Self-awareness
The understanding that we are a separate entity from other people and objects in our world. It is a state of being conscious of our own existence
early research on self-awareness:
Darwin and imitation (1872) - Self recognition is documented in infants as young as 72 hours old. Four months old display a more distinct sense of self by smiling more and looking at pictures of other than pictures of themselves
mirror-self recognition test:
Gallup - A scientific paradigm where a mark is placed on an animal's forehead and it is placed in front of a mirror. If the animal touches the mark on its forehead, it reveals self-recognition.
Introspection
Ancient Greek admonition "Know Thyself" based on the idea that self-knowledge can be gained through self-understanding.
the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings
narrated self
Introspective efforts often take shape in form of narratives about the self as we perceive ourselves as narrating a continuous life-story.
accuracy of self-knowledge
Reliability of introspection is sometimes debated.
Inaccessibility to non-conscious processes (Wilson, 2002).
Certain aspects of the self are uniquely known to the self while other aspects of the self are uniquely better known to others (Vazire& Carlson,
Self-schemas
Derived from past social experience, self-schemas represent people's beliefs and feelings about themselves, in general and in specific situations.
reflected self-appraisals
belief about what others think about one's self. We partly see ourselves through the eyes of family and socialization agents.
independent views of the self
For a person with an independent view of self, this involves seeking information that confirms or enhances one's internal, private attributes.
Independent views of self (e.g., North American and Western European cultures)
Men more likely
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
(e.g., East Asian, South Asian, Mediterranean, Latin American, and African cult
Social comparison theory
The hypothesis that people compare themselves to other people in order to obtain an accurate assessment of their own opinions, abilities, and internal states
self-esteem
The overall positive or negative evaluation people have of themselves, which includes how we feel about our attributes, qualities, successes, failure, and our self in general.
Trait and State Self-esteem
- Trait self-esteem is a person's enduring level of self-regard across time.
-State self-esteem refers to the dynamic, changeable self-evaluations a person
experiences as momentary feelings about the self.
culture and self-esteem
People maintain their self-esteem even with a low status by valuing things they achieve and comparing themselves to people with similar positions.
Self-enhancement
he desire to maintain, increase, or protect one's positive self-views.
self-presentation
the act of expressing oneself and behaving in ways designed to create a favorable impression or an impression that corresponds to one's ideals
self-monitoring
The tendency to monitor one's behavior to fit the current situation.
self-handicapping
The tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior in order to have an excuse ready in case of poor performance or failure.
Self evaulation maintenance model
The idea that people are motivated to view themselves favorably, and that they do so through:
1)Reflection 2) Social comparison
Self-Expansion Theory
Basic motivation to grow and improve and enhance our self-concept.�One way in which self-concept expands is through close social relationships.�Inclusion of Other in Self Scale
Self-Regulation
-RegulationProcesses by which people initiate, alter, and control their behavior in the pursuit of goals, including the ability to resist short-term rewards that thwart the attainment of long-term goals.
Promotion focus
Prevention focus
Promotion focus
Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ideal self standards, or a focus on attaining positive outcomes and approach-related behaviors.
Prevention focus
Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ought self standards, or a focus on avoiding negative outcomes and avoidance-related behaviors.
actual self
The self that people believe they are in reality.
Ideal self:
The self that embodies an individual's wishes and aspirations.
Ought self
The self that is concerned with the duties, obligations, and external demands an individual feels compelled to honor
who you believe you should be
self-discrepancy theory
A theory that behavior is motivated by standards reflecting ideal and ought selves. Falling short of these standards produces specific emotions: dejection-related emotions for actual-ideal discrepancies, and agitation-related emotions for actual-ought dis
Social Cognition
is an area of social psychology concerned with social influences on thought, memory, perception, and other cognitive processes.
attribution theory
People are motivated to explain their own and other people's behavior by attributing causes of that behavior to a situation or disposition.
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency, in explaining other people's behavior, to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate the influence of the situation.
