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PSY2003 > Social Cognition and the Self > Flashcards

Social Cognition and the Self Flashcards

1
Q

Define social cognition

A

How we organise our thoughts to navigate the social world; How we perceive others and ourselves

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2
Q

What are automatic processes?

A

Uncontrollable or unconscious processes (ex. gut reactions, knee jerk processes)

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3
Q

How are automatic and controlled processes captured?

A

Automatic via implicit measures; Controlled via explicit measures

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4
Q

What influences automatic processes?

A

Priming

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5
Q

What are controlled processes?

A

Deliberate and intentional behaviours that are dependent on motivation

(Potentially limited, Goal-dependent, Requires awareness of behaviours)

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6
Q

Name two important social cues that we have discussed in this class

A

Faces and environment

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7
Q

Describe the social cues that come with faces

A
  • Gaze and eye contact
  • Facial features (gender, race, age)
  • Inferred personality traits (ex. dominance, maturity, trustworthiness, aggression)
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8
Q

Explain the research done on name stereotypes and facial appearance

A
  • A research was done to observe a face-name matching effect
  • See whether a social perceiver and a computer are able to accurately match a person’s face to their name
  • The study suggests that facial appearance represents social expectations of how a person with a specific name should look
  • A social tag may influence one’s facial appearance
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9
Q

Describe the social cues that come with environment

A
  • Can dictate appropriate behaviour (ex. classroom, pub, home)
  • Can alter other perceptions (ex. Dangerous situations, ambiguous cues)
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10
Q

Explain the shooter bias task

A
  • Assesses automatic processes
  • Participants are presented with a scene
  • The environment includes people (either of black or white race AND holding either a gun or other object)
  • Participants have to choose whether to “shoot” the person
  • Results: They always shoot the black person
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11
Q

What is the evidence from dangerous-context videogame task that shows environment has important social cues?

A

The target is almost always shot when the environment presented is dangerous (ex. dilapidated buildings, dumpsters, subway terminals with graffiti, etc.)

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12
Q

Describe the study done with exposure to alcohol priming

A
  • Participants were asked to do a lexical decision task, but the researchers sneakily included words that are alcohol-related
  • The participants were then asked to interpret several statements that were either of ambiguous, unambiguous or controlled nature
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13
Q

What is the evidence from the study with exposure to alcohol priming that context has important social cues?

A
  • In the interpretation of ambiguous statements, the alcohol-primed participants had higher aggression levels (larger difference to neutral prime)
  • In interpreting the unambiguous statements, the alcohol-primed participants also had higher aggression levels (smaller difference to neutral prime)
  • In interpreting the control statements, the neutral-primed participants showed similar results to the alcohol-primed ones with not significant differences
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14
Q

Define social memory

A
  • How we store information relevant to ourselves and others
    (Function: helps us to understand ourselves, remember things about others, inform opinions of new people and navigate novel situations)
  • Information stored in associative networks
    (Semantic network model, spreading activation)
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15
Q

Define self-schema

A
  • Cognitive representation of oneself that one uses to organise and process self-relevant information
  • Consists of the behaviours and attributes important to them
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16
Q

What does the social-cognitive approach suggest?

A

People behave differently due to individual differences in self-schemas

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17
Q

What kind of framework does the social-cognitive approach provide?

A

A framework for organising and storing information about our personality

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18
Q

Describe the self-reference effect

A

Easy remembering of self-referent words as they are processed through self-schemas

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19
Q

What does the self-perception theory propose?

A
  • Our own behavior as a basis for inference
  • Different motivations guide our behavior (intrinsic, extrinsic)
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20
Q

Self-determination Theory: Describe the extrinsic motivations

A
  • Behavior driven by rewards
  • Rewards unrelated to behavior -> approval from others, monetary gain
  • Externally motivated behaviors not reflective of the self
  • Too much of these may actually reduce motivation to repeat behaviour in the future
21
Q

Self-determination Theory: Describe the intrinsic motivations

A
  • Behavior driven by self-interest
  • No explicit reward for behavior (Behavior is rewarding in itself)
  • Internally motivated behaviors more reflective of the self
  • Associated with increased motivations to repeat behavior
22
Q

What are the sources of the self?

