PSY220 Final Exam - Yim

Chapters 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12

4 components of the self

1. self concept

2. self esteem

3. self knowledge

4. social self

self concept

self-schema, beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant info

social comparisons

• we compare ourselves to others, we cannot help it

• we are conscious of those differences

• may have either positive or negative effects

• Lockwood and Kunda

Lockwood and Kunda (1997)

• social comparisons

• uni students (1st or 4th year)

• given a newspaper article to read about a superstar student

• 1st years —> feel inspired

• 4th years —> feel defeated

what are social comparisons online based on?

incomplete information (not the full picture), people tend to highlight the best parts of their life

spotlight effect

see ourselves as if we are on “centre stage”, you feel like everyone is paying attention to you

illusion of transparency

our worry about being evaluated negatively, especially when we feel self conscious, we feel as if people can see how we feel

Savitsky and Gilovich (2003)

the participants who were informed about the illusion of transparency felt and looked more relaxed

individualism

• there is more focus on the individual

• independent and do not need to fit within the group

• western cultures

• stable self concept & personal self esteem

• becoming an adult means separating from parents & becoming self reliant

collectivism

• interdependent

• values relationships and in-group harmony more

• eastern cultures

• malleable self concept & rational self esteem

• respecting and identifying with the group

• people are more self critical and focus less on positive self views

Masuda & Nisbett (2001)

• east asian individuals describe the picture in regards to the relationship among the fish

• americans attend more to the single big fish

• demonstrates social behaviours are different among settings

what do you mean by similarity?

americans: uni-dimensional rule (one feature is the same)

east asians: family resemblance rule (similarity among multiple features)

independent

• identity is: personal, defined by individual traits and goals

• what matters: me — personal achievement and fulfillment; my rights and liberties

• disapproves of: conformity

• illustrative motto: “to thine own self be true”

• cultures that support: individualistic western

interdependent

• identity is: social, defined by connections w/ others

• what matters: we — group goals and solidarity; our social responsibilities and relationships

• disapproves of: egotism

• illustrative motto: “no one is an island”

• cultures that support: collectivistic asian and developing world

culture and self esteem - individualistic

• more personal self esteem, less relational

• persist longer on tasks when succeeding

• downward social comparisons

• self evaluations biased positively

culture and self esteem - collectivistic

• relational and malleable self esteem

• persist longer on tasks when failing

• upward social comparisons

• self evaluations as balanced

affective forecasting

reveal that people have the greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and the duration of their future emotions, generally people overestimate strength and duration

planning fallacy

one of the most common errors in behavior prediction is underestimating how long it will take to complete

reveals impact bias

overestimating the enduring impact of emotion causing events, happy emotions disappear quickly

self reports are…

often untrustworthy

self esteem

the sum of all our self views across various domains

implicit attitudes

automatic, change slowly (w/ practice that forms new habits)

explicit attitudes

consciously controlled, may change (w/ education and persuasion)

low self esteem associated with

anxiety, loneliness, eating disorders

we are motivated to maintain our self esteem

high self esteem —> blame others/circumstances

low self esteem —> blame themselves

high self esteem associated with…

narcissism

self efficacy

a belief in one’s own competence

high self efficacy

if i work hard, i can do this

a strong sense of self efficacy leads people to stay calm and seek solutions when problems arise

self serving bias

attributing positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to something else

negative explanatory style

depressed people do not display a self serving bias, they tend to attribute failure to causes that are stable, global and internal

self serving bias is stronger…

for traits that are more subjective or difficult to measure

unrealistic optimism

being pessimistic about others futures but optimistic about yours

illusory optimism

i am so good i dont even need to try really, increases vulnerability

defensive pessimism

the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action

most people consider themselves…

better than average in a variety of dimensions

false consensus effect

overestimating the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviours, this is what makes things seem like common sense, you think everyone agrees with you

false uniqueness effect

underestimating the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviours, we think we are so special

temporal comparisons

we perceive positive past selves as psychologically closer in time and negative past selves are more distant

