Spotlight effect– belief that others are paying more attention to one’s appearance and behavior than they really are

Illusion of transparency- Illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others

Self-Concept- A person’s answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Schema- Mental templates by which we organize our worlds

Self-schema- Beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information

Independent Self- Concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group (Western cultures)

Interdependent Self- Giving priority to the goals of one’s groups and defining one’s identity accordingly (Eastern cultures: Asian, African, and

Central and South American Cultures)

Over-justification effect- To avoid use performance-contingent rewards (these provide info and positive feedback rather than task-contingent reward)

Self-handicapping- Creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves (in advance of a poor performance) types: 1. Behaviorally creating obstacles

(drinking all night) 2.Citing verbal excuses (Tired)

Learned helplessness- Negative event/situation; External locus of control; Results in hopelessness and depression; Can be overcome by practicing self-control activities (time management; exercise)

Self-concept: the content of the self, known aspects, our knowledge about who we are; self-schema; malleable What determines our self-concept?

  1. Roles we play- new roles begin as play-acting then become reality
  2. Social Identities we form- we compare ourselves with others and consider how we differ (tend to compare upward; can diminish satisfaction)
  3. Comparisons we make with others
  4. Our successes and failures- Our daily experiences cause us to have empowerment or low self-esteem
  5. How other people judge us- Looking-glass self; how we think others perceive us as a mirror for perceiving ourselves 6. Surrounding culture

What influences how we define our sense of self?

  • Development
    • Childhood-concrete self-concept
      • Finite characteristics (hair color)
    • Adulthood- abstract self-concept
      • Psychological states (e.g. thoughts and feelings)
    • Culture
      • Western
        • Independent (a way of defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions
      • Eastern
        • Interdependent (A way of defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people)
      • Gender
        • Women
          • Relational interdependence (focuses on close relationships)
        • Men
          • Collective interdependence (focus is on memberships in larger groups)

Purpose of the Self

  1. Self-knowledge: organizes information about ourselves; use this information to understand and predict future behaviors
  2. Self-control: the self in action; our sense of self enables us to pursue our goals; makes choices concerning our present and future behavior; to maintain our objective s in the face of obstacles, we must exert selfcontrol; regulates our behavior and choices in optimal ways (thought suppression)
  3. Self-presentation: the presentation of who we are, or who we want people to believe we are, to others; management occurs when we consciously or unconsciously orchestrate a carefully designed presentation of self to fit a particular goal or need in a social interaction; differs from culture to culture (Japanese wedding and funeral guest rentals)
  4. Self-justification

How do we gain self-knowledge?

Introspection- looking inward and examining your thoughts, feelings, and motives

Problems:

  1. Infrequency of introspection- over 100 participant with huge age variation
  2. Information gained through introspection- appropriate information may not be accessible; information gained may not be accurate Accuracy:
  3. Many mental processes occur outside of awareness; often only aware of result, not the process
  4. Experimental study- researchers asked a group of college students to record their mood every day for five weeks- mood predicting variables has no affect on mood Consequences:
    • Inaccurate assessment
    • Accurate but incomplete assessment
    • Problems can lead to faulty

Wilson’s Dual Attitude System– mental processes that control behavior are distinct (and often different) from those mental processes that explain behavior. Automatic, implicit attitudes often control behavior. Conscious, explicit attitudes often explain behavior (affected by education, age, persuasion, past behaviors, social desirability etc.) Results: Found that attitudes predicted later behavior when merely stated (when asked to analyze these attitudes 1st reported attitude no longer predicted behavior.

Behavioral observations

Bem’s Self-perception theory- When our attitudes are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer our attitudes and feelings from past behaviors. Occurs when attitudes or feelings are unclear. Situational factors- was this behavior freely chosen (intrinsic) or motivated by others (extrinsic)

Over justification Effect: to avoid over justification, use performancecontingent rewards, not task-contingent rewards.

Intrinsic: engaging in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting. Self-perception theory suggests that attitudes and feelings are inferred from behaviors that are intrinsically motivated, freely chosen

Extrinsic: Engaging in an activity because of external rewards or pressures

Schachter’s two-factor theory of emotion- Emotions are derived from

1.physiological arousal 2. Explanation for that arousal

Schatchter and Singer (1962)- told participants they were investigating how a certain vitamin was affected vision. Injection was either epinephrine (adrenaline) or a placebo. Placed each participant with a confederate, both asked to fill out a questionnaire.

Six conditions: Epinephrine vs. placebo; correct vs. incorrect symptoms, Angry confederate (insulting questionnaire) vs. Euphoric confederate (no questionnaire)

Dependent Variable: Reported Emotion

Results: Found that without knowledge of the correct symptoms participants reported emotions matching that of the confederate. When participants knew the correct symptoms, reported emotion was not affected by the confederate;

Interpretation: People’s emotions can be arbitrary; they often depend on the most plausible explanation for the physiological arousal

Social interactions- social contact is critical to the very development of a self-concept. Gallup’s ape study (only apes that grew up with others passed the “red dye mirror test”) Two Types: Social comparison and adopting views of others

Social comparison: comparing upward or downward. Upward is a guide for excellence; downward boast our ego. (Cancer patients used downward) could also compare past with present.

Adopting views of others: Under some conditions people adopt the views of others. Social tuning: the process whereby people adopt another person’s attitude so as to get along with that individual

Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954)- Learn about our abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people. When do people compare themselves with others? When objective criteria for selfevaluation are not present. With whom do we compare ourselves Initially we compare ourselves to everyone, however we can compare ourselves to individuals who… 1. Supersede us in the compared ability/attitude 2. Are equal to us in the compared ability/attitude 3. Inferior to us in the compared ability/attitude

Problems with predicting our feelings: 1. Inaccurate assessment (may convince ourselves that these reasons are correct which may results in reason-generated change) 2. Accurate but Incomplete assessment (By providing reasons, you may focus on those reasons that are easy to access and verbalize. This may lead or the misconception that these reasons are more important than other, inaccessible, or difficult to verbalize reasons.)

Self-Control– Our sense of self enables us to pursue our goals; Makes choices concerning our present and future; To maintain our objectives in the face of obstacles, we must exert self-control; regulated our behavior and choices in optimal ways (thought suppression)

Factors that affect self-controls success: Self-regulatory resource model- effortful self-control depletes our limited willpower reserves. Our brains “central executive” consumes available blood sugar when engaged in self-control; suggests that having plenty of energy will enhance your ability to control you actions.