Chapter 5: The Self

Performance

________- contigent: reward depends on how well someone does a task.

Self

organized collection of concepts and schemas that define how we perceive ourselves

Self schemas

mental structures that affect how we organize and process social information, beyond our awareness

Self concepts

concepts of the self, determine what we believe and how we tell about ourselves

What are the two functions of self according to the lecture?

Organization and Regulation

Organization

the self organizes our perception of the social world, what is it in relation to me?

Self reference effect

you remember more traits that you selected described you versus ones that describe others

Regulation

determines what we will care about, pay attention to the self.

Limited resource idea

we cant pay attention to everything so we pay attention to things that affect the self

What are the functions of self according to the book?

Self-Knowledge, Self-control, impression management, self-esteem

Self-knoweldge

way we understand who we are

Introspection

looking inward to examine inside info that we alone have on our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Why don't we like introspection?

We don't like to think of ourselves and the reason for our behavior could be hidden from our conscious

Self-awareness theory

when we are focused on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to internal standards and values

Why do we avoid the self-awareness theory?

we become self-conscious since we start to judge ourselves

Self control

ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve a long-term goal by the way we make plans and decisions

What does self-control help form?

Implementation Intentions, making specific plans to fulfill a goal and avoid temptation

Impression management

way we present ourselves to others and have them see us the way we want to be seen.

ingratiation

using flattery to make yourself likeable to someone

self-handicapping

creating obstacles for oneself so if a task goes wrong, they can avoid blaming themselves

Self-esteem

the way we maintain positive views about ourselves

Central

what we attend and care about (only things that pertain to the self

What does it mean that the self is persuasive/omni-present?

It has always been there and present

Egocentric

centered around the self.

Literal egocentricism

we can only see things from our point of view.

Cocktail party effect

cant hear what someone says at a loud party but when someone says your name, you can hear it clearly, show how automatic the self is

How would Asian/non-western cultures define who they are? What view of self do they have?

interdependent view of self, define one self based on relationships with other people and recognizes that one's behavior is influenced by others

How would Western cultures answer who they are? What kind of view of self do they have?

independent view of self, would descirbe one self based on their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes

How should someone from western cultures interact with those from asian cultures?

Attend their memberships, critisize sparingly, expect uncomfortable atmosphere with compeition, and don't brag about yourself but on your country and family

How should someone from an asian culture interact with someone from a western culture?

Attend to more other people's beliefs, relationships are superficial, don't be threatened by competition, and business can be done shortly after meeting

What is the development of social self based on?

Culture, roles that people acquire, success and failures, other people's judgements, and social comparison

Social comparison theory

people learn about their abilities and attitudes by comparing it to other people

When do people engage in the social comparison theory?

When there is no objective standard or they are unsure of themselves

With whom do people compare themselves?

Upward social comparison when goal is excellence

upward social comparison

comparing yourself to someone who is better than you at something because your goal is excellence

Social tuning

one person adopts another persons attitude or belief.

What are the weaknesses of self-knowledge?

explaining our behavior, predicting our behavior, predicting how long we feel something, and illusions of self

Why is explaining our behavior a weakness?

We believe correlation of our behavior is causation using causal theories, self-perception theory, and two-factor theory of emotion

Causal theories

people have theories of what causes their behavior and use them to explain why they do the things they do

Self-perception theory

when our attitudes and feelings are unknown, we infer these states by observing the situations that our behaviors occur in

Two factor theory of emotion

experiencing physical arousal and seeking an appropriate explanation for it, causes misattribution of arousal

Misattribution for arousal

people mistake inferences of what is causing them to feel the way they do but it is not always the actual cause

What are the illusions of self?

Illusion of uniqueness/Barnum Effect, illusion of transparency, and spotlight illusion

Definition of uniqueness

things that put us into a minority

Illusion of uniqueness

for many of our self concepts, we think we are unique in some characteristic even though we are really not (ex: personality test descriptions)

Illusion of transparency

people overestimate the extent their external thoughts and feelings can be read by others (ex: tapping a song), can have two types of experiments (detection of lies and detection of disgust)

Detection of lies

people are awful lie detectors

Detection of disgust

observer thinks the guessers will be able to detect the bad drink because they are aware of which one it is

Spotlight Illusion

people think their actions, appearances, etc. are noticed by people more than they actually are

Absence effect

people overestimate the noticeability of their absence

What are humans wired to notice? Presence or absence

Presence

Intrinsic motivation

doing an activity because you enjoy it.

amount of ability

Fixed: set ________ that can not be changed.

Humans

________ are wired to notice presence vs absence.

Morality

________ is viewed as central to our self- concept.

Extrinsic motivation

desire to do an activity because of an outside reward.

Over-justification effect

people view behavior as caused by extrinsic motivation and do not realize their intrinsic reasons

How do you avoid the over-justification effect?

reward people who have no interest in the task and make rewards based on doing the task and competency

Helps

________ form implementation intentions: making specific plans of when, where, and how you will fulfill a goal and avoid temptation.

Self reference effect

________: you remember more traits that you selected described you versus ones that describe others.

Regulation

determines what we will care about, pay attention to the self

Introspection

looking inward to examine inside info that we alone have on our thoughts, feelings, and actions

Can be aversive

people avoid it

Helps form implementation intentions

making specific plans of when, where, and how you will fulfill a goal and avoid temptation

Impression management

way we present ourselves to others and have them see us the way we want to be seen

persuasive/omni-present

always been there and always present

Cocktail party effect

cant hear what someone says at a loud party but when someone says your name, you can hear it clearly

Western cultures

independent view of self

Social tuning

one person adopts another persons attitude or belief

Explaining our behavior

we cant see our automatic processes (schemas)

Rely on causual theories

people have theories about what causes their behaviors and use them to explain why they do the things they do

Two-factor theory of emotion

experiencing physical arousal and seeking an appropriate explanation for it

Main weakness

Illusions of the self

Ex

someone tapping a song and thinking others will know it

Intrinsic

doing an activity because you enjoy it

Task-contigent reward

rewarded for doing a task

performance -contigent reward

reward depends on how well someone does a task

Fixed minset

set amount of ability that cannot be changed

Growth mindset

achievement is result of hard work, trying new strategies, and gaining input from others.