PSYC6392 Week 6 Chapter 4 Personality & Social Psychology PDF

PSYC 6392: Personality and Social Psychology Week 6: Chapter 4, The Self in Action Dr Arnaud Wisman  ABOUT ME Dr Arnaud (Rknow) Wisman ([email protected]) Lecturer in Social and Evolutionary Psychology Drop-in hours: Tuesdays 16:00-17:00 & We...

PSYC 6392: Personality and Social Psychology Week 6: Chapter 4, The Self in Action Dr Arnaud Wisman  ABOUT ME Dr Arnaud (Rknow) Wisman ([email protected]) Lecturer in Social and Evolutionary Psychology Drop-in hours: Tuesdays 16:00-17:00 & Wednesdays 12.00 -13.00 via teams or by appointment. Page 2 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Main reading for Week14-17 The handbook: Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2020), Social Psychology and Human Nature, Thomson Wadsworth, International ed, paperback (Green slides) Background and advanced: Finkel, E. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (Eds.). (2019). Advanced social psychology: The state of the science. Oxford university press. Page 3 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Themes of the book (The orange slides): The long road towards social acceptance Bad is better than Good? The social psychology of sex Eating habits Duplex mind Evolution What relevance is there for me? Page 4 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  The Self in Action, choices and actions Part 1: Planning, goals and meaning Part 2: Freedom and Choice Part 3: Self-Regulation Irrationality and Self-Destruction (Self regulation failure) Page 5 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  The Self in Action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWJjsVitHhQ&feature=related Page 6 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Skinner failed to acknowledge meaning Likelihood of organism responding to stimuli Drive strength Incentive = Hull, 1943 Habit strength Stimuli intensity PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  What You Do, and What It Means My thinking is first and last and always for the sake of my doing. (William James) Human actions are based on meaning – Meaning is learned by culture –culture is a network of meaning – (e.g., cartoon coyote versus ‘coyote’) Thinking (the self simulator) allows you to make use of meaning – Perform action mentally before physically How to become a good tennis player? Page 8 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  But….is all imagining the same? Imaging something makes it more likely to happen – (Taylor & Pham, 1996) study about the effects of imagining. – Group A) Keeping track of how much you study – Group B) Imagine the hard work and good end results – Group C) Imagine doing well, high score walking home with big smile Page 9 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Levels of meaning “By” test to differentiate level of meaning – Take a test by making marks on paper – I take additional education by taking a test Higher levels - more meaningful (bigger emotional impact) Focus on lower levels to solve problems Higher level may invoke guilt; lower level focuses on details of operation Page 10 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  What is in it for me? How to reduce test anxiety? How to become a “good” soldier? WW2…in a squad of 10 men, on average fewer than three ever fired their weapons in combat (Historian battle about these stats!). Page 11 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Change of views… Focus on low level of meaning – More vulnerable to influence and change views Focus on high level of meaning – Change behavior by shifting to a low level and then back to high level of meaning Page 12 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  But …can we really change? Page 13 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  But …can we really change (Dweck, 1996)? Entity theorists (internal) – Enjoy doing things at which they succeed – Learned helplessness – Failure internal Incremental theorists (external) – Enjoy learning, challenges – Strive to improve performance – Failure external – How to change from entity to incremental? Page 14 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Goals Think about your goals….why do you have them? (which gender takes on more risky jobs (e.g., 97% example, mortality at work 10 to 1?) and why? Page 15 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Goals & Plans Goals – Ideas of some desired future state – Link between values and action – Do we need the self? What about animals (see next slide)? Goals are influenced by inner processes and cultural factors (Think about becoming a whale hunter or anti whaling campaigner) Setting and pursuing goals is a vital job of the self (the internal satnav.) (Interesting article about animal planning https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/smarter-you-think/202003/do- animals-plan-the-future) Page 16 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Icxwwy7a7Sk Page 17 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Goals, Plans, Intentions Setting goals – Choosing among possible goals This is actually harder than it sounds – How do we know what we want? who we are? what we are best at? – Evaluating their feasibility and desirability Pursuing goals – Planning and carrying out behaviors to reach goals