The Social Self

Question 1

What is the self-concept? What is the cocktail party effect, and what does it demonstrate about the importance of the self? Describe self-schemas. What does it mean to say that someone is schematic on a trait?

Answer 1

.The sum total of beliefs that people have about themselves.cocktail party effect: at a party but hear our name from across the room.self-schemas: Beliefs about oneself that guide processing of self-relevant information.aschematic means you don’t use a trait to describe yourself

Question 2

How does the rouge test of self-recognition work? What animals besides humans have passed this test? What similarities are there in the development of self-recognition between humans and other animals?

Answer 2

Marking forehead.Apes (only after socialized) and some dolphins, maybe elephants.humans learn at age 1.5-2.apes learn in early adolescence, sharp decline in late age

Question 3

What makes the self social? What is the “looking glass” with which we evaluate ourselves? In what other ways does the social environment influence the self-concept?

Answer 3

.we come to know things bout ourselves by seeing how we appear in other people’s eyes, social feedback.looking glass: people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves.self as relational: know ourselves from past and currect relationships with significant others

Question 4

What are the 5 main sources of the self-concept?

Answer 4

1. introspection2. perceptions of our own behavior3. influences of other people4. autobigraphical memories5. our culture

Question 5

What is introspection? What are the problems associated with introspection in the search for selfknowledge? Why do these problems occur?

Answer 5

.introspection: looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings.we often don’t know the origins of our actions, “telling more than we know”.why? humans are mentally busy AND people overestimate the positives!

Question 6

What is affective forecasting? Are people generally good at it? Describe the impact bias citing examples.

Answer 6

.forecasting your feelings far in advance (like 6 mo. after winning the lottery).NO.impact bias: people overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions.e.g. professors receiving tenure.supporters of winning and losing political candidates.WE BECOME HABITUATED QUICKLY

Question 7

What is Bem’s self-perception theory? When do we use this type of process to learn about the self? Give an example.

Answer 7

..self-perception theory: internal cues insufficient or difficult to interpret, people then gain insight by observing own behavior EEK

Question 8

Describe Laird’s facial feedback hypothesis, and the original study that examined it. What possible explanations have been offered for these effects?

Answer 8

.facial feedback hyp: faical feedback can evoke and magnify certain emotional states.ppl randomly assigned to make diff facial expressions while viewing some messages.ppl who told to make happy faces later happier.alternate explanation: facial expressions spark emotion by producing physiological changes in brain (smiles change blood temp.. massages brain making it feel bettar?)

Question 9

What are the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? How might extrinsic motivation undermine intrinsic interest? Do rewards appear to undermine intrinsic interest? Describe the study by Lepper and colleagues in which children’s intrinsic motivation for playing with markers was investigated

Answer 9

.task-related rewards (you do this, i give you this) or coercive rewards (i’m getting you to do this behavior by giving you this reward) tend to later undermine intrinsic motivation.Pre-school children who were observed to enjoy drawing were selected for the experiment. .As predicted, kids in the expected reward condition showed subsequently less interest in drawing at later periods than kids in the other two conditions. In addition, the quality of the pictures in the expected-award group were lower than the other groups.

Question 10

What types of self-descriptions are typical? How might the context in which you describe yourself influence your responses to “Who are you” questions? What does it mean to say that the self is relative?

Answer 10

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Question 11

Describe Festinger’s social comparison theory. When do we engage in social comparison? With whom do we compare ourselves?

Answer 11

.when uncertain about our abilities or opinions (no objective or benchmark info), we evaluate self through comparisons with similar others.OUR PEERS, and usually those immediately below us

Question 12

Describe the 2 Factor Theory of Emotion. What are the two factors? Which one can be influenced by social factors? Describe the procedure and findings of the Schachter & Singer (1962) study that provided support for this theory.

Answer 12

1. Phyisological Arousal2. Cognitive interpretation.cognitive interpretation! .schacter/singer: epinephrine or placebo, some ppl given explanation about side effects of epinephrine, some not. they then went into room with actor who either acted angry or euphoric. if they participant had no context as to their phyiological arousal (why they might be feeling that way), they would take cues from the confederate as to what emotions they were feeling

Question 13

What types of autobiographical memories are people most likely to report? Are there any exceptions to the general recency rule? What are flashbulb memories? Are they accurate? How are memories related to identity? Describe the research by Bahrick and colleagues investigating the accuracy of recall of high school grades.

