Ch5 Handout tutorial working sheet for social psych PDF

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tutorial working sheet for social psychology chapter 4 and others beneficial for all psychology students. tutorial working sheet for social psychology chapter 4 and others beneficial for all psychology students....

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I. The Origins and Nature of the Self-Concept Learning Objective: 5.1 Describe the self-concept and how it develops. • Are we the only species that has a “self”? Some fascinating studies suggest that other species have at least a rudimentary sense of self. Chimps and orangutans realized that they were looking at themselves, and not another animal, in a mirror, and they recognized that they looked different after a dot of red dye was applied to their forehead. • A variation of the red-dye test with toddlers found that human self-recognition develops at around eighteen to twenty-four months of age. Then, as we grow older, this rudimentary sense of self develops into a full-blown self-concept, defined as the overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes. • To study how people’s self-concept changes from childhood to adulthood, psychologists have asked people of different ages the question “Who am I?” Typically, a child’s selfconcept is concrete, referencing clear-cut, easily observable characteristics (e.g., age, sex, hobbies). As we mature, we place more emphasis on psychological states and considerations of how other people judge us. • Morality is viewed as central to the self-concept, more so than cognitive processes or desires. A. Cultural Influences on the Self-Concept • In many Western cultures, people have an independent view of the self, which is a way of defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions, and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. In contrast, many Asian and other non-Western cultures have an interdependent view of the self, which is a way of defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people and recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. Here, connectedness and interdependence between people are valued, whereas independence and uniqueness are frowned on. B. Functions of the Self • There are four main functions of the self: Self-knowledge is the way we understand who we are and formulate and organize this information. Selfcontrol is the way we make plans and execute decisions, such as your decision to read this book right now instead of going out for ice cream. Impression management is the way we present ourselves to other people and get them to see us the way we want to be seen. And self-esteem is the way we try to maintain positive views of ourselves. II. Self-Knowledge Learning Objective: 5.2 Explain how people use introspection, observations of their own behavior, and other people to know themselves. A. Knowing Ourselves Through Introspection • Introspection is looking inward to examine the “inside information” that we— and we alone—have about our thoughts, feelings, and motives. One of the most amazing things about the human mind is that we can use it to examine ourselves,

but there are consequences and limits to introspection. 1. Focusing on the Self: Self-Awareness Theory • When we think about ourselves because of external circumstances (e.g., seeing ourselves in a mirror), then we are in a state of selfawareness. According to self-awareness theory, when we are focused on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values (see Figure 5.3). In short, we become self-conscious in the sense that we become objective, judgmental observers of ourselves, seeing ourselves as an outside observer would. 2. Judging Why We Feel the Way We Do: Telling More Than We Can Know • Many of our basic mental processes occur outside of awareness. We are usually aware of the final result of our thought processes but often unaware of the cognitive processing that led to the result. But even though we often don’t know why we feel a certain way, it seems we are always able to come up with an explanation. • Nisbett and Wilson referred to this phenomenon as “telling more than we can know,” because people’s explanations of their feelings and behavior often go beyond what they can reasonably know. • People have many causal theories about what influences their feelings and behavior and often use these to help explain why they feel the way they do. We learn many of these theories from the culture in which we grow up. Our schemas and theories are not always correct, however, and thus can lead to incorrect judgments about the causes of our actions. B. Knowing Ourselves by Observing Our Own Behavior 1. Self-Perception Theory • Self-perception theory argues that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs. • According to self-perception theory, people use the same attributional principles that they use with others—the attribution theory—to infer their own attitudes and feelings. 2. Understanding Our Emotions: The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion • Schachter (1964) proposed a theory of emotion that says we infer what our emotions are in the same way that we infer what kind of person we are or what we like, by observing our behavior and then explaining to ourselves why we are behaving that way. The difference is the kind of behavior we are observing: internal behaviors—how physiologically aroused we feel. If we feel aroused, we then try to figure out what is causing it. • Schachter’s theory is called the two-factor theory of emotion, because understanding our emotional states requires two steps: We must first experience physiological arousal, and then we must seek an appropriate explanation or label for it, using information in the situation to help us make an attribution about why we feel aroused

(see Figure 5.4). 3. Finding the Wrong Cause: Misattribution of Arousal • In everyday life, people usually know why they are aroused. In many situations, however, there is more than one plausible cause for our arousal, and it is difficult to identify how much of the arousal is due to one source or another. Because of this difficulty, we sometimes misidentify our emotions. This is misattribution of arousal, whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do. 4. Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivation • Intrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in an activity because you enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures. In other words, it is play, not work. • Extrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because you enjoy the task or find it interesting. • Rewards can make people lose interest in activities they initially enjoyed. This is called the overjustification effect, which results when people view their behavior as caused by extrinsic reasons, leading them to underestimate the role of intrinsic reasons. • Task-contingent rewards are granted simply for doing a task, regardless of the quality of the performance. Performancecontingent rewards depend on how well people perform a task— and can thus convey positive feedback. 5. Mindsets and Motivation • The way in which people perceive their own abilities influences their motivations. Some people believe their abilities are set in stone; they either have them or they do not. Dweck (2006) calls this a fixed mindset, the idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change—a fixed amount of intelligence, athletic ability, etc. Other people have a growth mindset, the belief that achievement is the result of hard work, trying new strategies, and seeking input from others. C. Using Other People to Know Ourselves • The self-concept does not develop in a solitary context but is shaped by the people around us. 1. Knowing Ourselves by Comparing Ourselves to Others • Social comparison theory holds that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to others. The theory revolves around two important questions: When do people engage in social comparison? And with whom do they choose to compare themselves? • In answer to the first question: People socially compare when there is no objective standard to measure themselves against and when they are uncertain about themselves in a particular area. In answer to the second: It depends on whether your goal is to get an accurate

