| Question | Answer |
| aspects of social self | Self concept - how do people come to know themselves (eg. Height,IQ, political views, social skills)
Self esteem - how do people evaluate themselves |
| self perception theory (Bem,1972) | Know ourselves by observing our selves |
| an example study (strack et al. 1988) | - p's were asked to rate cartoons
C1: Hold a pen between their lips ;C2: hold a pen in their hand ;C3: Hold a pen between their teeth
the cartoons were perceived as funnier when the pen was between their teeth, least funny in their lips |
| similar study Zajonc, 1989 | P's were asked to repeat vowels 20 times
Then asked how they felt
C1 - 'ah'
C2 - 'e'
C3 - 'u'
= 'u' were found to be the least positive - due to facial features being less stimulated compared to the other conditions = FACIAL FEEDBACK HYPOTHESIS |
| other behavioural feedback and emotion studies (Stepper & Strack,1993) and (Duclos et al,1989;Flack et al 1999) | P's were instructed to sit either slumped or upright: p's sitting upright felt more pride after a task
P's were told to lean forward or be slumped with their fists clenched . p's who leaned forward reported more anger; the others more sadness |
| do we know ourselves better than our friends? Kassin, Fein & Marcus (2014) | We know ourselves better on internal traits that are hard to observe (optimistic, anxious)
No difference between us and friends in external observable traits (quiet,sociable,messy)
Friends know us better on observable 'blind spots' (smart,creative,rude) |
| Effect of reward on intrinsic motivation | Children play with toys and were observed
C1-play with marker=reward
C2-play with marker, afterwards=unexpected rewards
C3-play with marker with no reward
=C1 after 3 weeks 8% of p's chose not to go back to the markers after receiving a reward |
| the overjustification effect | The tendency for intrinsic motivation to diminish for activities that have become associated with a reward or other extrinsic factors |
| social comparison (festinger,1954) | People evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others |
| 2 key questions to ask about social comparison | When: More likely when we are in a state of uncertainty
Whom: More likely with people who are similar to us |
| social comparisons to evaluate our emotions Schachter et al., 1962 - PROCEDURE | P's got a drug injected
C1: were informed about the effects ;C2: were not informed about the effects
Wait in room for 10 mins until experiment starts, with a confederate
C1: confederate was happy;C2: confederate was angry |
| results of schachter's 1962 social comparison study | C2 - where effects of drug was not informed to p's
elicited the greater % of imitation when confederates showed exaggerated emotions |
| schachter and singer 1962 - Two factor theory | the experience of emotion is based on 2 factors
1) physiological arousal
2) a cognitive interpretation of that arousal |
| anxiety and affiliation - Do people want to be others when anxious? Schachter, 1959 | C1: r's would say shocks are nasty
C2: r's would say shock is pleasant
Wait 10 mins before the experiment either with a confederate or alone
= 60% of people waited with a confederate after told C1 in comparison to a 30% of people who were in C2 |
| autobiographic memories | Revision of fading memories that put ourselves in a better light.
Recollections of the sequence of events that have touched your life (Bernstein and Rubin, 2013) |
| 4 ways that autobiographical memory serves the self (Pillemer et al. 1992) | 1) helps guide our future behaviour
2) form and maintain a social network
3) create a continuous sense of self
4) cope with negative emotions and experiences |
| AB memories studies 1)(Bahrick et al, 1996) 2)(Demiray & Janssen,2015) 3) (libby & Eibach, 2002) | 1) Ps asked to recall high school grades compared to actual marks. Most errors in grade inflations
2)People feel psychologically closer to their positive than their negative memories
3)current self concept colours what we remember from the past |
| self - esteem | an affective component of the self consisting of a persons positive and negative self evaluations |
| the need for self esteem | Humans are social animals in need of approval from others (leary & Baumeister,2000)
Self esteem protects us from the possibility that we humans are designed only to die and decay |
| self focusing effect on behaviour (bateson et al., 2006) | Customers were trusted to pay for their tea and coffee in an honesty box
Hanging on the wall behind the counter was a poster that features either flowers or pairs of eyes
= people paid nearly 3x more money in the presence of eyes rather than flowers |
| self regulation | • We control behaviour to strive personal and social aims
All self control efforts draw from a single source and exercising self control is like flexing a muscle: it gets tired and loses strength (Muraven & Baumeister,2000) |
| 4 methods to enhance self esteem | 1. Biased self serving cognitions - we attribute success to ourselves and failures to environment/ others
2. Self handicapping strategy
3. Basking in reflected glory
4.Downward comparisons |
| the better than average effect | View positive traits as more descriptive of themselves than negative traits
Overestimate their efforts to team success
Predict that they have a brighter future
Seek more info about their own strengths than their own weaknesses |
| self handicapping strategies | When people are afraid of failing an important task, they seek excuses for possible future failures
Purposefully delaying starting revising (Ferrari et al,1995)
Sandbagging (Gibson,2000)
Play down ability,Lower expectations, Publicly predict failure |
| downward comparisons | A defensive tendency that is used as a means of self-evaluation. When a person looks to another individual or group that they consider to be worse off than themselves in order to feel better about their self or personal situation |