Answer 13

.recent ones than the distant past.exceptions: reminiscence peak, seniors remember things from late adolescence to early adulthood.transitional firsts: first month of first year of university, first job… etc..our memories influence our self-concept/identity and vice versa, we remember and tag significance to memories that we think define us, distort past in ways that are self-inflated (we think we are the subject of most of our memories!).people remembered all of their As but none of their Cs or Ds… over-reported their GPAs?

Question 14

What is self-esteem, and what outcomes tend to be associated with high vs. low self-esteem? Is there are a causal relationship between self-esteem and these outcomes? Describe the Sociometer theory of self-esteem and the explanation it provides for the need for self-esteem.

Answer 14

.self-esteem: a person’s overall emotional evaluation of his or her own worth.sociometer: our self-esteem is like an internal compass to how were doing compared to everyone else in a social group.hi self esteem: happier, healthier, more productive and more successful.confident and motivated, and persist longer on tasks, sleep better, fewer illnesses.conform less to peer pressure.LSE have anxiety/depression/illness/pessimism.less task persistence, confidence, success.learned helplessness.self blame for failure

Question 15

What is terror management theory? According to this theory, what is the relationship between culture and self-esteem? Why do other cultures with different beliefs pose a problem? Describe how research with a) municipal court udges and b) Christian university students has demonstrated that reminding participants of their mortality should increase their derogation or punishment of worldview violators? What research has demonstrated that reminders of mortality make people reluctant to use cultural symbols or icons in inappropriate ways? How did researchers show that mortality salience was associated with increased aggression toward people whose beliefs threaten one’s cultural worldview?

Answer 15

.TMT: self-esteem is a protective shield designed to control the potential for terror that results from awareness of our own inevitable death.culture provides a death-denying function, provides a worldview of which you are a logical part.other cultures pose a problem BECAUSE THEY DON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE AND ARE THE ENEMY RAAAAGH.municipal court judges reminded of their death prior to delivering a sentence gave WAY harsher sentences.christian university students that read a blasphemous paragraph hated non-believers or something.experiment, people made people desecrate an american flag to accomplish some task, or to put a nail in the wall they HAD to use a cross.gave hot sauce to people or something???

Question 16

Does membership in a minority group, such as African Americans, deflate one’s sense of selfworth?

Answer 16

.No! Black pride?

Question 17

Describe Higgins self-discrepancy theory including the kinds of self-guides. How do self-guides influence self-esteem? What factors determine the effects of self-discrepancies on self-esteem?

Answer 17

.Actual self vs self-guides, Ideal and Ought.who you want to be, who you SHOULD be.gaps between these and our actual self motivate us, especially if we’re reminded or given self-examining cues (mirrors).amount (how big the discrepancy is).the importance (do we care about our athletic ability?).extent (how often do we think about it?)

Question 18

What is self-awareness theory? What circumstances can lead someone to be more self-aware? What are the consequences of increased self-awareness? What determines whether people will match their behavior to a standard vs. withdraw from self-awareness? Describe the Halloween study by Beaman et al as a demonstration of self-awareness theory.

Answer 18

.Most people not usually self-focused, until certain situations force us to become aware.MIRRORS, eyes.makes us compare our behavior to some standard, temporary reduction in self-esteem.kids told can take one candy from pot, nobody was there. condition was a mirror was placed.if there was a mirror was there, they were MUCH less likely to take more candy than they were told they could

Question 19

What is the difference between private and public self-consciousness? What are the consequences of these types of self-focus? What implications does self-focus have for the reduction of discrepancies?

Answer 19

.private: introspect about our inner thoughts and feelings.public: focus on our outer public image.implications for reducing self-discrepancies

Question 20

What is self-regulation? Describe Muraven & Baumeister (2000)’s strength model of selfregulation. How does this model explain why it is difficult to self-regulate on multiple tasks simultaneously? How did a study on emotion regulation conducted by these authors support this model? How did Vohs & Heatherton demonstrate the application of this model to control of appetite?

Answer 20

.process by which we seek to control or alter our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and urges.self-control is a limited inner resource that can be temporarily be depleted by usage.people that had to supress their emotions during a tragic video later had way less control when doing a handgrip test as opposed to those who didn’t have to control.Vohs, if had to exercise restraint during movie in front of food, afterwards in an ice cream taste test ate WAY more ice cream

Question 21

What are ironic processes? Why do they occur? Describe the pendulum study by Wegener et al and how it demonstrated ironic processes?

