psy220 midterm Flashcards
1
Q
the individual self
A
beliefs about our unique
personal traits, abilities, preferences, tastes,
talents, and so forth
2
Q
Relational self
A
beliefs about our identities in
specific relationships. 2nd component, thinking of yourself in terms of relations, good older sister
3
Q
Collective self
A
beliefs about our identities as members of social groups to which we belong. third self, how we identify the various communities or social groups we belong to, im Canadian. these are all beliefes about the self and not experiences.
4
Q
Family and socialization agents
A
we learn about the self through socialisation, we learn about the norms and behaviours that are for our society, our parents feed us how to behave socially. what is expected in various social contacts.What is socially appropriate?
5
Q
reflected self appraisals
A
How do other people see us? how we think that others see us, feedback about our personalities or appearances, get an idea of our self image from how others perceive us. if we are praised for certain behaviours we will put it into negative feedback will make us hide that bit as we do not want to have that as a part of our identity . Positive feedback-integral to our sense of self.
Negative feedback- Hide that part of our selves
6
Q
Situationism and the Self
A
- Aspects of the self may change depending on the situation
we are not fixed or static
environment as a crucial role in shaping our identity
situations can impact the way we behave, the self can change based on the situation we are in, environment is crucial to let ourselves dictate how we will behave, e.g in class more professional with friends more outgoing - Working self concept
Subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context. Only certain aspects are active and have influence
might emphasise traits on being efficient at work, with friends emphasise being sociable and loving. Our self concept is fluid. - Distinctiveness.
We highlight aspects of the self that make us feel most unique in a given context. certain characteristics may become more promonate. What sets you apart?
7
Q
distinctiveness study
A
us children were more likely to give unique information in their self definition than something that was more typical. American children who mention a particular fact in self definition define themselves according to how they are unique and different from their classmates
8
Q
Independent view of self
A
Self seen as a distinct, autonomous entity, separate from others and defined by individual traits and preferences
More prominent in North American and Western European cultures (Individualistic cultures)
Our culture influences our social self, priorities individual goals and achievements and view themselves separate to others when describing themselves. In western societies personal accomplishments are celebrated.
9
Q
Interdependent view of self
A
Self seen as connected to others, defined by social duties and shared traits and preferences
Interdependent views of self more prominent in many East Asian, South Asian, Mediterranean, Latin American, and African cultures (Collectivistic cultures)
perceive themselves as interconnected, social goals and so on, view themselves as connected to others and identity looked at their relationships with others and so on. Harmony and cooperation
10
Q
Gender and the social self
A
- Across cultures, men generally have more independent, and women have more interdependent views of self. more likely to focus on independent goals when talking about themselves. Women prioritise discussing relationships
- Differences may be due to socialization. Cultural stereotypes, parental feedback, educational treatment. gender differences based on socialisation- cultural stereotypes- shape how gender groups are perceived parental roles that reinforce gender specific behaviour. Socialisation in school- gender expectations that happen in classroom causing individuals to develop with that mindset
- Evolution may contribute to gender differences. Gotten our gender roles to enhance survival, men’s independence is often linked with hunting and protection, have separate roles to survive. Enhance survival and reproductive success
11
Q
Self- esteem
A
How people make judgments about the self
The positive or negative overall evaluation that each person has of himself or herself. Overall evaluation of our selves, can be positive and negative aspects of yourself, can be your abilities or looks and so on.
12
Q
Contingencies of self worth
A
Self-esteem as contingent on successes and failures in domains on which a person has based his or her self-worth.
- academic achievement- Experience a big flunctuation if they get a bad mark on a test
- Physical appearance
- competence in specific skills or talents.
individuals might derive self esteem from things such as.
13
Q
Social acceptance and self esteem
A
- sociometer hypothesis
How they are based on how socially accepted or valued they are in the society, emphasize role of social situations and social inclusion of others . More specific than general contingencies of self-worth account. Self-esteem is an internal, subjective index or marker of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others.
14
Q
Sociometer hypothesis study
A
people were either tole a lot of people did or did not want to work with them, those who were socially rejected showed a low self esteem afterwards, acceptance showed high self esteem.
