Why are we so keen to get away from ourselves?

Question 1

What seems to happen when we try to focus on our self?

Answer 1

1. Thought suppression

2. Rumination

Question 2

What did Wegner + Harvey find about thought suppression?

Answer 2

1. Wegner - white bear, increased ringing of bell (every time they thought of white bear)
2. Wegner - dieters
3. Harvey - insomniacs
   - suppression = more thinking
   - incredibly difficult for us to control thoughts

Question 3

What did Nolen-Hoekseman et al (2008) find about our ability to look inwardly?

Answer 3

• incredibly difficult for us to look inwardly
• end up ruminating, focusing on negative thought
• amplifies depressive symptoms

Question 4

What did Weltzien, Marsh + Hood (2018) find about focusing on the self and being pro-social in kids?

Answer 4

• self focus makes us less pro-social?
  1. kids given envelope with stickers
  2. Give choice to share stickers with new kid
• children generally happy to give UNLESS primed with self focus
  3. Self-focus group asked about themselves + focus inwardly = less likely to share sticker vs control

Question 5

What explanation is there for why we feel bad when thinking about out self and so want to escape our self?

Answer 5

• In an attempt to look inwardly we end up comparing ourselves to others as we try to get info about self = toxic
• Festinger, 1954 Social Comparison Theory
• the innate drive to analyse self in relation to others (compare)

Question 6

What upward comparison research is there to support the social comparison theory by Festinger 1954?

Answer 6

1. Fox + vendemier 2006 - women comparing selfies making them feel bad
2. De Yries + Kuhne 2015 - FB giving illusion others are happier - makes you feel sad
3. Baird et al 2014 - idealised images in ads + photoshop = more extreme upward social comparison

Question 7

Who makes social comparisons more, making it even more dangerous for the self (Cramer, Song + Drent, 2016)?

Answer 7

• those who have low self-esteem + worth

- comparing = exacerbating situation

Question 8

How do people try to ‘lose the self’ according to Roy Baumeister?

Answer 8

• loss of self awareness
  1. Binge drinking - self-awareness suppressed = less likely to affect self-esteem
  2. Binge eating - helps remove focus from self to food, thought to be 14x prevalent than thought
  3. De-individuation - loss of self identity via crowd = anonymity

Question 9

What is often the case with de-individuation?

Answer 9

• ends up moving towards aggressive behaviour

1. Larry - cyberbullying = anonymity + de-individuation

Question 10

What is Baumiester’s continuum of escaping self awareness?

Answer 10

EE1: self destructive behaviours
- Comer + Laird - continuation of eating worms
Middle: Trade-offs, benefits vs cots
- Hull - alcohol - protecting self-esteem
EE2: Self-defeating behaviours
- Braumgardner + Brownless - low expectations = counter productive behaviour + protect self-esteem

Question 11

What could be a solution to us wanting to know more about ourselves without feeling more negative due to social comparison?

Answer 11

1. Use knowledge of transcendence state

2. Self-reflection

Question 12

What evidence is there to support the use of the knowledge of transcendence states to help get to know ourself?

Answer 12

1. both adults + children benefitted from meditation when trying to escape self
   - focus on histologic info, focusing on the present + letting emotions pass by
   - found to reduce depressive symptoms

Question 13

What evidence is there to support self-reflection vs ruminating to help get to know ourself?

Answer 13

1. Nakata + Kawai 2017 - food tasting better + eating more in elderly with a mirror
2. Ding, O’Connor, Weng, Tang, Fu + Evans, 2018 - children more honest about looking behind at toy with mirror in front
3. Shelly et al, 1976 - those who looked into mirror befre watching video and asked if they wanted to help said yes more!

Question 14

What is the difference between self-reflection vs . self-rumination?

Answer 14

reflection = focus on knowledge of ourselves vs feelings
reflection = focus on actions without having to look at negative threats

Question 15

What did Dan Gilbert say about why we make so many decisions we refret?

Answer 15

• don’t know ourself due to a fundamental misconception of time
• underestimating how much we + things will change = end of history illusion
• end up overpaying to indulge in our current preferences
• choosing ease of imagination vs likelihood of it happening