Page 18 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Goals, Plans, Intentions Mindsets of setting and pursuing goals differ – Setting goals – realistic (we try) – Pursuing goals – optimistic for instance, building a bridge Goals help individuals resume an activity after interruption Page 19 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Goals, Plans, Intentions Page 20 The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr Arnaud Wisman  Pursue goals Conscious and automatic systems help pursue goals – Conscious system helps set goals; resume activity after interruption goal shielding devise alternative plans – Automatic system reminds us of the goal Zeigarnik effect (guilty conscience) – Brain good in memorizing incomplete tasks – Helpful whilst having fun when actually need to study – How else can you use the Zeigarnik effect for PSYC6392/7002 exam? – Which song do you have in your mind now (‘earworms’)? PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  How to reach your goals? & Plans Interlinked, hierarchy of goals – Distal and proximal goals – Problem with only distal goals? – Problem with only proximal goals (aimless ship) Planning – Focus attention on reaching goal – Specific guidelines on what to do motivate people to work on goals (Gollwitzer, 1996) => How will you spend Christmas. Specific plans for essay or no plans PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Daily plans - or monthly – or no planning? PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Drawbacks of planning Plans that are too detailed or rigid can be discouraging – Study about planning (Kirschenbaum et al., 1982) three groups – a) daily plan – b) monthly – c) no plans > who did best? Plans tend to be overly optimistic (once chosen a goal) – Planning fallacy I (NOT YOU) will do things in time even if others fail. How to write an essay in time? – Future versus short term plans> long term less focused on practical issues – How can you use this idea to sell a ticket? PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  When most likely to buy expensive (for an interesting event) ticket (see next slide)? Next year versus tomorrow? When are you most likely to accept a difficult public speech? Next year versus next week? PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Recap part 1 Human behaviour depends on meaning Incremental versus entity theorist Goals are ideas of some desired future state Pursuing goals requires planning Both the conscious and the automatic systems help in the pursuit of goals The Zeigarnik effect states that people remember completed tasks better than uncompleted tasks Goals shielding is the process of keeping others from interfering People’s plans tend to be overly optimistic particular over a longer time span PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Part 2: Freedom and Choice PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  At home Free will? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mCoF07rF eU&feature=related If you have some extra time I recommend a lecture on free will: – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCofmZ lC72g – (choose left button versus right button) PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Freedom of Action Free will or free choice Experience of ‘More or Less Free’ – Sometimes constrained by external factors – Other times we can feel that we freely choose (we could have chosen to do different) Perceived freedom produces benefits – Manipulated absence of free will encouraged amoral behavior like cheating (Vohs et al., 2008) – Experiment Panic button effect (Glass et al., 1969) or how to solve puzzles plagued by blasts of loud noise? PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Reactance Theory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGtFMeflxGs Childs def. above ‘Reverse psychology’ Consequences – Makes you want the forbidden option more – Reasserting your freedom – Aggression toward person restricting your freedom People are motivated to gain and preserve their choices PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Making Choices Two Steps to making choices – Whittle the range of choices to limited few for instance buy only Nike shoes – Carefully compare the remaining options PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Making Choices Are more options better or do too many options produce anxiety? Balance between not enough choice or to much choice. (Scheibehenne, Greifeneder, & Todd 2008;White et al., 2008) PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Is Bad Stronger Than Good? Avoiding Losses Versus Pursuing Gains Bad outcome of losing has a stronger effect than the good outcome of winning – Flip a coin and win or lose £10 – reluctant to bet – More willing to take a gamble versus a certain loss People are influenced more by what they stand to lose than what they stand to gain. – What will you remember most vividly? Loss or win? The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 35 PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman rnaud Wisman  Influences on Choice Risk aversion – Bad is stronger than good Temporal discounting – You want 10 pounds now or 15 next week? (immediate reward) PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Influences on Choice Certainty effect – People