Social Psych Test 2

research support of Mead and Cooley

-Baldwin and colleagues: unconscious reminders of approval and disapproval from significant others influence self-evaluations -Mead: self-concept is highly influenced by others' direct or indirect feedback -actual appraisals -reflected appraisals

the fundamental motivations for self-presentation: why is self-presentation so prevalent and important?

-achieves specific goals -protects self-image -supports meaningfulness of social interactions by enacting cultural scripts and roles -serves self-improvement and personal growth

basic motives for self-monitoring

-achieving specific goals -supporting self-esteem -providing meaning -fostering self-improvement

under what conditions does misattribution of arousal occur in every day life: misattribution happens

-an individual is physiologically aroused by a stimulus -a short time later a second, potentially emotionally provocative, stimulus is encountered (excitation transfer theory; Zillmann and colleagues)

motive to maintain a consistent self: free choice paradigm

-any choice creates some dissonance -the harder the choice, the greater the dissonance -people reduce dissonance by emphasizing the positive aspects of the chosen alternative and the negative aspects of the rejected alternative

the social construction of reality

-as we mature, educational, religious, and social institutions further reinforce our own culture's way of viewing the world -from this cultural worldview, we learn scripts for how to behave in different situations and different social roles

the role of self-awareness in self-regulation: self-regulation requires the ability to think about self

-attitudes, values, and goals will be most likely to influence behavior when attention is focused on the self (self-awareness theory; Duval and Wicklund) -self-awareness bridges the gap between what one is doing and what should be aspired to or done -strategies for coping with *negative discrepancy* include distraction from self-focus and commitment to do better

self-esteem motive: establishing and defending one's value: stable self-esteem

-based on intrinsic factors rather than extrinsic factors -more constant over time and more resistant to feedback from others

insufficient energy

-biological mechanisms underlie self-control -elevated glucose use to support self-regulation function of prefrontal cortex

self-esteem motive: establishing and defending one's value: functions of self-esteem

-buffers anxiety about vulnerability and mortality -indicates one's social status and how accepted one is by others

self-esteem motive: establishing and defending one's value: other self-esteem defenses

-compensating with symbols that support a desired self-definition -bolstering self-views in unrelated domains -comparing and identifying with others

cultural influences on the self-concept

-culture shapes virtually all the ways people describe themselves -people define themselves in terms of the social groups with which they identify

ego depletion

-ego strength can become depleted by extensive self-control and can create mental fatigue -behavior regulation is more difficult risky behavior may occur

getting our emotions under control

-emotional suppression is ineffective -cognitive appraisal can be an effective way to avoid feeling strong negative emotions -best strategy for dealing with a difficult situation: reappraise it in a cooler, more objective way so as to avoid fully feeling negative emotions that would be costly and difficult to suppress

self-regulatory challenges" strategies to improve self-regulation and goal achievement part 2

-form "if-then" rules to program yourself to respond to situational cues with specific goal-directed behaviors -start with abstract goals in mind, but break them down into smaller, concrete actions to make difficult tasks more easily attainable -maintain a balance between self-focused pursuit of some goals and letting go of goals that are beyond reach

external influences on the self concept: men and women are much more similar to one another than they are different (Hyde)

-gender-appropriate behavior and self-views are learned from the culture -through sex-role socialization, people develop a sense of self and role in life consistent with culture sex roles -self-concept gender differences arise from a long history of role distribution between sexes (social role theory)

staying on target: how goals motivate and guide action

-goals generally serve either basic survival needs or psychological security or growth motivations -the amount of available energy one is willing to use is dependent on the value of the goal multiplied by the assessment of how likely it is for the goal to be attained (expectancy-value theory; Feather)

self-regulation: we are able to think about overarching goals

-goals motivate and guide our behavior -the amount of effort we will put into reaching a goal depends on how easily it is -goals can be brought to mind consciously or cued unconsciously by the environment -goals can be thought about at concrete or more abstract levels

how goals are activated: goals can be activated either by consciously bringing them to mind or by being unconsciously cued by the environment

