Social Psychology Lecture 3 PDF

Sex/Porn mention: The Self Self-Awareness Rouge Test Humans pass passed Dolphins 18-24 months Asian Elephants Apes Magpies Self-Schemas Self-Schemas/Self-concepts are organized bodies of knowledhe about the self, incl...

Sex/Porn mention: The Self Self-Awareness Rouge Test Humans pass passed Dolphins 18-24 months Asian Elephants Apes Magpies Self-Schemas Self-Schemas/Self-concepts are organized bodies of knowledhe about the self, includingg attitudes, likes/dislikes & personality traits What we notice What we think about What we remember Self-Concept Clarity High S-C C if self-schemas are: Held with certainty (sure of who you are) Perceived to be consistent and stable Low S-C C (or sellf-concept confusion) lack firm knowledge of who you are Low self-esteem, depression prone, more neurotic, less aware of their own internal states, chronic self-analysis/ rumination Can be influenced by situational factors such as relationships Cultural Differences in Self-Knowledge In individualist cultures (Canada), people tend of have an independant view of self Defined by own thoughts, feelings, and behaviour Independance and uniqueness are valued In collectivist cultures (Japan) people tend to have interdependant view of the self Deinfed in terms of one's relationships to others Self is determined by the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of other interdependence is valued (therefore less consistent/stable)  Lower self-concept clarity but linkage to self-esteem is weaker Knowing Ourselves How do we gain self-knowledge? At least four pruimary ways: Introspection Observing our own behaviour Social interaction Comparing ourwiths with others Introspection Involves looking inward and examining the "inside info" that only you have about yourself People doesn't rely on introspection as often as expected Helps to have trigger: mirrior reflections, video recordings, etc. Limited utility People not always consciously aware of the reasons for their thoughts, feelings, ans behaviour Self-awareness theory - when people become aware of themselves and evaluate themselvess by comapring their behaviour to their own personal standards Behaviour can conflict with personal standards, which causes discomfort This distress mptivates distractions and self-destructive behaviours Other times it can be pleasant by highlighting accomplishments Can remian us to follow moral codes Cultural Diff - collectivist cultures seem to be more "self-aware" While it is easy to identifyy how we feel right now, it is difficult to accurately remember how we felt retrospectively and to know why People reply on causal theories or schemas/beliefs about why they engage in particular behaviours or feel the way Observing Our Own Behaviour Self-perception theory - When our attitudes are uncertain or ambiguous we infer inner feelings by observing our behaviour and the situation in which it occures We evaluate whether our behaviour reflects how we truly feel or if something about the situation we're in makes us behave a certain way Related to intrinsic vs extrinsic motivations When people come to believe that they do something doe wxtrinsic rewards, they persist less in that behaviour and ultimately achieve less Social Interaction People have different "selves" that develop in response to different social situations Self-monitoring - a personality trait reflecting an ability to modify one's behaviour in response to situational pressures, opportunities, and norms People with high self-monitoring are mroe likely to regulate their expressive behaviour and self-presentation to better adapt to the situational expectations The looking-glass self - We see ourselves through the eyes of other people and incorporate their views into our self- concept Implication: who we think we are in general or in a particular situation is partially determined by the people around us Michelangelo phenomenon - the process through which close others can help us move closer (or further) from who we ideally want to be Three shaping methods: 1. Affirming - Helpful // Positive and encouraging (yet realistic) feedback 2. Failing to affirm - Neither particularly helpful nor particularly harmful // Irrelevant feedback 3. Disaffirming - Harmful // Negative or counter-ideal feedback Comapring Ourselves With Others Social-Comparision Theory - Learning about our abilties and attitudes by comparing ourselves with other people We socially compare when there is no objective standard to measure ourselves against It is usually the most informative to compare ourselves with others who are similar to us on the attribute or dimensions in question  Porn count +2 Self-Control The self allows us to self-regulate or act in accordance with our goals and direct our behaviour, choices, plans for the future, etc. Self-control is the capacity to self-regulate can help us uverride impulses and modify our behaviour Dispositional (trait) self-control Relatively stable amount of self-control State self-control Variable amount of self-control Self-regulatory resource modeal argues that self control is a limited resource