Social Psych Intro (social self)

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

scientific study of how people influence each others thoughts, feelings and behaviors

Question 2

Kurt Lewin

Answer 2

social psych pioneer
behavior = f(person x situation)
[f=function]

Question 3

3 aspects of social psychology

Answer 3

1. social thinking (cognition)-reasoning
2. social influence-how we influence others
3. social behavior

Question 4

Self Awareness

Answer 4

understanding that we are a separate entity from others/objects; state of being conscious of our own existence

Question 5

imitation

Answer 5

copying behavior of caregivers–early infancy

Question 6

Mirror Self-Recognition Test

Answer 6

A scientific paradigm where a mark is placed on an animals forehead and is placed in front of a mirror. The animal is assumed to have self-recognition if it touches the mark on its forehead

Question 7

Self Concept

Answer 7

personal summary of who we are

Question 8

Self Schema

Answer 8

way to think about how the self-concept is formed –> memory structures that summarize and organize our beliefs about self-relevant information create a cognitive framework within which individuals interpret events of their lives
-mental structures that direct selves attention

Question 9

Social Comparison Theory

Answer 9

proposes that our sense of self is influenced by different types of social comparisons, including upward and downward comparison

Question 10

upward social comparison

Answer 10

comparing to someone who’s better than us

Question 11

downward self comparison

Answer 11

comparing to someone who is worse

Question 12

WIDE factors

Answer 12

Who: evaluate abilities automatically by comparing ourselves to similar others (the more similar, the greater the impact)
Interpretation: how we interpret social comparisons influences our self-concept (optimistic or pessimistic)
Direction: the direction of our social comparison influences our self-concept; downward tend to enhance self-concept
Esteem: protecting our self-esteem influences our self-concept

Question 13

Social Identity Theory

Answer 13

psychological theory that proposes that our self-concept is composed of two parts: a personal identity that is baed on personal characteristics and a social identity that is based on social role

we organize beliefs about ourselves into mental structures in memory

Question 14

regional affiliations

Answer 14

influence how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves

Question 15

cultural self

Answer 15

mostly unaware of it until we happen to bump into another culture
-view of the world based on this self

Question 16

Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals (culture)

Answer 16

Western (individualistic) vs Eastern (collectivistic)

ideal self in one culture is very different from the ideal self in another culture

Question 17

Independent self-construal

Answer 17

when an individual’s ideal self is largely based on internal, personal qualities

Question 18

Interdependent self-construal

Answer 18

when an individual’s ideal self is largely based on social qualities, especially relationship with others

Question 19

Self Perception Theory

Answer 19

individuals form their self-concept by observing their own behaviors and trying to infer their own motivations, attitudes, values and core traits
-observing in relation to others in the social world

Question 20

Vazire and Mehl study (2008)

Answer 20

found that we don’t have perfect access to our behaviors and we may be a bit bias towards our behaviors

Question 21

Self Discrepancy Theory

Answer 21

suggests that instead of a single self, we have three selves; the actual self, the ideal self, and the ought self

Question 22

Actual Self

Answer 22

who we think we are right now

Question 23

Ideal Self

Answer 23

who we’d like to become (dreams and goals)

Question 24

Ought Self

Answer 24

what we think others expect of us (obligations)

Question 25

When selves don’t align

Answer 25

When our actual self doesn’t match our ideal self we experience dejection-related emotions (disappointment and shame)
When our actual self doesn’t match our ought self, we experience agitation related emotions (guilt and self-contempt); ex. Bruce vs Brenda

Question 26

Self Expansion Theory

Answer 26

we all have basic motivation to grow and improve and enhance our self-concept

Question 27

Inclusion of the Other in the Self Scale

Answer 27

shows a series of 7 progressively overlapping circles; participants choose the one that best represents how they include someone else in their self-concept

Question 28

Self Presentation Theory

Answer 28

tendency to adjust the self and perform in slightly different ways for others to gain social influence

Question 29

impression management

Answer 29

behaviors we hope will lead to desired outcomes

Question 30

integration

Answer 30

increase liking and attraction by complimenting the other person and seeming to admire them (sucking up)

Question 31

self enhancement

Answer 31

positive statement about self to convey competence

Question 32

conspicuous consumption

Answer 32

publicly displaying the use of expensive products in an attempt to impress others

Question 33

Self Monitoring

Answer 33

individual’s ability to notice and adjust their behavior in an attempt to fit in; if you cannot adapt to a situation, cannot present in a certain way
“chameleon effect”

Question 34

low self monitors

Answer 34

people who appear to have little change in their personality or self-presentation across time

Question 35

high self monitors

Answer 35

change how they act all the time, depending on the situation
people who look around and assess their environment, then adapt their self-presentation to get whatever they want out of that particular situation

Question 36

Self Esteem

Answer 36

individuals subjective personal evaluation of their self concept, including judgements made about self-worth

Question 37

Self Serving Biases

Answer 37

cognitive distortions that enhance people’s self-concept by making them perceive that they are a little better than they actually are
-based off of views of own traits, own behaviors and feedback about the self

Question 38

Narcissism

Answer 38

excessive self-love based on unwarranted belief in one’s specialness relative to others

Question 39

self efficacy

Answer 39

the degree to which individuals believe that they are capable of completing specific tasks or achieving a particular goal