the self Flashcards
what is self-awareness?
ability to momentarily tune out from the envt and focus on self
*one of the main things distinguishing us from animals with lower capacities
state the self-awareness theory
when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate our thoughts and behaviours against our internal standards
why would focusing on ourselves (self-wareness) sometimes be painful?
gap between who we want to or supposed to be and who we actually are
during self-awareness, when we recognise the gap between who we want to be and who we actually are, we would consider 2 options. what are they?
- CHANGE for the better
- ESCAPE thinking about ourselves
to escape thinking about ourselves, what would we do?
- remove cues of self-awareness from our envt (mirrors)
- focus on something else (extremes: shopaholic, alcoholic)
- dilute self-awareness with substances (drugs, alcohol)
give 2 situations when we would like to focus on ourselves, because it brings us pride.
- when we experience success
- when our behaviour is in line with our morals
cues of self-awareness like a _________, can remind us of ________ and __________.
mirror; right; wrong
define self-concept
organised knowledge about ourselves (schemas containing info we know about ourselves)
what is self-concept typically measured by?
TST (twenty-statement test)
true or false: self-concepts remains roughly similar in quantity and quality across our lifespan.
false. self-concepts CHANGE in quantity and quality across our life span.
children’s self concepts vs mature self concepts
children:
- less info
- concrete
- in ref to visible characteristics like height, gender
- egocentric (“i have brown eyes”, “i am a girl”)
mature:
- more info
- abstract (psychological states/traits)
- less emphasized on physical characteristics/behaviours
- more sensitive to how people judge us
what are the 2 types of self-concepts?
independent and interdependent
what do independent self-concepts focus on?
unique characteristics that separates oneself from others
*common in western culture
*common in men
what do interdependent self-concepts focus on?
shared characteristics that binds ourselves with others
*common in non-western cultures
*common in women
define introspection.
the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings and motives.
(questions we ask about ourselves because unlike self-concepts, we don’t know the answers)
what is the good and bad thing about introspection?
good: unique to humans
bad: we are bad at it because the answers are hard to articulate/unclear
define causal theories.
assumptions we have about people, things, the world and the universe that we learn from the culture we grow up in
give 2 examples of causal theories.
- cannot give clocks/shoes as gifts
- monday blues
- good deeds come around
- money can buy happiness
why can’t we use causal theories to explain things?
not scientifically valid, leads to attributions to wrong causes
if a big decision is based on _________, people might __________ it later when their original feelings return.
introspection;regret
while introspecting, we have a tendency to favor reasons that:
1.
2.
- can be nicely put into words
- align with our causal theories
what negative results can introspection produce?
- we may end up mislabelling ourselves with conclusions that do not truly reflect how we feel
- we may think that we are into something but end up doing another thing (low correlations between self-report attitudes and actual behaviours)
aside from introspection, we also try to understand ourselves by looking at what we have done in the _____, aka self-__________.
past; perception
state the theory of self-perception.
self-perception theory states that when our attitudes are ambiguous, we infer them by observing our past behaviours.
(eg. when we don’t know if we like something, we may tap into our past behaviours as a guide to how we feel)
what are the 2 types of motivation?
- intrinsic (we truly enjoy that behaviour)
- extrinsic (behaviour due to external reasons like good grades, high pay, cameras)
what is the overjustification effect?
occurs when extrinsic rewards decreases or wipes out our intrinsic motivation to perform a behaviour
according to the _______________ effect under _______________ theory, rewards that are supposed to motivate can backfire because overtime, they may wipe out interest and passion.
overjustification; self-perception
these are situations when rewards will likely invite overjustification:
1.
2.
- interest initially very high
- use of task-contingent rewards
task vs performance-contingent rewards
1) task-contingent rewards are rewards given for performing a task, regardless of performance
while
2) performance-contingent rewards are rewards given based on performance of a task
how should we reward behaviours to preserve intrinsic interest?
performance-contingent rewards
(rewards are rewards given based on performance of a task)
