Week 6 Self Knowledge

Question 1

Into what 2 parts did William James divide the perception of the self?

Answer 1

1. the self-concept “me” - our thoughts and beliefs
2. the self-awareness “I” - actively processes information

Question 2

What animals can pass the self-recognition test?

What age in humans?

Answer 2

Great apes, chimps and orangutans and dolphins raised with others

By 2 years in humans

Question 3

How do young children describe themself and how does this change over time?

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

What is the organisational and executive functions of the self?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What is the Self-Reference Effect?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What type of schema is the most accessible at any given moment?

Answer 6

The self schema

Question 7

What is an independent view of the self? (Western)

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is an interdependent view of the self? (Asia)

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What behavioural study of pencils demonstrates different views of the self?

Answer 9

Independent sense of self = picks the unique colour pencil

Interdependent sense of self = picks the pencil with the most common colour

Question 10

Which gender has more relational interdependence?

Answer 10

Women/girls - prioritise close relationships, making families, in caring professions

Question 11

Which gender has more collective interdependence?

Answer 11

Men/boys - prioritise group memberships, sports teams

Question 12

When do we use introspection as a form of self-knowledge and is it reliable?

Answer 12

1. When we encounter something in the environment that triggers self-awareness
2. No - feelings and behaviour can be hidden from conscious awareness

Question 13

What is the Self-Awareness Theory?

Answer 13

That self-awareness/introspection is when we evaluate and compare their current behaviour to their internal standards and values

Question 14

What happens when we become aware of discrepancies between internal standards and own behaviour and cannot align the two?

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

What is affective forecasting?

Answer 15

forecasting of one’s affect/emotional state in the future - we have difficulty being accurate with this

Question 16

What do we tend to do badly in affective forecasting?

Answer 16

we tend to overestimate the impact of emotional events, ie. winning a game, going through a breakup

Question 17

What is reasons generated attitude change?

Answer 17

We latch onto simple and easy explanations of complex behaviour, which in turn changes our attitudes about the behaviour, leading to attitude change

Question 18

What is Self-Perception Theory?

Answer 18

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?

Question 19

What is the overjustification Effect in the process of self perception?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Does task- or performance-contingent rewards retain interest?

Answer 20

performance-contingent rewards

Question 21

What is autonomy support for children?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Internal vs. external locus of control

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

What are the 2 steps in Schachter’s two factor theory of emotion, 1964

Answer 23

1. We must first experience physiological arousal
2. We must seek an appropriate explanation or label for it

Question 24

What are the implications of emotion?

Answer 24

people’s emotions are somewhat arbitrary, depending on what the most plausible explanation for their arousal happens to be.

Question 25

When are the 2 reasons that people engage in social comparison?

Answer 25

1. When there is no objective standard to measure themselves against
2. When they are uncertain about themselves in a particular area

Question 26

What is social tuning?

Answer 26

The largely unconscious process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes, if they want to get along with the person

Question 27

What is impression management and what are the different types?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Better ways of self control / implementation intentions?

Answer 28

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.