the social self Flashcards
self concept
cognitive, what we think about ourselves
shaped by reactions that you receive from so during social interactions
self esteem
emotions, positive and negative evaluations people have of themselves
evaluated component of self concept
the affective component of the self, how you feel about yourself
- our sense of self-esteem functions as a sociometer, and indicates ow well we are doing in the eyes of other people
maintenance motive
feelings as a fuel gauge
compassion is a route to this
iincreases with age typically, peaks in 50s - goes down normally because of health and abilities decling
self presentation
behaviours, how we interact with others
all conscious and unconscious attempts by people to control the images of self they project in social interactions
wanting to present a desired image to the world
we all hav an idea of how we want others to see us
self concet
cognitive
sum of the beliefs you have about yourself
memories of past experiences
self-schema
sum of all our knowledge of a specific topic
how our brain organizes information
beliefs about yourself that guide how you process info
ie/ personality traits, gender, politics - we all have difference levels of importance for these things
organized structure of info people have about themselves; the primary influence on the processing of information about the self
self and social comparisons
self concept is relative (changes situation to situation, roles we are in)
we compare ourselves to others and are conscious of those differences, likely to describe ourselves to make us seem different from those around us
Lockwood and Kunda (1997) found that social comparisons can have either positive (if people are better may motivate us to do better) or negative affects (often done when our self esteem is affected, to make ourselves feel better, protect ourselves)
lake woebegone effect
people with depression flip this
impossible for everyone to be above average - but we may think of ourselves in that way
other people’s judgements
positive and negative judgements have different effects - if we do better or worse than those around us
the looking glass self
how we imagine that others see us
we think people pay more attention to us than they do
collectivist cultures
more willing to talk about failures and what we are bad at
self esteem is relation and malleable
persist longer on tasks when failing
upward social comparisons - ppl are better
balanced self-evaluations
how does your choice effect everyone else
group is more important - how do you contribute to the group
individualist cultures
self-esteem is less relational and more personal - me and my own success
persist longer on tasks when succeeding
downward social comparisons “im better”
self-evaluations biased positively
raised towards our own needs and wants
your own goals
our abilities are fixed traits
good at persisting when we are good - give up when we fail
planning fallacy
bad at predicting behaviour
the tendency ti underestimate how long it will take to complete a task - we will focus on the end point
affective forecasting
prediction about future feelings - we are bad at this
impact bias
overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing events
dual attitude system
implicit (automatic) attitudes
- change slowly, with practice that forms new habits, when explicit thought change, implicit does not necessarily
explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes
- may change with education and persuasion
practical implications:
-self-reports are often untrustworthy
- sincerity does not guarantee validity
self-efficacy
not the same as self esteem
a belief in your own competence - that you are good or successful at something
differs from self esteem, which reflects how much a person likes themselves
low self esteem
associated with more anxiety, loneliness and eating disorders
high self esteem
higher in gang leaders, terrorists and imprisoned men who have committed a violent crime
feel accomplished or value achievements
narcissism
not just “I am great” but I am better than everyone
those high in both narcissism and self esteem tend to be more aggressive
seems to have increased over the past decades
can have low self esteem
covert narcissism
low self esteem
no one knows how awesome i am
overt narcissism
high self esteem
self-discrepancy theory
component of individual self is the opposite of a component of the ideal or ought self
when we evaluate ourselves we typically use the idea or ought self as a reference point
bigger the difference there is the worse we will feel - too big could make you depressed
self serving bias
the tendency to attribute personal failure to external forces and personal success to internal forces
detecting blame
to protect out self esteem. ie/ bad mark cause my teacher hates me
people will take credit for things that yield positive outcomes
comparing oneself favourably to others
unrealistic optimism
false consensus and uniqueness
self enhancement
credit for group sucess`
unrealistic optimism
most people are predisposed to optimism
supported by being pessimistic about the future of others
ie/ undergraduates believe they are far more likely than their classmates to get a job
illusory optimism increases vulnerability
promotes self-efficacy
defensive pessimism
helps people prepare for problems
ironic mental processes
cannot intentionall control our thoughts
requires monitering to be like hey dont think about that - but they it makes us think about it
false consensus effect
overestimating the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviours
false uniqueness effect
underestimating the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviours
temporal comparison
more likely to look at past self in a way to make current self look better
self-handicapping
protecting one’s self image with behaviours that create a handy excuse for later failure
ie/ partying the night before an exam
not studying because you are worried you will do bad (protect self-image) - using this as an excuse
sabotage own performance as an excuse
self monitoring
being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting one’s performance to create the desired impression
acting like those around us
we vary in how much we want others to see us
high in this we are like a chameleon, low we do not care. most people are somewhere in the middle
strategic self presentation
trying to shape other peoples view to shape the idea of you
to match who you think they want you to be
ingratiation - praising other person
self promotion - praising yourself
self verification self presentation
this is who I am and I want you to see it
ie/ we want a romantic partner to see us for who we are (not masking)
