The social self and self-regulation

Question 1

define self concept

Answer 1

A person’s knowledge about himself or herself, including one’s own traits, social identities, and experiences

Question 2

early conceptualisations of self-concept

Answer 2

• William James - the ‘me’
• Freud - the ‘ego’
  Influenced by culture and socialisation

Question 3

what are the effects of groups on self concepts

Answer 3

• Membership of a group shapes own self-concept
  -Adopt similar traits as those in social groups

Question 4

what is social identity theory

Answer 4

People define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify

Question 5

what is the issue in assuming gender differences in the social self

Answer 5

• Men and women are actually more similar than different
• Differences are exaggerated and imagined
• Differences assumed to be biological but are usually culturally based

Question 6

what are gender differences in behaviour usually related to

Answer 6

• Long history of role distribution between the sexes
  Assumptions those roles are part of men and women’s natures

Question 7

what do we falsely infer about gender differences

Answer 7

• Women are innately more caregiving as they tend to conform to these roles
  Men have innate leadership and power as they tend to conform to these roles

Question 8

what is a self-schema

Answer 8

• An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about an attribute that is part of one’s self-concept
  Assumed to be mostly stable

Question 9

what are sources of the self

Answer 9

• Appraisals from others
  
  • Social comparisons
  • Self-perception

Question 10

what is symbolic interactionism

Answer 10

• Importance of an individual in our life as the primary basis for self
  -Unimportant individuals (e.g., strangers) play less of a role

Question 11

what is the looking glass self

Answer 11

• Significant people in our lives reflect back to us who we are based on how they behave towards us
  -Make assumptions about what they think about us

Question 12

what are reflected appraisals

Answer 12

Assumptions about what we think other people think of us

Question 13

what is social comparison theory

Answer 13

People come to know their self-concept by comparing themselves with similar others

Question 14

what is downward comparison

Answer 14

Comparing oneself with those who are worse off

Question 15

what is upward comparison

Answer 15

Comparing oneself with those who are better off

Question 16

what errors can occur in social comparison

Answer 16

• Overestimating your own attributes
• Underestimating the attributes of others
  Better than average effect

Question 17

what is self perception theory

Answer 17

• People form impressions of themselves by observing their own behaviour and the situation in which it occurs
  -Things that seem to occur frequently enter self-schema - Unless situational factors can account for the behaviour

Question 18

what is the facial feedback hypothesis

Answer 18

The idea that changes in facial expression elicit emotions associated with those expressions

Question 19

what is the two-factor theory of emotion

Answer 19

Emotions are an interaction of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal based on contextual cues

Question 20

what is misattribution of arousal

Answer 20

• Mislabelling the source of arousal
  -Transfer arousal from one event to another

Question 21

what does high vs low self-monitoring refer to

Answer 21

not everyone is aware of their own actions being incorporated into self schemas

Question 22

why is self awareness important

Answer 22

highlights the gap between what one is doing and what one should/could be doing

Question 23

what does self-discrepancy theory refer to

Answer 23

• We feel negative when falling short of our expectations
  Conflict between actual, ideal, and ought selves

Question 24

how can we improve self-discrepancy theory

Answer 24

engaging in self control or protecting self esteem

Question 25

define self esteem

Answer 25

The evaluative component of the self-concept
Subjective appraisal of self as positive or negative - dependent on context

Question 26

what are the sources of self esteem

Answer 26

• Self-awareness and goal discrepancies
  -Developmental influences (authoritative vs permissive parents)

Question 27

what are the consequences of low self esteem

Answer 27

• Deflection of positive feeling - externalise success rather than internalise
• Less likely to make plans to improve mood
  Internalise failures than externalise

Question 28

what are the consequences of high self esteem

Answer 28

• Narcissism - reliant on validation from others
• Unstable mood
  Extraverted - perform well in public - unlikely to suffer from depression

Question 29

negative characteristics associated with high self esteem

Answer 29

crave attention, overconfident and lack of empathy

Question 30

how did Bushman and Baumeister investigate narcissism

Answer 30

• Participants wrote essay which was marked by confederate
• Praise vs threat conditions
  -Then completed a competitive task, in which the loser (i.e., confederate) received a blast of noise

Question 31

what were the findings of Bushman and Baumeister’s narcissism study

Answer 31

• Positive relationship between narcissism and aggression (measured by intensity of noise delivered to confederate after the ego threat conditions)

Question 32

how do we maintain self esteem - social comparison theory

Answer 32

downward comparison theory can make us feel better than others

Question 33

how do we maintain self esteem - social identity theory

Answer 33

basking in reflected glory - use the success of our social group to improve self-esteem

Question 34

how do we maintain self esteem - self discrepancy theory

Answer 34

we examine self to assess whether we meet our personal goals

Question 35

define self regulation

Answer 35

A set of processes for guiding one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to reach desired goals

Question 36

define willpower

Answer 36

Capacity to overcome temptations, challenges, and obstacles that could impede pursuit of one’s long-term goals

Question 37

cold vs hot processes

Answer 37

Hot processes = driven by strong emotions
Cold processes = level-headed reasoning

Question 38

what are limits of self regulation

Answer 38

Ego depletion:
Mental fatigue from extended use of self-control
Behaviour regulation is more difficult.