self handicapping

protecting one’s self image with behaviours that create an excuse for later failure

self presentation - Self

wanting to present a desired image both to an external and internal audience

impression management

we want to present our desired image to the world

learned helplessness

occurs when an individual feels like they have no control over negative events and become passive, people tend to feel more satisfied when they have a sense that their choice was final because too much freedom can have negative effects

self monitoring

being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting the performance to create the desired impression

low self monitors

“i dont want to change this is how i am”, aware of the differences, more consistent and get their cues internally

high self monitors

very perceptive of the social situation, act different in different settings

self presentation theory

suggests that we are eager to present ourselves in ways that make a good impression, we are motivated to impress others — but have self doubts, thus we feel social anxiety

over personalizing situations

concerning for people who are shy, anxious or self conscious, tendency breeds anxious concern and paranoia, especially prone to spotlight effect, spiralling

percieved self control

learned helplessness & self efficacy

attitudes

a favourable or unfavourable evaluative reaction toward something or someone, exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings or intended behaviour

attitudes include

affect (feelings), behaviour (tendencies) and cognition (thoughts)

attitudes are…

susceptible to outside influences (context), influencing attitudes does not necessarily effect behaviour

how do you measure attitude?

cannot be observed directly, measures can be explicit or implicit

how to measure explicit attitudes?

self reports, measures

implicit attitudes

implicit association test, facial muscle responses, physiological measures

implicit association test (IAT)

• uses reaction times to measure how quickly people associate concepts (react faster when there are implicit biases)

• assumptions, uncovers “unconscious” attitudes and unbiases

both explicit and implicit attitudes

help predict people’s behaviours and judgements, together predict better than either would alone

principle of aggregation

effects of an attitude on behaviour become more apparent when we look at a person’s aggregate or average behaviour rather than isolated acts

theory of reasoned action

• reasoned, deliberate behaviour

• an individual’s intention is determinant of their behaviour

• intention as the motivation to act (influenced by 2 factors)

• use of explicit measurement

• motivation to comply with others often not measured

• role of self-efficacy (whether people believe they can perform behaviour)

Fishbein and Ajzen (1973)

• theory of reasoned action (became theory of planned behaviour)

• attitude + norm —> intention —> behaviour

Ajzen (1988)

• attitude + norm + control —> intention —> behaviour

• best predictor of behaviour: Knowing people's intended behaviour + subjective norms + feelings of control (specific, relevant attitudes do predict intended and actual behaviour!)

when attitudes are potent

many behaviours are automatic, driven by routines and habits, to change habits with persuasion better to alter people’s attitudes towards specific practices

when do attitudes better predict behaviours?

• opportunity to review past actions

• highlighted self awareness

• attitude formed through experience

self consciousness and potency

our attitudes become more potent and affects our behaviour more the more we think about them, this is why self conscious people are usually more in touch with their attitudes

attitudes and experience

when attitudes are formed by experience they are more accessible and more likely to guide actions

role

a set of norms that define how people in a given social position ought to behave, actions expected of those who occupy a particular social position

norms

rules for accepted and expected behaviour that prescribe “proper” behaviour

Zimbardo (1972) - Stanford Prison Experiment

• prison simulation study w/ guards and prisoners

• planned 2 week study but forced to stop after 6 days

• Is prison brutality byproduct of evil people, or do the toxic expectations of the role cause people to conform, and do evil things?

• the good apples were put in a bad barrel that is corrupts anything it touches

role playing

our roles shape out attitudes, impact of social situation

stanford prison experiment

foot in the door phenomenon

tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

low ball technique

door in the face technique

tendency for people who have declined a large request to agree to a smaller request, request then moderation procedure

works through principle of reciprocity

explaining behaviours influencing attitudes

1. self presentation

2. self justification

3. self perception

self presentation - Attitudes

we express attitudes that make us appear consistent, concerned with making a good impression to gain social & material rewards or to feel better about ourselves

self justification

selective exposure and cognitive dissonance, to reduce discomfort we justify our actions to ourselves

selective exposure

we prefer to expose ourselves with info that agrees with our point of view

cognitive dissonance

we feel dissonance (tension) when we are aware that we have two thoughts that are inconsistent (eg smoking but knowing smoking is bad), also happens when our behaviour is inconsistent with attitudes

dissonance theory

when an individual’s actions are NOT fully explained by external rewards or coercion, they will experience dissonance which can be reduced by believing in what they have done

