Week 3 - The social self Flashcards
Self-concept
The sum of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own personal attributes.
Self-schema
A belief people hold about themselves that guides the processing of self-relevant information.
Affective forecasting
The process of predicting how one would feel in response to future emotional events.
Impact bias
The phenomenon whereby people overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions.
Self-perception theory
The theory that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behaviour.
Vicarious self-perception
The act reaching conclusions about yourself via perceptions of a comparable counterpart (suggested biological sym in experiment)
The self–other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model - Vazire 2010
- We know ourselves better than others do when it comes to traits that are ‘internal’ and hard to observe (e.g., how optimistic, anxious or easily upset a person is) and
- that there is no self–other difference when it comes to traits that are ‘external’ and easy to observe (e.g., how quiet, sociable or messy a person is).
- She also predicts that others may actually know us better than we know ourselves when it comes to observable traits that can be so touchy for self-esteem purposes that we have motivated ‘blind spots’ (e.g., how smart, creative or rude a person is).
Found that friends were more accurate on the latter two, and self more accurate on first (measured against existing scales on relevant personality traits).
Facial feedback hypothesis
The hypothesis that changes in facial expression can lead to corresponding changes in emotion.
Over-justification effect
The tendency for intrinsic motivation to diminish for activities that have become associated with reward or other extrinsic factors.
Social comparison theory
The theory that people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others.
Intrinsic motivation
Originates in factors within a person. People are said to be intrinsically motivated when they engage in an activity for the sake of their own interest, the challenge or sheer enjoyment.
extrinsic motivation
originates in factors outside the person. People are said to be extrinsically motivated when they engage in an activity as a means to an end for tangible benefit.
Two-factor theory of emotion
The theory that the experience of emotion is based on two factors: physiological arousal and a cognitive interpretation of that arousal.
Autobiographical memories
Recollections of the sequences of events of one’s life.
Dialecticism
An Eastern system of thought that accepts the coexistence of contradictory characteristics within a single person.
Self-esteem
An affective component of the self, consisting of an individual’s positive and negative self-evaluations.
Sociometer theory
The theory that people are inherently social animals and their desire for self-esteem is driven by a more primitive need to connect with others and gain their approval. This leads to some having a ‘sociometer’ – that detects acceptance and rejection, and translates these into high and low self-esteem.
Terror management theory (self-esteem related)
The theory that humans cope with the fear of their own death by constructing worldviews that help to preserve their self-esteem.
Self-awareness theory
The theory that self-focused attention leads people to notice self-discrepancies, thereby motivating either an escape from self-awareness or a change in behaviour.
Self-discrepancy theory
our self-esteem is defined by the match or mismatch between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves.
Private self-consciousness
A personality characteristic of individuals who are introspective, often attending to their own inner states.
Public self-consciousness
A personality characteristic of individuals who focus on themselves as social objects, as seen by others.
Implicit egotism
A non-conscious form of self-enhancement.
Mechanisms of self-enhancement (8)
- The better-than-average effect
- Implicit egotism
- Self Serving beliefs
- Self-handicapping
- Basking in reflected glory (BIRG)
- Cut off reflected failure (CORF)
- Downward social comparisons
- Downward temporal comparisons
Self-handicapping
Behaviours designed to sabotage one’s own performance in order to provide a subsequent excuse for failure.
Bask in reflected
glory (BIRG) To increase self-esteem by associating with others who are successful.
Downward social comparison
The defensive tendency to compare ourselves with others who are worse off than we are
Self-presentation
Strategies people use to shape what others think of them.