susceptible to depletion (ego depletion) In general, low self-control (dispositional or state) yields negative outcomes such as: Less academic success Impaired ability to to control anger or agression Less healthy interpersonal relationship Tendency to be less helpful to strangers Tendenct to use porn in inappropriate places (work, school, etc.) Is low self-control ever good? Yes, low self-control can sometimes be adaptive and yiel prosocial outcomes If gut reaction to a situation is appropirate, high self-control can impaire or impede the expression of those feelings. Therefore low self-control can bypass our filters and our tendenct to overanalyze certain situations Bolstering self-control Make implementation intentions, or make specific plans regarding how you will obtain your goals and avoid distractions Remove distractions from your environment The ego depletion perspective aruges that just as people can strengthen their muscles, people can strengthen their self-control Use theor non-dominant hand in mundane tasks Regulate habitual speech patterns (avoid sentences that begin with the word I, say yes instead of yeah, etc.) Overcoming Ego Depletion Problems caused by ego depletion can be counteracted in many ways Humor, laughter or other psotive emotions Cash incentives Sugar sweetened lemonade Self-Evaluation Self-esteem - how we feel about ourselves Self-esteem has both cognitive and affective components Cognitive: Beliefs about self-worth Affective: Feelings towards the self High self-esteem is generally thought to be adaptive and healthy but correlation does not equal causation Potential consequences of the "Self-Esteem Movement" in education Self-Esteem Vs Narcissism Having high self-esteem is not the same thing as being narcissistic Meausring Self-Esteem Self-esteem can be measured both implicitly and explicitly Explict Self-esteem - influenced by self-presentation concerns Measured through self-report - e.g. Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale Implicit self-esteem - arguably more resistant to self-presentation concerns, and thought to better reflect our unconscious feelings toward ourselves Measured through implicit tests like name-letter tasks or the IAT Two Types of Self-Esteem High explicit self-esteem can manifest in two ways Secure self-esteem: High explict + high implicit Defensive self-esteem: High explicit + low implicit  Secure self-esteem is stable and resistant to threat, whereas defensive self-esteem is fragile and vulerable to threat Defensive self-esteem is an aspect of narcissism (which also invloves entitlement, lack of empathy, etc.) Social Comparisons Impact Self-Esteem Downward social comparison - Comparing yourself to someone who is worse than you Self-protective/self-enhancing strategy The worse-off someone can be a past self We feel good when making a DSC only if we don't feel vulnerable to the worse-off person's negative outcomes Upward social comparison - Comparing yourself to someone who is better than you Usually makes us feel worse about ourselfs (e.g. threatens our self-esteem) Can be motivating if we're focused on our "actual" or "usual" self (vs. our "best" self) Porn +1 Social comparison theory is why many people believe social media and porn is destroying our self-esteem and our relationships Exception - the effects of DSCs and USCs are reversed when the person we're comparing ourselves to is our romantic partner Close others become included in the Self-Esteem As A Function Of Social Evaluations Sociometer Theory - self-esteem is a gauge that monitors the extent of our social acceptance or rejection Low self-esteem individuals are more willing to join social interactions when they've been given positive feedback from a group Links to self-fulfilling prophecies Self-Enhancement Believing that our skills and attributes are better than average helps us to maintain high levels of self-esteem Describes the motivational tendency for people to hold unrealistically positive views of themselves Individualist culture thing People from collectivist cultures are more likely to engage in self-effacement, the tendency to have a negative view of one-self Failure feedback leads to more self-effacement in collectivist cultures than individualist cultuures Self-Verification People seek verification and confirmation on their sense of self, regardless of whether their self-views are positive or negative We're mtoivated to maintain consistent self-views Why do we want our self-views verified? It is unsettling and confusing to have our self-views "disconfirmed" S-C Clarity Awkward and uncofmrtable to interact with people who view us differently than we view ourselves Desire for self-verification can conflict with the desire for self-enhancement Self-Enhancement Vs. Self-Verification Ideally, we want both to align We want people to "get" us and to see us in a positive light The need for self-enchancement conflicts with the need for self-verification we seem to prefer self-enhancement feedback from "experts" when it comes to their domain of expertises, otherwise we tend to prefer self-verification feedback