Perceiving the Self and Others Flashcards
What are the 2 principles that are in the middle of the self and the social world?
Motivational principles
> striving for mastery
> seeking for connectedness
> valuing me and mine
Processing principles
> accessibility
> conservatism
> superficial vs depth
What is the difference between self-concept and self-esteem?
self-concept (self-image)
> knowledge of the self (e.g., personality traits, goals etc)
self-esteem (self-evaluation)
> the perception of self
what are self-aspects, schemas and narratives
self-aspects
> summaries of a person’s beliefs about the self in roles, domains and social groups
> can change according to the context
> role = student vs son; domains = at school vs at home; social groups = uni student vs hong konger
schemas
> a hierarchical structure that is formed by self-concepts,=
> changeable under different context
> there might be one or a few central self-concept(s) that are consistent across different context. However, others may change.
> guides interpretation of the environment and performance of behaviour
narratives
> a life story of a person that is consistent over time
> level 1: disposition traits (e.g., personality traits)
> level 2: characteristic (personal strivings and goals)
> level 3: narrative (life history, story)
What are the two elements that define which facet of person is demonstrated? and what is self-fulfilling prophecy?
the salience of the self-concept
> the more salient that the self-concept is in the circumstance = the more salient and demonstrated that personality is
> McGuire et al showed that male family members show a stronger male identity in a female dominant family
the cueing of the self-concept
> if the self-concept is cued, it is more likely to be demonstrated
> Fazio et al used interview questions that cue either the internal or external side of the person
> showed that after the cues the person is more likely to demonstrate the cued self-concept
self-fulfilling prophecy: the tendency of a person performing/acting according to the cues from others
How do people internally construct the self (name of the effect)
introspection
> through understanding the interacting with the conscious content of the self (feelings and thought)
> as conscious content = more reflective and accurate
> if the behaviour of the person reflects the conscious content = more positive feelings and more consistencies in the behaviour
self-perception
> through observing own behaviour
> if the behaviour is:
> self-driven
> cannot be explained by any situational cues
> the behaviour is acted in a less-familiar domain
> inferred a self-related explanation
> experiment by Lepper et al. (over justification effect)
> condition 1 (expected reward) > the behaviour is ceased after the removal of the reward > not intrinsically motivated
> condition 2, 3 (no reward and unexpected reward) > the behaviour is persisted > the behaviour is intrinsically motivated
How do people shape their self with external materials
social comparison
> we understand and shape self through social comparisons of traits, attitudes, abilities (especially when we are uncertain)
> positive if we come up first in a direct comparison; negative if we come second in a direct comparison
> Medvec = 1 > 2 in happiness; 3 > 2 in happiness
> if the comparing target = assimilate in ability = motivating and positive; if the comparing target has a large gap = not motivational and negative feeling (contrast effect)
social feedback
> perceive how others think about us > interpret how they feel > shape ourselves (regardless of whether they reflection is right or accurate)
> Miller et al.
> condition 1 (tell the kids they are tidy) > increase of tidiness during immediate and delayed post-test
> condition 2 (persuading the kids to be more tidy) > rise during immediate post-test, but drop during the delayed post-test)
> condition 3 (control) > slight gradual rise
Functions of self-esteem and self-enhancement
self-esteem (valuing me and mine)
> regulating behaviour towards desired goals and states
> monitoring emotions to main a global like of the self
> protects self from anxiety and psychological stressors
two types of self esteem:
> trait vs state (stablility across time and situation)
self-defensive attributes
> blaming the environment when failure and claiming success to self
self-affirmation
> boosting self-esteem on another area when coming second in a social comparison
self-defensive social comparison
> making the tendency to make downward comparisons
self-enhancement
> feeling better than we should (protection mechanism from outside stressors)
> self-enhancement is universal across different cultures, but with slight differences (Brown & Kobayashi, 2002)
> Japanese vs Americans
> lower self-esteem
> focus more on group characteristics
> self-criticism for the sake of balancing the group
self mastery (striving for mastery) and self belonging (seeking for connectedness)
gaining knowledge of the self and environment
> accuracy = gaining accurate knowledge of the self
> self-verification = instead of confirming the confrontation is right, we look for evidence that alleviate the confrontation
> control = making upward social comparisons to improve the self
self belonging: defining how self fits into the world
> self-expression: presenting the true regardless of whether it fits the world
> self-presentation: presenting the self that fits the context
Explain what are the three factors that affects the information being processed for first impression
accessibility
> processing structures are activated to assess the cues based on accessibility
> concurrency, recency, frequency
cues
> cues that are salient in the environment = stand out and therefore processed
Explain correspondence inference and the experiments on correspondence bias
correspondence inference
> the tendency of people tying behaviours with traits
> correct if: outcome unique to that behaviour, unexpectancy, free choice
if correspondence inference used without the mentioned conditions = correspondence bias
Jones & Harris (1967)
> even telling evaluators that there are situational instructions, they still infer the content of the essay to the writer’s own preference on Castro
Choi et al. (2003)
koreans tend to explain deviant acts with external factors, while Americans use internal factors (cultural difference)
What is a factor that can affect the accuracy of the correspondence inference and what is the covariance theory
cognitive capacity can affect the accuracy of the correspondence inference that a person makes
covariance theory = a deeper theory that allows one to interpret whether the inference is accurate
consensus: whether others would act the same with the same stimuli
distinctiveness: whether he would act the same with a different stimulus
consistency: if the person performs the same under the same stimulus
How is universal impression formed
Methods that are used to form impression
> simple adding and subtracting
> Algebraic Model of Global Impression
(but some traits might weigh more than others)
> Trait gestalt (different traits can be perceived when they are matched with different traits or in different context)
also, at the end, impressions also help improving the belonging, mastery, and valuing of me and mine
what are the five self-presentation strategies
self-promotion: seeking for respect
supplication: seeking for compassion
ingratiation: seeking for affection
intimidation: seeking for fear in others
exemplification: seeking for emulation
