Topic 5 - Self

Question 1

What does self refer to?

Answer 1

Self refers to the individual; a universal concept/idea. Sense of self as unique and distinct from others.

Question 2

What is self-concept?

Answer 2

the overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes

Question 3

When does rudimentary self-concept develop in humans?

Answer 3

18 to 24 months

Question 4

Is rudimentary self-concept a universal concept?

Answer 4

Yes it is!
even seen in some primates

Question 5

How does rudimentary self-concept develop over time?

Answer 5

starts out concrete/factual and moves to abstract/reflective

Question 6

What is the influential self-concept in many Western cultures?

How is self defined? What are common values?

Answer 6

Independent or Egocentric Self

self is defined largely according to one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions

independence and uniqueness valued

Question 7

What is the influential self-concept in many Eastern cultures?

How is the self defined? What is commonly valued?

Answer 7

Inter-dependent or sociocentric self

self defined largely through relationships to other people

recognizes that others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions affect one’s behaviour

connectedness and interdependence valued

uniqueness frowned on

Question 8

Do Western cultures have a mostly independent or interdependent self-concept?

Answer 8

mostly independent

Question 9

Do Eastern cultures have a mostly independent or interdependent self-concept?

Answer 9

mostly inter-dependent

Question 10

Do individuals have solely an independent or interdependent self-concept?

Answer 10

No, people often have an independent and interdependent view of themselves, but usually the weighting is a bit different.

Question 11

Is Europe more individualistic or collectivistic?

Answer 11

More or less individualistic, becomes more collectivist as we move East

Question 12

What are proverbs?

Answer 12

sayings that are developed in popular culture

Question 13

Are proverbs similar or different across cultures?

Answer 13

If we look at proverbs in different areas of the world and how they relate to the idea of standing out from the group (individualistic vs collectivistic) they differ - different attitudes towards patterns of behaviour.

Question 14

What are the 4 functions or aspects of the self?

Answer 14

4 functions or aspects of the self:
1) Self-knowledge: how we understand who we are and organize this information

2) Self-esteem: maintain positive views of ourselves

3) Self-control: make plans and execute decisions

4) Impression management: present ourselves to others and getting them to see us as we wish

Question 15

What are the 4 primary processes of how we develop self-knowledge?

Answer 15

4 primary processes:

1) Introspection (self-awareness theory)

2) Attention to behaviour (self-perception theory)

3) Comparison to others (social comparison theory)

4) Imagining other people’s views (looking glass self)

Question 16

What is introspection?

Answer 16

The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives

Question 17

Do people rely on introspection as much as we might think? Why or why not?

Answer 17

No, not always pleasant to think about ourselves.
Reasons for our feelings and behaviour can be outside conscious awareness.

Question 18

How do clinical psychologists use introspection?

Answer 18

Provides an environment in which we can engage in introspection, examining our thoughts, feelings, and motives - in the hope of enhancing our wellbeing (self-esteem, sense of happiness, decreased depression/anxiety).

Question 19

Can our own motives be outside of our conscious awareness?

Answer 19

yes

Question 20

What theory is a part of introspection?

Answer 20

Self-awareness theory

Question 21

What is the self-awareness theory?

Answer 21

when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behaviour to their internal standards and values (can enhance confidence or induce shame)

Question 22

When can introspection / self-awareness theory be positive vs. negative?

Answer 22

Can be very uncomfortable where our behaviour does not match values
- Produces a desire to turn off “internal spotlight” on oneself
- Self-destructive means versus more positive means

Can also be positive (enhance self-esteem)

Question 23

How can the self-awareness theory be used to alter behaviour?

Answer 23

Prompted self-focus can remind you of your sense of right and wrong and increase your likelihood of following your moral standards

Deindividuation: the loss of self-awareness in groups

Question 24

What is deindividuation?

Answer 24

the loss of self-awareness in groups

Question 25

What are the limits of introspection?

Answer 25

Insight on feelings and behaviour

often, our insight into the cause of our own behaviour is limited, we tell more than we actually know

Question 26

What are causal theories of introspection? How are they often learned?

Answer 26

theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviours; often learned from our local culture

Question 27

What’s the problem with causal theories of introspection?

Answer 27

Problem is that our causal schemas and theories are not always correct; can lead to incorrect judgements about the real causes of our feelings, thoughts, behaviours

Question 28

On social media, what day do people tend to use the most negative language? Why?

Answer 28

Wednesdays

Suggests that mood is increasingly bad from Monday to Wednesday, then Wednesday to Friday gets better. Wednesday is the most negative day.

Question 29

What is the self-perception theory?

Answer 29

using our behaviour to understand our emotions/attitudes

the theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behaviour and the situation in which it occurs

we infer feelings from behaviour of which we are unsure of how we feel

judge whether our behaviour really reflects how we feel or is the result of a situation

Question 30

We experience emotions in what two-step self-perception process?

Answer 30

1) experience physiological arousal

2) seek an appropriate explanation

Question 31

Explain the two-factor theory of emotion (Schachter-Singer)?

Answer 31

stimulus –> physiological arousal –> cognitive label –> emotion

given the same degree of physiological arousal, people feel different emotions depending on the situation

Question 32

What can be part of the prevention of domestic violence?

