The Social Self Flashcards
What is self-concept?
A person’s beliefs about their roles, traits, abilities, and experiences
What is working self-concept?
Aspects that are salient (more important) at a given time
What is self-complexity?
Self-concept that has many facets (i.e. a student being less hurt by low test scores due to having other aspects of their self-concept)
What is self-concept clarity?
People prefer for their self-concept to feel clearly defined, internally consistent, and consistent across time
What is self-verification?
Seeking out feedback that is consistent with our existing beliefs regardless of valence (contrasting feedback can influence existing self-concept)
How is direct feedback related to the origins of self-knowledge?
The information received from others about our traits and abilities establishes a basis for self-knowledge
How are reflected appraisals related to direct feedback?
Direct feedback can provide reflected appraisals, or our perception of how others perceive and evaluate us
How is social comparison related to the origins of self-knowledge?
The act of comparing our traits and abilities with the traits and abilities of others contributes to our self-knowledge by amplifying certain aspects and downplaying others
What are the four tenets of the Festinger (1954) theory of social comparison?
People want to know where they stand
People prefer objective standards of comparison (scores, times, etc.)
No objective standard? Use social standard
Typically compare ourselves to others that are similar to us (similar size, etc.)
What is upward social comparison and how can it be motivating?
Upward social comparison is comparing ourselves to those that we perceive to be better than us
It can be motivating if you assimilate (feel similar)
What is downward social comparison and how can it boost self-esteem?
Downward social comparison is comparing ourselves to those that we perceive to be worse than us
It can boost self-esteem if you contrast (feel separate/different)
What is the better-than-average effect?
The tendency to perceive ourselves as better than the average person
Why do we experience the better-than-average effect?
“Unskilled and unaware” - don’t know when you’re bad at something
What is the exception to the better-than-average effect?
Worse-than-average effect: present when task is perceived as difficult
How does culture influence our sense of self?
Collectivist cultures create an interdependent self-concept (defined primarily in relation to other people), while individualist cultures create an independent self-concept (defined primarily by unique characteristics, abilities, thoughts, and feelings)
What is self-esteem?
The global/overall evaluation of oneself (positive or negative)
What is the difference between trait and state self-esteem?
Trait self-esteem is one’s overall self-esteem, which remains more constant, while state self-esteem is one’s self-esteem in a given social situation, which fluctuates more often
What are contingencies of self-worth?
Sources of self-esteem, which differ from person to person and across time
Why do we have self-esteem? (hint: Sociometer theory)
Sociometer theory (Leary): self-esteem is an evolutionary metric for how we’re doing socially (monitors social inclusion, activates social pain if inclusion is low, and motivates restoration of inclusion)
What is the self-evaluation maintenance model (Tesser)?
Others’ successes can threaten our self-esteem (or not)
What is basking in reflected glory?
Associating with someone who is succeeding in a domain that doesn’t affect us
What if someone is doing better than us in our domain? (3 strategies)
Improve our performance
Reduce closeness with the person
Reduce importance of the domain
*utilization depends on circumstances
What are some problems with self-esteem? (2)
Hard to control (partially genetic, partially reflects success and failures)
Not beneficial in all forms (high but unstable self-esteem causes interpersonal problems)
How is narcissism related to self-esteem?
Narcissism is a non-beneficial form of self-esteem (high but volatile)
What are the three components of self-compassion?
Self-kindness
Recognition of shared experience
Mindfulness
What is self-presentation?
Controlling, regulating, and monitoring the information we provide about ourselves to create a desired impression (we’re doing this at all times, the audience can be real or imagined)
What is the multiple audience problem?
When one’s desired identity differs for two audiences present at the same time
What is self-handicapping and how is it related to self-presentation?
Self-handicapping is protecting one’s self-presentation and self-image by creating a handy excuse for failure (exam study - performance-enhancing/inhibiting drugs)
What is self-regulation?
Processes by which people initiate, alter, and control their behavior to pursue goals (requires delay of gratification and resistance to temptation)
What is delay of gratification?
Forgoing a desirable outcome now for a more desirable outcome later (marshmallow study - one now or two later)
What is ego depletion?
Exhausting self-control resources through use (radish vs cookie study - better performance on a puzzle task w cookie)
What are ways we can improve self-control? (4)
Setting up appropriate incentives
Implementation intentions
Action identification theory (alter perception of the goal)
Goal disengagement
What are implementation intentions?
If-then plans to engage in some behavior (then) in response to some cue (if)
What is the action identification theory?
Goals can be construed in abstract or concrete ways (abstract is motivating, concrete is manageable)
What is goal disengagement?
Letting go of inappropriate/unreachable goals