choose certain outcome over probabilities (car color over car safety) Keeping options open (buy it now !! Trick to override) – Status quo bias (see Anderson, 2003; The psychology of doing nothing) – Omission bias > default option think of internet PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  “La Dolce Far Niente,” PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  The Social Side of Sex Gender, Sex, and Decisions Genders based decision to pursue sex on different factors Women can have sex any time (with almost anyone they want) Men have to wait (e.g., ‘get lucky’) for sexual opportunities - why is that? Error management theory (Roots in evolutionary theory) – What error to avoid? Consider… temporal discounting risk aversion keeping options open and certainty effect PSYC7002  Week 14: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  The Aroused Mind…. – Temporal discounting - effect increases when men see attractive girls - sex sells? – 12 Pictures opposite gender (attractive versus unattractive) versus 12 cars (appealing vs. unappealing) => DV soon small rewards now $5 versus delayed rewards $10 dollar in a month Men’s ‘sexual’ mind-set emphasizes the present and discounts the future (See also Wisman & Thomas, 2022) PSYC7002  Week 15: The Self in action Dr Arnaud Wisman  Recap Part 2 Belief in free will causes more pro-social actions Among humans free will has a greater flexibility The panic button effect refers to the finding that believing there is an escape option can reduce stress We discussed, the certainty effect, the status quo bias, the omission bias, risk aversion, and temporal discounting Error management theory states that both genders can make different types of error based on evolved gender divergence  Part 3 – Self-regulation/Self control What is the common factor below? Transmitted diseases, crime, unemployment, relationship issues, anxiety, obesity eating disorder, addiction, drug alcohol abuse  Self regulation /self control Why self regulation? Influence on : – Health – Sex – Criminal Behaviour – Money – relationships  Self-Regulation Effective self-regulation relies on – Standards - ideas of how things could be- often what not to do – Monitoring – keeping track of behaviors – thermostat (TOTE – see next page) – Capacity to change – willpower !- aligning behavior with standards  Undermining Monitoring Dieting – Eat more while watching television – Eating binges – lose track of monitoring Alcohol intoxication – Reduces attention to self (monitoring) – Difficult to self-regulate (will power)  Self-Regulation Capacity to change – Willpower – Willpower can be depleted(ego-depletion Resisting temptation - uses up willpower – With practice, can be strengthened Let s look at some of the research into self control… Depletion clip Baumeister Replication issues? http://www.psychologicalscience.org/redesign /wp-content/uploads/2016/03/RRR-comment- BaumeisterVohs-revised-March17-002.pdf http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/62 77/1037.2 Gilbert’s general comment on replication failure. Classic will power study (Baumeister et al., 1998)  Food for Thought Dieting as Self-Regulation Self-regulation principles for effective dieting – Commitment to standards High level (100 kilo) and low level goals (1 kilo a week) – Monitoring (the self satnav) Keeping track of what you eat Keeping track of what you weigh (everyday?) – Willpower/Capacity to change Decrease other demands to increase strength for dieting Note ‘first line defense approach’ / Irrationality and Self-Destruction Why we behave so self destructive? Self-Defeating Acts: Why we behave so self destructive? Paradoxical – Rational beings acting irrationally Death wish (Freud, 1927) or fear of success (Horner, 1972)? – People almost never directly seek failure, suffering or misfortune Self-defeating acts result from – Tradeoffs - for instance sex now risk for STD later – Faulty knowledge and strategies e.g., procrastination – see also next slide Pathways to self-defeating behaviours Self-defeating Tradeoffs – Frequent when reward is immediate; cost delayed (example smoking) – Self-handicapping Faulty knowledge and strategies – “I do my best work under pressure”Oh … Really? – Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2018). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. In Self-Regulation and Self-Control (pp. 299-309). Routledge. – Eckert, M., Ebert, D. D., Lehr, D., Sieland, B., & Berking, M. (2016). Overcome procrastination: Enhancing emotion regulation skills reduce procrastination. Learning and Individual Differences, 52, 10-18.  