Self & Social Understanding Flashcards
social cognition
how children come to understand their multifaceted social world
self-recognition
identification of self as a physically unique being
scale errors
attempting to do things that their body size makes impossible
categorical self
children classify themselves on the basis of perceptually distinct attributes and behaviors–age, gender, physical characteristics
remembered self
life story narrative grants the child autobiographical memory
enduring self
view of self persisting over time
inner self
private thoughts and imaginings
perspective taking
capacity to imagine what others may be thinking and feeling and to distinguish those viewpoints from one’s own
desire theory of mind
they think that people always act in ways consistent with their desires and do not realize that less obvious, more interpretive mental states, such as beliefs, also affect behavior
belief-desire theory of mind
more advanced view in which both beliefs and desires determine actions
recursive thought
requires the ability to view a situation from at least two perspectives–that is, to reason simultaneously about what two or more people are thinking, a form of perspective taking
self-concept
set of attributes, abilities, attitudes and values that an individual beliefs defines who s/he is
social comparisons
judgements of their own appearance, abilities and behavior in relation to those of others
generalized other
blend of what we imagine important people in our lives think of us
self-esteem
judgements we make about our own worth and the feelings associated with those judgements
attributions
common everyday explanations for the causes of behavior
achievement motivation
the tendency to persist at challenging tasks
mastery-oriented attributions
crediting success to ability and trying hard
incremental view of ability
ability can increase through effort
learned helplessness
attribute their failures to ability
entity view of ability
they cannot be improved by trying hard
attribution retraining
encourages learned-helpless children to believe that they can overcome failure by exerting more effort
identity
crucial to becoming a productive, content adult; constructing an identity involves defining who you are, what you value, and the directions you choose to pursue in life
identity achievement
commitment to values, beliefs and goals following a period of exploration
identity moratorium
exploration without having reached commitment
identity foreclosure
commitment in the absence of exploration
identity diffusion
apathetic state characterized by lack of both exploration and commitment
person perception
refers to the way we size up the qualities of people with whom we are familiar
social problem solving
generating and applying strategies that prevent or resolve disagreements, resulting in outcomes that are both acceptable to others and beneficial to self
