Study Guide Quiz 1

Question 1

Name several ways in which human minds seem different from animals

Answer 1

• Human beings possess a soul, animals are merely machines
• Human beings are unique in their ability to make and use tools
• Human beings have the ability to communicate through language; animals have nonverbal behaviors

Question 2

How does the book define the Self?

Answer 2

The self refers to the mental apparatus that allows people and some animals to think consciously about themselves

Question 3

Give some differences between psychology and sciences such as physics

Answer 3

Objects have causes; humans have reasons

Question 4

How can a (reflective) self help us in planning the future?

Answer 4

Using analogue-I allows us to imagine ourselves in other situations and intentionally plan to do something in the future, consider options, mentally rehearse future actions, etc.

Question 5

Describe the role of the Self in introspection

Answer 5

Introspection changes the nature of our experiences from what they would have been had we not thought consciously about them

Question 6

Give some examples of self-feelings

Answer 6

Satisfaction, sexual arousal, anxiety, examples of anger such as rage, irritation, fury, resentment, etc.

Question 7

Which are the 4 larger categories of hypothetical self-views?

Answer 7

Attainable self (realistic), idealized self (unrealistic), ought self (social pressure), and unwanted self

Question 8

What is meant with ‘Perspective Taking’ and what is the role of the Self in this?

Answer 8

The ability to imagine a world from other people’s perspectives, including the ability to imagine how one is perceived and evaluated by others; the research in developmental psychology

Question 9

Describe the self in empirical and in phenomenological terms

Answer 9

Empirical self is held to consist of the material self (everything material that can be seen as belonging to the self). The phenomenological self emphasizes a return “to things themselves,” by analyzing the first-person structure of experience

Question 10

What is the difference between Self-Psychology and the Psychology of Personality?

Answer 10

Self-Psychology is a theory in the field of psychoanalysis which centers around empathy, growth, and healthy development of the individual while Psychology of Personality examines personality and its variation among individuals; it aims to show how people are individually different due to psychological forces

Question 11

When in evolution did the human self emerge?

Answer 11

Around 1.7 million years ago with the appearance of Homo erectus in the late Pleistocene era

Question 12

The Self may have evolved when humans were still hunter-gatherers. How is our modern world different and how does that make the Self more of a curse?

Answer 12

Prior to the transition, early human beings were not people “like us” who just happened to live more primitively with less complex tools, social systems, knowledge, and culture. Without a self, we could no longer reminisce about the past or plan for the future. We couldn’t purposefully control our own behavior or make deliberate decisions

Question 13

Chapter 2 is called ‘Living in Two Worlds’. Which are these two worlds?

Answer 13

The real world of objects, people, and events AND the subjective world is of our own thoughts, experiences, plans, feelings, and fantasies

Question 14

The ‘real’ world is both physical and the intersubjective world. Explain the intersubjective world

Answer 14

The intersubjective world does not exist inside of us, but in the social world

Question 15

Why would it be better to live in the real world?

Answer 15

The real world focuses more on surroundings and physical sensations rather than thoughts, thus the self

Question 16

Jaynes argues that until just a few thousand years ago people didn’t experience self-talk as part of the self. Give examples of how this might have been interpreted

Answer 16

Ancient writers described people as simply behaving in a particular way or being ordered to do things by the gods. Ancient gods were not much like the monotheistic God of many modern religions but, rather, were a group of entities that regularly instructed people regarding what they should do, warned them of dangers, criticized them, and gave them ideas–precisely the kinds of things that self-talk does.

Question 17

In what mental disorder is the inner voice not experienced as one’s own?

Answer 17

Schizophrenia

Question 18

What is rumination and how does ruminating make us absent minded?

Answer 18

Repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences. It makes us absent minded by problematically having unnecessary inner dialogue that can be detrimental and contributes to the curse of the self… “If only…” “Even if…” scenarios

Question 19

What is the relation between rumination and depression?

Answer 19

• Both involve negative thoughts and feelings which can become problematic; also both involve inner dialogue
• They often go together

Question 20

What is the next-in-line effect?

Answer 20

People are least likely to remember what the person who immediately preceded them said because that was when they were most self-absorbed

Question 21

Describe the self monitoring called ‘choking under pressure’. What kinds of pressure can cause this?

Answer 21

Directing conscious attention to the execution of a well-learned, complex action short-circuits the automatic process and undermines the quality of the behavior

Question 22

How does the book describe intuition?

Answer 22

Unconscious imagination and thought; helpful in not new situations

Question 23

When might intuition be better than conscious thought and when might that not be so?

Answer 23

When people may purposefully disregard their intuitive, gut-level reactions altogether and when the signals are received clearly, people deliberately override them through self-reflection

Question 24

Describe Flow and its relation to the self

Answer 24

Being in the moment; relation to the conscious mind in the self

Question 25

What is the best way to quiet the mind according to the book? Describe this practice

Answer 25

Meditation; Being in the present