Egocentric thought
thought that is self-centered and fails to consider the viewpoints of others
people think they are being noticed much more than they are
Self-serving Bias
Tendency for individuals to make dispositional attributions for their successes and situational attributions for their failures.
The Confirmation Bias
The tendency to pay attention only to information that confirms one's own beliefs.
Explicit attitudes:
We are aware of them, they shape our conscious decisions and actions, and can be measured on self report questionnaires
Implicit attitudes:
We are unaware of them, they may influence our behavior in ways we do not recognize, and they are measured in indirect ways.
bottom-up processing
data driven mental processing in which the individual forms conclusions based on the stimuli encountered in the environment
top-down processing
theory-driven" mental processing, in which an individual filters and interprets new information in light of preexisting knowledge and expectations
Priming
occurs when ideas that have been recently encountered or frequently activated are more likely to come to mind and thus will be used in interpreting social events.
Bias Blindspots
We are unable to detect our cognitive biases at work because they are unconscious and unintentional.
However, we have less of a problem identifying the bias in others because we are focused on their behavior.
The donald study
Subjects were asked to participate in two "different" research projects-one on perception and another on reading comprehension. First experiment primed different trait categories.
Some were asked to remember positive trait words
others were asked to remem
The Old Stereotype Study
Participants were primed to words consistent with the stereotype of old people (e.g. Florida, senile, retirement)
Later measured walking speed of those participants.
Findings:Participants in the elderly priming condition (Means= 8.28s; 8.20s) walked slowe
Framing effect
The tendency for people's choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, or framed. For example, whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains.
dilution effect
the reduced, or diluted, probability of predation to a single animal when it is in a group
Intuitive System
Rapid responses based on automatic associations. Facilitates a gut response. Parallel processing.
Rational System
-Slower and more controlled
-Based on rules and deductions.
-Serial processing
Heuristics
A simple approximation or rule for solving a problem that required very little thought. It is a mental short cut. Although they reduce cognitive load then can be error prone.
Availability heuristic
The tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances.
Affect heuristic
The tendency to consult one's emotions instead of estimating probabilities objectively.
Example: Underestimating the dangers of sunbathing
Reconstructive Memory
Memory is the capacity to retain and retrieve information.
Person Perception
People's perceptions of one another based on initial impressions of their behavior and assumptions concerning what characteristics correspond with that behavior.
halo effects
Occur when one attribute is used to develop an overall impression of a person or situation
what is beautiful is good effect
the assumption that physically attractive people will be superior to others on many other traits
Primary emotions
Emotions considered to be universal and biologically based, usually thought to include fear, anger, sadness, happiness, surprise, disgust, and contempt.
secondary emotions
blends of primary emotions; they include remorse, guilt, submission, and anticipation
Emotions that are specific to certain cultures or those that usually develop with cognitive maturity.
Self-deception
The active misrepresentation of reality to the conscious mind.
Micro-expressions
facial expressions that do not display a complete set of cues for a given situation
In a study, people were asked to carry small notebooks for an entire week.They had to record every lie or deception in social interactions, big or small.
Findings:
1.More self-centered lies than other-oriented lies except for only-women dyads which revealed more other-oriented lies.
2.Relatively more self-centered lies to men; other-oriented lies to women.
Duping Delight:
The facial smirk that appears when people think that they have gotten away with a lie.
Duchenne Smile
A genuine, felt smile.
Emblems
nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the OK sign
meaning might change throughout a culture
Illustrators
a gesture that enhances or clarifies a verbal message
seen a lot in teachers/preachers - uses hands
Regulator
a gesture that controls the flow of conversation
we give signals that show we are either done or intrigued in a situation
Self-adaptor
Adapting something about yourself in a way for which it was not designed or for no apparent purpose.
playing with hair/biting nails
display rules
cross-cultural guidelines for how and when to express emotions
character strengths
personal characteristics that contribute to a person's happiness without diminishing the happiness of others