-goals send urgent messages to the ego to act -even subtle exposure to goal-related stimuli can automatically activate the goal and guide behavior (auto-motive theory; Bargh) -goals are also influenced by other people

self-consistensy across time: clear self-narrative over time

-helps people to determine what actions should or should not be attempted -aids in the prediction of future challenges

self-presentational strategies

-honing an image through self-promotion, supplication, and ingratiation -audience segregation -lying -applications: concerns about making certain impressions can lead to unhealthful behaviors

motives for growth and self-expansion

-ideas about self-growth toward optimal fulfillment of one's potential have a long history from early Greek philosophers to modern times -Rank: life force strives for the establishment of a unique self contained inside each person -Erikson: person progresses through eight stages of growth -Rogers: people are motivated to expand/enrich the self but conformity to societal expectations may derail this process -Maslow: all humans are motivated toward self-actualization

motive to maintain a consistent self: cultural influence

-in cultures that value interdependence, public displays of inconsistency arouse more dissonance because harmonious relationships are so valued

self-esteem motive: establishing and defending one's value: influence of others and culture

-influenced by how one is treated by others -maintained through behaviors valued by one's culture

the role of self-awareness in self-regulation: self-awareness promotes behaving in line with internal standards

-internalized attitudes, values, and goals guide behavior only to the extent that people are self-aware -self-awareness helps to bring behavior in line with cultural morals and values

using self to know one's feelings: two-factor theory or emotion)

-level of arousal determines the intensity of the emotion, but the specific type of emotion experienced is determined by the meaning that is assigned to that arousal based on contextual or environmental cues -emotion = arousal X cognitive level -the same arousal could be attributed to one or another emotion, depending on the self-perception process of interpreting cues present in one's environment

gender influences on the self-concept

-men and women are more similar than they are different -children learn from adults and the broader culture how men and women behave -social role theory proposes that gender roles in society, although often assumed to be "natural", are the product of history

sustaining a sense of the self as a unified whole: self-concept clarity

-most people prefer a clearly defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable sense of self (Campbell) -self-verification -self-complexity

self-regulatory challenges

-one of the keys to effective self-regulation is the capacity for willpower -building on Freud's concepts of the id and the ego -hot processes: are driven by strong emotions -cold processes: rely on level-headed reasoning

self-consistency at the micro level: cognitive dissonance theory

-people dislike inconsistencies and will bias their own attitudes and beliefs to try to deny those inconsistencies (Festinger) -inconsistencies between two cognitions can create cognitive dissonance

emotions that evoke self-awareness: self-discrepancy theory

-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 -ideal self -people feel guilty if they engage in bad behavior but shame if they feel they are a bad person

the role of imagining the future in self-regulation: construal level theory

-people focus more on concrete details when thinking about the near future, but focus more on abstract meaning when thinking about the distant future (Liberman) -affective forecasting (Wilson and colleagues)

self-determination theory

-people function best when they feel that their actions stem from their own desires rather than from external forces -research findings across wide domains indicated self-determined people are more creative, happier, and more satisfied

self and audience monitoring

-people high in self-monitoring are more likely to change for different audiences -people often think others are noticing them more than they actually are and that people can tell what they are thinking and feeling more than they actually can

how do we come to know the self: reflection

-people learn about the self by assessing how significant others behave toward them -others serve as a mirror -people do not always perceive accurately what others think of them

how do we come to know the self: comparison

-people learn about the self by comparing themselves with others -upward and downward social comparisons have diverging effects on self-esteem -comparisons are often biased in the self's favor

how do we come to know the self: self-perception

-people learn about the self by observing their own behavior and making inferences about their traits, abilities, and values -these inferences can be wrong -self-perception guides the experience of emotions based on one's level of physiological arousal and labeling of the current situation

how do we come to know the self?

-people learn about themselves over the course of their everyday social interactions in a variety of ways: -appraisals they get from others -social comparisons -self-perceptions

social comparison: knowing the self through comparison with others

-people learn who they are by comparing themselves with others -social comparison theory: people come to know themselves partly by comparing themselves with similar others (Festinger) -downward comparison -upward comparison -better than average effect

audience-monitoring errors

-people often have difficulty getting beyond their own subjective experience when judging how others view them -spotlight effect (Gilvoch and colleagues) -illusion of transparency (Gilvoch and colleagues)

theater as a metaphor

-people self-present according to a script, like actors in a play -sincere -cynical performances are conscious attempts to make a particular impression

self-perception theory: knowing the self by observing one's own behavior

-people sometimes infer their attitudes and attributes by observing their behavior and the situation in which it occurs (self-perception theory) -facial feedback hypothesis (Laird) -effects of some situational factors can be underestimated and overestimated -effects of some situational factors can be underestimated and overestimated

reflected appraisals: seeing ourselves through the eyes of others

-people use others' appraisals not only to know their attributes, but also to evaluate themselves and their actions as good or bad -symbolic interactionism -looking glass self -appraisals

the dramaturgical perspective

-performing and self-presentation help to accomplish goals that are important in a particular social situation -sincere performances: well-practiced scripts -cynical performances: conscious attempts to perform in a certain way to make a particular impression

why do people need self-esteem?

