PSY325 Lec 4

Protective function of the self

Maintaining favourable impressions of attributes and maximizing pleasure while minimizing pain.

Motivational function of the self

Energizing goal pursuit, providing plans, and identifying standards for self-change.

Self-esteem (William James)

The ratio of one's successes to one's pretensions or aspirations.

High self-esteem : perceived successes > one's pretensions or aspirations

Low self-esteem : pretensions or aspirations > successes in important domains

Self-esteem (Charles Cooley)

Self-esteem based on reflected appraisals and the accompanying self-feeling.

High self-esteem : we believe that others judge us favourably, feeling proud

Low self-esteem : we believe that others judge us unfavourably, feeling ashamed

Global self-esteem

The general, stable way people feel about themselves, with cognitive (evaluation about yourself) and emotional components (feelings you have about yourself)

state (barometric) self-esteem

Feelings of self-worth. Temporary evaluations that we make of ourselves that change over time because they are a response to what we experience (e.g., feeling proud, pleased, humiliated, ashamed)

Self-esteem stability (or variability)

variations in how we evaluate ourselves. how much our self evaluations fluctuate

Domain-specific self-esteem

Evaluations of abilities and attributes within specific contexts like academics or physical appearance. (e.g., evaluate yourself in terms of academics - am i a good or bad student?)

Top-down self-esteem

The view that global self-esteem acts as a filter influencing self-esteem in different domains. If global self-esteem is high, then it will work as a filter and judge other domains as high

bottom up self esteem

The view that global self-esteem is the sum total of evaluations across specific domains.

Contingent self-esteem

Feelings about oneself resulting from matching a standard of excellence or interpersonal expectations.

High contingent self-esteem

how someone feels about themselves depends on standards (e.g., academic, other people's opinions)

Low contingent self-esteem

self-esteem doesn't depend on whether they have met some standards

Implicit self-esteem

A nonconscious, automatic affective orientation toward the self measured indirectly.

Implicit Association Test

tests preexisting association in memory. you should be faster to make evaluations that are consistent with that info. measures how quickly you make judgements. (e.g., positive vs. negative word, me vs. not me)

low self-esteem = faster when negative/me is paired on one key

name letter effect

measures preference for letters of the alphabet. the tendency to show stronger preferences for letters that appear in your name if you have high implicit self-esteem

positive, lack, infer

Self-esteem in children prior to 6-8 years are overwhelmingly _________ domain-specific evaluations due to a _____ of cognitive comparison skills, distinction between actual competence and ideal competence, & cannot _____ how others evaluate them.

adolescence, increases, middle, older

Self-esteem begins high and gradually decreases up to __________ due to change in environment, peers, and expectations. Plateaus in young adulthood, and ___________ in _________ adulthood due to figuring out career choices, what to do with your life, and settled with relationships. Decreases again in ______ adulthood due to cognitive declines, losing parental role, losing members of social network, losing identity as worker, impending mortality, and reflection on life (possible regret)

genetic, environment

Bierdon et al. (2018).

Self-esteem comes from ________ factors (e.g., inheritance of emotion, temperament, self-regulation), shared _______, and non-shared environment (unique experiences early in life such as parenting styles) Depends on age

goal, resilience

Self-esteem is a basic and fundamental human need. It buffers anxiety and social rejection, and increases ______ striving and __________

Terror Management Theory

The theory that self-esteem buffers humans from existential anxiety and dread.

Sociometer Hypothesis

The theory that self-esteem evolved to monitor social inclusion and buffer against rejection.

self-affirmation theory

suggests that people want to maintain a positive view of themselves as good, capable, and worthwhile people. Helps people cope with threats to their self-image by focusing on other important aspects of who they are

Costs of high contingent self-esteem

Negative outcomes for:

- autonomy (feeling like we do things bc we HAVE to, not bc we want to)

- learning (e.g., focused on grades),

- relationships (contingent on whether someone loves you to protect your self-esteem)

- self-regulation

- health (anxiety, depression, blood pressure)

Self-enhancement motive

The motivation to enhance positive self-conceptions and protect against negative information. People tend to focus on info that was favourable implications for the self and avoid info that has unfavourable implications for the self.

positive illusions

Self-rating > rating of a "generalized other"

favorable views of the self that are not necessarily rooted in reality. can also have ___________ _________ about others and one's relationships

Better-than-average effect

The tendency to evaluate oneself more positively than the average person.

Problem: There ARE people who are better than average and have no positive illusions- but we can't tell who's being accurate or not + can't control the image someone brings to mind as the average person -> so we must use external criterion

external criterion

Positive illusions = self-rating > ______________ ________

Using _________ __________ as our standard can solve problems with the better-than-average effect

(e.g., "How far can you jump?" -> Participant gives an estimate then their jump is measured. If their estimate was higher it indicates a positive illusion)

Misremembering

A type of self-serving bias that involves recalling past information in a way that leads to a favourable self-evaluation (self-enhancement)

(e.g., Married couples' reports of love over time)

False consensus effect

Overestimating the extent to which other people share our opinions and undesirable behaviors. (self-enhancement)

False uniqueness effect

Underestimating the extent to which other people share our positive attitudes and desirable behaviors. (e.g., when asked "How much do you engage in water saving activities?" & "How much do you think other people engage in water saving activites?" -> Majority of participants said they engage in these activities often, but other people do not)

unrealistic optimism

a phenomenon in which people see themselves as more likely than other people to experience good events, and less likely than other people to experience bad events (e.g., someone speeding bc accidents only happen to other ppl, NOT me)

perceived control

the tendency to see uncontrollable events as at least partially under our control

overconfident judgments

the tendency for people to be overconfident when predicting their own behaviour (e.g., being overconfident when judging how long your relationship will last)

Downward temporal comparisons

comparing the past self who performed worse than the present self

Downward social comparison

Comparing oneself to others who are performing worse to enhance self-evaluations.

Upward social comparisons

comparing oneself to others who are performing better than you are. can be used for self-enhancement needs (emphasize the advantages of the other, derogating their abilities in another domain, exaggerate their abilities and see them as unusually good)

Basking in reflected glory

Associating with successful others to increase one's own feelings of self-worth (e.g., celebrating a team's win as "ours" but when they lose its "them")

counterfactual thinking

mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been

Upward simulation

simulated alternative better than actuality (e.g., if only I had made that last free-throw, we would have won the game)

Downward simulation

simulated alternatives worse than actuality (e.g., at least my smoke detector worked, or I might have been killed)

Self-serving attributions

tendency to attribute one successes to dispositional causes and failures to situational causes (e.g., I got an A because I'm smart and studied hard vs. I got a D because this teacher wrote terrible questions)

Self-handicapping

Creating obstacles to success so potential failure can be blamed on external factors.