Social Psychology Section 3

Ideal Self

type of person one wishes or aspires to be

Ought Self

the type of person they believe it is their duty, obligation, or responsibility

Feared/Desired Self

the person one doesn’t want to become

Actual-Ideal Discrepancy

sad, disappointed, discouraged

Actual-Ought Discrepancy

nervous, worried, tense

Self-Regulation

person compares the self against standards, operates to bring the self closer to these standards, and then compares again until the goal is reached

Implentation Intentions and Goal Pursuit

 “after i get my cup of coffee, i will sit down on my desk and start working on my research paper”

Ego Depletion

willpower is a limited battery, when you use it up on one thing, you have less of it for the next

Self Assessment

the desire to have accurate information about the self

Self Enhancement

the need to achieve and maintain a positive sense of self; want to hear or establish how good we are

Self Verification

people desire consistency in their cognitions about the self, want others to confirm our view

Self Improvement

the desire to get better

Positive Illusions

think positively about our abilities, how much control we have, and optimism about the future

Dunning Kruger Effect

people with limited knowledge about a subject overestimate their skill and vice versa

Unrealistic Optimism

we think bad things won’t happen to us and don’t think negatively of the future

Unstable Self-esteem

lose sense of self, leads to depression

Contingent self-esteem

falls based on external validation, achievements, approval

Non-contingent self-esteem

remains steady regardless of success or failure

Explicit self-esteem

conscious, deliberative self-evaluation

Implicit self-esteem

spontaneous, automatic self-evaluation

Social Exclusion Behaviors

aggressiveness, lower empathy, and suicidal thoughts

Terror Management Theory

knowing one day we will die but having a community you are connected to gives comfort

Implicit Egotism

we may be drawn to choices that share letters in our names

Sociometer Hypothesis

self-esteem system monitors others’ reactions and alerts the individual to the possibility of social exclusion

Countering Social Exclusion

social reconnections, religion, pets, groups

Walton & Cohen (2011)

try to make people feel like they fit in and down the road, they did better mentally and academically

Morality Salience

awareness of inevitable death

Worldview Defense

following MS, people favor in-group and those who support cultural values and hate outgroups

Iranian student martyrdom study

when we feel threatened we feel more together to go against the opposed side

Independent Construal

autonomous, independent person, self-enhancement

Interdependent Construal

connectedness and relations with others, self-improvement

Attitudes

a learned evaluative response directed at specific responses, which is relatively enduring and influences behavior in a generally motivated way

Source Credibility

we are more persuaded by sources that are trustworthy and experts

Mere Exposure Effect

the more often people are exposed to a stimulus, the more positively they evaluate that stimulus

Illusory Truth Effect

people tend to believe information more if it has been previously encountered

Kennedy vs Nixon Debate

people who watched it thought Kennedy won while ones that heard it on the radio thought Nixon won the debate

Audience Variables

knowledge about the issue and intelligence + age of audience

Central Route

attitude change results from a careful, thoughtful consideration of the information in a message

Peripheral Route

attitude change results because the attitude object has been associated with positive or negative cues

Central Processing Occurs

personal relevance, personality differences, multiple sources

Ability to think about a message

no distraction, repetition, knowing your audience

Peripheral Route Cues

attractive/credible sources, vocal confidence, consensus, mood

High Personal Involvement

strong arguments increase agreement while number of arguments has little effect

Low Personal Involvement

people are persuaded by the amount of arguments presented regardless if the arguments are strong or weak

Forewarning

if we get a heads up, we get more resistant to persuasion

Inoculation

present a weak attack on a person’s attitude, resulting in the development of counterarguments that help the person later resist a strong attack

Cognitive Dissonance

when their behavior directly clashes with what they believe and they feel discomfort

Possible ways to deal with cognitive dissonance

changing behavior, distorting thinking, decreasing the importance of the conditions