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)

After completing a boring ass experiment participants were then asked to describe to the next participant that the experiment was amazing and awesome, then were asked again how they enjoyed the experiment

Those paid just $1 (hardly sufficient justification for a lie) would be most likely to adjust their attitudes to their actions. Having insufficient justification for their action, they would experience more discomfort (dissonance) and thus be more motivated to believe in what they had done. Those paid $20 had sufficient justification for what they did and hence should have experienced less dissonance

ways to minimize dissonance

selective exposure to agreeable info and either justifying our actions or changing our behaviour

cognitive dissonance process

1. we have to choose between two equally attractive (or unattractive) alternatives

2. the undesirable features of the chosen alternative and the desirable features of the rejected alternative remain

3. dissonance is created

4. we “manage” this dissonance by upgrading the chosen alternative and downgrading the rejected alternative

self perception

suggests we make similar inferences when we observe our own behaviour, when our attitudes are weak or ambiguous we are in the position of someone who observes us from the outside

overjustification effect

• when individuals do something they enjoy without reward or coercion they attribute their behaviour to their love of the activity

• external rewards undermine intrinsic motivation by leading people to attribute their behaviour to the incentive

intrinsic motivation

enjoyable activities —> no external reward —> self perception: i do this because i like it

extrinsic motivation

enjoyable activities —> external reward —> self perception: i do this because im paid to

a group

two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as “us”

collective influence

3 examples: social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation

social facilitation

• mere presence of others

• they may be passive or co-actors

• tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present

• the presence of others hinders performance when the task is difficult

• the strengthening of the dominant responses owing to the presence of others

Triplett (1898) - social facilitation

• Children winding fishing reels Asked to do so by themselves vs. in a group with 5 other kids who aren't interacting

• They were faster when winding with a group than by themselves

• Maybe because they want to impress each other or so that they can follow their examples, feeling like they're contributing to a group effort

co-actors

a group of people working simultaneously and individually on a non-competitive task

the effects of social arousal

others’ presence —> arousal —> strengthens dominant responses —> enhancing easy behavior OR impairing difficult behavior

crowding

the presence of many others

• intensifies positive or negative reactions

• enhances arousal

• the arousal can interfere with well-learned, automatic behaviors such as speaking

reasons for arousal

evaluation apprehension, driven by distraction, mere presence

evaluation apprehension

concern for how others are evaluating us

• the enhancement of dominant responses is strongest when people think they are being evaluated

• the self-consciousness we feel when being evaluated can also interfere with behaviors that we perform best automatically

driven by distraction

• when people wonder how co-actors are doing or how an audience is reacting, they get distracted

• there is a conflict between paying attention to others and paying attention to the task

• this overloads our cognitive system and causes arousal

mere presence

produces some arousal even without evaluation apprehension or arousing distraction

many hands make light work

• Ringelmann created a rope-pulling apparatus

• collective effort of “tug-of-war” teams only about half of sum of individual efforts

• group members may actually be less motivated when performing additive tasks

social loafing

tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts towards a common goal then when they are individually accountable

free-riders

benefitting from the group but giving little in return

social loafing is less likely to occur when

• the task is challenging, appealing or involving

• when the group members are friends

• when people see others in their group as unreliable

• cohesiveness intensifies effort

social loafing IRL

• effort decreases as group size increases

• exhibited less in collectivist cultures

• women tend to exhibit it less because of being less individualistic

social loafing vs facilitation

social loafing: others’ presence —> individual efforts pooled and NOT evaluated —> no evaluation apprehension —> less arousal

facilitation: others’ presence —> individual efforts evaluated —> evaluation apprehension —> arousal