15
Q
Culture and sel esteem
A
- Members of collectivistic cultures place more value on self-improvement. Less emphasis on feeling good about the self and more emphasis on feeling good about one’s contribution to collective goals. collectivists emphasie group harmony, social roles might achieve higher selfesteem compared to perosnal achivments, in cotnrast to indovidualistic cultures because it is higher valued to feel good about your own achievements.
- Members of individualistic cultures tend to report higher levels of self-esteem than members of collectivistic cultures. Feeling good about the self as an individual is more valued in Western cultures.
- Contact with other cultures can influence views of the self.
Individuals from Eastern cultures with greater contact with Western cultures report higher levels of self-esteem than those with less
contact
16
Q
Measuring self esteem
A
- Collectivist-appropriate measurement? Cultural sensitivity needed
- Higher self esteem = universally
beneficial?
Not reliable and people measure their self esteem on different measurements. Measuring self esteem may not be reliable as different cultures see self-esteem differently. A lot of items are not universally applicable. DO not really capture harmony and more so looks at individuality
17
Q
Dangers of high self esteem
A
- Inflated self esteem can be counter productive
Many psychopaths, murderers, rapists, and violent gang members have very high selfesteem.
High self-esteem may allow individuals to be satisfied with the self despite poor life outcomes - People with high self-esteem can be more sensitive to threats, insults, and challenges
If high self-esteem is unwarranted, these can make the person feel insecure
Those people react more aggressively when self-esteem is threatened
more sensitive about their self image, if you are not grounded you may feel insecure when faced with criticism contributing to interpersonal conflict - Realistic self-appraisal + humility is needed:
-Stronger relationships-being humble allows you to accept responsibility for your actions higher self esteem will lead to conflict and defensiveness instead.
-Effective leadership- leader focused on the sucess of their team which allowed them to make more successful deisions, they will not act agressivly when they recieve comments or suggestions
- Greater capacity for learning- High self esteem ignore feedback hindering personal growth - Our self-evaluations don’t happen in a vacuum- How we see ourselves is influenced by others
around us
18
Q
When do we compare? Social comparison theory
A
evaluate themselves by comparing themselves with others, self assesment through social interaction.
- The hypothesis that we evaluate ourselves through comparisons to others
- Downward social comparisons can boost selfesteem by making us feel better about the self- comparing your self with someone worse off to boost yourself esteem
- Upward social comparisons can motivate self improvement- motivates self improvement based on achievements of others
19
Q
Self enchancement
A
- Better than average effect-
- Most Westerners tend to have a positive view of the self
- Tend to rate the self as better than average on most traits
- Weight abilities we excel at as more valuable - Self affirmation-
- keep a positive view of the self if you think you are above average
- Maintain high self esteem despite negative feedback- bad grade- i am a good friend- chooses a different domain to maintain a positive view of yourself - Positive illusions and mental health
- Most assume that proper mental health is marked by realistic views of the world
- Research suggests that most well-adjusted people may have slightly unrealistic views about themselves
un realistic views about one self, a few such as overestimating your abilities
20
Q
Positive illusions and mental health study
A
Taylor & Brown study on positive illusions
those with positive illusions showed lower stress responses cortisol level and heart level rises were maintained to those with positive illusions. Those with positive self views had better coping mechanisms and acted as a buffer to negative stuff
21
Q
Benifits of positive illusions
A
- Elevate positive mood and reduce negative mood
- Foster social bonds by making people more outgoing
- Promote pursuit of and persistence at goals
makes individuals more outgoing and creates more social bonds, more likely to try with something new and achieve it
22
Q
Cultural and positive illusions
A
Positive illusions about the self are more common in individualistic cultures
- Members of collectivist cultures are less likely to report enhanced feelings of control, less likely to rate themselves as better than average, and less likely to be unrealistically optimistic. more prelevantin individualistic cultures, tend to rate themselves as better than average and show more positive illusions
23
Q
Self verification
A
Sometimes we care more about having stable accurate beliefs about our selves. Make us more predictable to ourselves and others
need for consistency provides us a sense of stability
24
Q
self verification strategies
A
- Selectively attend to and recall to consistent info
- Enter relationships that promote consistency
we focus and remember information that aligns with our believes on our self, want to be with people where that aspects of your identity comes through and is values
25
Self regulation
Initiate and control behavior to attain goals
- Prioritize long term over short term immediate goals. Prioritise long terms goals, e.g. friday night go our or stay in? stay in to study you take in the long term goal showing self regulation
26
Self discrepancy theory
our behavior is motivated by the discrepancies between different aspects of our self concept.