assessment of your abilities, to determine what the top level is so that you know what to strive for, or to feel better about yourself. • If your goal is to know what excellence is, you are likely to engage in upward social comparison, which is comparing yourself to people who are better than you are with regard to a particular trait or ability. If your goal is to feel good about yourself and boost your ego, then you are better off engaging in downward social comparison, comparing yourself to people who are worse than you are with regard to a particular trait or ability. 2. Knowing Ourselves by Adopting Other People’s Views • When it comes to our views of the social world, often we adopt the views of our friends. Cooley (1902) called this the “looking glass self,” by which he meant that we see ourselves and the social world through the eyes of other people and often adopt those views. • This social tuning—the process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes—can happen even when we meet someone for the first time, if we want to get along with that person. And social tuning can happen unconsciously. III. Self-Control: The Executive Function of the Self Learning Objective: 5.3 Compare when people are likely to succeed at self-control and when they are likely to fail. • Self-control is the ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals. An important function of the self is to be the chief executive who sets goals and makes choices about what to do in the present and the future. We appear to be the only species, for example, that can imagine events that have not yet occurred and engage in long-term planning, and it is the self that does this planning and exerts control over our actions. • More often than not, this process is hard, because to get what we want, we need to avoid short-term pleasures that would get in the way. One approach that helps is to form specific implementation intentions in advance of a situation in which we will need to exert selfcontrol, making specific plans about where, when, and how we will fulfill a goal and avoid temptations.

IV. Impression Management: All the World’s a Stage Learning Objective: 5.4 Describe how people portray themselves so that others will see them as they want to be seen. • Impression management is the attempt by people to get others to see them the way they want to be seen. As Goffman (1959) pointed out, we are all like stage actors who are trying our best to convince the “audience” (the people around us) that we are a certain way, even if we really are not. A. Ingratiation and Self-Handicapping • Ingratiation is the use of flattery or praise to make yourself likable to another, often a person of higher status. We can ingratiate through compliments, by agreeing with another’s ideas, by commiserating and offering sympathy, and so on. Ingratiation can backfire, though, if the recipient senses that we are being insincere. • Self-handicapping is when people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly at a task, they can avoid blaming themselves. Doing poorly or failing at a task—or even just doing less well than you expected—is damaging to your self-esteem. Self-handicapping attempts to prevent this disappointment by setting up excuses before the fact, just in case. • There are two major ways in which people self-handicap: With behavioral selfhandicapping, people act in ways that reduce the likelihood that they will succeed at a task, so that if they fail, they can blame it on the obstacles they created rather than on their lack of ability. With reported self-handicapping, rather than creating obstacles to success, people devise ready-made excuses in case they fail. B. Culture, Impression Management, and Self-Enhancement • People in all cultures are concerned with the impression they make on others, but the nature of this concern and the impression management strategies people use differ considerably from culture to culture. • People in Asian cultures, for example, tend to have a more interdependent view of themselves than people in Western cultures, and one consequence is that “saving face,” or avoiding public embarrassment, is extremely important to them. In Japan, people are so concerned about having the “right” guests at weddings and the appropriate number of mourners at the funerals of their loved ones that if guests or mourners are unavailable, they may go to a local “convenience agency” (benriya) to rent some.

KEY TERMS

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Self-Concept: The overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes Independent View of the Self: A way of defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people Interdependent View of the Self: A way of defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people, recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others Introspection: The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives Self-Awareness Theory: The idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values Causal Theories: Theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from our culture (e.g., “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”) Self-Perception Theory: The theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: The idea that emotional experience is the result of a twostep self-perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it Misattribution of Arousal: The process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do Intrinsic Motivation: The desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures Extrinsic Motivation: The desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task or find it interesting Overjustification Effect: The tendency for people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons Task-Contingent Rewards: Rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well the task is done Performance-Contingent Rewards: Rewards that are based on how well we perform a task Fixed Mindset: The idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change Growth Mindset: The idea that achievement is the result of hard work, trying new strategies, and seeking input from others Social Comparison Theory: The idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people Upward Social Comparison: Comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability Downward Social Comparison: Comparing ourselves to people who are worse than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability Social Tuning: The process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes Self-Control: The ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals Implementation Intentions: People’s specific plans about where, when, and how they will

fulfill a goal and avoid temptations Impression Management: The attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen • Ingratiation: The process whereby people flatter, praise, and generally try to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status • Self-Handicapping: The strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves •...