Chapter 2 The Self in a Social World

Chapter 2: The Self in a Social World Adam Lubroth/Digital Vision/Getty Images Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display

Spotlights and Illusions Spotlight effect Belief that others are paying more attention to one’s appearance and behavior than they really are Illusions Illusion of transparency Illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Research Close-Up: On Being Nervous about Looking Nervous Examples of interplay between our sense of self and our social world Social surroundings affect our self-awareness Self-interest colors our social judgment Self-concern motivates our social behavior Social relationships help define our self Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Concept: Who Am I? A person’s answers to the question, “Who am I? ” Take time to answer this question… Are your answers more relational (collectivist) or about self (individualist)? Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

At the Center of Our Worlds: Our Sense of Self Schema Mental templates by which we organize our worlds Self-schema Beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Development of the Social Self What Determines Our Self-Concept? Roles we play Social identities we form Comparisons we make with others How other people judge us Surrounding culture Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Development of the Social Self The Roles We Play New roles begin as playacting then become reality Social Comparisons We compare ourselves with others and consider how we differ We tend to compare upward Can diminish satisfaction Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Development of the Social Self Success and Failure Our daily experiences cause us to have empowerment or low self-esteem Other People’s Judgments Looking-glass self How we think others perceive us as a mirror for perceiving ourselves Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self and Culture Individualism Concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications Independent self Western cultures Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self and Culture Collectivism Giving priority to the goals of one’s group and defining one’s identity accordingly Interdependent self Asian, African, and Central and South American cultures Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self and Culture and Cognition Richard Nisbett’s The Geography of Thought (2003) Contends that collectivism results in different ways of thinking Asians tend to think more in relationships than Americans see choices as expressions of themselves. Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Culture and Self-Esteem In collectivist cultures Self-concept is context-specific rather than stable Conflict takes place between groups In individualistic cultures Self-esteem is more personal and less relational Conflict takes place between individuals Crime Divorce Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Knowledge Predicting Our Behavior Planning fallacy Tendency a task to underestimate how long it will take to complete Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Knowledge Predicting Our Feelings Studies of “affective forecasting” reveal people have the greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and the duration of their future emotions Impact bias Overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing events Immune neglect Tendency to neglect the speed and strength of the “psychological immune system” which enables emotional recovery and resilience after bad things happen Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Knowledge The Wisdom and Illusions of Self-Analysis Dual attitude Automatic implicit attitudes regarding someone or something often differ from our consciously controlled, explicit attitudes Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

What is the Nature and Motivating Power of Self-Esteem Our overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth Specific self-perceptions have some influence Feedback is best when it is true and specific Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Esteem Motivation Self-esteem maintenance Self-esteem threats occur among friends whose successes can be more threatening than that of strangers Terror Management Theory states humans must find ways to manage their fear of death. Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

The Trade-off of Low vs High Self Esteem Narcissism: Self-Esteem’s Conceited Sister Delroy and Williams (2002) “The Dark Triad” of negative traits Narcissism Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Efficacy How competent we feel on a task Leads us to set challenging goals and to persist Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

What is Self-Serving Bias Tendency to perceive oneself favorably Explaining positive and negative events Self-serving attributions Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors Contribute to marital discord, worker dissatisfaction, and bargaining impasses Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Serving Bias Can We All Be Better than Average? Most people see themselves as better than the average person on the following dimensions Subjective Socially desirable Common dimensions Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Serving Bias Areas in which we believe we are above average Ethics Professional competence Virtues Intelligence Parental support Health Attractiveness Driving Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Serving Bias Unrealistic Optimism Is on the rise Illusory optimism increases our vulnerability Defensive Pessimism Adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Serving Bias False Consensus Effect Tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors False Uniqueness Effect Tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Self-Serving Bias Explaining Self-Serving Bias Self-serving bias is a by-product of how we process and remember information about ourselves Self-Serving Bias may be Adaptive Protects people from depression Maladaptive Group-serving bias Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

How Do People Manage Their Self. Presentation Wanting to present a desired image both to an external audience (other people) and to an internal audience (ourselves) Self-Handicapping Protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure Impression Management Tendency to act like social chameleons Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

What Does it Mean to Have Self. Control People exert self-control Effortful self-control Copyright 2016 © Mc. Graw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.