PSYC 231 Chapter 2: PDF PSYC 231 Notes - Ch. 2
27 Jun 2018
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•connections between us & the world:
(a) social surroundings affect our self-awareness
(b) self-interest colours our social judgment
(c) self-concern motivates our social behaviour
(d) social relationships help define the self
•self-concept: our sense of who we are
-self-schemas: specific beliefs by which we define ourselves, which help
organize & guide processing of self-relevant information
•effect how we perceive & evaluate others & our self
-possible selves: visions of the self we dream of or of the self we fear
of becoming in the future — serves as motivation
-development of our self-concept is influenced by:
(a) social identities: who you are (& who you are not) within
social groups & social memberships
•the“we” aspect of our self-concept
(b) social comparisons: how we evaluate our own abilities &
beliefs by comparing ourselves to others
•inspired by people who we feel we can attain similar success
•we are demoralized if you feel you cannot attain it
(c) other people’s judgments — how we imagine other people
see us & what we think they think of us
•looking-glass self: how we think others perceive us
•spotlight effect: the belief that others are paying more
attention to our appearance than they really are
-the more you are focused on something, the more you
think other people are also focusing on it
•illusion of transparency: the illusion that are concealed
emotions leak out & can be easily read by others
•social media — we have our own “social media self ” that may be completely
different than our actual true self
-our profiles can enhance our self-esteem, especially if we spend time
actively editing them
-our profiles activate our ideal self & compares it to our actual self,
motivating us to move closer to it
•self & culture — how we relates to others & the values of those around us
-influences our decision making, self-concept, self-esteem
-individualism: the concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over
group goals, & defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes,
rather than group identifications
•independent self: identity is personal & defined by individual traits,
personal achievement, rights & liberties
•self-concept is stable
•self-esteem is more personal & less relational
•happiness comes from disengaged emotions (feeling effective,
superior, & proud)
•experience more conflict between individuals
•persist longer on tasks when succeeding because it boosts self-esteem
•make downward social comparison
•self-evaluations are biased positively
•disapproves of conformity
-collectivism: giving priority to the goals of one’s groups, social
responsibilities, & defining one’s identity accordingly
•interdependent self: identity is social & defined by connections
-have many different selfs (ex. student-self, work-self)
•self-concept is malleable
•self-esteem is relational
•tend to have a greater sense of belonging
•happiness comes from positive social engagement & interactions
•experience more conflict between groups
•persist longer on tasks when failing because of a feeling of
responsibility & not wanting to let the group down
•make upward social comparisons as a way of self-improvement
•have balanced self-evaluations
•disapproves of egotism
-not necessarily just one or the other (ex. our political views may be more
individualistic is some areas, & more collectivist in others)
•self-knowledge: how well you can explain & predict yourself
-we are actually quite bad at predicting what will make us happy, &
predicting our own behaviour — people around us are better at
predicting our own behaviour
-planning fallacy: the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to
complete a task
•can improve by looking at how much time it took in the past
•can avoid by breaking down the task into smaller components
-affective forecasting: people have the greatest difficulty when
predicting the intensity & duration of their future emotions
-impact bias: overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing
events (both negative & positive events)
•we are more prone to the impact of negative events
•if we experience something negative, we tend to then discount any
positive emotions that we may've also been experiencing
•immune neglect: the tendency to underestimate the speed & the
strength of our psychological immune system, which enables recovery
& resilience after something bad happens
•if you are being very analytical, you are worst at predicting your
emotions than if you were too look at the entire picture
-dual attitudes: how our implicit (automatic) attitudes often differ from
our explicit (conscious) attitudes towards the same object
•the mental processes that control (implicitly) our social behaviour are
distinct from the metal processes through which we explain (explicitly)
our behaviour
•explicit attitudes can change with education & persuasion
•implicit attitudes change slowly with practice
-practical implications of knowing about self-knowledge is that:
•self-reports are often untrustworthy
•sincerity does not guarantee validity
•self-esteem: your sense of self-worth, depending on how we see ourselves
based on traits that we believe are valued by others
-depends on whether or not we believe that we have what make us
attractive to others, not necessary on traits that we value
-self-esteem motivation: we are extremely motivated to maintain &
enhance our self-esteem
-socio-meter hypothesis: self-esteem is a meter that allows us to detect
& evert social rejection
-people with low self-esteem often have further problems in their life &
tend to take a more negative view of everything
-high self-esteem can help to foster initiative, resilience, pleasant feelings, &
is conducive to long-term well-being & relationships
-narcissism: problematic high self-esteem in which the individual is self-
centre, lacks care for others, & tend to be more aggressive
•two types — grandeous & vulnerable
•self-control: our capacity to control our own behaviours
-physically impacts us — effortful self-control depletes our limited
willpower reserves but can strengthened with regular use
•personal beliefs about self-control affects its depletion though, &
people who believe it self-control is unlimited do not show depletion
-self-control depletion may also reflect a motivational failure
•incentives to exert self-control in further tasks though stops self-
control depletion from occurring
-learned helplessness: the hopelessness, resignation & passiveness that
is learned when one perceives no control over repeated bad events
-self-efficacy: believing in your own competence & ability to do things,
which can lead to health & happiness
•fed by social- & self-persuasion
•mastery experiences: when your initial efforts succeed, your
overall self-efficacy increase
-self-determination: the ability to choose & do things for yourself
•too much choice & too much self-determination though can result in
decreased life satisfaction, depression & regret
•people tend to feel more satisfied when they have a sense that their
choice was final
PSYC 231: Chapter 2 - The Self In A Social World
Document Summary
Self-schemas: speci c beliefs by which we de ne ourselves, which help organize & guide processing of self-relevant information: effect how we perceive & evaluate others & our self. Possible selves: visions of the self we dream of or of the self we fear of becoming in the future serves as motivation. Our pro les can enhance our self-esteem, especially if we spend time. Collectivism: giving priority to the goals of one"s groups, social responsibilities, & de ning one"s identity accordingly: interdependent self: identity is social & de ned by connections. Not necessarily just one or the other (ex. our political views may be more individualistic is some areas, & more collectivist in others: self-knowledge: how well you can explain & predict yourself. We are actually quite bad at predicting what will make us happy, & predicting our own behaviour people around us are better at predicting our own behaviour. Affective forecasting: people have the greatest dif culty when.