Answer 21

.don’t think of the white bear… no negation.occurs because conscious efforts at maintaining control are met by a concern abou failing.triggers the person, trying hard not to fail, to search his or her mind for the unwanted thought.people holding a pendulum, told to prevent horizontal movement actually had MORE horizontal movement than those who weren’t asked to look out for that specifically!

Question 22

What are the 4 mechanisms of self-enhancement?

Answer 22

1) self-serving cognitions2) self-handicapping3) basking in the glory of others4) downward social comparisons

Question 23

Describe the self-serving cognitions that seem to protect our self-esteem. What is the optimistic bias?

Answer 23

.we take credit for our success and distance ourselves from our failures.think exams, we take credits for great marks, but for bad marks we usually say we just didn’t put in the effort but could have done it if we wanted to.Optimistic bias: think desirable events (happy marriage, good grades) more likely to occur than undesirable (heart attack, crime victim)

Question 24

How is self-handicapping used to protect the self? Why is it an ingenious strategy? Give examples of self-handicapping tactics? Also describe the gender differences and costs.

Answer 24

.sabotage own performance in order to provide a subsequent excuse for failure.have something to blame if we fail, but if we do well, we say we did something DESPITE having a handicap.men tend more to set selves up for failure like not studying or drinking night before.women tend more to say things like “oh i’m SO worried about this exam” and then score an A+ the next day (aka SANDBAGGING).it’s costs… you consistently fail and people are annoyed by you duh

Question 25

How is self-esteem influenced by the successes and failures of individuals and groups with whom we identify? Describe the study of team badges that demonstrates both of these effects.

Answer 25

.if a group we are associated with wins, we feel good, like a sports team, and we let it make us feel goodor “bask in reflected glory” BIRG.if a group we are associated with loses, we distance ourselves or “cut off reflected failure” CORF.NO

Question 26

What types of social comparisons do we tend to make when our self-esteem is at risk? What are the health implications of these types of comparisons?

Answer 26

.downward social comparisons.or temporal comparisons between past and present selves (look at how far i’ve come!).we affiliate with others who have suffered similar tragic life events, but still make downward comparisons (look at how much more ill i could be)

Question 27

Are positive illusions about the self adaptive? Why might they be beneficial? Why might they be maladaptive? What interpersonal consequences might befall someone with inflated (rather than realistic) views of themselves?

Answer 27

.those with most realistic view of themselves are those who are depressed or low in self-esteem… wow.positive illusions are health-protective.BUT can lead to self-defeating behaviors

Question 28

Describe the contrasting views of Heine and Sedikides on the relationship between culture and self-esteem.

Answer 28

.Heine et al. (1999): Cultures differ on the pursuit of self pursuit of self-esteem. esteem.  Collectivist cultures are more self Collectivist cultures are more self-effacing effacing  Sedikides et al. ( 2003): People from et al.. ( 2003): People fromdifferent cultures are similarly motivated to think highly of themselves to think highly of themselves themselves People exhibit self People exhibit self- praise or humility praise or humility depending on what is desirable within their culture

Question 29

What is self-presentation? What are the two different types? What 2 strategic self-presentation goals are very common? What happens when different types of self-presentation clash?

Answer 29

.process by which we try to shape what others think of us and what we think of ourselves.strategic self-presentation: shape others impressions in order to gain influence, power, sympathy, or approval (to get along (ingratiation) with group or get ahead via self promotion.self-verification: want others to perceive us as we truly perceive ourselves.we want to make a good impression, but we also want others to have an accurate impression that is compatible with our own self-concept CLASH OMG

Question 30

What is self-monitoring? What are the consequences associated with high and low selfmonitoring? Is it better to be high or low?

Answer 30

.self-monitoring: tendency to regulate one’s own behavior to meet the demands of the situationhigh self monitors: sensitive to strategic self presentation, behavior flexible and adapts to fit contextlo self-monitors: more concerned with self-verification, use internal cues and values to guide their behavior, more consistent across situationsEITHER is fine

Question 31

Overjustification effect

Answer 31

The overjustification effect occurs when an expected external incentive such as money or prizes decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a task.

Question 32

What are the two most studied contrasting cultural orientations? What differences have been found between the two in people’s self-descriptions? How are these orientations associated with different self-construals as described by Markus and Kitayama? What consequences are associated with these contrasting cultural orientations? Describe the research by Trafimow et al who tested the influence of context on the spontaneous self-descriptions given by students from Hong Kong who spoke English as a second language.

Answer 32

.individulistic vs collectivist