1. Ought self- The person you feel you should be or others want you to be
2. Actual self- the person you believe you currently are
3. Ideal self- the person you aspire or want to be
27
Self presentation
Shapes how others see us
Presenting the person that we would like others to believe we are (face)
Impression management- strategically controlling the informations about ourself to manipulate how others perceive yourself, want to make people perciev you in a more favourable light
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Ways of self presentation
1. Public face- Awareness of what others think of us. Professional demeanor at work, social behaviors in public, online personas on social media
2. Private face- Awareness of our own internal feelings, thoughts, and preferences. Intimate settings, close relationships, moments of self reflection. Authentic self which can be shown more with close relationships. Using impression mangamnet, we want people to see us a certain way so we do not show our internal feelins
3. Self monitoring- Ability to adjust our behaviours. The tendency to monitor and scrutinize one’s behaviors when in a public situation. High self-monitors: attuned to social cues and
norms. adjust behaviour to fit social expetations.
Low self-monitors: less concerned with conforming to expectations- behave more consistent to their actual self, express their true opinion and emotions more openly
4. Self handicapping- prevents others from thinking we are incompetent. Worried you will not do well in an exam- put little effort- blame bad grade on not studying- self-defeating behaviour. Self-defeating behavior to have a ready to use excuse for poor performance
29
Snap judgments
Make judgements quickly based on small amounts of information. Relatively accurate rapid assessments we make about others based on limited information. Dimensions of snap judgments- Sometimes can be accurate, 2 different dimensions- trustworthiness and dominances. People were flashed an image and they had to guess how trustworthy or dominant the people were, people guessed well- evolutionary behaviour if someone is high trustworthy we are more likely to approach them, more dominant we are more likely to see them as a leader. Snap judgments can be beneficial .
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Explaining events
1. Attribution theory- examines how people interpret and explain the causes of their own and others' behavior. General term for theories about how people
explain the causes of events they observe
2. Causal attribution- Explanation for the cause of your or another
person’s behavior. The type of attribution made will influence
how you respond to the situation
have plans with friend, they cancel last minute if you contribute to it as them being flaky you would see them differently and how you respond compared to thinking oh they had to study
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Internal vs external attribution
internal attribution- attitudes, intentions, something internally made someone act they way they did. Internal actions that influence behaviour. Did well on a test- natural talent, how much work you put in.
Behaviour explained by aspects of the person- attributing success to intelligenve
external attribution- Attributing behaviours something outside of the self like environment or external factors like luck, other people actions and so on. Hit car there was rain and old tires- situational constraints that made them behave the way they did instead of saying i am a bad driver.
Behaviour is explained by aspects of the situation.
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Your own behaviour, explanatory style
consistent ways people explain the causes of events in their life. A person’s habitual way of explaining events
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Your own behaviour, explanatory dimensions
1. Internal vs external
fail test- did not study enough (internal) or test was unfair (external). Degree that cause is linked to the self or to the external situation
2. Stable vs unstable.
fixed or can be changed? just bad at math stable assumption you do not think you will do better next time, temporary issue where you believe you can improve by studying more is unstable. Degree that the cause is seen as fixed or as something that is temporary
3. Global vs specific.
Degree that the cause is seen as affecting other domains in life or is restricted to affecting one specific domain. fail test- bad at everything bad at all subjects (global), I struggle with only this one subject (specific)
34
Your own behaviour pessimistic attribution style
1. Internal, stable, global attributions habitually made for negative events.
"It is my fault" "I am never going to be able to" "I am not good at anything"
2. Pessimistic attribution styles predict lower grades and poorer physical health later in life
35
Explanatory style and physical health
Correlation between explanatory style at age 25 and physical health at later ages. Earlier health is controlled for statistically.
describe 1 or more difficult experiences in ww2, look at three dimensions based on how the explain events and looked at the health. Individuals with pessimistic explanatory styles were more likely to experience poor health outcomes over time.
