Chapter 5 Textbook

Question 1

What is self concept clarity?

Answer 1

defined as the extend to which knowledge about the self is stable, clear, and consistently defined.

Question 2

people who are low in the self concept clarity tend to have ___ self esteem

Answer 2

LOW self esteem, high neuroticism etc. They also tend to engage in chronic self-analysis and rumination, an involuntary negative form of self-focus associated with threat or uncertainty.

Question 3

relationship between self concept clarity and self handicapping

Answer 3

the lower the self concept clarity, the more often a person will self handicap in attempt to avoid further self-blame

Question 4

self concept clarity in difference cultures

Answer 4

higher self concept clarity in INDIVIDUALISTIC cultures. Self-concept clarity is associated with self-compassion.

Question 5

in many western cultures, people have an ____ view of the self. What is this?

Answer 5

INDEPENDENT view of the self: defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings and actions, and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings and actions of other people. Valuing independence and uniqueness.

Question 6

in many asian cultures, people have an ____ view of the self. What is this?

Answer 6

interdependent view of the self defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to otehr people; recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings and actions of others.

Question 7

in cultures that have an interdependent view of the self, ____ and ___ between people are values, whereas ___ and ___ are frowned on.

Answer 7

in cultures that have an interdependent view of the self, CONNECTEDNESS and INTERDEPENDENCE between people are values, whereas INDEPENDENCE and UNIQUENESS are frowned on.

Question 8

self-concept clarity is based on a premise that the self is a ____ ___ of ____ ___ that govern behavior across situations.

Answer 8

self-concept clarity is based on a premise that the self is a STABLE CONFIGURATION of INTERNAL TRAITS that govern behavior across situations.

Question 9

women’s self concepts reflect more _____ ____, meaning that they focus more on:

Answer 9

more relational interdependece: they focus more on their close relationships.

Question 10

men’s self concepts are higher in ___ ____ ,meaning that they tend to:

Answer 10

collective interdependece: meaning that they tend to define themselves in terms of social groups, such as the sports team they belong on.

Question 11

in individualist cultures, women were found to hold a more ___ view of the self compared to men. How does this differ in collectivist cultures?

Answer 11

in individualist cultures, women were found to hold a more RELATIONAL view of the self. in collectivist cultures, women and men were equally likely to hold a relational view of the self.

Question 12

introspection

Answer 12

the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings and motives.

Question 13

t/f people rely on introspection as a main source of info about the self

Answer 13

false. most people don’t spend much time thinking about how they’re feeling.

Question 14

t/f even when people do introspect, the reasons for their feelings and behacvor can be hidden from concious awareness.

Answer 14

true. its possible that we can’t even use the info we know and apply it to situations at hand because its all sub concious

Question 15

self-awareness theory

Answer 15

when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behaviour against our internal standards and values.

Question 16

according to the self awareness theory, when we become self concious, we become ___ and ___ observers of ourselves.

Answer 16

objective and judgemental observers of ourselves.

Question 17

what happens when a person’s behavior does not match their internal standards?

Answer 17

you will try and divert your attention away from the state of self-awareness. Some people go far to escale the self (alcohol abuse, suicide etc).

Question 18

T/F when people are self-aware, they are more likely to follow their moral standards

Answer 18

true

Question 19

in terms of self awareness, east asian acultures have more of an __ ___ on the self. what does this mean?

Answer 19

outside perspective on the self, viewing themselves through the eyes of other people.

Question 20

peope who grow in western cultures are more likely to have an ___ ___ on the self. what does this mean?

Answer 20

have an INSIDER PERSPECTIVE on the self, focusing on their own private experiences without considering how other people see them.

Question 21

which culture may be in a chronic state of self awareness?

Answer 21

east asisan cultures, because they are more likely to be seeing themselves through the eyes of other people (outsider perspective of the self)

Question 22

explain the mirror study across cultures.

Answer 22

Americans who wrote a self evaluation with a mirror present ranked themselves lower than when no mirror was present. This indicates that they usually have an insider perspective, and are less self-aware. Japanese people’s scores had no difference when a mirror is present. they already have heightened self awareness without needing external cues.

Question 23

what is the “telling more than we know” phenomenon?

Answer 23

the feeling that even though we often don’t know why we feel a certain way, it seems we are always able to come up with an explanation.

Question 24

causal theories

Answer 24

theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviors; typically we learn such theories from our own cultures.

Question 25

where do we learn most of our causal theories?

Answer 25

from our own cultures. ex/ blue mondays, its “that time of the month”

Question 26

self perception theory and when it is applied

Answer 26

when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs.

