Social Psychology 2700 UCONN Exam 2

Self-Concept

overall set of beliefs one has about their personal attributes

When does sense of self begin to develop in humans?

18-24 months

Self-Concept: Child

Based on physical characteristics (I am blonde, I have blue eyes)

Self-Concept: Adult

Based on psychological characteristics (I am smart)

Morality

What is most central to self concept?

Independent View of the Self

Western Cultures: we define ourselves in terms of our own internal thoughts and feelings

Interdependent Views of the Self

Asian/Eastern Cultures; defined through relationships with other people

-ex: Princess from Japan

What are the Four Functions of the Self?

1) self-knowledge

2) self-control

3) impression management

4) self-esteem

Self-Knowledge

How we understand who we are and how we organize this information

Self-Control

How we plan and execute decisions

Impression Management

How we present ourselves to others

Self-Esteem

How we try to maintain positive views of ourselves

Introspection

Process of looking inward to examine thoughts, feelings, and emotions

Self-Awareness Theory

People focus their attention on themselves, evaluate/compare behavior to internal standards and values

What does disparity do in terms of self-awareness?

Causes us to think about our actions and switch them

Causal Theories

Theories about the causes of ones feelings and behaviors --> often learned from culture

-ex: distance makes the heart grow fonder

Reasons-Generated Attitude Change

Change resulting from thinking about the same reason for one's attitude

-ex: Liz Lemon

Self-Perception Theory

When we have ambiguous attitudes, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

Intrinsic motivation

Motivated by something because you genuinely enjoy it

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivated by something because of an outside reward

Over-justification Effect:

Overestimating extrinsic and underestimating intrinsic rewards

high interest to begin with

When do rewards undermine interest?

Task-Contingent Reward

Rewarded for task completion

ex: reading a book

Performance-Contingent Reward

Rewarded for performing well

ex: getting an A

Are task or performance-contingent rewards more effective?

Performance --> may even increase interest because you gain self confidence

Fixed Mindset

Set amount of unchangeable qualities

Growth Mindset

We can change our abilities

Two Factor Theory of Emotion

1) Physiological arousal

2) Seeking appropriate explanation for arousal

Emotions are arbitrary because they....

They depend on most plausible explanation

Misattribution of Arousal

People mistake the cause of their feelings (eye experiment, bridge experiment)

Social Comparison Theory

People learn about their own attitudes and abilities by comparing themselves to others

When do we compare ourselves to others?

When we have no objective standard to compare against (ambiguity) (Social Comparison Theory)

With whom do we compare?

Depends on nature of goal (Social Comparison Theory)

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves to someone better

ex: swimming vs Michael Phelps

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves to someone worse

ex: me vs. a turtle

What are the four types of comparisons?

1) Comparing to similar situation

2) Upward Social

3) Downward Social

4) Comparing to past self

"Looking Glass" Self

Charles Cooley

We see ourselves and the world through the eyes of others

Social Tuning

Process of adopting another's attitude

Affective Forecasts

Predictions of response to future event

No

Is thought suppression normally effective?

Depletion Effect

Self-control takes energy --> doing one thing to prevent another

afternoon

When are you most likely to act illegally?

Politicians

Example of Impression Management

Ingratiation

Using flattery to make yourself more likable, especially to someone of higher status

Self-Handicapping

Purposely hurting yourself to have something else to blame

Types of Self-Handicapping

Behavioral & Reported

Behavior Self-Handicapping

Acting in a way to reduce success

ex: drinking alcohol before test

More Common in Men

Behavioral self handicapping is...

Reported self-handicapping

Ready-made excuses for potential failure

ex: test anxiety

Terror Management Theory

Self-esteem is a bugger to protect people from fear of their own mortality

Narcissism

Unhealthily high self-esteem and low empathy for others

Cognitive Dissonance

Discomfort when two cognitions conflict

3 Ways to Reduce Dissonance

1) Changing behavior to bring in line with dissonant cognition

2) Attempting to justify behavior through changing dissonant cognitions

3) Justifying behavior with new cognitions

DIeting

Example of changing behavior to bring in line with dissonant cognition

Example of attempting to justify behavior through changing dissonant cognitions

Well, I have a while until Spring Break

Example of justifying behavior with new cognitions

Exception to the rules (Grandma has smoked every day and she is 87 and doing fine!)

