PSYC 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Autobiographical Memory, Terror Management Theory, Ingratiation
PSYC104 Chapter 3 Reading Notes: The Social Self
- The self-concept (54)
oCocktail party effect: tendency of people to pick a personally relevant stimulus (like their
name) out of a complex and noisy environment. Even occurs in infants
oSelf-concept: total beliefs people have about themselves. Self-concept is made of
cognitive molecules called self-schemas: beliefs about oneself that guide the processing
of self-relevant information (55)
Those who use a characteristic to define themselves are said to use these
characteristic as a schematic. Those who don’t use that characteristic call them
aschematic
oRudiments of the self-concept
Is the self specially represented in the brain?
When doing activities that are relevant to the self vs. others, a specific area of
the brain lights up; however, not all aspects of self are in a single brain structure
Do nonhuman animals show self-recognition? (56)
Only great apes (chimps, gorillas, and orangutans) were capable of self-
recognition. When a red dot was painted on forehead and animals looked in
mirror, only apes spontaneously reached for their own face, showing that they
perceived the image as their own
Using red spot test, found that humans begin to recognize self at 18-24 months
(applicable in Western countries. In other countries, infants didn’t try to remove
mark, maybe due to cultural reasons)
Found that some non-primates can also recognize themselves: dolphins, Asian
elephants
What makes the self a social concept? (57)
We tend to know ourselves by imagining what others think of us and then
incorporating these perceptions into our self-concepts
oIntrospection
Self-knowledge is derived from introspection: looking inward at one’s own thoughts
and feelings
However, some think that introspection can sometimes impair self-knowledge
Attitudes people report having about different objects corresponded closely to
their behavior toward those objects. When asked to analyze the reasons for how
they felt, the attitudes they reported no longer corresponded to their behavior
Humans are mentally busy processing information, which is why we fail to
understand our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (58)
People tend to overestimate the positives. Most people think they are better
than average, overrate their own skills, their prospects for success, the accuracy
of their opinions, and the impression they form of others
People have hard time at affective forecasting: predicting how one would feel in
response to future emotional events. People tend to overestimate the strength
and duration of their emotional reactions (impact bias)
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oWhen it comes to negative life events, people don’t fully appreciate the
extent to which our coping mechanisms help us to cushion the blow
oPeople even more likely to overlook coping mechanisms that others use. Self-
other difference: we predict that others will suffer longer than we will
oWhen we introspect about emotional impacts of a future event, we become
so focused on that single event that we neglect to consider the effects of
other life experiences
oSelf-perception (59)
Self-perception theory: when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-
insight by observing their own behavior and the situation in which that behavior
takes place. You make inferences about yourself by watching your own actions
People don’t infer their internal states from behavior that occurred in the presence
of compelling situational pressures like reward or punishment
Vicarious self-perception: can also infer something about yourself by observing the
behavior of someone else with whom you completely identify
Self-perception allows others to know you; introspection allows you to know
yourself. If self-knowledge is gained from both, truth lies somewhere in the middle
(60)
Self-other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model: we know ourselves better than
other do for internal and hard to observe traits. There is no self-other difference
when it comes to traits that are external and easy to observe
Others may actually know us better than we know ourselves when it comes to
observable traits regarding intelligence and creativity; we have motivated ‘blind
spots’
Self-perceptions of emotion (61)
Facial feedback hypothesis: changes in facial expression can trigger
corresponding changes in the subjective experience of emotion
the face isn’t necessary to the subjective experience of emotion
facial movements can also spark emotion by producing physiological changes in
the brain. If your facial movements mimic smiling, this lowers your temperature
and elevates your mood, and vice versa
can influence emotions through posture. People lift their spirits by expansion
and lower their spirits by contraction (62)
self-perceptions of motivation
intrinsic motivation: originates in factors within a person. Motivation for the sake
of their own interest, the challenge, or sheer enjoyment
extrinsic motivation: originates in factors outside the person. Motivated when
engaging in an activity as a means to an end, for tangible benefit
overjustification effect: the tendency for intrinsic motivation to diminish for
activities that have become associated with reward or other extrinsic factors
(getting money for something you like doing decreases your liking for activity)
people are likely to be more creative when they are intrinsically motivated in
relation to the task, not compelled by outside forces (63)
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if reward is presented in form of verbal praise that is perceived to be sincere or
as a special bonus for superior performance, then it can enhance intrinsic
motivation by providing positive feedback about competence
otherefore, intrinsic motivation is undermined by some types of reward but
not others
different orientation toward work depends on individual differences (64)
oif you are intrinsically motivated to do work (you enjoy what you do),
rewards are unnecessary
oif you are highly focused of the achievement of your goals, rewards boost
motivation
oinfluences of other people
social comparison theory
by changing someone’s social surroundings, you can also change that person’s
spontaneous self-description
the ‘self’ is relative, or a social construct. We define ourselves in part by using
family members, friends, acquaintances, and others as a benchmark
social comparison theory: people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by
comparing themselves to others
opeople engage in social comparison in states of uncertainty, when more
objective means of self-evaluation aren’t available (65)
owe compare each other to people who are like us in relevant ways (although
there are some exceptions)
two-factor theory of emotion
2 factors are necessary to feel a specific emotion
operson must experience the symptoms of physiological arousal
operson must make a cognitive interpretation that explains the source of the
arousal. The reaction of people around us help us interpret our own arousal
found that when people are unclear about their own emotional states, they
sometimes interpret how they feel by watching others. For others to influence
your emotion, your level of physiological arousal cannot be too intense or else it
will be experienced as aversive, regardless of the situation. People must also be
present as a possible explanation for arousal before its onset (66)
oautobiographical memories
memories shape the self-concept and self-concept shapes our personal memories
people tend to recall recent memories rather than distant memories. 2 exceptions:
older adults tend to retrieve memories from adolescence and early adulthood
years: reminiscence bump
people tend to remember transitional ‘firsts’ (67)
flashbulb memories: enduring, detailed, high-resolution recollections of memories
we link past to present, providing us with sense of continuity; autobiographical
memory shapes our identity
people are motivated to distort the past in ways that are self-inflated, but also
motivated in different ways depending on their self-esteem
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