36
Processes of causal attribution
1. Covariation principle. analyze more specific events. Behavioral attributions are made by weighing
information about the potential causes of the behavior.
- 2 main factors:
1. Consensus- extent to which people behave similarly in similar situations
2. distinctivness- extenet to which people are different
- situational attribution- both consensus and distinctivness is high, everyone laughs at a joke, person who does not normally laughs at joke- Joke is actuakky funny as distinctivness also laughed. Factors are high
- Dispositional attribution- factors are low- Joke and only one person laughs but that person laughs at everyone's jokes which is not odd for their behaviour we would assume that the joke is not funny
37
Augmentation and discounting
Augmentation- the process by which people assign greater weight to a particular cause of behavior when it occurs despite the presence of factors that would normally inhibit or prevent it.
Prior knowledge about the world allows us to infer the likely cause of a behavior
Discounting prinicple- Principle that less weight should be given to a particular cause of behavior if there are other alternative causes present. asign less weight to a behaviour if there are other causes- someone gets a good score- studied really hard but then we find out exam was really easy or they cheated we would less likely attribute the smartness characteristic to the student.
38
Counterfactual thinking
At olympics
- Although it seems counterintuitive, bronze medalists are often more satisfied with their accomplishment than silver medalists
- Silver medalists can imagine a gold medal as the alternative
- Bronze medalists can imagine receiving no medal as the alternative
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Emotional amplification
amplified if it is very easy to think about the alternative example, if it feels more plausible you are more likely to have an emotional response
Emotional reactions to counterfactual thoughts increase depending on how easy it is to imagine the alternative
Feel more personally responsible for failure depending on how easy it is to imagine the alternative
40
Attributional biases
systematic errors or tendencies in the way people explain the causes of behavior and events.
1. self serving bias- shape how individuals perceive and interpret the behavioural outcomes. Attribute failures to external factors- bad luck -actions of others. Tendency to attribute failures to external causes and success to internal causes. e.g. students may attribute bad marks to poor teaching but good marks to talent and hard work
Self-serving biases can boost and maintain positive self-esteem. Shifts blame away from themselves when fail and shifts blame on themselves when they succeed
2. Fundamental attribution error (others behaviour) overlooking situational factors. Overemphasize personal characteristics and minimising external factors. Late to meeting- laziness without considering traffic. Tendency to believe that a behavior is due to
a person’s traits or disposition despite the situational causes present.
41
Actor observer differences
1. Perceptual salience
As actors, the situation is salient; as observers, the person is salient
2. Lack of information about the intentions and past behaviors of the actor
More likely to believe the actor is behaving this way because of something internal.
we can see it, it grabs our attention- we are more likely to attribute behaviour, think of the person as a cause to behaviour. Individuals are more likely to contribute their our behaviours to extrnal bias and internal for other. Choosing major you talk about why you like it and for your friend you use their personality as to why they chose it.
If you are meeting someone new and they are late you attribute that they are lazy and a late person without thinking of external causes.
42
Culture and causal attribution
1. The fundamental attribution error is less prevalent in collectivistic cultures:
- individualists more likely to attribute behaviors to dispositions
- Collectivists more likely to attribute behaviors to the situation
2. Differences in attributions between some American subcultures- coaches in the US attributed wins in games to their players, Coaches in China attributed wins in terms of the situation and the other team
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Presenting information: Framing effect
judgments about the social world based on how info is presented
- order effect: Primacy effect- info that is presented first Recency effect- info that is presented last: larger influence and more likely to be remembered compared to information in the middle, influences your opinion more
- Spin framing: Positive vs negative- content of information impacts the way we are going to interpret it. Different connotation based on how it is advertised
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How infromation is presented, Temporal framing
something that has not happened yet but psychologically will happen. Distant in terms of time, or hypothetical or social. thought to be distant it is less concrete
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How information is presented, construal level theory
- Psychologically distant: abstract terms
- Psychologically close: concrete terms
running a marathon- after marathon seems like a fun idea to run sounds inspiring as a distant thing like next year, but day to day commitment seems daunting as even approaches, the event seems more concrete and feeling more daunting.
sometimes psychologically close to us and come closer might seem more desirable- when you begin to think about something more concretely and benefits from a workshop you may be more excited. The way you think actually concrete or absent?