Self-Affirmation

Reducing dissonance by reminding self of positive attributes

Example of Self-Affirmation

I might smoke but I am a great cook!

Rationalizing ; Rational

Human thinking is ____________, not ___________

Plausible; implausible

People remember ___________ arguments agreeing with their position and __________ arguments going against their position

Impact Bias

Overestimating the intensity/duration of one's emotional reactions to future negative events

Example of Impact Bias

Thinking you will be more sad about job than you really are

Higher; More

The ___________ your self-esteem, the ________ dissonance you feel

Less

You are ________ likely to cheat the higher your self-esteem is

Reality

to be effective, self-affirmation must be grounded in reality

Post-Decision Dissonance

Dissonance post-decision

How do we reduce PDD?

Enhancing the attractiveness of our own choice

Bigger; more

The ______________ the decision, the __________

dissonance we experience

Irrevocability Hypothesis

More likely to agree with decision after

Finality of a decision

Happier (even if we think the opposite)

Lowballing

Agree on low cost, claim error, raise money

Why does lowballing work?

1) A sort of commitment exists

2) Commitment is triggered by the anticipation of the event

3) Probably a minimally higher price elsewhere

Areas of the brain activated during dissonance

1) Striatum

2) Prefrontal Cortex

In which type of society is dissonance more prevalent?

Western, individualist societies

Justification of Effort

Tendency for individuals to increase liking if they work hard to attain it (no matter how extreme)

External Justification

Reason/Explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual

Internal Justification

Reduction of dissonance by changing something about yourself

Counter-attitudinal Advocacy

Stating an opinion that is counter to private beliefs and attitudes

What is an example of Counter-attitudinal Advocacy?

Telling your friend you like her shoes even when you don't

Smaller; greater

The _____________ the external incentive, the ____________ the attitude change

Is there such thing as too much External Justification?

Yes; too much = less enjoyable

Insufficient Punishment

Lacks sufficient external justification, leading to greater internal justification

Justification; Persuasion

Self-_________________ leads to self-__________________

Are you more likely to externally justify with a nice or rude employee?

You are more likely to eternally justify with a ________ (nice, rude) employee

Hypocrisy Induction

Arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements running counter to behavior, then reminding them of the inconsistency

Example of Hypocrisy Induction

Condom Presentation

Ben Franklin Effect

Having someone do you a favor and then thanking the, will cause them to work better with you and be happiest with you

Causes; follows

Self-Justification both _________ and __________ acts of cruelty

Attitudes

evaluations of people, objects, or ideas

3 Components of Attitudes

1) cognitive

2) Affective

3) behavioral

Cognitive Component of Attitude

Thoughts/beliefs people form about attitude object

ex: thoughts on a vacuum cleaner (you will just look at the facts not how it makes your feel)

Behavioral Component of Attitude

How people act about the attitude object

ex: screaming when you see a spider

Affective Component of Attitudes

How attitude object makes you feel

ex: I am scared of the spider

Classical Conditioning

grandma makes me happy, grandma smells like mothballs, when I smell mothballs I think of grandma and feel happy

Operant Conditioning

Learning through positive and negative reinforcement

ex: being told not to act a certain way will make you start to have negative attitudes about that thing

Why can affectively based attitudes be grouped?

1) No rational examination of issues

2) Not governed by logic

3) often linked to people's values

Self Perception Theory

Sometimes people do not know how they feel until after reacting

ex: screaming at spider means you are clearly scared

When does the self-perception theory come into play?

1) weak/ambiguous initial attitude

2) no plausible explanation available (ex: doctor tell you to exercise gives a plausible explanation)

Explicit Attitudes

Conciously endorsable attitude

ex: recent experience

Implicit attitudes

Involuntary, uncontrollable, unconcious

ex: childhood experiences