User:Atcovi/Spring2024/Social Psychology/Ch. 4

The nature of the self: how we think and feel about ourselves.

Quizlet: https://quizlet.com/875811226/ch-4-social-psych-flash-cards/?new

4.1 Compare the way we manage ourselves in different social situations to how others perceive us
Depending on the context, we may act in different ways (acting gangster with certain friends, acting religious with other friends).

Self-Other Accuracy In Predicting Our Behavior

Are others able to predict our behavior better than ourselves?


 * Is Manny on-time? Absolutely not. But do you think Manny thinks of himself as being on-time? Probably: the initiative to be on time may fool Manny into thinking he may just be arriving right on time! So in this case, I know more about Manny's behavior than he knows about himself!

With the above scenario, other people can be more accurate in predicting our own behavior because they do NOT have access to intentions.

Though, this is not definite. We can be more accurate about some behaviors than our peers.

What methods do we use when we are trying to affect the impression that others form of us?


 * Blatant self promotion - If we want people to regard us as smart, we may show off our GPA/grades.
 * Self-verification perspective - The processes/means we use to lead others to agree with our own self-views. For example, if you want to come across as a smart student who doesn't party (because this is the view you want to see yourself as), you may intentionally potray yourself as such by showing off your good grades and surpressing your party-habits.
 * Ingratiation, in moderation, could prove to be a great way at selling a possible presentation of ourselves. This is simply achieved by praise or thanking the target person.
 * Self-deprecating: implying that we are not as good as other people.

Self-enhancement can be met with deception (lies), though this is limited on social media sites, as your friends could easily see through the 'white lies'.

4.2 Explain how we arrive at an understanding of our own selves
To ways to gain self-knowledge:


 * 1) Directly assess ourselves.
 * 2) Try to see ourselves from an outside perspective.


 * Introspection: Privately ponder on 'who we are', but it can be misleading. 1) For example, sometimes, we don't know why we feel a certain way (for example: "why do I not like him?") - so inferences based off these unknown feelings can very much be inaccurate and misdirect us. 2) Another way that introspection is inaccurate is our misleading assumptions on how we would feel in certain scenarios in the future. They are misleading because they ignore daily, future hassles that would alter our state of emotions (essentially the moderate events, not just the extremes in a given situation). For example, most people would be happier spending money on themselves, or so they thought, they'd be happier spending money on other people!

4.2.2: The Self from the Observer’s Standpoint


 * Actor-observer effect ("it was the traffic that made late" vs. "he's just a clumsy buffoon, that's why he forgot to pay the bill"). When participants in a 2006 study were describing themselves in the present-self, they leaned towards situations vs. traits. In their past selves, they described themselves with more traits. What can help is observing ourselves in trait-like terms by taking an 'observer's' standpoint.

Introspection is not all bad. The difference is if we look into conscious decision-making process vs. emotional situations/incidents. Again, we may not have access to our emotions (why we feel a certain way).

4.3 Use the personal-versus-social identity continuum to understand how different identities affect our behavior
Our salience, or part of our identity that is the focus of our attention given a scenario, can affect ourselves in how we look at ourselves and respond to other people.

There is NOT one "true" self - all of our identities can be accurate and potray ourselves behaving in accurate ways, depending on the context.

Who I Think I Am Depends on the Social Context


 * When questions were asked in a 2001 study, responses were more tailored to the situation when it was brought up, thereby showing a change in personality/self-identification depending on the social context.
 * When it comes to gender, women feel more connected whilst men don't.

So what determines which aspects of the self are more salient than others?


 * 1) One aspect could be more relevant than others (being a good student in the library).
 * 2) The situation may call for the distinctiveness (1 women with 8 other men in a class).
 * 3) Some people put emphasis on certain traits for themselves (nationalistic people, such as religious people).
 * 4) Certain words can trigger identities (Muslim, athletic, attractive, etc.).

Emotional Consequences


 * You may have different salients, or identities, when purchasing products.

I Act Based On How People Treat Me


 * "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a US military policy that shows how we might surpress certain identities in fear of rejection or retribution. Another example is the "closeted" person or the 'Muslim' who grows up in a "toxic religious family".
 * Visual indicators, such as "hippie" looks or hella tattoos, could be implying that they are rebellious to the standard and desire to fit in/identify stronger with their peer group.
 * Positive self-esteem for positive social identifications/group identifications.

