Social Psych Week 3 Lecture Notes PDF

Lecture 3 Judging Ourselves and Others Judging Our Self: Self Concept: The set of thoughts and beliefs that define who people think they are and the way they regard themselves. In other words, the self involves specific beliefs a...

Lecture 3 Judging Ourselves and Others Judging Our Self: Self Concept: The set of thoughts and beliefs that define who people think they are and the way they regard themselves. In other words, the self involves specific beliefs about who you are You may see yourself as Energetic Extraverted Intelligent Grouchy Etc. You can see yourself as something with a negative connotation, such as a psychopath, but still love yourself Self-esteem: the positive and negative value that one places on him or herself. You can have self worth, but still have low self esteem Can be impacted by Self-efficacy: How confident and competent one believes one is Development of the Self: Self-Perception Example: Observing your own behaviour with your Direct Feedback Example: School; we can direct feedback on our behavipir Lecture 3 1  Social comparison Example: Comparing characteristics with other people in your neighbourhood Other’s judgements: Self Discrepancy Theory: Self concept is a work in progress, and we are comparing ourselves to our self-guides. Your sense of self is a function of two elements Viewpoint: Your own viewpoint of who you are Your viewpoint of how others see you Domains of the self What you are today What you are ideally What you ought to be This would be considered a balance/consistency theory The discrepancy between the actual/ideal and the ought works as motivation; either own perception or others’ perceptions. Emotions: Lecture 3 2  Self-Focused Emotions: Emotions affected by the different comparisons we might make; tied to self concept. Co occurring emotions. Shame Characterologically you are flawed and are a bad person Guilt You had control over behaviour and did the wrong thing Regret Embarrassment Pride Etc. Emotional Responses: Guilt = SC < ought/own guide Shame = SC < ought/other guide Pride (low) = SC < ideal/other guide Self-Esteem (high) = SC ≥ self guide Self-Esteem (low) = SC < self guide NOTE: Your self-concept comprises your actual self from your own and other perspectives, while your self guides/comparisons relates to your ideal and ought self, from your own and other perspectives Summary: Our self concept is important It may be a function of differences between our self-concept and self-guides These discrepancies feed our self-esteem and feed the way we feel including depression. Lecture 3 3  Self Protection Processing: Information Processing: Self-serving bias: The tendency to view oneself favourably, from a positive perspective. False consensus: To believe that all others follow the same perspective as us, yet thinking so baselessly. False uniqueness: Tendency to underestimate how common we are and overestimate how special we are Impression Management False modesty: Using self-put-downs and disparaging comments in order to elicit reassuring strokes from others Excuses: Reasons offered to explain or mitigate our responsibilities for a negative event Example: If I had time to train, I would have won Ingratiation: To give compliments and do favours for others in order to elicit a positive impression Self-promotion: Highlight your own successes and downplay your failures Exemplification: Trying to elicit guilt in others by creating an impression of moral superiority Example: If you’re late for work for the third day in a row and you tell your coworker and they cross their arms and say “I’ve never been late” Supplication: When we elicit help from others by humbly requesting it through self depreciation and belittling ourselves (manipulating for help) Example: “I can’t seem to clean the dishes as well as you do it” to make them do the dishes. Self-handicapping: Sabotaging yourself in order to make an attribution for your failure that protects your self Example: You don’t work hard to study for your exam, and when you fail, you can blame the lack of time spent studying rather than your Lecture 3 4  own capacity and intelligence Lecture 3 5