social psych module three

what is the most researched topic is psychology

the self

what is self-concept

what we know and believe about ourselves

what are self-schemas

beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information

example of the use of a self-schema

being an athlete and welcoming information and observations that are consistent with that schema

what is the spotlight effect

the belief that others are paying more attention to one’s appearances and behavior than they really are

what experiment did timothy lawson do to test the spotlight effect

clothing experiment; 40% believed people would remember the brand they wore but only 10% did

the spotlight effect is true of both…

objects and emotions/social slips

what is individualism

the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

western culture assumes that your life will be…

enriched by believing in your power of personal control

what are the five (5) ways that individualism flourishes (when experienced)

affluence, mobility, urbanism, economic prosperity, and mass media.

what is collectivism

the concept of giving priority to the goals of one’s groups and defining one’s identity accordingly

what is the example with the korean church and collectivism

their website places more emphasis on social connections and participation, and less on personal spiritual growth and self-betterment

true or false: all cultures still have both individualists and collectivists

true, it varies across political views and regions

conservatives =

moral collectivists and economic individualists

liberals =

moral individualists and economic collectivists

what categories are more individualistic than their counterparts

the rich, men, whites, san franciscans and wheat growers

how is individualism growing within cultures (2)

a shift in the verbiage in literature and music, and parents are giving their children less common names

what is the difference in how americans and koreans see language

americans find that language allows for self-expression, while koreans see it as a form of communication (they value tradition and shared practices)

what does collectivistic culture promote

a greater sense of belonging and more integration between self/others

what is the brain activation experiment that they did in china (mothers)

when asked to think about their mothers, a brain region associated with the self activated, which is an area that lit up for western participants when they thought of themselves.

interdependent selves =

having more than one self

in collectivist cultures what is self-esteem like?

malleable (context specific)

what is self-esteem like in individualistic cultures

more personal, less relational

how did netflix change in terms of predicting behavior

used to let users predict, now they predict preferences based off of similar users

what did macdonald and ross discover at waterloo

determined that roommates and generally people outside of situation are better predictors than those in it

what is a planning fallacy

the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task

how to improve your self-predictions

be more realistic and estimate how long each step will take

what was the social experiment with woodzicka and lafrance

asked women how they would feel if they received sexually harassing questions during a job interview; they thought they would be angry but they responded in fear

what did studies of affective forecasting reveal?

people have the greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and duration of future emotions

example of affective forecasting

hungry shoppers are more likely to impulse buy than shoppers who just ate

when are we prone to impact bias

positive or negative events

in focusing on the negative event, we discount the importance of everything else that contributes to happiness…

and thus overpredict your enduring misery

what are the four (4) coping mechanisms that we tend to neglect the speed and power of

rationalization, discounting, forgiving, and limiting emotional trauma

when the causes of our behavior are conspicuous and the correct explanation fits our intuation….

our self-perceptions will be accurate

when the causes of our behavior are obvious to an observer…

they are usually obvious to us as well

what did timothy wilson find on analyzing and judgement

when we analyze our feelings first, our judgement is less accurate!

what is a dual attitude system?

differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes towards the same object

when can verbalized explicit attitudes change

with education and persuasion

how do implicit attitudes change (like trusting your gut)

slowly, like forming a new habit

what are the two practical implications of the research of self-knowledge

psychological inquiry and everyday lives

what do we mean by psychological inquiry (self-reports)

self-reports are often untrustworthy; errors in self-understanding limit the scientific usefulness of subjective personal reports

tell me more about the practical implication of everyday lives (personal testimonies)

even if people report and interpret with complete honesty, that doesn’t mean it’s true