The "Self" Across Time


 * People are more critical of their past to emphasis improvement.
 * Thinking about the ideal 'future self' can actually hinder our enjoyment by subconsciously ignoring our enjoyable activites and to pursue longer-distant goals.
 * Role models are people that we want to be and they help us achieve long-term goals. It has to be realistic.

The Difficulty In Self Control


 * Self control: forgetting immediate habits by focusing on not-so-enjoyable work for a future goal. In fact, controlling ourselves is limited - we may be successful the first time, but the second time may prove fatal.
 * Ego depletion is the diminished capacity to exert subsequent self-control after previously doing so.

4.4 Examine the health implications of being unrealistically optimistic about the self
How do we evaluate ourselves and decide whether...


 * we are good/bad in certain fields
 * our best/worst traits
 * how likeable we are?

Depends on the standard of comparison!


 * 1) Downward social comparison - Comparing our performance to someone who is less capable (my soccer skills vs. my 4 year old cousin).
 * 2) Upward social comparison - Compare my soccer skills to Messi, essentially.

Festinger's social comparison theory suggests that we compare ourselves to others to various standards. We may figure out if we are smart by comparing ourselves to our class/family. If we want to feel good about ourselves, we compare ourselves to someone that is worse off. If we want an accurate comparison, we compare ourselves to someone similar to our characteristics. Self-judgements made within our group are more comfortable than comparing ourselves to someone of a more advanced level.

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model and Social Identity Theory
The self-evaluation maintenance model states that one may protect their self-esteem by comparing themselves with someone who is worse off themselves rather than someone is who is better than themselves.

The social identity theory states that we want to percieve our groups in a positive manner (women, men, etc.). So especially for those that strongly align with a certain social identity, this is a positive thing. You can dislike/like a person who is better than you if you believe they are 'another individual' or they are part of your group identity.

Self-Serving Biases and Unrealistic Optimism

 * Above average effect - When we think we're all that, but we aren't all that.

In general, higher perception of one self leads to higher motivation, which leads to higher levels of performance and greater feelings of satisfaction. Downside is when you're not realistic (I can fly!).

4.5 Determine the factors that impact self-esteem
Self-esteem is the explicit/implicit, positive/negative outlook on ourselves. The most common method of measuring self-esteem explicitly is through the 10-item Rosenberg scale, while the most common method of measuring self-esteem implicitly (feelings we are not consciously aware of) is the Implicit Associations Test. Both explicit and implicit self esteem are NOT correlated with each other and capture different processes.


 * Explicit self-esteem can be measured in certain domains, such as academics or sports (and either are by performance, such as GPA and GD [goal difference]). This can also be seen (happiness after a tennis win). The problem with the Rosenberg scale is that self-presentations could be biased and people may answer in ways that can be the norm. Scientists have attempted to go around this by assessing automatic associations between the self and +/- concepts. Can change with circumstances.
 * Implicit self-esteem can ALSO be changed with circumstances. A 2004 study showed that implicit self-esteem was changed when participants were paired up with a representation of the self and positive/negative traits.

Migration
How does migration affect self-esteem?


 * Improvement in self-esteem in travelling students were based on increasing self-effiacy (I can get stuff done!) and social support (on and off-campus [FaceTime family]). They could also form a new minority identity (we all are "international students!").
 * How do refugees improve their self-esteem when they've already experienced previous trauma?

Gender Differences
Do men and women differ on self-esteem?

Research has shown that when women tend to tradition, they have lower self-esteem. In the West, when women are attached to the workforce, they have higher self-esteem. Men generally have higher self-esteem than women.

4.6 Analyze how prejudice and trying to conceal our identity impacts well-being
People who have to hide their identity, such as gay people, experience lower self-esteem and greater stress. They hide their identities and are hell-bent on hiding it.

Making salient the achievements of a member of their group can improve performance/self-esteem

Stereotype threat: When someone thinks they will be judged based on a negative stereotype about their identity. This can be applied to "recessive groups" and "dominant groups". When one experiences stereotype threat, they will stay away from the negative part of the stereotype.

Anxiety is a great tool when dealing with stereotype threat. Self-reported measures of anxiety are obscure, but non-verbal indicators predict performance disruption - even if the contender does NOT think he was nervous.