Answer 32

Part of prevention of this domestic violence is teaching children from a very young age to label their emotions or develop a finely-graded way of distinguishing based on the situation, what they are feeling.

Question 33

What does the bridge or true love study tell us?

Answer 33

about the misattribution of arousal - misinterpreting the cause of one’s heightened physiological state

Question 34

What might be a good first date based on the misattribution of arousal? Why?

Answer 34

Coffee date might be a good first data based on the misattribution of arousal because if we were to feed them lots of coffee, they might get a little jittery, heart pounding, feel energized - maybe have a feeling of intense arousal and that their date is attractive

rollercoaster trip?

Question 35

What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?

Answer 35

Intrinsic motivation: engage in an activity because of enjoyment and interest, not external rewards or pressures

Extrinsic motivation: engage in an activity because of external reasons, not because of enjoyment and interest.

Question 36

What type of motivation is better for increasing the behaviour in the long run?

Answer 36

Intrinsic

Question 37

What is the danger of rewards as motivation?

Answer 37

Can reduce intrinsic motivation and lead to less of the desired behaviour long-term

Question 38

What is the over-justification effect?

Answer 38

The tendency of people to view their behaviour as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons

Question 39

When can extrinsic motivation such as rewards be especially dangerous?

Answer 39

Can be particularly dangerous in situations where high intrinsic motivation already exists, because people then start to see their behaviour as being led by the rewards and not by the joy they might have had from the beginning.

Question 40

Why would a reading incentive program be created?

Answer 40

With progression from elementary to middle school, the motivation to read decreases. Intended to help students maintain reading habits and reading enjoyment past elementary.

Question 41

How can extrinsic motivation impact the efficiency or level of performance?

What happens after the reward is stopped?

Answer 41

People expecting to receive a reward for completing a task (or doing it successfully) simply do not perform as well as those who expect nothing.
Extrinsic reward has lasting negative effects on intrinsic/internal motivation and motivation decreases continue even after the reward is discontinued.

Question 42

What is the best way to use rewards?

Answer 42

Rewards will undermine interest only if interest was initially high

Using performance contingent rewards (reward depends on performing task well) versus task contingent rewards (rewarded for doing task, regardless of quality of performance)
Ex. read a book and have to answer a series of questions about that book - have to read it thoroughly

Task-related rewards (books or related) are less damaging to intrinsic motivation than unrelated ones (pizza)

Question 43

What are performance contingent rewards?

Answer 43

Rewards that depend on performing task well

Question 44

How can you focus on increasing internal motivation/enhancing enjoyment? Through what 4 things?

Answer 44

Access
Choice
Environment
Modelling

Question 45

How is self-concept developed?

Answer 45

Shaped by the people around us - does not develop in a solitary context

Question 46

What is the social comparison theory?

Answer 46

social comparison theory: we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people

We measure our own abilities or attitudes by looking at those around us, and we understand ourselves always in relationship to others

Question 47

What are the 2 important questions to ask in the social comparison theory?

Answer 47

When do you engage in social comparison?
With whom do you choose to compare yourself?

Question 48

When do we engage in social comparisons?

Answer 48

No objective standard exists to measure against

When we experience uncertainty

Question 49

With whom do we compare ourselves?
(initial impulse? most informative?…)

Answer 49

Initial impulse: anyone who is around

Most informative: similar others
(People who have a similar background or level of experience; who exist at the same social level as you)

Depends on goals
- To know level to which we can aspire? –> Upward social comparison
(When we want to know who is the best of the best - so we can dream of getting to that level some day (max. level to aspire to)

• To feel better about self? –> Downward social comparison
  (A self-protective, self-esteem enhancing strategy)

Question 50

How do we know ourselves or get by imagining other people’s views?

Answer 50

Looking Glass Self: the self grows out of interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others

we see ourselves and the social world through the eyes of other people

Question 51

What are the steps for the looking-glass self?

Answer 51

Step 1) we imagine how we appear to other people

Step 2) we imagine how other people judge the appearance that we think we present

Step 3) If we think the evaluation is favorable, our self-concept is enhanced. If we think the evaluation is unfavorable, our self-concept is diminished.
We incorporate our perceived judgements from them into our own self-concept.

Question 52

What is it called as we get to know ourselves by adopting other people’s views?

Answer 52

Social tuning:
the process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes

automatic, nonconscious

related to the likability of the other - adopt views of those we like, reject views of those we dislike

Question 53

What is impression management?

Answer 53

the attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen

(We want to manage, or control, or influence the impression we give off to others)

Question 54

What is ingratiation?

Answer 54

flattering, praising, and generally trying to make ourselves likeable to another person, often of higher status (sucking up, kissing butt)

Often only successful if not overly done

Question 55

What is self-handicapping?

Why do we do this?

Answer 55

creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves so that if we do poorly on a task, we can avoid blaming ourselves

So that our performance does not fully reflect our capabilities or skills as an individual - to maintain a positive image for ourselves and engage in that impression management for others.

Question 56

What is the example of familial impression management?
If impression management done after you’re dead?

Answer 56

professional mourners

Question 57

Lying online is an example of what?

Answer 57

impression management