Aspects of Self
Self Concept
Self Awareness
Self esteem
Self regulation
Social self
Self Awareness
How can I explain and predict myself?
Think of the baby and the rouge video
3 Reasons for Wanting:
1. appraisal motive: simple desire to learn the truth about oneself, whatever it is.
2. self enhancement motive: desire to learn favorable or flattering thi
Self Concept
Who am i?
Children: concrete, observable characteristics.
Adults: Psychological states. How others judge us
Young children believe that parents know them better than they know themselves.
Independent View of Self
Emphasizes what makes the self different
Self is stable
Goal- be unique
Promote own goals
Interdependent View of Self
Emphasized what connects the self to other people and groups.
Self is flexible
Goal- belong
Promote group goals
Asian gymnast who still participated in olympics with broken leg for his team.
Gender and Self Concept
Traditionally women were thought to have a more interdependent sense of self than men do
OR men and women might just seek different kinds of interdependence. Women talk about small groups and men talk about larger groups.
Introspection
The process by which a person examines the contents of his or her mind and mental states.
We can know our thoughts everyone else must infer.
Researchers wanted to find out how much people think about themselves- participants were thinking about themselves
Self Awareness Theory
Idea that when people focus their attention on themselves they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values.
Does my behavior match my values?
How can you increase self-awareness by being made self-conscious?
If behavior does
Casual Theories
Theories about the causes of ones own feelings and behaviors
Introspecting about our thoughts and behaviors doesnt always yield the right answer about why we feel the way we do.
May convince ourselves these reasons are correct and change our minds.
Reasons Generated attitude change
Attitude change resulting from thinking about the reasons for ones attitudes; people assume their attitudes match the reasons that are plausible and easy to verbalize.
Self Esteem
My sense of self worth
A persons overall sense of self worth. Eg: I feel i am a person of worth, at least on an equal basis with others.
Comes from nurture and nature
Benefits of High Self Esteem: Speak up in groups-speak mind. Resist influence, better at
Self Regulation
Control over the self by the self.
Ability to alters ones cognitions, feelings and behaviors.
Capacity to override one's initial impulses or responses.
White bear experiment: told not to think about white bear and then shown a comedy and told not to laugh
Spotlight Effect
Belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance and behavior than they really are.
The Looking Glass Self
We learn about ourselves by imagining how others judge us.
Sometimes right: Recognizing that we might have been rude to a waiter.
Sometimes wrong: Karaoke
Social Comparisons
We assess our qualities by comparing self to others.
We prefer to compare ourselves to similar others.
If the goal is to feel good about self, we make downward social comparisons (watch cops)
If goal is to learn, we make upward social comparisons (profess
Better than Average Effect
Tendency to rank oneself higher than most people on positive attributes.
Impression Management
The attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen.
Self Monitoring
Tendency for people to monitor their behavior in such a way that it fits situational demands.
Ingratiation
Process whereby people flatter, praise, and generally try to make themselves likable to people, often of higher status.
Self Handicapping
Process of producing excuses for performance.
Behavioral: create genuine handicaps
Self Reported: make excuses
It protects our self esteem and public image.
Singer makes an album that does good, then does drugs and records another album, it does badly and
Cognitive Dissonance
Feelings of discomfort caused by performing an action that runs counter to ones customary conception of oneself.
External Justification
Reason or explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual.
Reason the participants in the $20 condition didnt feel dissonance.
Internal Justification
Reduce dissonance by changing something about yourself.
Participants in $1 condition.
Reducing Dissonance
Changing behavior to bring it in line with cognitions
Justify behavior by changing conditions
Justify behavior by adding in new cognitions.
Cognitive Dissonance and Cheating
Judson Mills
Measured elementary students attitude toward cheating. Had students do a hard exam and compete for a prize. Measure students attitudes toward cheating.
Found children who cheated adopted a more lenient attitude toward cheating.
Children who d
Culture and Dissonance
Dissonance occurs in almost every part of the world. In eastern cultures people might experience and reduce dissonance due to personal experience and might experience and reduce dissonance due to someone elses experience (if he/she knows them)
Hypocrisy Induction
The arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements that run counter to their behavior and then reminding them of the inconsistency between what they advocated and their behavior.
Leads to individuals to more responsible behavior.
Using cognit
Impact Bias
Tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future negative events.
Dont get a job, romantic breakup, dont pass dissertation defense.
