PS270 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Pantyhose, Self-Perception Theory, Motivation
… continued
How do we learn about ourselves?
1. Introspection - the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts,
motives, and feelings - we have inside information, only accounts for about 8% of
thoughts, introspection may often be inaccurate
Reasons for Feelings
● Schachter's Two-Factor Model
○ Emotion = Arousal + Label (Cognition)
● What we feel depends on how we label arousal, based on external cues
● Potential for misattribution of arousal
● Schacter and Singer (1962) experiment
○ Either placebo or epinephrine, no effect vs correct effect or told that epinephrine
will have no effect
○ Placebo - felt neither euphoria nor anger
○ Epinephrine - felt neither
○ Epinephrine no effect - got cues from environment (confederate) felt either happy
or angry
Failures of Introspection
● Though we don’t always know the reasons for our feelings or behaviours, we do readily
explain them
● Causal theories: theories we generate about the causes of our feelings and behaviour
(eg weather effect on mood) - but how accurate are they?
● “Telling more than we can know” Nisbett and Wilson
○ Eg diary study of moods, measured moods and other factors, asked students
how much each factor affected their mood
○ Buzz-saw film study, watch film when nothing is happening or have someone run
saw while people are watching, asked how much noise interfered with movie
enjoyment
○ Panty-hose study, asked which pantyhose were fave and why, but they were all
the same, only factor that actually influenced preference was that there was
strong preference for the last pair
○ What does this mean for self-report?
2. By observing our own behaviour
Bem’s Self-Perception Theory - we infer how we feel from how we behave
● When our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by
observing our behaviour in relevant situations
● Eg people with clear or unclear attitudes about being an environmentalist
Document Summary
Introspection - the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, motives, and feelings - we have inside information, only accounts for about 8% of thoughts, introspection may often be inaccurate. What we feel depends on how we label arousal, based on external cues. Either placebo or epinephrine, no effect vs correct effect or told that epinephrine will have no effect. Placebo - felt neither euphoria nor anger. Epinephrine no effect - got cues from environment (confederate) felt either happy or angry. Though we don"t always know the reasons for our feelings or behaviours, we do readily explain them. Telling more than we can know nisbett and wilson. Eg diary study of moods, measured moods and other factors, asked students how much each factor affected their mood. Buzz-saw film study, watch film when nothing is happening or have someone run saw while people are watching, asked how much noise interfered with movie enjoyment.
