Week 3 - Social Self Flashcards
Components of self?
ABC: Affect, behaviour and cognition
Self Concept
How we view ourselves
5 sources of our self-concept
1) Introspection 2)Perceptions of our own behavior
3) Influences of other people
Social comparison
Two-factor theory of emotion
4) Autobiographical memories
5) Our culture
Gallup (1977) Self-recognition test
Apes -> recognise selves in young adolescence
Children -> recognise selves 18 - 24 months
Introspection
Examining one’s own inner thoughts and feelings
Why might introspection be inaccurate?
1) Confusion 2) Overestimation of positives 3) Inability to anticipate future emotions (affective forecasting)
Self-perception theory
Bem (1972) - When internal cues are difficult to interpret, people look to their behaviour
Facial feedback hypothesis
Changing facial expressions can trigger a corresponding change in mood
Over-justification Effect
Impact of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation -> Intrinsic motivation decreases when external reward introduced and then taken away
Social comparison theory
People evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others (Festinger, 1954)
Two-factor theory of emotion
The experience of emotion is based on two factors: (a) Physiological arousal (b) A cognitive interpretation of that arousal (Schachter, 1959)
Schachter & Singer (1962) Results
Epinephrine and no side effects -> reported similar mood to confederate
Influence of Autobiographical memories
Past memories (however inaccurate) influence how we see ourselves in the present
2 Cultural influences on view of self due to individualist/collectivist nature of society
1) independent self -> Western -> Distinct, autonomous, self-reliant 2) Interdependent self -> China, North Korea etc -> Part of a larger social network, connected to others
Self-esteem
The affective component of the self, consisting of a person’s positive and negative self-evaluations
Benefits of high self-esteem
Happier, healthier
more productive, more successful
confident and motivated and persist longer on tasks
Sleep better and have fewer ulcers and colds
conform less to peer pressure
Those with low self-esteem tend to…
- have higher rates of anxiety, depression and illness
- be pessimistic
- less task persistence, less confidence, less success
- more learned helplessness
- More self-blame for failure
Self-discrepancy theory states
Our self-esteem is defined by the match or mismatched between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves (Actual vs ought vs ideal selves mismatch or match) - Higgins
Three factors impact how much discrepancy affects self-esteem:
1) Amount of discrepancy 2) Importance of discrepancy 3) Accessibility of the discrepancy
Self-awareness Theory
Self-focused attention leads people to notice self-discrepancies
Two responses to awareness of self-discrepancy
1) Improvement “Shape up” 2) Disengagement “Ship out”
Ironic Processes
- The harder you try not to focus on a self-discrepancy-> the more you will focus on it
- This is exaggerated with cognitive load
Self-serving cogntions
Beliefs about oneself that serve to enhance self-esteem
Self-handicapping
Behaviours designed to sabotage one’s own performance in order to provide a subsequent excuse for failure
