The self I: Making life easier, better and more positive - research Flashcards
Pelster and Heckhausen (2018)
causal attributions may differ to what is expected
- incomplete information
- desire to protect self-esteem
- desire to experience oneself as consistent
- no time for careful analysis of causes event
less interested in realistic attributions compared to those that facilitate future actions/promote well-being
Oishi et al. (2000)
I cultures - success = internal, stable factors
C cultures - success = situational, unstable factors
read about another negative experience
European Americans focus on internal factors and so they use their current life satisfaction to predict the future
Asian Americans focus on external factored and so they are less likely to use their current life satisfaction in predicting the future
also demonstrated by using primes of European/Asian Americans
Ditto and Lopez (1992)
Three experiments show that information consistent with a preferred conclusion is examined less critically than information inconsistent with a preferred conclusion, and consequently, less information is required to reach the former than the latter. In Study 1, Ss judged which of 2 students was most intelligent, believing they would work closely with the 1 they chose. Ss required less information to decide that a dislikable student was less intelligent than that he was more intelligent. In Studies 2 and 3, Ss given an unfavorable medical test result took longer to decide their test result was complete, were more likely to retest the validity of their result, cited more life irregularities that might have affected test accuracy, and rated test accuracy as lower than did Ss receiving more favorable diagnoses. Results suggest that a core component of self-serving bias is the differential quantity of cognitive processing given to preference-consistent and preference-inconsistent information.
Khalaj and Savoji (2018)
The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of education and cognitive self-regulation on academic burnout and cognitive dissonance and academic performance of elementary school girl students. The research method of this research is based on quasi-experimental type with pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical population of this research included 40 elementary school girl students of Qom city who were selected through random sampling and were placed as 20 in the control group and 20 in the experimental group where the subjects were trained during 10 sessions in self-regulation strategies with no educational intervention in the control group. The tool of self-regulation educational package was used in ten sessions and another tool used was Brosu et al. (1997) academic burnout and a further tool related to the Cognitive Dissonance Questionnaire of Remon Jonz (2001). Academic performance was also calculated by obtaining the final scores of the students. In order to analyze the data, Covariance test (ANCOVA), homogeneity of variances and Levin test were applied.
The data analysis results indicate that all three research hypotheses, which included: Learning of cognitive self-regulation strategies to reduce the students’ academic burnout, learning of cognitive self-regulation strategies to reduce the students’ cognitive dissonance and learning of cognitive self-regulation strategies to progress the students’ academic performance.
Festinger and Cralsmith (1959)
Atest of some hypotheses generated by Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance, viz., that “if a person is induced to do or say something which is contrary to his private opinion, there will be a tendency for him to change his opinion so as to bring it into correspondence with what he has done or said. The larger the pressure used to elicit the overt behavior… the weaker will be the… tendency… . The results strongly corroborate the theory.”
Mills (2019)
This chapter proposes some improvements in Leon Festinger’s most important contribution to psychology, his 1957 theory of cognitive dissonance. Some of the proposed changes have to do with Festinger’s assumptions about the magnitude of avoidance of dissonance and about what occurs before a choice. A major proposed change is concerned with how dissonance is determined by desired consequences and importance of cognitions. Some of the earliest research on dissonance theory examined the implications of the theory for selectivity in exposure to information. Dissonance theory was particularly useful in understanding bias in voluntary exposure to information because it specified conditions under which persons will seek out or avoid information. It predicted persons will seek out information expected to increase consonance and avoid information expected to increase dissonance. Contrary to what Festinger assumed, research on the topic of exposure to information before a choice has found evidence of selective exposure to information
Lanauze and Siadou-Martin (2019)
Design/methodology/approach
Two studies are conducted. Using structural equation modeling under Amos, hypotheses are tested and validated in the field of meat consumption on a sample of 501 French consumers. A second study investigates the impact of the nature of the stimulus on consumers’ responses.
Findings
The results show that psychological discomfort is increased by the contact with dissonant external information and that consumers may at the same time minimize the effects of additional cognition by implementing informational strategies such as trivialization or decredibilization to defend their consumption behavior.
Research limitations/implications
Future researchers could consider the various objections to meat consumption separately and further explore the dynamics between external information, consumer cognitions and consumer consumption behavior in diverse consumption contexts.
Practical implications
The authors advise meat marketers to reduce consumer psychological discomfort by promoting the hedonic perceived value and by presenting credible counterarguments to defend the benefits of their products.
Social implications
The study may encourage advocates of lower meat consumption to provide credible information about the detrimental effects of meat consumption to influence behavioral change intentions.
Originality/value
As responsible consumption becomes a key trend in western societies, new attitudes, fostered by external critical information, are influencing consumption behavior in many product categories. This research contributes to a better understanding of the attitude–behavior gap in a context of emerging criticism toward highly consumed and traditional products.
