social identity theory
the theory that people define themselves largely in terms of the social groups with which they identify
social role theory
the theory that gender differences in behavior, personality, and self-definition arise because of a long history of role distribution between the sexes
self-schema
an integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about an attribute that is part of one's self-concept.
working self-concept
the portion of one's self-schema that is currently activated and strongly influences thoughts, feelings, and action.
solo status
a sense that one is unique in some specific manner in relation to other people in the current environment
symbolic interactionism
the perspective that people use their understanding of how significant people in their lives view them as the primary basis for knowing and evaluating themselves
looking glass self
the idea that significant people in our lives reflect back to us who we are by how they behave toward us
appraisals
what other people think about us
reflected appraisals
what we think other people think about us
social comparison theory
the theory that people come to know themselves partly by comparing themselves with similar others
downward comparison
comparing oneself with those who are worse off
upward comparison
comparing oneself with those who are better off
better than average effect
the tendency to rank oneself higher than most people on positive attributes
self-perception theory
the theory that people sometimes infer their attitudes and attributes by observing their behavior and the situation in which it occurs
facial feedback hypothesis
the idea that changes in facial expression elicit emotions associated with those expressions
two-factor theory of emotion
the theory that people's emotions are the product of both their arousal level and how they interpret that arousal
misattribution of arousal
ascribing arousal resulting from one source to a different source
excitation transfer theory
the idea that leftover arousal caused by an initial even can intensify emotional reactions to a second event
self-regulation
the process of guiding one's thoughts, feelings, and behavior to reach desired goals
self-awareness theory
the theory that aspects of the self�one's attitudes, values, and goals�will be most likely to influence behavior when attention is focused on the self.
self-discrepancy theory
the theory that people feel anxiety when they fall short of how they ought to be, but feel sad when they fall short of how they ideally want to be
expectancy-value theory
the theory that effort is based on the value or desirability of the goal, multiplied by the person's assessment of how likely it is that she will be able to attain the goal
auto-motive theory
the theory that even subtle exposure to goal-related stimuli can automatically activate the goal and guide behavior
action identification theory
the theory that explains how people conceive of action�their own or others'�in ways that range from very concrete to very abstract
construal level theory
the theory that people focus more on concrete details when thinking about the near future, but focus more on abstract meaning when thinking about the distant future
affective forecasting
predicting what one's emotional reactions to potential future events will be
ironic processing
the idea that the more we try not to think about something, the more those thoughts enter our mind and distract us from other things
monitor
the mental process that is on the lookout for signs of unwanted thoughts
operator
the mental process that actively pushes any signs of the unwanted thoughts out of consciousness
ego depletion
the idea that ego strength becomes depleted by extended bouts of self-control
cognitive reappraisal
the cognitive reframing of a situation to minimize one's emotional reaction to it
implementation intentions
mental rules that link particular situational cues to goal-directed behaviors
self-regulatory perseveration theory of depression
the theory that one way in which people can fall into depression is by persistent self-focus on an unattainable goal