Chapter 3 Flashcards
Self concept:
an individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations
Self-concept is defined at three levels:
- individuals
- relational
- collective
An individuals self-concept can be described by three characteristics
- Complexity
- Consistency
- Clarity
Complexity
Refers to the number of distinct and important roles or identities that people perceive about themselves
Consistency
the second self-concept characteristic, is the degree to which a person’s identities are (a) compatible with each other and (b) compatible with the individual’s personal characteristics (personality, values, etc.)
Higher consistency →
Better well-being
Clarity
How clearly and confidently self-concept is defined.
Increases with age and experience
Helps in leadership roles and conflict management
Complexity
Number of distinct and important roles or identities.
Self-expansion: Increases complexity. So more different roles
More identities → More adaptive decision-making but also potential stress
Higher complexity
Protects self-esteem but requires effort to manage
Higher clarity
Improves performance, but can lead to inflexibility
Higher consistency
Helps align personality and values
People tend to have better psychological well-being when they have distinct multiple selves (…..), that are well established (…..) and require similar personal attributes that are compatible with the individual’s character (…..)
- complexity
- clarity
- consistency
Self-Enhancement
Motivation to see oneself positively and be perceived favorably by others.
🔹 Positive Effects:
Better mental and physical health
Motivates persistence in challenges
🔹 Negative Effects:
Overconfidence → Risky behavior
Leads to poor decision-making in business
Self-Verification
🔹 Definition: Motivation to confirm and maintain one’s existing self-concept.
🔹 Effects in Organizations:
Seek feedback that aligns with self-view
Selectively remember information that supports self-concept
self-verification
a person’s inherent motivation
to confirm and maintain his or
her existing self-concept
Self-Evaluation (Three Components)
- Self-Esteem: Overall self-like, respect, and satisfaction
- Self-Efficacy: Belief in successfully completing tasks (can-do attitude)
- Locus of Control:
Internal → Success comes from personal effort
External → Success depends on external forces
self-efficacy
a person’s belief that he or she
has the ability, motivation,
correct role perceptions, and
favorable situation to complete
a task successfully
In other words, self-efficacy is an individual’s perception regarding the MARS model in a specific situation. Self-efficacy is often task
specific, but it can also be more generalized
Locus of control
A person’s general belief about
the amount of control he or she
has over personal life events
Social identity theory
a theory stating that people
define themselves by the
groups to which they belong or
have an emotional attachment
perception
the process of receiving
information about and making
sense of the world around us
selective attention
the process of attending to
some information received by
our senses and ignoring other
information
Confirmation bias
the processing of screening out
information that is contrary to
our values and assumptions,
and to more readily accept
confirming information
Categorical thinking
Organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory
mental models
knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain, and predict the world around
us.
They consist of visual or relational images in our mind, such as what the classroom looks like or what happens when we submit an assignment late. Mental models partly rely on the process of perceptual grouping to make sense of things; they fill in the missing pieces, including the causal connection among events. For example, you have a mental model about attending a class lecture or seminar, including assumptions or expectations about where the instructor and students arrange themselves in the room, how they ask and answer questions, and so forth. In other words, we create a mental image of a class in progress