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Seeking information: confirmation bias
refers to the tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember information that supports one’s existing beliefs, attitudes, or expectations while ignoring or discounting evidence that contradicts them. seek out info that confirms existing beliefs, remembering info that confirms previous hypothesis. If looking for specific evidence we are more likely to find it
Motivated confirmation bias- People are motivated to deliberately search for evidence that supports their expectations or preferences. Opposing info that contradicts opinion vs. embracing info that supports opinion. Missing evidence that contradicts
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Schemas
Processing and interpreting new information: looking at the data we receive + pre-existing knowledge. mental structures that organize our knowledge and guide our interpretations
- Bottom up processing- data driven, creating a larger idea from smaller details. Reading- have letters- form a word- form a sentence. Starting small and then getting a bigger idea
- Top down processing- using our prior knowledge to interpret new information. We are filling in gaps. Have prior knowledge how to spell cat and of letter so we can fill in the word.
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Influence of schemas
- Attention- more likely to notice things that fit into our pre-existing schemas
- Memory- help us encode and retrieve information. Information that aligns with our schema will be easier to remember
- construal- How we interpret information. Pre-existing knowledge can help us interpret ambiguous things
- behaviour- Provide expectations on how to act in certain places
- consciousness of activation- subconscious activate of schemas, we are not always aware that we are responding to certain scenarios based on our pre-existing schemas
49
Schema activation
1. recent activation:
reading about healthy eating- eating healthy
2. frequent activation and chronic access:
professional in a field- influence interpretation of ne information
approach social interactions with the same mindset as in their professional environment
50
What is an attitude?
initial feeling or thought when we see something. A favourable or unfavourable evaluative reaction toward something or someone, exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings or intended behaviour. attitudes towards ideas-e.g. attitudes towards capital punishment
attitudes can be towards an object, a person, a self or an idea. Attitudes can be positive, negative, or ambivalent
51
attitudes
A positive or negative evaluation of an object:
- Affect- emotional reactions we have towards something- these emotions reflect in your attitude then in behaviour- pie positive memories making it
- Cognition- knowledge and beliefs we have about an object- pie- believe that it is a delicious dessert but recognise that it can be unhealthy
- Behaviour- actions or observable behaviours we make towards the object- approach objects we have a positive attitude too - like pie- bake it eat it seek it out. do not like it- avoid it. ambivalent- more unpredictable, if you have a stronger feeling towards pie that day you would approach it.
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Explicit vs implicit attitudes
Explicit- Attitudes which we consciously endorse and can easily report. share with others- how do you feel about recycling- really important- know what you believe and can clearly state it- often shaped by education and values
Implicit- Attitudes which are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times, nonconscious. not aware but still influence how we act- consciously believe in equality but without realising it be more comfortable with certain groups. shaped by media social norms and tend to show up in quick instinctive reactions.
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Measuring attitudes
- likeart scale
- Implicit attitude measure (IAT)
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Where do attitudes come from?
1. Attitudes are learned through experience- associate a certain stimulus with a positive or negative response- hear a song that plays at a happy moment so you associate the song with happy. observational- see people enjoy something we will start enjoying it too.
Conditioning
mere exposre- the more we are exposed to something the more we are tended to develop a positive attitude towards it- the more times you hear the song the more familiarity and you begin to like it
heuristics- mental shortcuts that help us make judgements- positive attitude simply because of a small piece of brand that we saw and trust
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How do attitudes become stronger
- greater accessibility (repeated activation/ use). the more we use or think about an attitude it becomes easily activated- frequently talk about a specific topic attitude for that strengthens
- Surrounding oneself with others who share the same attitudes, false consensus effect. see the attitudes as common and correct making them stronger and more resistant to change
- Gather evidence to confirmation attitude. confirmation bias. tend to see evidence that confirms our attitudes and discard information against our beliefs. makes us think that what we believe is right
- Greater connection to core values and beliefs. selfconcept. more likely to depend it, will be more connected to us so we whole heatedly believe in it
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when do attitudes predict behaviour