-provides protection from basic fears and anxieties about vulnerability and mortality -maximizes social status (Barkow) -indicates how much one is accepted by other people (sociometer model; Leary and colleagues)

application: how can self-growth be maximized?

-pursuing goals that support core needs -getting into the zone -acting in mindful ways -expanding the mind and exploring the world -fostering a positive mood -feeling challenged rather than threatened

self-consistency across time: two story patterns emerge

-redemption stories -contamination stories

motive to maintain a consistent self

-self-concept clarity: a clear sense of who one is from one situation to the next. high clarity supports psychological well-being -self-complexity: a complex self-concept, as defined by many distinct roles and activities, may be a buffer against stress if those aspects of self are freely chosen and controlled -self-narratives: coherent stories explaining how one's past, present, and future cohere into a unified whole. threats to psychological security increase reliance on self-narratives for meaning in life

stable and malleable aspects of the self-concept

-self-defining attributes are mentally organized as self-schemas (Markus) that are processed quickly -stable -malleable

application: the good, the bad, and the ugly of self-esteem

-self-esteem cannot be easily granted -unstable or low self-esteem may be linked to psychological problems -cultural worldviews influence self-esteem in many ways -striving for self-esteem can have constructive or destructive consequences -self-compassion may be one valuable route for maintaining stable high self-esteem

protecting and enhancing self-esteem: cultural differences

-self-esteem is pursued universally, but the attributes, values, and roles that lead to feelings of worth vary depending on the individual's culture -individualistic cultures -collectivistic cultures

self-regulation: we are self-aware

-self-regulation requires the ability to think about the self and to compare what we do with what we aspire to do -when what we do conflicts with what we aspire to do, but we can reach the goal, we may commit to doing better -if what we aspire to do seems impossible, we may seek to escape self-awareness, which may contribute to food, drug, and alcohol abuse -our ought self is the internalized idea of who we should be; our ideal self who we want to be. these different self-representations can lead to different types of affect

self-esteem motive: establishing and defending one's value: self-serving biases to protect-self esteem

-self-serving attributions -self-handicapping -seeing self as better than average -projection

self-regulatory challenges: strategies to improve self-regulation and goal achievement

-strengthen willpower by activating the hot system and avoiding factors that block the cool system, such as stress, cognitive overload, alcohol, or freshly bakes cookies -minimize ironic processing--the intrusion of thoughts we are trying to suppress--by keeping distractions and stress to a minimum when regulating thoughts and behavior or relaxing efforts to suppress thoughts -strengthen your self-control by building ego strength gradually -reappraise difficult situations as a way to avoid feeling strong negative emotions

self-regulation: here's what the "I" can do for you

-the ability to self-regulate is based on three key capacities of the human mind that emerged with the evolution of the human cortex: 1) self-awareness 2) goal-setting 3) mental time travel

social learning

-the capacity to learn from observing others -we learn many behaviors and tasks by watching others model those behaviors

establishing and defending one's value: self-esteem

-the level of positive feeling one has about oneself -as a trait can remain stable (genetic influence; childhood reflected appraisals and social comparisons) -as a state can vary (cultural standards of values for individuals over time) -people's overall self-esteem fluctuates in response to achievement and setbacks in areas of life most important to them

trying too hard: ironic process theory (Wegner)

-the more we try not to think about something, the more those thoughts enter our mind and distract us from other things -mental processes used to control thoughts: monitor; operator; rebound effect

social contagion

-the phenomenon whereby ideas, feelings, and behaviors seem to spread across people like wildfire -many behaviors are seemingly contagious (ex. yawns, laughter, applause, obesity study)

defining goals as concrete or abstract

-the same action can take on different meaning depending on how it connects to goals -concrete conceptions: specify how the action is accomplished -abstract conceptions: specify why the action is performed

situational influences on the self-concept

-the self-concept is stable from one occasion to another because people have self-schemas for the attributes that are important to them -at the same time, the self-concept is malleable. features of the social situation, such as solo status, highlights different self-knowledge, changing the contents of one's working self-concept at any given moment

undermining intrinsic motivation: the overjustification 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 -occurs only if external incentive viewed as reason for behavior

