective function of the self serve?
- maintains favourable impressions of one’s attributes
- maximizes pleasure and minimizes/avoids pain
what does the motivational function of the self serve?
- energize to pursue goals
- provide plans and incentives
- identify standards that allow the attainment of ideals in the service of self-change
what kind of view did William James have of self esteem?
cognitive view
what is described as the ratio of one’s successes to one’s pretensions
self-esteem
according to William James, if one’s perceived successes > one’s pretensions, is their self esteem high or low?
high self-esteem
according to William James, if one’s pretensions > one’s successes (in important domains), is their self esteem high or low?
low self esteem
what kind of view did Charles Cooley have of self esteem?
social view
who proposed the looking glass self?
Charles Cooley
What is Charles Cooley’s basis of self esteem?
believed that self-esteem is based on reflected appraisals and the accompanying self-feeling
(self esteem is based on what you think others think about you)
according to Charles Cooley, how would one with high self-esteem feel?
- believe that others judge them favourable
- feel proud
according to Charles Cooley, how would one with low self-esteem feel?
- believe that others judge them unfavourable
- feel ashamed
what are the 6 concepts of self-esteem
- global SE
- state/barometric SE (feelings of self worth)
- SE stability/variability
- domain specific SE
- contingent SE
- implicit SE
what is another term for global self esteem?
trait OR baseline SE
what is global self esteem?
the general evaluation/feelings of oneself
is global self esteem stable or variable across time and context?
stable
what is state/barometric self esteem?
- feelings of self worth
- self-evaluative reactions to valanced events
- how you evaluate yourself in a moment, in response to some event
is state/barometric self esteem stable or variable across time and context?
variable
what is self esteem stability/variability?
- how much one’s SE varies in response to what is happening in life
- short-term fluctuations in one’s contextually based self-esteem
is self-esteem stability/variability stable or variable across time and context?
variable
what is domain specific self esteem?
- the way in which ppl evaluate their various abilities and attributes
- reflects evaluations of a specific aspect of who you are (specific domain)
is domain specific self-esteem stable or variable across time?
stable
what are some examples of domain specific self esteem?
- academic SE
- social SE
- physical appearance SE
what is contingent self esteem?
- feelings/evaluations of oneself that depend on whether or not you lived up to some standard
- feelings about oneself that result from matching some standard of excellence or living up to some interpersonal or intrapsychic expectations
if self evaluations are very dependent on living to some standard, is contingent SE high or low?
high
if self evaluations are not so dependent on living to some standard, is contingent SE high or low?
low
what is implicit self esteem?
- evaluations of oneself that one is not consciously aware of
- subjectively experienced, affective orientation toward the self that is elicited automatically by self-primes and in the absence of conscious control
what is an example of a test that can be used to measure implicit self esteem?
implicit association test
what are the sources/factors of self-esteem
- genetic
- environment
how much percent do genetic factors play a role in the source of self-esteem?
34%
how much percent do environment factors play a role in the source of self-esteem?
66%
T/F? self-esteem is a basic and fundamental need
true
why do we have self-esteem?
self-esteem may have evolved to facilitate social inclusion, buffer us from existential anxiety, help us achieve our goals, and help us bounce back from adversity
what is the self-enhancement motive?
motivation to enhance the positivity of one’s self-conceptions or protect the self from negative information
what are 3 self serving biases of the self enhancement motive?
- positive illusions
- misremembering
- falsee consensus
what is positive illusions as a self-serving bias?
- unrealistically positive self evaluations
- self rating > rating of a ‘generalized other” (better than avg.)
how to measure positive illusions
self rating vs. an external criterion
- if self rating > external criterion, positive illusion is present
what is misremembering as a self-serving bias?
recalling information in a way that leads to a favourable self-evaluation
what is the false consensus effect in regards to the self-serving bias?
the tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people share our opinions, attitudes, and undesirable or unsuccessful behaviours
(overestimating how much, other people are doing the same thing)
what is the false uniqueness effect in regards to the self-serving bias?
the tendency to underestimate the extent to which other people share our positive attitudes and desirable or successful behaviours
what are 3 self-serving beliefs?
- unrealistic optimism
- perceived control
- overconfident judgements
what is unrealistic optimism? (self-serving belief)
a phenomenon in which people see themselves as more likely than other people to experience good events, and less likely than other people to experience bad events
what is perceived control? (self-serving belief)
the tendency to see uncontrollable events as at least partially under our control
what is overconfident judgements? (self-serving belief)
the tendency to be overconfident when predicting one’s own behaviour
what is downward temporal comparisons? (self-serving comparisons)
comparing oneself to a past self who performed worse than the present self
what is downward social comparisons? (self-serving comparisons)
comparing oneself to others who are performing worse than you are
what is upward social comparison? (self-serving comparison)
comparing oneself to others who are performing better than you are
what is counterfactual thinking?
mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been
what is upward simulation? (counterfactual thinking)
- simulated alternative better than reality
- doesn’t make us feel good about ourselves
what is downward simulation? (counterfactual thinking)
- simulated alternatives worse than reality
- makes us feel a bit better about ourselves
- important for self-enhancement
what is self-serving attributions?
tendency to attribute own successes to dispositional causes and failures to situational causes
what is self-handicapping? (self-serving behaviour)
a strategy in which people create obstacles to success so that potential failure can be blamed on external factors
what is one way in which the motivational and protective functions of the self are served?
the self enhancement motive
