psych assignment 2

Self-Concept

A person's knowledge about themself- or herself, including one's own traits, social identities, and experiences.

Ego

The aspect of self that controls one's thoughts and actions.

Social Role Theory

The theory that gender differences in behavior, personality, and self-definition arise because of a long history of role distribution between the sexes and error-prone assumptions that those roles are essential to the nature of men and women.

Self-Schema theory

An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about a personally important attribute that defines the self.

Working Self-concept

A set of self-aspects that are currently activated by situational cues and strongly influence thoughts, feelings, and actions in the moment.

Solo status

A sense that one is unique in some specific manner in relation to other people in the current environment.

Symbolic interactionism

The perspective that people use their understanding of how others view them as the primary basis for knowing and evaluating themselves.

Looking-glass self

The idea that others reflect back to us (much like a looking glass, or mirror) who we are by how they behave toward us.

appraisals

What other people think about us.

reflected appraisals

What we think other people think about us.

social comparison theory

The theory that people come to know themselves partly by comparing themselves with similar others.

Downward social comparison

A comparison of oneself with those who are worse off.

Upward social comparison

A comparison of oneself with those who are better off.

Better-than-average effect

The tendency to rank oneself higher than most other people on positive attributes.

Self-perception theory

The theory that people sometimes infer their attitudes and attributes by observing their behavior and the situation in which it occurs.

Facial feedback hypothesis

The idea that changes in facial expression elicit emotions associated with those expressions.

Two-factor theory of emotion

The theory that people's emotions are the product of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal based on contextual cues.

Misattribution of arousal

Inadvertent ascription of arousal resulting from one source to a different source.

Excitation transfer theory

The theory that leftover arousal caused by an initial event can intensify emotional reactions to a second, unrelated event.

Social Identity theory

The theory that group identities are an important part of self-definition and a key source of self-esteem.

Basking in reflected glory

Associating oneself with successful others to help bolster one's own self-esteem.

Dual process theory of social

Theories that are used to explain a wide range of phenomena by positing two ways of processing information. STAGE 1: Make comparisons regardless of their relevance/ diagnosticity. STAGE 2: If aware, able and motivated, correct bases on relevance

comparison

a consideration or estimate of the similarities or dissimilarities between two things or people.

self-regulation

A set of processes for guiding one's thoughts, feelings, and behavior to reach desired goals.

self-awareness theory

The theory that aspects of the self — one's attitudes, values, and goals — will be most likely to influence behavior when attention is focused on the self.

self-discrepancy theory

The theory that people feel anxiety when they fall short of how they ought to be but feel sad when they fall short of how they ideally want to be.

ought self

who we think we SHOULD be

ideal self

who we WANT to be

auto-motive theory

The theory that even subtle exposure to goal-related stimuli can automatically activate a goal and guide behavior.

action identification theory

The theory that explains how people conceive of action — their own or others' — in ways that range from very concrete to very abstract.

construal level theory

The theory that people focus more on concrete details when thinking about the near future and focus more on abstract meaning when thinking about the distant future.

affective forecasting

Predicting one's emotional reactions to potential future events. These predictions are often inaccurate.

willpower

the capacity to overcome the many temptations, challenges, and obstacles that could impede pursuit of ones long-term goal

ironic processing

The idea that the more we try not to think about something, the more those thoughts enter our mind and distract us from other things.

ego depletion

The idea that ego strength becomes depleted by extended bouts of self-control.

cognitive reappraisal

The cognitive reframing of a situation to minimize one's emotional reaction to it.

implementation intentions

Mental rules reminding us to respond to a cue in a situation with a goal-directed behavior.

self-regulation preservation theory of depression

The theory that one way in which people can fall into depression is through persistent self-focus on an unattainable goal.

temporal discounting

Placing a higher value on whats happening in the present

"Hot" vs "Cold" thinking

Hot self-regulation: driven by strong and salient emotions Cold self-regulation: driven by level-headed reasoning

Cognitive dissonance theory

The idea that people have such distaste for perceiving inconsistencies in their beliefs, attitudes, and behavior that they will bias their own attitudes and beliefs to try to deny inconsistencies.

Cognitions (context of cognitive dissonance)

the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Free choice paradigm

A laboratory situation in which people make a choice between two alternatives, and after they do, attraction to the alternatives is assessed.

Induced compliance paradigm

A laboratory situation in which participants are induced to engage in a behavior that runs counter to their true attitudes.

external justification (weak,strong)

the process of identifying reasons outside of one's own control to support one's behavior, beliefs, and attitudes

spreading of alternatives

justify their choice

Induced hypocrisy paradigm

A laboratory situation in which participants are asked to advocate an opinion they already believe in but then are reminded about a time when their actions ran counter to that opinion, thereby arousing dissonance.

