PSYC 3690 Chapter Notes -Dysphoria, Cognitive Therapy, Positive Illusions

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 3690
• Professor: Benjamin Gottlieb

Document Summary

Normal people appear to be quite cognizant of their strengths and assets and less aware of their weaknesses and faults. No, these can make people set themselves up for failure, and make people with high self-perceptions lash out against others whom they regard as criticizing or disrespecting them. The illusion of control: most individuals appear to be less realistic in their beliefs about the degree to which they can exert personal control over environmental occurrences. Such beliefs, however, are often greater than can be justified, but nonetheless, appear to be associated with adaptive functioning under both normal and stressful circumstances. There is little evidence that believing one can control external events is adaptive if no control exists. Moreover, there is some evidence that perceptions of control, and specifically, what aspects of a situation are controllable, shift in response to feedback about the success of one"s efforts.