The Social Self and Self-Knowledge

Vocabulary flashcards covering self-knowledge, social comparisons, and the organization of self-concept based on Dr. William Stern's lecture notes.

Self-Knowledge

The collection of descriptions we have for ourselves and the understanding of how we come to know ourselves.

Appraisals from others

A method of learning about the self through social interaction by using others' explicit or implied perceptions to determine who we are.

Looking glass self

The concept that we use the perceptions others have of us as a mirror to determine our own identity.

Reflected Self-Appraisals

Our beliefs about what others think of us; essentially 'what we think others think about us.'

Relational Self

The idea that the self is defined by drawing a sense of identity from the other people in our lives.

Social Comparisons

The process of comparing ourselves with others to determine where we stand on a specific attribute.

Downward comparison

Comparing ourselves to individuals who are worse off on a particular attribute.

Upward Comparison

Comparing ourselves to individuals who are better off on a particular attribute.

Self Serving Bias

The tendency to perceive oneself favorably by attributing failures to external circumstances and successes to internal characteristics.

Better than Average Effect

The statistical tendency for most people to rank themselves higher than the average person on positive attributes.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A cognitive bias where people with little skill or expertise in an area mistakenly overestimate their own competence in 그 area.

Ignorance of ignorance

A common source of self-assessment inaccuracy where individuals lack the knowledge necessary to recognize their own lack of skill.

Self Perception Theory

The theory that people learn about themselves by watching their own attributes or behavior in the same way an outside observer would.

Self-schemas

The specific categories into which we sort our personal attributes.

Self-Concept

The sum of all an individual's self-schemas and the way they are organized.

Integrated Self-Concept

An organization of self-concept where self-schemas contain a mix of both positive and negative attributes, leading to more level mood and self-esteem.

Compartmentalized Self-Concept

An organization of self-concept where self-schemas are almost uniformly positive or negative, making the individual prone to mood swings based on which schema is activated.