Week 6 Self Knowledge Flashcards
Into what 2 parts did William James divide the perception of the self?
- the self-concept “me” - our thoughts and beliefs
- the self-awareness “I” - actively processes information
What animals can pass the self-recognition test?
What age in humans?
Great apes, chimps and orangutans and dolphins raised with others
By 2 years in humans
How do young children describe themself and how does this change over time?
Younger: start with physical characteristics/simple answers: . eye colour, hair colour, gender, favourite colour, animal
Older: More abstract descriptions: psychological characteristics, political orientations, beliefs, values, personality traits etc.
What is the organisational and executive functions of the self?
The organisational function uses self-schemas, mental structures we use to organise knowledge about ourselves and then influence what we notice, think about and remember about ourselves
The executive function allows us to engage in self-regulation, we regulate our behaviour, choices and future plans
What is the Self-Reference Effect?
The tendency to remember information if it is related to ourselves, like adjectives/information/overestimating our role in causing events to happen
Why? - because integrating information with our self-schemas helps us organise it and connect it to other information about ourselves, making it easier to remember
What type of schema is the most accessible at any given moment?
The self schema
What is an independent view of the self? (Western)
Thinking of the self in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings and actions and separate from other people and value uniqueness and independence
What is an interdependent view of the self? (Asia)
Thinking of the self in terms of one’s relationships and recognition that one’s behaviour is often determined by the thoughts, feelings and actions of others
What behavioural study of pencils demonstrates different views of the self?
Independent sense of self = picks the unique colour pencil
Interdependent sense of self = picks the pencil with the most common colour
Which gender has more relational interdependence?
Women/girls - prioritise close relationships, making families, in caring professions
Which gender has more collective interdependence?
Men/boys - prioritise group memberships, sports teams
When do we use introspection as a form of self-knowledge and is it reliable?
- When we encounter something in the environment that triggers self-awareness
- No - feelings and behaviour can be hidden from conscious awareness
What is the Self-Awareness Theory?
That self-awareness/introspection is when we evaluate and compare their current behaviour to their internal standards and values
What happens when we become aware of discrepancies between internal standards and own behaviour and cannot align the two?
We are motivated to ‘escape the self’. alcohol/drug abuse, social media, entertainment, music, binge eating, sexual masochism
May also be positive like prayer or meditation, and help us regulate our behaviour through introspection/reminder of our moral standards.
What is affective forecasting?
forecasting of one’s affect/emotional state in the future - we have difficulty being accurate with this
What do we tend to do badly in affective forecasting?
we tend to overestimate the impact of emotional events, ie. winning a game, going through a breakup
What is reasons generated attitude change?
We latch onto simple and easy explanations of complex behaviour, which in turn changes our attitudes about the behaviour, leading to attitude change
What is Self-Perception Theory?
When our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous,
we infer these states by observing our behaviour and the situation in which it occurs
Example: did i behave that way because of my inner feelings/thoughts or from the situation?
What is the overjustification Effect in the process of self perception?
The tendency for people to view their behaviour as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons
Does task- or performance-contingent rewards retain interest?
performance-contingent rewards
What is autonomy support for children?
instead of telling children what to do, tell them why you are making particular requests - this is to support children in developing an internal locus of control, which is the self-belief that one is in control of one’s own destiny
Internal vs. external locus of control
internal locus of control = self-belief that one is in control of one’s own destiny
external locus of control = self-belief that external factors control one’s destiny.
What are the 2 steps in Schachter’s two factor theory of emotion, 1964
- We must first experience physiological arousal
- We must seek an appropriate explanation or label for it
What are the implications of emotion?
people’s emotions are somewhat arbitrary, depending on what the most plausible explanation for their arousal happens to be.
When are the 2 reasons that people engage in social comparison?
- When there is no objective standard to measure themselves against
- When they are uncertain about themselves in a particular area
What is social tuning?
The largely unconscious process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes, if they want to get along with the person
What is impression management and what are the different types?
impression management is the way we present ourselves to other people and get them to see us the way we want to be seen
Examples - Ingratiating, self-enhancing, self-handicapping
Better ways of self control / implementation intentions?
Instead of saying to yourself, “I really want to get a good grade in my psychology class,” make specific “if–then” plans that specify how and when you will study and how you will avoid temptations.