A
  1. Personal thoughts and emotions (Rewarding -> Approach motivation; Avoid anxiety -> Avoidance motivation)
  2. Other people’s expectations (Self-fulfilling prophecy; Other’s expectations shapes your behavior)
  3. Social Comparison Theory (Use others to evaluate our own abilities and characteristics)
23
Q

Define upward social comparison

A

When we compare ourselves to someone who is better than us, often to improve on a particular skill

24
Q

Define downward social comparison

A

When we compare ourselves to someone who is worse than us, often to feel better

25
Q

Explain the cultural differences in the self-concept for independent (Western) cultures

A
  • Coherence through seeing self as independent, separate from others, expressed in inner thoughts and feelings
  • Describe self with general attributes: smart, shy, outgoing
26
Q

Describe the cultural difference in the self-concept in interdependent (Eastern) cultures

A
  • Coherence through web of social connections with others
  • Describe self using roles and/or relationships: daughter, religion
27
Q

Name the three types of self (in Self-discrepancy theory)

A
  1. Actual self
  2. Ideal self
  3. Ought self
28
Q

What is meant by the actual self?

A

The person we think we are right now (includes the good & bad qualities, group memberships, etc.)

29
Q

What is meant by the ideal self?

A

The person we hope to become. The best version of our potential, with positive or enhanced qualities and realised dreams

30
Q

What is meant by ought self?

A

What other people want us to be (includes cultural, parental, romantic partner expectations, etc.

31
Q

What is the self-presentation theory?

A
  • People adapt to fit into situations
  • People present themselves to make an impression on others
  • Impression management and self-monitoring
32
Q

What is self-control?

A
  • The ability to override thoughts, emotions and behaviors
  • Implementing behaviors which are appropriate for a certain situation
33
Q

What is the importance in self-control?

A

It is used to balance between:
1. Self-expression (Actions consistent with self-concept/actual self)
2. Self-presentation (Actions shape others’ impressions of us in positive ways/ought or ideal self)

34
Q

What are the threats to self-control?

A
  • Resisting temptations can be difficult
  • Self-control may be limited, so capacity to shift from “ought” to “ideal” selves can be difficult
35
Q

Define self-monitoring

A

The ability to monitor and modify your behaviour in response to environmental, situational or social variables

36
Q

Define impression management

A
  • The ways in which people attempt to control how they are perceived by other people
  • Could be goal-directed or unconscious
  • Regulates the information and/or behaviour conveyed in their social interactions
37
Q

Impact on self-esteem

A
  • Distorted perceptions of self-esteem
  • Failure to achieve goals set by ideal self (self-discrepancy; lowers self-esteem)
38
Q

Self-control failure/ego depletion

A
39
Q

Strength model (Roy Baumeister)

A
  • Self-control is dependent on limited resources (e.g. glucose) and STRESS depletes these resources
  • Self-regulation as a muscle
    *Prolonged use of self-control causes “fatigue”
    *Resources need replenishment before further use
40
Q

Process model (Michael Inzlicht & Brandon Schmeichef)

A
  • Stress shifts away from control and further coping
  • Motivation temporarily shifted towards rewarding behaviour
  • Resources not depleted after stress, just redirected
41
Q

Define self-esteem

A
  • Confidence in one’s own abilities; Self-worth or respect
  • Indicates how you are doing in terms of successes and social acceptance vs failures and social rejection
41
Q

Explain self-enhancing biases

A
  • People tend to inflate their abilities and accomplishments to boost their self-esteem
  • Protective mechanism
  • Usually we choose situations where we can succeed, AND we recall successes more than failures
  • We tend to produce a largely positive impression of ourselves based on our experiences
41
Q

What are the effects of reduction in self-control?

A
  • Increased motivations to engage in rewarding behaviour
  • Exaggerated emotional response to rewarding stimuli
  • Lack of attention to engage in any effortful behaviour
  • Can reduce efforts to change to you ideal self (and lead to conflict between your three senses of self)
42
Q

Why do we compare ourselves to other people?

A
  • To evaluate ourselves
  • We do it more with people clos eto us
  • We do it more if the domain is central to our self-concept
43
Q

What are the effects of positive illusions (social comparison) in protecting self-esteem?

A
  • Slight distortions can improve psychological wellbeing
  • Unrealistic optimism
  • Exaggerating traits
  • Biased explanations of success (due to natural ability)
  • Biased view about negative feedback (blame circumstances)
44
Q

Explain the internal locus of control

A
  • People can affect what happens to them
  • Good and bad experiences are of people’s own making
  • Better coping, less anxiety
45
Q

Explain the external locus of control

A
  • People who believe that what happens to them is outside of their control
  • Higher rates of psychological disorders
  • Poorer self-esteem
46
Q

What are the negative effects of boosting self-esteem?

A

Inflating self-esteem can lead to:
- Narcissism
- False confidence
- Lack of empathy
- Academic problems

47
Q

How does self-esteem differ in different cultures?

A
  • Self-enhancement is absent in some Asian and interdependent cultures, as compared to Western cultures

PSY2003 (10 decks)

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