1) we infer our inner feelings from our behavior when we are not sure how we feel. ex/ idk how I feel about this song, but I’m dancing, therefore I probably like it a bit.
2) people evaluate whether their behavior really reflects how they feel or whether the situation they are in made them act that way.

Question 27

intrinsic motivation

Answer 27

the desire to engage in an activity beause we enjoy it, not because of external reward

Question 28

extrinsic motivation

Answer 28

the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures.

Question 29

intrinsic motivation is positivley correlated with ____ and ___ ___.

Answer 29

persistance and maintaining interest.

Question 31

discuss the relationship perspective of intrinsically motivated people

Answer 31

partners who are motivated to be in a relationship for its own sake (love) and not to receive external benefits (money) are more likely to view relationships as “challenges” rather than hassels.

they are also more likely to engage in constructive conflict resolution

they also report greater relationship satisfaction.

Question 32

explain the effect that causes extrinsic rewards to undermine intrinsic motivation. What happens when an extrinsic reward is applied to an intrinsically motivated subject?

Answer 32

overjustification effect: the case whereby people view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic ffactors, making them underestimae the extent to which their behavior was caused by intrinsic reasons.

causes people to lose interest in the activity they initially enjoyed.

Question 33

when will the overjustification effect work?

Answer 33

rewards will undermine interest only if the interest was high initially.

ex/ providing external incentives to a kid who doesn’t like reading WILL make them read more. but providing external incentives to a book worm will make them not like reading.

Question 34

what is a task contigent reward

Answer 34

a reward given upon completion of a specific task

Question 36

performance contigent reward

Answer 36

a reward given based on how WELL a person performs a task. Not just if they do it.

Question 37

which type of reward is LESS likely to decrease interst in a task? (task contigent or performance contigent)

Answer 37

performance contingent rewards are less likely to decrease interest in a task. it may even in crease interest because it conveys the message that you are good at the task. May also cause anxiety though.

the performace contigent reward must not be taken away by performing poorly (ex/ losing money for bad grades). Only given for performing well.

Question 38

what is our looking-glass self?

Answer 38

the idea that we see ourselves through the eys of other people and incorporate their views into our self concept.

we are determine partially by the internal audience we have in our mind.

ex/ if we have a supportive approvng internal audience in mind, we are more likely to view ourselves as having positive characteristics.

Question 39

social comparison theory

Answer 39

holds that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves with other people.

Question 40

when do we most often socially compare?

Answer 40

when there is no objective certainty about ourselves in a particular area, such as wondering whether we are eating an appropriate amount in a buffet.

Question 41

when we socially compare, who do we often compare ourselves to?

Answer 41

people find it most informative to compare themselves with others who are similar to them on the attribute being looked at.

Question 42

what is the executive function of the self?

Answer 42

self control.

Question 43

worst possible mental form of self control

Answer 43

thought-suppression.

Question 44

self regulatory resource model

Answer 44

theory that self control is a limited resource, like a muscle that gets tired with frequent use but then rebounds in strenght.

Question 45

T/F participatns exerting self control on one task reduces their ability to exert control on another task, regardless if its unrelated or not

Answer 45

true. this is according to the regulatory resource model

Question 46

what time of day is self control more likely to fail?

Answer 46

night. dieteres are more likely to break their diets at night.

Question 48

when are people best at self control?

Answer 48

when they are well rested and not too stressed.

Question 49

two reasons we engage in social comparison

Answer 49

1) construct an accurate image of ourselves
2) boost our egos

Question 50

the self protectve strategy that involves us comparing ourselves with people who are worse than you in a particular trait

Answer 50

downward social comparison

Question 51

people are more likely to spontaneously enage in ___ ___ ___ when they wanted to feel better about themsevles

Answer 51

downward social comparisons

Question 52

T/F downward social comparison was associated with positive emotional well being and better health

Answer 52

true, especially when people felt that there wasn’t anything they could do about their past regrets.

Question 54

what is the condition that must occur in order for downward social comparison to actually enhance our self esteem?

Answer 54

downward social comparison only wors to protect yourself if we don’t feel vulnerable to that person’s negative outcomes.

comparing ourselves with someone who is owrse off can make us feel better about ourselves, but only if we are confident that the other person’s fate cannot befall us.

Question 55

what is upward social comparison?

Answer 55

the process whereby we compare oursevles with people who are better than we are in a particular trait or ability.

Question 56

typically, upward social comparison ___ self esteem

Answer 56

lower self esteem. employees who compare themselves to coworkers with higher salaries and performance have a lower job satisfaction.

Question 57

what are “relationship comparisons”

Answer 57

checking out how our romantic relationship stacks up compared to the relationships of our friends or other people.

