Self Perception and self enhancement Flashcards
what is the social perception theory?
the idea that people infer their attitudes from their behaviours
when does an individual’s overt behaviour have the biggest influence on their self concept?
- when behaviour is interpreted as freely chosen
- when prior self conception is uncertain
- when behaviour is observed by an audience
- when one expects to meet the audience again
what is the self verification theory and name the theorist?
swann 2005
describes the work we do in order to verify our existing self-conceptions:
-selective interactions - choose to spend time with others who see us the same way as we see ourselves
-identity cues - choose clothing, body modifications etc that support our identity
-interpersonal prompts - emphasising self-consistent behaviour
when is self verification most likely?
when self-conception is certain
what is the stereotype threat theory?
that when a stereotype is presented, people are more likely to behave in a way that supports it, because of pressure to prove it wrong
provide a study and theorist for the stereotype threat theory
steel 1995
black and white participants
study 1: (experimental condition) participants told that the test was strongly diagnostic of ability
(control) participants told the opposite
study 2: (experimental) participants stated their race in a demographic questionnaire before the test
(condition) participants didnt state their race
control: no ethnic differences
exp: white people did better than black people
what are self-enhancement strategies?
self-serving bias(heider 1958) - attribute successes internally and failures externally
social competition theory (festinger 1954) - if no objective means to evaluate our opinions and ability, we compare ourselves with others who are similar
mnemic neglect - selectively bad memory for negative feedback
what is ‘cognitive-affective crossfire’?
suggests that cognitive responses conform to self-consistency theory and affective responses conform to self-enhancement theory
