Chapter 3

Question 1

What is “the self”?

Answer 1

The mental apparatus that allows people to think consciously about themselves

Question 2

The “self” is unique to …

Answer 2

Human

Question 3

What is another name for “the-self”?

Answer 3

Meta-awareness

Question 4

What does the lack of “the self” mean for other organisms?

Answer 4

Can’t think about thinking/feeling or think about why they are feeling a certain way

Question 5

What is the egocenter? What does it do?

Answer 5

Constant presence inside head

“Another miniature brain inside this miniature self”

Convinces us that we are the same person we were many years ago

Question 6

What is the infinite regress problem?

Answer 6

arises from egocenter: minature self inside brain. is there a brain inside that minature self? etc.

Question 7

what is the “self concept”?

Answer 7

A mental representation (schema) of your own attribute and other pieces of knowledge about the self
- memory of personality, knowledge of past behaviours
- like and dislikes

Question 8

What is spontaneous self-concept?

EXAMPLE?

Answer 8

collection of **aspects of identity **that are available to awareness at a given point in time

one’s Canadian identity when in a foreign country

Question 9

Where is the full self-concept found (relative to spontaneous self-concept)?

Answer 9

unconscious

Question 10

How does consistency relate to the spontaneous self concept?

Answer 10

conscious knowledge needs to be consistent BUT full self-knowledge and spontaneous self concept may not always be consistent

Question 11

What are the 3 Multiple Selves?

Answer 11

1. “Ideal” self: who we aspire to be (possible future self to compare current self to)
2. “Ought” self: who we think we should be based on obligations (duties, responsibilities)
3. “Undesired” self: who we do not wish to become (failiure)

Question 12

What is the self-discrepency theory?

Answer 12

negative emotions due to current self being too different from ideal/ought self

Question 13

What is the Looking Glass Self?

Answer 13

self-concept is a reflection of how others see us and we understand this through “appraisals” which are judgements from others that are adopted to self

Question 14

What is the problem with the Looking Glass Self?

Answer 14

1. other people don’t always give us honest feedback
2. selective attention to feedback (dismiss negative feedback)

Question 15

What is the social comparison process? How is this accurate?

Ex.

Answer 15

process of judging ourselves relative to others to assess our own attitudes and abilities
- accuracy: compare to similar others

i’m a better goalie than most of my friends so I must be fairly good

Question 16

What is upward social comparison?

Answer 16

Comparing yourself to someone who is better than you are
- helps motivate improvement (but only if improvement still possible)

Question 17

What was the experiment The Effects of “Superstars”?

Answer 17

• 1st-year and 4th-year accounting students
• some participants read about a “superstar” fourth-year accounting student
• others not exposed to the superstar
• asked to rate themselves on traits related to career success
• 1st year rated higher and 4th year rated themselves lower
• 1st years felt positive upward social comparison

Question 18

What can upward social comparison lead to (negative)?

Answer 18

• can lead to anger/resentment (relative depravation) when we feel we deserve better outcomes
• Ex. Gender wage gap (make less money -> results in resentment)

Question 19

What is downward social comparison?

Answer 19

Comparing yourself to someone who’s worse off than you are
- usually makes you feel better about yourself
- Ex. I did poorly on test but at least I didn’t fail”

Question 20

What is introspection?

Answer 20

Process of looking inward and examining one’s thoughts, feelings, and motives

Question 21

What is the problem with introspection?

Answer 21

Often unaware of underlying reason
- know what we are feeling but we don’t know why (may be hidden by unconscious)

Question 22

How accurate is self-knowledge

Answer 22

Accuracy fluctuates

Question 23

What is the experiment done to assess accuracy of self-knowledge?

Answer 23

Participants kept mood diaries for 5 weeks
- participants often wrong about what factors predicted mood

Question 24

What is the experiment studying cultural differences in identity?

Answer 24

ask participants to complete the statement “I am..” and compare non-social completions (individualistic) /social completions (interdependent)