Self-Concept and Social Psychology Flashcards

These flashcards cover key concepts from self-concept and social psychology, including definitions of psychological constructs and biases.

Self-concept

Cognitive representation of our self-knowledge; a sum of beliefs about ourselves.

Ideal self

Represents wishes and hopes for how one would like to be; motivates us to work to attain aspirations.

Ought self

Aspects one feels obligated to meet; motivates avoidance of negative outcomes.

Introspection

Looking inward to gain access to one's inner thoughts and feelings.

Self-perception

Drawing inferences from observing one's own behavior.

Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)

Stable personality trait encompassing fundamental evaluations of self-worth and capabilities.

Self-efficacy

Individual's global estimate of their ability to perform well in various situations.

Locus of control

Tendency to attribute life's events to internal factors (own doing) or external factors (outside forces).

Emotional stability/Neuroticism

Enduring tendency to easily experience unpleasant emotions.

Causal attribution

Process of concluding and explaining behavior of oneself and others.

Correspondence bias

Overestimation of personal causes of behavior while underestimating situational causes.

Self-serving bias

Attributing positive outcomes to our own character while blaming negative outcomes on external factors.

Actor-observer bias

Attributing one's own actions to external causes but attributing others' actions to internal causes.

Heuristic

An approach to problem-solving that people instinctively use to make decisions.

Prospect theory

Theory stating people are more concerned with avoiding losses than achieving gains, focusing on relative gains or losses.

Groupthink

Mode of thinking in cohesive groups where desire for concurrence overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Social facilitation

Improvement in performance on well-learned tasks due to the presence of others.

Group cohesion

Force that binds members to a group and motivates them to remain and exert effort for the group.

Bystander effect

Phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help in an emergency as the number of bystanders increases.

Diffusion of responsibility

Process by which responsibility is divided among bystanders, leading to less individual accountability.