Effort justification

The phenomenon whereby people reduce dissonance by convincing themselves that what they suffered for is actually quite valuable.

minimal deterrence

Use of the minimal level of external justification necessary to deter unwanted behavior.

self-concept clarity

A clearly defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable self-concept.

self-verification

Seeking out other people and social situations that support the way one views oneself in order to sustain a consistent and clear self-concept.

self-complexity

The extent to which an individual's self-concept consists of many different aspects.

self-narrative

A coherent life story that connects one's past, present, and possible future.

possible selves

Images of what the self might become in the future.

self-esteem

The level of positive feeling one has about oneself.

implicit egotism

an unconscious process that is grounded in people's favorable self-associations

self-handicapping

Placing obstacles in the way of one's own success to protect self-esteem from a possible future failure.

projection

Assigning to others those traits that people fear they possess themselves.

theory of symbolic self-completion

individuals seek to acquire and display symbols that are strongly related to what they perceive as the ideal self.

fluid compensation

After a blow to self-esteem in one domain, the process of shoring up one's overall sense of self-worth by bolstering how one thinks of oneself in an unrelated domain.

self-affirmation theory

The idea that people respond less defensively to threats to one aspect of themselves if they think about another valued aspect of themselves.

self-evaluation maintenance model

The idea that people adjust their perceived similarity to successful others to minimize threatening comparisons and maximize self-esteem-supporting identifications.

anxiety buffer

The idea that self-esteem allows people to face threats with their anxiety minimized.

sociometer model

The idea that a basic function of self-esteem is to indicate to the individual how much he or she is accepted by other people.

self-compassion

Being kind to ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, recognizing that imperfection is part of the human condition, and accepting rather than denying negative feelings about ourselves.

dramaturgical perspective

Using the theater as a metaphor, the idea that people, like actors, perform according to a script. If we all know the script and play our parts well, then, like a successful play, our social interactions flow smoothly and seem meaningful, and each actor benefits.

Self presentation

any behavior or action made with the intention to influence or change how other people see you.

self-monitoring

A personality variable that indicates the extent to which an individual has the desire and ability to adjust their self-presentations for different audiences.

spotlight effect

The belief that others are more focused on us than they actually are.

illusion of transparency

The tendency to overestimate another's ability to know our internal thoughts and feelings.

self-determination theory

The idea that people function best when they feel that their actions stem from their own desires rather than from external forces.

Locus of control

The extent to which a person believes that either internal or external factors determine life outcomes.

over justification effect

The tendency for salient rewards or threats to lead people to attribute the reason, or justification, for engaging in an activity to an external factor, which thereby undermines their intrinsic motivation for and enjoyment of the activity.

flow

The feeling of being completely absorbed in an activity that is appropriately challenging to one's skills.

mindfulness

The state of being and acting fully in the current moment.

Social influence

The effects of other people on an individual's beliefs, attitudes, values, or behavior.

Social learning

The capacity to learn from observing others.

Role models

a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated.

self-efficacy

belief that you can execute a behavior to achieve desired performance "I can do this"

chameleon effect

The tendency to unconsciously mimic the nonverbal mannerisms of someone with whom you are interacting.

injunctive norm

A belief about what behaviors are generally approved of or disapproved of in one's culture.

descriptive norm

A belief about what most people typically do.

dynamic norm

social norms about how other people's behavior and attitudes are changing over time

pluralistic ignorance

A situation in which individuals rely on others to identify a norm but falsely interpret others' beliefs and feelings, resulting in inaction.

social roles

The theory that gender differences in behavior, personality, and self-definition arise because of a long history of role distribution between the sexes and error-prone assumptions that those roles are essential to the nature of men and women.

social contagion

The phenomenon whereby ideas, feelings, and behaviors seem to spread across people like wildfire

conformity

The phenomenon whereby an individual alters beliefs, attitudes, or behavior to bring them in accordance with those of a majority.

public compliance

Conforming only outwardly to fit in with a group without changing private beliefs.

private acceptance

Conforming by altering private beliefs as well as public behavior.

informational influence

The process of using others as sources of information about the world.

normative influence

The process of using others to determine how to fit in.

reference group

A group with which an individual strongly identifies.

minority influence

The process by which dissenters (or numerical minorities) produce attitude change within a group, despite the risk of social rejection and disturbance of the status quo.

conversion theory

The explanation that people are influenced by a minority because the minority's distinctive position better captures their attention.

minority slowness effect

An effect that occurs when people who hold the minority position take longer to express their opinions.

foot-in-the-door effect

people are more likely to comply with a moderate request after having initially complied with a smaller request.

lowballing

A phenomenon in which after agreeing to an offer, people find it hard to break that commitment even if they later learn of some extra cost to the deal.

door-in-the-face effect

after saying no to a big request, complying with the smaller request

norm for social commitment

A belief whereby once we make a public agreement, we tend to stick to it even if circumstances change.

reciprocity

when others do something for us, norms says we should do something for them