Social Psychology: semester 3: exam 2

what is self-concept?

A person’s knowledge about himself or herself, including one’s own traits, social identities, and experiences

what are the 3 parts of self-concept?

stable, malleable, working self-concept

what is stable?

central aspects of self-concept

what is malleable?

Aspects made accessible in specific social situations, motives, and cues

what is working self-concept?

The portion of one’s self-concept that is currently activated and strongly influences thoughts, feelings, and action

what do culture and socialization shape?

identities, roles, traits, and cultural tendency toward independence and interdependence

what is an example of an identity?

Canadian, Chinese, German

what is an example of roles?

daughter, friend of sarahs, sister

what is an example of traits?

caring, kind, helpful

what is the social identity theory?

People define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify

what are reflected appraisals?

What we think other people think of us. as compared to actual appraisals. looking-glass self

what are the 2 types of social comparison?

upwards and downwards comparison

what are downwards comparisons?

made to people who are lower standing. benefits out self-esteem

what are upward comparisons?

made to people who are above us. can damage our self-esteem or motivate us to work harder

what is the better than average effect?

On many abilities and traits, most people think they are better than average (a statistical impossibility!)

what is the self-perception theory?

People form impressions of themselves by observing their own behavior and the situation in which it occurs

what is self-regulation?

A set of processes for guiding one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to reach desired goals

what 3 key capacities is self-regulation based on?

self-awareness, goal-setting, and mental time trave

what is the self-awareness theory?

highlights the gap between what one is doing and what one should/could be doing

what are some strategies for coping with negative discrepency?

distraction from self-focus and commitment to do better

what is the self-discrepancy theory?

People feel anxiety when they fall short of how they ought to be but feel sad when they fall short of how they ideally want to be.

what are the 2 types of self?

ought and ideal

what is the ought self?

what you should do. can motivate positive outcomes. I did something wrong

what is the ideal self?

does not motivate positive outcomes. I am a bad person.

what does self-awareness help with?

bring behavior in line with cultural morals and values.

what do internalized attitudes, values, and goals do?

guide behavior only to the extent that people are self-aware

when do we try to escape self-awareness?

when we perceive ourselves as falling short of our standards but feel incapable of changing our behaviors

what are the purposes of goals?

serve either basic survival needs or psychological security or growth motivations

how can goals be activated?

either by consciously bringing them to mind or by being unconsciously cued by the environment.

what is the construal level theory?

People focus more on concrete details when thinking about the near future and focus more on abstract meaning when thinking about the distant future

what are the 2 runs of construal level theory?

short and long run

what is short run?

pragmatic concerns matter

what is long run?

abstract concerns matter

what are the errors of affective forecasting?

predictions are often inaccurate. often overestimate the impact of the salient factor. effects out behavior

what is affective forecasting?

predicting one’s emotional reactions to potential future events

what are the 2 processes for delay of gratification/impulse control?

hot and cold processes

what are hot processes?

are driven by strong emotions

what are cold processes?

rely on level-headed reasoning. Activated through mindful attention

what does delay of gratification indicate?

Performance on a delay of gratification task at age four predicts a variety of indicators of self-regulatory success up to 30 years later

what is the cognitive dissonance theory?

People so dislike inconsistencies in their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that they will bias their attitude and beliefs to deny the inconsistency

what can inconsistencies between two cognitions create?

tension

what are the 3 primary ways to reduce dissonance?

Change one of the cognitions. Add a third cognition that makes the original two cognitions seem less inconsistent with each other. Trivialize the cognitions that are inconsistent.

what is an example of changing one of the cognitions?

if you want to be a healthy person, but you smoke, you say to yourself that you don’t believe in medical science

what is an example of adding a third cognition that makes the original two seem less inconsistent with each other?

yes I do eat fast food, but I run 5 miles a day, so I am still healthy

what is an example of trivialize the cognitions that are inconsistent?

you are someone who wants to protect the environment, but you don’t recycle. But you think to yourself, one person won’t make a difference