chameleon effect

-the tendency to mimic unconsciously the nonverbal mannerisms of someone with whom you are interacting -not limited to casual, nonverbal behaviors -studies show that people shift their attitudes toward what they think another person's opinions might be, especially when they are motivated to get along with that person

self-regulatory perseveration and depression

-there are situations in which viewing goals in abstract terms is beneficial: -allows for searching for alternative lower-level goals that may help in the attainment of higher-level goals -optimal well-being requires a balance between self-focused pursuit of some goals and relinquishment of goals beyond one's means

minimizing ironic processing

-there are two basic ways to minimize ironic processing: 1) minimizing distraction, stress, and time urgency when regulating thoughts and behavior 2) disengaging from effortful control when cognitive strain is present -paradoxical intervention

escaping for self-awareness: what happens when we perceive ourselves as falling short of our standards but feel incapable of changing our behaviors?

-there is a tendency to escape self-awareness in the face of failure -this may be especially true of people with generally high levels of self-awareness

cognitive dissonance theory: the aroused dissonance level depends on several factors

-weak external justification -perceived choice -commitment -foreseeable aversive consequences -cultural influences

self-regulation: we can mentally time-travel

-when an action is thought about as far in the future, we tend to focus on its abstract meaning. when it is in the future, we focus on concrete details -we are often poor at predicting our emotional reactions to future events, which can lead to decisions we may regret

applications of self-consistency

-when faced with an apparent hypocrisy, people will reassert their commitment to the advocated opinion -when a course of action is difficult or unpleasant, people will convince themselves it is valuable -when a minimal level of external justification is used to deter behavior, people will internalize that they do not want to engage in the behavior

effort justification

-when people choose an action that results in negative consequences, they experience dissonance because of their choice -when the action is irreversible, dissonance reduction may occur when people convince themselves that the negative consequences were "worth it"

cognitive dissonance theory: three primary ways to reduce dissonance

1) change one of the cognitions 2) add a third cognition that makes the original two cognitions seem less inconsistent with each other 3) trivialize the cognitions that are inconsistent

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

dissonance paradigms: induced hypocrisy paradigm

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

dissonance paradigms: free choice paradigm

a laboratory situation in which people make a choice between two alternatives, after which attraction to the alternatives is assessed

solo status

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

self-schema

an integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about an attribute that is part of one's self concept

high self-monitors

better at cynical performances

stable

central aspects of self-concept

external influences on the self-concept

culture shapes all the ways in which people identify themselves: -identities -roles -traits -self-concept

motive to maintain a consistent self: factors that affect the magnitude of dissonance

dissonance increases with less external justification and more perceived choice, commitment, and foreseeable negative consequences

self-consistency across time: nostalgic memories

generates positive moods, boosts self-esteem, enhances sense of connectedness and meaning, and support greater sense of self-continuity

malleable

immediate social situation; solo status

self-monitoring

individual difference in people's desire and ability to adjust their self-presentations for different audiences

low self-monitors

more consistent in self-presentations

motive to maintain a consistent self: induced compliance paradigm

people induced to say or do something against their beliefs may change their beliefs to reduce dissonance if there is insufficient external justification for their behavior

self-regulatory challenges: delay of gratification task research

performance on delay of gratification task at age four predicts a variety of indicators of self-regulatory success up to 30 years later

self-regulatory perseveration theory of depression

persisting in pursuit of a goal when it is no longer beneficial may contribute to depressions (Pyszczynski and colleagues)

intrinsic self-esteem

self-esteem is connected to feelings of enduring inner qualities

individualistic cultures

self-esteem is derived from proving superior skills and abilities

collectivistic cultures

self-esteem is derived from sustaining honor, gracefully performing cultural rituals, and group harmony promotion

extrinsic self-esteem

self-esteem is provided by standards dictated by environment and feedback from others

implementation intentions

successful resolutions are more likely to happen if we can create mental rules that link specific situational cues to goal-directed behaviors (Gollwitzer)

self-regulatory challenges: basis for willpower level

temperament and intelligence differences that result from the combination of genetic predispositions and prenatal and postnatal experiences (Rothbart and colleagues)

conformity

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

working self-concept

the portion of one's self-schema that is currently activated and strongly influences thoughts, feelings, and actions

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

social identity theory

the theory that people define and value themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify (Tajfel and Turner)

minimal detterence

use of the minimal level of external justification necessary to deter unwanted behavior

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 go smoothly and seem meaningful, and each actor benefits (Goffman)