Dont anticipate that well reduce cognitive dissonance in the future- mainly unconsc
Post Decision Dissonance
Dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives.
The more permanent and less revocable the decision, the greater the need to reduce dissonanc
Maximizers
After finding something that seems to meet their requirements, they cant make a decision until after theyve examined every option, so they know theyre making the best possible decision.
Experience more upward and downward social comparisons. More unhappin
Satisficers
Make a decision or take action once their criteria are met.
Justification of Effort
The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.
The Ben Franklin Effect
We will like a person more after doing a favor for them.
Based on dissonance theory
Participants who did a favor for the experimenter liked him more than did other participants.
Dehumanization
Seeing people as less than human. Soldiers during war. Reduces dissonance. Successful dehumanization leads to:
1. Continuation of behavior
2. Escalation of cruelty
Attitude
Evaluations of people, objects and ideas
Belief: Trump is president
Attitude: Like/Dislike Trump being president.
Building Blocks of Attitude
Cognition
Affect
Behaviors
Same as the building blocks of social psychology
Cognition Influenced Attitudes
Attitude based on peoples beliefs about the properties of an attitude object.
People like information that is easier to process.
People preferred the recipe that was easier to read and they believed it would take half as long and they were more willing to
Affectively Based Attitudes
If it causes good emotions or feelings, we will like that too.
If it is associated with good emotions or feelings we will like it.
Behaviorally Based Attitudes
An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object.
Self Perception Theory
People dont know how they feel until they see how they behave.
Explicit Attitudes
Attitude that we consciously endorse and can easily report
Easy to measure explicit attitudes
Implicit Attitudes
Attitudes that are involuntary uncontrollable and at times unconscious.
More difficult to measure implicit attitudes. Most common way to test is implicit association test (IAT)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Internal justification: reduce dissonance by changing something about yourself (attitudes)
Persuasive Communication
Communication advocating a particular side of an issue.
Yale Attitude Change Approach
Study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages.
Who?
Source variables: credible speakers, attractive speakers
What?
Communication variables
Messages don't seem to be designed to pers
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Model explaining two ways in which communications can cause attitude change.
Centrally
Peripherally
Central Route
People elaborate on a persuasive communication, people listen carefully to and think about the arguments.
When an issue is relevant
High in need for cognition
People are able to pay close attention to the arguments.
Long term attitude change.
Peripheral Route
People don't elaborate on the arguments in a persuasive communication but are instead swayed by peripheral cues.
When an issue isn't relevant
Low in need for cognition
People are unable to pay close attention to the arguments
Short term attitude change
Fear Arousing Communication
Persuasive messages that attempt to changes peoples attitudes by arousing their fears.
Emotions as a Heuristic
Emotions can act as a signal for how we feel about something
Attitude Change
Match between type of attitude and way you try to change the attitude.
Cognitive-cognitive
Affective-affective
Behavioral-behavioral
Ex:
Air conditioner-cognitive attitude- persuaded by arguments of utility
Perfume- affective attitudes- persuaded by socia
Predicting Spontaneous Behavior
When we have to make a spontaneous decision about our behaviors- the behavior doesnt always match our attitudes.
Attitudes and behaviors most likely to match when attitudes are accessible.
Attitude Accessibility: strength of association between object and
Predicting Deliberative Behavior
Accessibility of behavior is less important because you have time to consider attitude.
Theory of Planned behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior
Behavioral attitude: attitude toward the behavior
Subjective Norms: Beliefs about other peoples attitude toward behavior
Perceived Behavioral Control: Belief about control over engaging in behavior
Advertising
Does work- especially for new products
Works best when matched to attitude type- match emotionally based attitudes with emotionally based ads.
Ads should be relevant
Can affect attitudes in unexpected ways- like the female advertisements where women are o
Subliminal Messaging
Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence peoples judgements, attitudes, and behaviors
Doesnt work
Can work under carefully controlled lab conditions like the experiment using Lipton Ice as a subliminal message an
Resist Persuasive Messages
Be alert to product placement.
Works because people dont realize theyre being influenced.
Dont generate counterarguments and children are especially vulnerable.
Being warned helps.
Attitude Inoculation
Make people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against the position.
Resist peer pressure through DARE role-playing scenarios.
Reactance Theory
People feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened
Reactance is aroused.
Perform the threatened behavior
Ex: Parents tell their children they hate tattoos and they will never be allowed to get one makes the child feel their freedom is b