Question 58

what type of women feel more threatened about seeing “nice relationships” on social media and engage in more relationship comparisons?

Answer 58

women with low self esteem.

Question 59

when we focus on our __ self, exposure to outstanding individuals inspires us to generate higher hopes. If we focus on our ___ self this does not happen. Why?

Answer 59

when we focus on our USUAL self, exposure to outstanding individuals inspires us to generate higher hopes. If we focus on our BEST self this does not happen.

it can be discouraging to realize that someone else has already surpassed our hgihest hopes and accomplishments.

Question 60

in what situation does upward social comparisons make us feel better than in downward social comparisons?

Answer 60

when we are socially comparing ourselves to our social partner. this is becasue we experience high levels of empathy and our partner’s success is our success. there is also a note of shared fate. it also boosts your self esteem if you can “score” a noteable individual.

Question 61

explain an example in which the motivation behind social comparison plays a role in self esteem

Answer 61

ex/ the underlying reason for social comparison plays a role in whether women are dissatisfied with thier bodies following exposure to models. if a women is trying to evaluate her body, looking at the model results in dissatisfaction. but if she is trying to improve her body, exposure to the model may actually increase bodily satisfaction.

Question 62

which culture is more likely to be motivated by positive role models? which culture is more likely to be motivated by negative roles models?

Answer 62

Euro-canadians are more motivated by positive role models

Asian-canadians are more motivated by negative role models.

Question 63

do asian americans take part in upper or downward comparison more?

Answer 63

they choose to compare their performance with that of someone who did better than they did on a task (upward)

Question 64

TF people from collectivist cultures seek self improvement to a greater extent

Answer 64

true

Question 65

why do asian canadians engage in upwards social comparison rather than downwards?

Answer 65

because they do not capitalize on an opportunity to get a self esteem boost, rather, they use social comparison info to identify aras for self-improvement.

Question 66

what is the sociometer?

Answer 66

a psychological mechanism that monitors the environment for cues about the extent tot which we are accepted or rejected by others.

Question 67

sociometer theory

Answer 67

theory that states that self-esteem is a guage that monitors the extent to which we are accepted or rejected by others

Question 68

what does our usual level of self esteem reflect? our momentary?

Answer 68

the extent to which we generally feel accepted or rejected. our momentary state reflects how accepted or rejected we currently feel in a particular relationship.

Question 69

T/F people who are chronically low in self esteem would be reluctant to initiate social interactions because of fear of rejection

Answer 69

true. people with high self-esteem don’t require much acceptance to comfortable engage in a novel interaction.

Question 70

outline the self fulfilling prophecy seen in people with low self esteem and social interactions

Answer 70

people with high self esteem expect that they will be accepted and therefore are wamer and friendlier in social interactions that poeple with low self esteem. therefore, people with low self esteem are more likely to be cold and distant which tends to produce dislike and rejection from others.

Question 71

methods of increasing acceptance of people who have low self esteem

Answer 71

1) self-affirmations. creates increased feelings of security among those who doubt their value as social partners
2) reminding them of the rewards of ‘trying’. low self-esteem people expressed greater interest in relationship initiation when primed with the rewards of relationships than when primed with the costs.

Question 72

what is self enhancement

Answer 72

a method of boosting esteem by holding an unrealistically positive view of ourself.

Question 73

some eastern cultures hold essentially the opposite of the self enhancement effect. what is this?

Answer 73

the self effacement effect. the tendency to hold a negative view of oneself.

Question 74

T/F: asians score lower on measures of self esteem than do canadians

Answer 74

true. due to self effacement

Question 75

what is the self verification teory?

Answer 75

people have a need to seek out confirmation of their self-concept, whether that self concept is positive or negative.

Question 76

2 factors that determine whether we want to have an accurate (rather than positive) feedback on ourselves

Answer 76

1) the dimension on which we are being evaluated. Ex/ looks– we all want to be rated positively.We may even get defensive if we don’t get ranked as positively as we’d like.
2) nature of the relationship we have with the person who is doing the evaluating. We want the TRUTH if the evaluator is someone we respect/know.

Question 77

T/F: is people feel there is nothing they can do to improve their abilities, they generally prefer truthful feedback

Answer 77

false. they prefer positive feedback compared to accurate feedback. why be reminded that we are terrible if there is nothing we can do about it?

Question 78

3 aspects of the self

Answer 78

1) self knowledge; beliefs about who we are
2) self control; the way in whch we make plans and execute decisions
3) self-esteem: how we evaluate ourselves.

Question 79

what is a self schema

Answer 79

an organized body of knowledge about the self that influences what ppl think, notive and remember about themselves. Ex/ our attitudes, likes and dislikes, personality traits.