Tradeoffs - Now Versus Tomorrow: Delay of Gratification Self-defeating behaviors – Overemphasize the present rather than the future Capacity to delay gratification Resist temptations by avoiding the sight or thought of it – Seeing what you want stimulates greater desire for it  Recap part 3 Self-regulation refers to the self’s capacity to alter its own responses The three components of self-regulation are: 1)standard, 2) monitoring, and 3) willpower/capacity for change The TOTE loop Willpower functions like a muscle Self-defeating behaviour is an action by which people bring suffering to themselves The capacity of delay of gratification os he ability to make short term sacrifices in order to get long term rewards The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr 55 Arnaud Wisman  What Makes Us Human? Humans have an elaborate inner system for controlling behavior – Make choices in novel ways – Link here-and-now with distant realities – Use complex reasoning processes – Better developed self-regulation – Capacity for self-destructive behavior Classic Mischel studies clip  Extra slides for your interest (Not exam) - How to overcome procrastination? Emotion regulation => tolerating + modifying negative or unpleasant emotions. In steps: - tolerate aversive emotions to be present - reminding oneself of one's toughness and resilience - reminding oneself of (or increasing) the affective commitment with task. Eckert, M., Ebert, D. D., Lehr, D., Sieland, B., & Berking, M. (2016). Overcome procrastination: Enhancing emotion regulation skills reduce procrastination. Learning and Individual Differences, 52, 10-18. If you have not already registered, Please sign-up using your university email address ACTIVE-CLASS.COM GO TO PSYC6200_WEEK 26  Review 1. Entity theorists are to incremental theorists as ____are to ___ global traits;specific traits specific traits; global traits stable traits; unstable traits a) unstable traits; stable traits The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 62 rnaud Wisman  Review 1. Entity theorists are to incremental theorists as ____are to ___ global traits;specific traits specific traits; global traits > stable traits; unstable traits a) unstable traits; stable traits  Review 2. Achmed is 4 years old. His mother a social spychologist, asks whether he would rather have one cookie today or three cookies tomorrow. Achmed chooses the one cookie today. This illustrates__ the cretainty effect risk aversion the planning fallacy a) temperol discounting The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 64 rnaud Wisman  Review 2. Achmed is 4 years old. His mother a social spychologist, asks whether he would rather have one cookie today or three cookies tomorrow. Achmed chooses the one cookie today. This illustrates__ the cretainty effect risk aversion the planning fallacy a) > temperol discounting  Review 3. people who believe in a free will are more ___than people who do not believe in a free will delussional prosocial optimistic a) pessimistic The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 66 rnaud Wisman  Review 3. people who believe in a free will are more ___than people who do not believe in a free will delussional > prosocial optimistic a) pessimistic  Review 4. What type of motivation leads to the best goal outcomes? Achievement Goal oriented Intrinsic a) incremental The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 68 rnaud Wisman  Review 4. What type of motivation leads to the best goal outcomes? Achievement Goal oriented > Intrinsic a) incremental  Review 5. Believing that one can exert control over stressful events makes them more tolerable. This is called the ___ panic button effect certainty effect internal locus of control a) status quo bias The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 70 rnaud Wisman  Review 5. Believing that one can exert control over stressful events makes them more tolerable. This is called the ___ > panic button effect certainty effect internal locus of control a) status quo bias  Review 6. Fatima seems obesses with achieving the goal she is working towards. She can not seem to focus on anything else, even other goals. This is called ___ the planning fallacy reactance the Zeigarnik effect a) goal shielding The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 72 rnaud Wisman  Review 6. Fatima seems obesses with achieving the goal she is working towards. She can not seem to focus on anything else, even other goals. This is called ___ the planning fallacy reactance the Zeigarnik effect a) > goal shielding  Review 7. People are overly optimistic about what they can accomplish. This is called__ hindsight bias the planning fallacy optimistic bias a) self enhancement The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 74 rnaud Wisman  Review 7. People are overly optimistic about what they can accomplish. This is called__ hindsight bias > the planning fallacy optimistic bias a) self enhancement  Review 8. Self regulation is most similar to which of the following component? Self-control Self-esteem Self-consciousness a) self endowment The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 76 rnaud Wisman  Review 8. Self regulation is most similar to which of the following component? > Self-control Self-esteem Self-consciousness a) self endowment  Review 9. What body part does self control most resemble? the frontal cortex muscle eye a) legs The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 78 rnaud Wisman  Review 9. What body part does self control most resemble? the frontal cortex > muscle eye a) legs  Review 10. The two main reasons for self defeating behaviour are__ faulty knowledge; fear of failure faulty knowledge; trade offs trade offs; fear of failure a) faulty knowledge; fear of trade offs The self in action, Chapter 4, Week 6, Dr A 80 rnaud Wisman  Review 10. The two main reasons for self defeating behaviour are__ faulty knowledge; fear of failure > faulty knowledge; trade offs trade offs; fear of failure a) faulty knowledge; fear of trade offs