PSYC 2012 - Self Knowledge

“the self” in psychology

how we feel and think about ourselves:

* influences the way we perceive and interact with others
* is influenced by how others perceive and interact with us

physical self descriptions

refer to physical qualities that do not imply social interaction

* Identification card type info
* redhead, female, tall, etc.

social self descriptions

refer to relationships, group membership, social roles, and attitudes which are socially defined/validated

* “i am a son”, “american”, GWU student, Nats fan, etc.

Psychological self descriptions

refer to psychological traits and states and attitudes which do not refer to particular social referments

* shy, optimistic, ambitious, etc

holistic self descriptions

refer to characteristics too comprehensive or vague that do not distinguish one person from another

* i am human, i am me, etc.

self-concept

knowledge of who we are = the overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes

* cognitive component of self
* think of oneself in terms of what makes them different
* depending on situation/culture

self concept cultural variation

**individualist:** tend to answer with trait descriptions

* “I am…” shy, intelligent, etc
* tend to be western cultures

**collectivist:** tend to answer with group affiliations

* “i am a college student”

self reference effect

tendency for people to remember information better if they relate to it themselves

* remember what was said about **you** rather than others
* remember things for tests when it relates to you

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why…?

* encourages people to consider how personal traits are related to one another
* you rehearse material more often if it relates to you

global self esteem

how much value people place on themselves

* can fluctuate in response to life experiences

high self esteem

highly positive global self-evaluation

* view of self as competent, good, and decent
* feeling of pride

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in comparison, (so good!)

* less self reported stress
* greater control
* intrinsic motivation
* optimism and hope
* lower levels of depression/substance use

low self esteem

highly negative global self-evaluation

* feeling of shame

self esteem comes from: self evaluation

evaluations of oneself after successes or failures

* social acceptance vs rejection

self esteem comes from: success in valued domains

performance, social skills, appearance, social relationships → domains can change over time

self esteem comes from: societal values

men and middle-aged (vs teens and young adults) typically have higher self esteem

woman have lower→ connected to media portrayals of appearance and societal acceptance

enhancing self esteem

(BIRG) bask in reflected glory

* increasing SE by associating with others who are successful
* “*we* won”

(CORF) cut off reflected failure

* distancing from others who have lost
* “*they* lost”

intrinsic motivation

engage in an activity because they enjoy it or find it interesting

extrinsic motivation

desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressure

the overjustification effect

viewing their behavior to be compelled by extrinsic forces and underestimate intrinsic forces

task contingent reward

being rewarded for simply doing the task regardless of the quality of performance

perfomance contingent rewards

the reward depends on how well people perform the task

2 factor theory of emotion

1. first experience some sort of physiological arousal
2. come up with an appropriate explanation or label for it

Schachter experiment

4 different groups:

* misinformed
* uninformed
* informed
* control group ( no drug)

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arousing stimulus (epinephrine) + false informations + social cue (from angry actor) = **“incorrect”** label

misattribution of arousal

physiological arousal from one source can enhance the intensity of how the person can interprets the feeling

* caffeine
* attraction to someone

shaky bridge study

men crossing a shaky bridge 230 ft about rapids → or a sturdy bridge upon 10ft above

* given the number of hot researcher
* shaky bridge called her

social comparison theory

individuals determine their own social and personal worth based on how they stack up against others

comparison targets

* lateral
* downward
* upward

downward comparison

compare ourselves against people who are less skilled or fortunate

upward comparison

compare to someone who is perceived to be higher achieving than us

* the surgery roommate experiment

impression management

aka self presentation

* process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions others form of them
* if a profile is highly deceptive tho → that creates a more negative impression

self handicapping

behaviors designed to create obstacle and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly, they can avoid self blame

* drinking a lot the night before the exam
* behavioral (actually try to lower you chance of success)
* claimed (obstacles they claim to have)

self handicapping bias

avoid painful attribution error

* creating or taking advantage of ambiguity
* protects ego

self handicapping experiment

fake IQ test

* told everyone they did good even when they didnt
* easy question people → expected the success
* hard question people →confused and worried about future failure
* could choose between two drugs (to enhance to or disrupt intellectual perf.)
* people who failed the first time, just took the inhibiting drug (at least there’s an excuse)

discounting

eliminate internal cause (ability) if external cause is available

augmentation

self-handicapping often and people catch on, then the “excuses” are not so believable

the spotlight effect

overestimating the extent to which we are under the public eye s

self regulation/self control

the capacity to change or alter ones responses to meet some standard goal

* controlling it takes effort
* a burnout

self control experiment

cookies are baking and you are given a plate of radishes and cookies

* assigned to either taste only the radishes or only the cookie
* then given a difficult task
* they gave up quicker if they had to engage in self control first