Ferradas et al. (2018)
goals as predictors of defensive pessimism and self-handicapping
self-handicapping associated with performance goals - end goal
defensive pessimism associated with approach goals - how to get there
Rodriguez et al. (2004)
Differences in use of self-handicapping and defensive pessimism and its relation with achievement goals, self-esteem, and self-regulation strategies. In this paper self-handicapping and defensive pessimism have been assessed among university students. Cluster analysis allowed us to set four groups of students: Group SH (n= 168) high in self-handicapping, Group BE (n= 179) low in self-handicapping and defensive pessimism; Group AE (n= 59) high in both self-worth protection strategies and Group PD (n= 189) high in defensive pessimism. Results indicate that SH group is less likely to subscribe to a mastery orientacion than BE and PD groups and supports research that has found a positive relationship between a ego-orientation and self-handicapping. Both self-handicapping and defensive pessimism are positively associated with a ego-defensive orientation. On the other hand, findings provide support for the hypotheses that individuals low in self-esteem may be more likely to engage in self-handicapping. Finally, results also show that both PD and BE groups are significantly higher in selfregulation strategies than SH and AE groups. These findings are discussed with regard to prior research on self-handicapping and defensive pessimism.
Ntoumanis et al. (2006)
PE setting
SH and DP positively predicted by fear of failure
DP negatively predicted by physical self-concept
DP neg predicted enjoyment in PE and intentions to participate
Baekgaard et al. (2017)
Does evidence help politicians make informed decisions even if it is at odds with their prior beliefs? And does providing more evidence increase the likelihood that politicians will be enlightened by the information? Based on the literature on motivated political reasoning and the theory about affective tipping points, this article hypothesizes that politicians tend to reject evidence that contradicts their prior attitudes, but that increasing the amount of evidence will reduce the impact of prior attitudes and strengthen their ability to interpret the information correctly. These hypotheses are examined using randomized survey experiments with responses from 954 Danish politicians, and results from this sample are compared to responses from similar survey experiments with Danish citizens. The experimental findings strongly support the hypothesis that politicians are biased by prior attitudes when interpreting information. However, in contrast to expectations, the findings show that the impact of prior attitudes increases when more evidence is provided.
Schellenberg and Balis (2018)
Method
Across four studies with passionate Facebook users, hockey fans, and runners (total N = 763), participants viewed messages giving reasons why their favorite activity should not be pursued. Participants either reported their desire to read the messages (Studies 1 and 2) or evaluated the messages after reading them (Studies 3 and 4).
Results
Harmonious passion consistently predicted higher levels of avoidance or negative evaluations of the messages. These responses were attenuated for participants who had previously affirmed an important value (Study 1), or who were told that they do not control the passions they pursue (Study 4).
Conclusions
Harmonious passion entails a sense of autonomy and control over activity engagement, which usually leads to nondefensive behavior. However, this sense of control may elicit more defensive responses from more harmoniously passionate individuals when the decision itself to pursue an activity is under attack.
Shelley et al. (1989)
not defensive mechanisms as they promote mental health
positive illusions responsive to the utility of information
the mind processes negative information differently, depending on what the information is
preserve positive self-concepts AND make adaptive use of negative feedback
Shepperd et al. (2015)
misplaced hope - In one study, over 60% of participants in a Phase 1 clinical cancer trial believed that they
were more likely than the other trial participants to experience health benefits from the trial (Jansen et al., 2011).
disappointment and regret - For example, college students who were unrealistically optimistic about their performance on an exam reported increases in negative affect after receiving their exam score, whereas realistic and pessimistic students reported a decrease in negative affect after receiving their score (Sweeny & Shepperd, 2010).
behavioural consequences - For example, smokers typically overestimate their ability to quit smoking if and when they decide to quit (Weinstein, 2001), which may lead them to persist in smoking well beyond the time it becomes an entrenched behavior. Relatedly, smokers who displayed unrealistic absolute optimism reported lower intentions to quit smoking (Dillard, McCaul, & Klein, 2006).
Still other studies have shown that people who are unrealistically optimistic about paying off credit card debt make poorer decisions about credit card features, opting for cards with lower annual fees rather than lower interest rates (Yang, Markoczy, & Qi, 2007).
behaviour problems - For example, participants in one study who displayed unrealistic comparative optimism wagered more money on the outcome of a trivia test (Moore & Small, 2007).
Positive outcome expectations sometimes foster goal persistence, positive affect, and hope (Armor & Taylor, 1998), although these benefits may be unproductive if the outcome is largely uncontrollable.
A recent study, for example, found that cardiac patients who reported greater unrealistic comparative optimism about their future cardiac risk (i.e., they reported that they were at less risk than the typical person who experienced the same cardiac event to have another cardiac event) were less likely to experience a cardiac event over the next 12 months (Hevey, McGee, & Horgan, 2014).
